CHOOSING OBEDIENCE

When we think of obedience unfortunately we associate this with weakness or letting ourselves down before somebody. Is obedience not the mark of a slave? but it is actually a sign of maturity and a gateway to power. The fact is: It is an important quality in leadership. “You will command so learn to obey” the slogan on a Brazilian army camp reminds us that we can not be a leader if we do not learn to obey, because to the extent we follow to that extent we lead. The great leaders of this world have not been their own masters; they arose and followed someone higher up, and thereby became the greater.

Our physical health depends upon obeying the laws of our physical nature, our strength of character dependence on obedience to God’s order. Obedience is not all that bad as it is projected; in fact there are great blessings stored in the lap of obedience. There are several examples in the Bible of those who have experienced blessings when they obeyed but when they disobeyed they brought disaster upon themselves.

I. WHO SHOULD WE OBEY?
Since the creation God has been looking for people who are obedient to him. Unfortunately the first parents Adam and Eve did not set a good example for us to follow. For a moment of pleasure and with a secret desire for power they have disobeyed God’s clear instructions. We all inherited Adam’s sin and as a result, obedience doesn’t come naturally to us. However, God requires obedience from his people. Only one thing that God expected from Israel was that, Deut 10:12 “And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” Therefore obedience to God is not optional but a requirement.

When we obey God it goes well with us, Micah 6:8 “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act, justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Obedience to God can keep us on a higher ground Deut 28:1 “If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. An individual learns to obey God fully, and then God can place that individual in a position of power and authority. Children begin to obey God he can make them leaders among their peers. Those who are working in government offices or companies obey God he can give them a promotion with a better pay scale. Business men honor God and keep the Sabbath rest he can bless their business. Why? What does obedience have to do with these blessings? When you obey God, you do the right thing, you don’t cheat your spouse, you work hard, you take good care of your body, you are honest in your business dealings, you honor God with your finances, and you are generous in giving.

II. HONORING AUTHORITY:
God gave the Ten Commandments to the Israelites and to the rest of mankind to obey them. The first four commandments relate particularly to our vertical love and respect for God and the rest of the six commandments relate to our horizontal love for people.
God has the supreme authority in our lives; He is the commander in chief therefore he commands our absolute obedience and loyalty, however there are human authority figures also to whom we should give our loyalty and obedience. Let’s look at what the Bible has to say regarding human authority figures such as the parents, government leaders, and spiritual leaders?

III. PARENTS THE FIRST AUTHORITY FIGURES:
Parents are the first authority figures in our lives therefore they are to be honored, respected and obeyed. The fifth commandment says, Exodus 20:12 “Honor your mother and your father so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.” Paul writes in Ephesians 6:1-3 “Children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right. Honor your father and mother which is the first commandment with a promise, that it may go well with you that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”

In the ancient Jewish culture and even today in some eastern cultures this honor and respect to parents is still intact. But in the post modern western society the fifth commandment is badly violated. While the bible teaches children to obey their parents many in our society say that we are to free children from parental authority. I wonder from where that thought came into practice? Michael G. Moriarty in his book “The perfect 10 talks about what might have contributed to this erosion. “Following Dr. Benjamin Spock’s essentially psychoanalytic model of parenthood, the child-rearing prophets of the 1970s and 1980s touted a new democracy in the home where children are accepted as equal partners in the affairs of the family.” Many have applied Benjamin Spock’s child raising methods and the effects have been detrimental to the society even till today. Children, until the time they reach the age of accountability are to obey their parents but honor must continue throughout their life.

Moriarty, explains how crucial it is for children to respect their parents, he notes, “Respect for authority starts in the family and will produce harmonious relationships in the home and in society. Respectful children are a “national Treasure.[1] There is a lot of truth in it. When respect, honor and love is practiced within the family first between the children and parents then it can be observed in the society. But ironically instead of children becoming a national treasure they are becoming national threat. Why is it that way? Why young people would like to rebel than to obey their parents? Who is teaching them to disregard parental authority? Who are brain washing our young people? Many songs on the market today send the message to young people that they should disobey and disrespect their elders, and they should be free to do whatever they like. For example, Britney Spear’s song on Rebellion: Listen to the lyrics:

Be wary of others The ones closest to you (oh)
The poison they feed you And the voodoo that they do,
But in rebellion There's a sparkle of truth
Don't just stand there
Do what you got to do
You'll find it in rebellion
Your body starts breathing
They're not believing what they're seeing 'Cause you're rebellion.[2]

If our teenagers constantly feed on this diet of rebellion through songs, music and movies what else can we expect of them other than rebellion against every form of authority? What has sown the seeds of rebellion in this nation which was primarily founded on Judeo- Christian principles? Do we recognize the moral decay in our culture? Or are we oblivious in thinking that everything is great? Who was to blame for this moral failure? Are we as evangelical Christians setting up a different biblical standard? Or are we going with the flow and let the culture control us instead of us controlling the culture? What does it take to reverse this trend? I am sure many of us do wrestle with these questions.

Francis Schaeffer who was recognized as one of the most influential Christian thinkers of the last century, in his book “The Great Evangelical Disaster” explains what caused this moral downfall and also offers a few suggestions on how to regain our ground as Evangelical Christians in this degrading society. Let me read a few thoughts from Schaeffer “Something happened during the past 60 to 80 years which cut the moral foundation out from under our culture. Devastating things have come in every area of culture whether it be law or government, whether it is in the schools, our local communities or in the family. Our culture has been squandered and lost, and largely thrown away.

In 1920’s one word dominated the society more than any other word that was “Freedom” It is the attempt to have absolute freedom to be totally autonomous from any intrinsic limits. It is the attempt to throw off anything that would restrain one’s own personal autonomy. But it is especially a direct and deliberate rebellion against God and his law. This rebellion was triggered through the so called Enlightenment. Schaeffer calls this the problem of “Form and Freedom” Both Form( structure, order, rules, regulations) and freedom are good in themselves, however the problem occurs when they go out of balance or any one of them is taken to the extreme. For example, freedom without a proper balance of form, will lead to chaos and the total breakdown of society. Form, without a proper balance of freedom will lead to authoritarianism, and to the destruction of individual and social freedom. But note further: No society can exist in a state of chaos.” Let me put in perspective how this plays out in our lives

My wife Wilma and I come from two uniquely distinct cultural backgrounds. Wilma grew up in a society and time where “Freedom” was increasingly valued and regard for structure and order was eroding. I grew up in an Asian culture with a lot of form but little freedom. Wilma from the age of 12 in pursuit of freedom kicked against every form of authority and went away from every known Biblical standard of living. I grew up in a very conservative, traditional Christian home not experiencing much of the outside free world. When we both encountered Christ in the course of time and started growing in our understanding of God and Scripture we started learning to appreciate Form and handle freedom. We saw the need to keep both “Form and Freedom’ in a proper balance. We submitted to the authority of Christ, and made His word as our standard for life and conduct not our cultures and upbringing.

So far we have talked a lot about honoring authority beginning with honoring and respecting the parental authority where our society has gone wrong in the first place. But there are other authorities God wants us to respect such as Government leaders and spiritual leaders. A few scriptures to help us understand the need to obey these authority figures in our lives.

IV. GOVERNMENT LEADERS:
The whole chapter in Romans 13 deals with our submission to authorities because there is no authority except which God has established. I Peter 2:13-14, “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right.” We not only learn to respect and submit those in authority but we also need to pray for them I Timothy 2:1-2 “I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone- for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.”

It is important that we pray for our president, senators, congressmen, police, mayors, governors, firemen, military officers and so on so that we can live peaceful lives. We pray that God will protect them and enable them to do the right thing. However when it comes to obeying certain governmental and spiritual leaders we must use discretion and caution. There are those who abuse power and authority to manipulate people. In such situations we need discernment to obey God rather than obeying men. Time doesn’t permit me to share many examples in the Bible and the church history where people obeyed God rather than obeying men even it meant death.

In the end, in the Old Testament we read specific rewards to obedience and consequences to disobedience. When we obey we will be blessed but when we disobey we will reap the consequences. I like the NASB translation in Deut 28:2 “And all these blessings shall come upon you and over take you, if you will obey the Lord your God.” That is the intention of God for us, he wants to pour out his blessings on us but it all depends on our obedience or lack of it. You may be thinking, well obedience is easier said than done; you talk about obedience as you had never struggled with it. The truth of the matter is every earnest Christian struggles against sin. In Hebrew 12:4 “In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: My son do not make light of the Lord’s discipline and do not loose heart when he rebukes you. Because the Lord disciplines those he loves and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.”

There is blessing and life in obedience; and there is curse and death in rebellion. Which one will you choose? Let our simple prayer be the prayer of David, Psalm 86:11 “Teach me your way, O LORD, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.”









[1] The Perfect 10 by Michael G. Moriarty Page 110
[2] http://www.metrolyrics.com/rebellion-lyrics-britney-spears.html