The Western Church is suffering from a severe lack of disciplined obedience to Jesus. (Sorry to set such a serious tone for this post so quickly). I know, saying that gives this post up to have a legalistic, religious bent.
But let us consider all the verses that set the standard for our obedience:
- You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Jesus, Matt 5:48)
- Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord,Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. (Jesus, Matt 7:21)
- If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. (Jesus, John 15:10)
- Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord (Heb 12:14)
- So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. (James 4:17)
- As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:14-16)
The list is almost endless so I’ll stop there. When you look at how clearly Jesus and the apostles state the necessity of obedience in the Christian life, don’t walk away too quickly. We haven’t even examined specific commands and what our lives are supposed to look like in light of them.
Seeing how I’m not pulling too many punches in this post, I want to throw another one out there. Was your first response to those six verses is to give up or try to convince yourself they didn’t really mean that absolutely perfection is the expectation? If so,consider this: how low of a view do you have of Jesus? Not, “how high?” If you had a high view of Jesus, those expectations would be completely reasonable.
You must have a poor vision of Jesus. Maybe you just view Jesus as your “homeboy” (or you used to until you finally realized just how corny that sounds, but the mindset behind the title still lingers). Yes, Jesus calls us his friends (John 15:14-15), but believe it or not that friendship is conditional based on (can you guess?) “if you do what I command.” (15:14)
Don’t we realize who Jesus is? “He [God] raised him [Jesus] from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.” (Eph 1:20-21) “Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead.” (1 Tim 4:1)
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning and the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.” (Col 1:15-23)
“…Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Phil 2:6-11)
God’s Word has so much to say about the nature, character, and attributes of Jesus and it never paints a picture of a small Jesus. It inspire awe. It attributes a single, undivided worth to Jesus as the sole center of our worship and lives. This is not a Jesus to take lightly or trifle with.
When we talk about the gospel, the good news that Jesus became the perfect sacrifice to remove the sins of the world and reconcile a people back to God, and rising from the dead, we can’t forget the Jesus who did that. The gospel lacks so much power when we forget who Jesus is. As Lord and Judge of the universe, God lowered himself to the level of human, and didn’t even allow himself any earthly comforts, but became the lowliest of servants and set his life’s course towards a torturous death. All this to put his mercy and justice on display. And his resurrection, the evidence of his Lordship.
Now, we hold fast to the truth that he is reigning over all creation. Nothing happens that he is unaware of. Nothing is outside of his control. He wisely distributes gifts to each member of his church so that they can accomplish his mission on the earth. (Rom 12:6, Matt 25:14-30; 28:18-29) One day his mission will be complete and “then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and everything authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” ( 1 Cor 15:24-26)
Jesus has proven that he is worthy of our complete obedience. So when perfection, holiness, and a sinless life are expected of us, there shouldn’t be a burdening sense of duty, obligation or worse-sounding still, religious obligation. There should be a joy-filled sense of longing to live up to the standard set before us. This joy gives us the strength to strive for excellence that is pleasing to the God we serve.
I titled this post, “Motivation for Following Jesus.” Hopefully you can see my goal is to show Jesus himself is our motivation for following Jesus.
“Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.” (Heb 12:1-3)
Curtis
In today’s podcast we’re moving on to the next characters in the line of Hero’s in the Hall of Faith, Isaac and Jacob. As always, we discover so much about the attributes and nature of God. Some of the tough questions that Jacob’s story draws out are: Why did Jacob, the younger son and a deceiver, receive Isaac’s blessing? What does this tell us about God’s character? and should we, like Jacob, wrestle with God?
Three Semi-Wisemen 