Choose to Obey
Autonomy is perhaps the most highly prized of all human aspirations. The word comes from two Greek roots: auto - meaning “self” and nomos meaning “custom” or “law.” The autonomous person lives by his or her own rules. Something in us rebels at obeying external rules, even if they are in our own best interest. We hate to bow to another’s wishes.
For the Christian, this presents a challenge which the apostle Paul addresses in Romans 6, where we read: “...reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.” (Romans 6:11-18)
Paul interrupts himself here, fully aware that the idea of slavery doesn’t appeal to anyone much whether you are a slave to sin or a slave to righteousness so he explains: “I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:19-23)
Today, I chose to include a longer quotation than usual because the last verse of the chapter offers us the two main motivators for obedience. First comes the threat of punishment “the wages of sin is death,” followed by the promise of reward, “the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Some people never move very far beyond obeying with the clenched-jaw attitude that springs from such obedience. They rob themselves of much joy because they can’t enter into the purpose of what they are doing. They simply see God as authoritative (on a bad day as authoritarian) and follow the teaching of the Bible as if it were “the official rule-book of life.” Strangely, to me at least, some of us are more comfortable with rules than relationship. For them, knowing the rules and following them whether or not they understand them or enjoy them provides a sense of security.
Typically, we like to see some direct personal benefit come from what we do and sometimes when we read God’s Word, we look for that. If we find a promise, we let that motivate us. This allows us to move beyond being merely motivated by the rule. If we don’t find a promise to serve as an incentive, and worse yet if we find that there may be some cost, something to give up or something we’d rather not do, we struggle. In the end, we obey grudgingly out of fear of some kind of punishment for breaking the rule. Occasionally, you bump into people who tell you they see God and His Word as authoritative in their life but then they choose to disobey. This makes no sense. If you really see something as authoritative, how can you disobey it? Chronic disobedience to what we understand God’s purposes to be suggests that, regardless of what we might say, we don’t really accept His lordship in our lives.
Regarding the choices we make concerning obedience to God, I’d say the worst choice is to disobey outright (whether or not we acknowledge our rebellion). A better choice is to obey simply as a matter of accepting the authority. We think, “I don’t like this, but I will obey because I have to.” We obey because we feel obligated. The best choice is to obey because we actively submit to God’s purposes, even when we don’t understand His ways.
This highlights something about God’s view of things. Rules, even the best rules can only affect the external aspects of behaviour. They demand the minimum and God wants more than the minimum from us. In the Old Testament, God laid down a clear indication of His purposes and repeatedly stated the consequences of obedience and disobedience. But for all that, what God really wanted was a relationship with His people. He wanted them to know Him and to act accordingly.
By the time Jesus came, the religious sect of the Pharisees had risen up. They scrupulously obeyed the law and totally missed the point. This happened because they were so focussed on the text, they neglected the author. They were so obsessed with identifying and keeping the rules, they missed the possibility of relationship. Today, Christians can fall into the same trap. Obedience is always better than disobedience, but even obedience is not enough.
Parents want their kids to be like them in the best ways, this is what God wants from us. He wants us to be like Him and do things for the reasons He does things. Obedience is not just a matter of gritting our teeth and obeying, although it is the place most of us start. When we choose to obey because it makes us more like the Lord Jesus, we take a giant step forward down the path toward spiritual maturity.
Ron Hughes
© May 2009
