Obedience may not be FUN, but it's FUNctional

"From the Minister's Study" Column, Sept.5/25 North Huron Citizen

Obedience is usually not fun – instead it can be very hard, having to make ourselves do what we may not want to do. Our selfish nature reacts at being told what to do. “We wants what we wants when we wants it!”

So, left to ourselves, we may become selfish, narcissistic, even abusive. After all, abuse is about power and control, taking advantage of others, perhaps manipulating them whether by falsehood or by force. We are polluted by selfish sin, impure, broken in our relationships. All have sinned and fall short of God’s glory. (Romans 3:23)

It's hard to submit to authority and do as we're told, to obey. But as everyone knows, the most important thing in Christianity is to be obedient, right? To keep the law – obey 100% and you'll be blessed, right? Uh - no; that would be Prosperity Gospel 101.

No? Then what is the most important thing in Christianity?

God commanded in Deuteronomy 6:4f, what’s known as the very famous “Shema” for Jews – “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” How much of our heart etc? All. Not just 30%, or 75%, or 95%... All!

Jesus focused on this when asked what was the most important commandment. “And he said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40) Note Jesus connects or associates loving others with loving God – because God commands us to love others. We can't love God yet hate our neighbour at the same time (1Jn. 4:20), because if we really love God we will obey Him: Jesus said, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word…” (Jn. 14:23f) If we love God, we will come to want what God wants, get on board with His agenda and priorities – get our jollies out of seeing God's caring Kingdom-community become lived out on earth as it is in heaven. (Recall opening lines of The Lord’s Prayer.) In fact Jesus went so far as to say pointedly: “This is My command – that you love one another.” (John 15:17, emphasis added)

There is a problem, though: our selfish pride gets in the way! How can we become better at loving others??!

There is a clue buried in 1Peter 1:22, which says: “Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.” Let’s unpack that.

Years ago there was an old marketing slogan: “Butter eaters make better lovers.” Catchy, memorable even, but not necessarily based on evidence. Does eating butter make you a better lover? No! Butter needs to go with something - bread, bun, popcorn… Butter by itself doesn’t make a satisfying meal (blechh!). When we're just thinking of our self, it’s “yuck”. We need to learn to get out of ourself, “it’s not about me”.

What truly makes better lovers? If not butter, what will help us become better at loving? Back to 1 Peter 1:22; note especially the connecting words “by” and “so that”. How do we purify our souls? By “obeying the truth”. 

To what end? So that we “have a sincere love for each other”. The word “sincere” means originally ‘without wax’ (to conceal cracks); by extension – whole, unpolluted, purified.

So, what is the function of obedience Peter is getting at? Is obedience simply an end in itself? More than just that – it's the key to becoming less selfish. Obeying God’s way forces us to do what we may not really want to do, trains us in discipline, it requires a little “death to self”. This ties in directly with another key teaching of Jesus: we cannot be His disciple unless – what? We deny our self, take up our cross daily, and follow (obey) Him. (Luke 9:23) 

In Psalm 32:9, God urges the Israelites to accept His instruction without resisting like a horse or mule that won't come without bit and bridle. On the farm, we have been rehabilitating a young pig someone brought us that fell off a stock truck, sustaining a broken jaw and hind leg in the process. “Babe” the pig in the morning fights the lead as I take her out to her pen, back and forth and sideways, straining against it on her hind legs. But in the evening, going back into the barn and her food dish there, no leash is required: she runs straight as an arrow into the barn for her supper. She is completely on board with the Master's will, she obediently identifies with my purpose. 

Elisabeth Elliot tells the story of when she and her brother Tom were small children. Their mother would let Tom play with paper bags that she had saved as long as he put them away afterwards. One day she walked into the kitchen to find them strewn all over the floor.

Tom was in another room at the piano with his father singing hymns. When their mother called him to the kitchen to tidy up, he protested, "But Mum, I want to sing ‘Jesus loves me, this I know’."

His father, seated next to him, backed up the boy’s mother by saying: “It's no good singing God's praise if you're disobedient. To obey is better than sacrifice."

To recap… do “butter eaters make better lovers”? NO! What makes a better lover? Obedience. It’s the training ground for truly loving God and others. Obedience may not be FUN, but it's FUNctional.