A man, bragging on his dog, said, "He's a fine dog. He's so smart, and obedient, too. Why, all I have to do is tell him what to do and he either does it, or he doesn't!" The gospel's success or failure all hinges upon our acceptance or rejection of the word "Obedience."
If we truly have faith, we will obey God. Obedience implies that we are not independent, that we are accountable to another, that we do have someone over us, that there is higher authority than ourselves.
In a world where we are taught that it is our "right" to do "our own thing," "be our own person," do it because it "feels good" - we find that God expects us to lay all that aside and obey him! Just how radical can you be?
Naturally we all conform to others when we must. We won't speed too much above the limit lest we get caught and have to pay a fine, we won't lie, steal, and cheat unless we can get by with it. But give us a chance and we give ourselves permission to do as we please. A television commercial advertising for Burger King encourages the same kind of disobedience by saying, "Sometimes you've gotta break the rules!" After all, rules are made to be broken. The truth is, for many folks, obedience is an ugly word. We don't like it and will only put up with it if we have to. So, when we are foced into it, we give token obedience to parents, bosses, the law, the "higher authorities," but willing obedience is a rarity. After all, who wants to conform to someone else's ideas, commands, orders? Children can hardly wait to come "of age," so they can do as they please. Wives plead for equality which will free them from submission to husbands. We long for promotions in the work force, then we will give the orders and show "how it ought to be done."
A woman asked her pastor. "Will you please tell me what your idea of obedience is?" Holding out a blank sheet of paper, the pastor replied, "It is to sign your name at the bottom of the blank sheet, and let God fill it in as God wills." He was right. Obedience is to bow to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. You cannot make Christ the king of your life until you abdicate. Kierkegaard claims, "To be fully obedient we must hold onto nothing, and surrender ourselves totally to the promptings of God's Spirit."
This total, absolute, and willing obedience becomes the crucial and critical issue in this text. The fuller narrative is an account of some of the events which took place in the beginnings of the new church which was brought into being after the resurrection of Jesus. You will note that the history of the early Christian church is rife with solid evidence that wherever the obedient disciples went they were sure to find three things - always these three things: and the first is ...
They Had Power
Our first glimpse of the apostles (we are not told how many, or which ones specifically, but they seem to be led by Peter) finds them busy at doing exactly what God had told them to do and great and powerful events followed in their train. They were teaching and preaching in the name of Jesus. They performed miracles in Jesus' name. They healed the sick in Jesus' name. They exorcised evil spirits in Jesus' name. Even the dead came to life! All very powerful results followed their obedience.
A man asked his friend to come to a revival. His little girl, overhearing the invitation, asked, "Daddy, what's a revival?" He said, "Let's go look it up in the dictionary." They found that it said, "To bring to life again." The child began to jump up and down in excitement and said, "Oh, goody! Daddy, let's go! We'll get to see some dead people raised!" I wonder if that would not be the actual fact if more of us gave full obedience to God during periods of revival?
The obedient commitment, arising out of the apostles' conviction about Christ, resulted in marvelous things in their ministry. They were fully aware that they did not go it alone, they recognized the Holy Spirit as their colleague, the One who worked with them. The record reads, "And so is also the Holy Spirit, whom God hath given to them that obey him." You see, the witness we make for Christ is always a mutual witness. I cannot be a witness without the help of the Holy Spirit. And the Spirit, in turn, limits himself, for he will not be a witness except through you and me - obedient disciples of his. It has to be by cooperation. Absolute obedience on our part is a necessity. If we find we are powerless disciples, could it be that we are trying to do it all alone? Your witness and my witness, by itself, is never enough, but our witness cannot fail if it be the Holy Spirit witnessing in and through us with his mighty power. When God is at work in obedient men and women you can count on it - you will have power, but you will also find the second of the three things I mentioned earlier.
They Had Trouble
Just because we are obedient, that of itself is no indication that God is insulating us against the hard knocks of life. Everything is not always rosy. Reminds me of the Irish comedian, Hal Roach. He told of a doctor who came into the hospital and said to his patient, "We have bad news and very bad news for you. The bad news is that you only have 24 hours to live." The patient inquired, "What is the very bad news?" The doctor replied, "We should have told you yesterday."
It's not always that difficult, but anyone who decides to be fully obedient to the gospel mandate may as well know there will be some trouble. The devil will see to it. You can't invade his territory without a terrible fight from him. The name of Christ and the God of this world have always been - and always will be - at odds with each other. There is a real power of evil, and evil will not easily submit to the power of God invading his domain, certainly not without a fight!
The jealousy of the high priest and his associates who were members of the Sanhedrin prompted them to have the apostles arrested and jailed for teaching and preaching in the name of Jesus. When they were brought before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest, he said, "We gave you strict orders not to teach in this Name, yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching."
The conflict of authority now begins. Peter and the apostles answered their accusers with irrefutable logic, "We ought to obey God rather than men." In other words, "You told us not to preach in this Name, the Spirit told us to preach in this Name, so, who is the higher authority? What possible option did we have, to obey God or you? The angel of God said, 'Speak!' The rulers of the city said, 'Speak not!' " The powers that be are ordained of God, and generally it is our Christian duty to obey them; but there may be times when the higher authority of our God demands obedience in defiance of lesser human authorities. "We must obey God," they said. That was their commitment, and should be ours. We must! After all, who were Annas and Caiaphas, and the whole lot of all those impressive dignitaries, to men whom Christ had bidden to speak and to whom he had given the Spirit of the Father to speak in and through them?
The apostles were not anti-authority, they understood obedience to those in power, they were not stupid; but the pivotal issue was whosç authority? Obedience to whom? And for them, God had the final word. God was the supreme authority. They would gladly bow to human authority until it clashed with divine authority, and then the choice must be God.
So, now they are in trouble, and will get in yet more trouble, for the Sanhedrin were not too happy with Peter's reason for obeying God. He said, "You killed Jesus by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him from the dead." What marvelous convictions Peter had! The Jesus whom they killed by crucifixion is risen, is ascended, is reigning, and is saving. What a word for days such as these! Our Savior, whom governments ignore, whom the media ignores or casts aspersions upon, whom many disdain, is on the throne of the universe in glory; "Him hath God exalted to his right hand to be Ruler." What glorious good news we have; from that throne he saves repentant sinners. His sovereign gift is salvation, "To give repentance and forgiveness of sins." And praise be his name, the risen Lord still has authority on earth to forgive sins! And only he can!
But this good news is not accepted as good news by everyone. These men were furious and wanted to have the apostles put to death. Why wouldn't they? They killed Jesus, now they'll kill his followers. Yes, we'll have some problems if we walk with obedience to our Lord. Not everyone will like us and talk about how nice we are. Sometimes, in spite of all we can do, things will go awry. Where did we ever get the distorted notion that we, as Christians, have a right for things to always go well for us? Why would we expect life to be a bed of roses without thorns, why would we expect to have no sickness or pain for ourselves or our loved ones, why expect that those who are dear and near to us will never die, why would we expect no burglars would ever steal our property, why would we expect to have no insoluble problems? We can't expect everyone to laud and love and accept and understand us. We can't expect affirmation for all our actions, even when they were motivated by love and obedience.
It didn't happen to those early disciples, and it won't happen to us. But wait! An advocate for these men came from an unexpected qurter. Gamaliel, a Pharisee, a teacher of the law, spoke up and addressed the court and said, "I advise you to leave these men alone. Let them go. If their purpose and activity is of human origin it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men, you will only find yourselves fighting against God." Did you get that? Even Gamaliel realized that you can't stop men and women who are obeying God!
Gamaliel's logic prevailed, and so the court had the apostles flogged (beaten with the Jewish penalty of "40 stripes save one"), and after they had received the 39 lashes of terrible beating (the Sanhedrin just couldn't resist one further show of their authority), they ordered them to speak no more in the Name of Jesus, and let them go free. (What an utterly wasted warning to men who were fully committed to obedience to God!)
If we are tempted to feel pretty "holy and self-righteous" in our attempts at full obedience, we might do well to know that things can still occasionally go wrong. I like the story that is told of the nearly 500 passengers who were seated in the California Bullet Train as the inaugural journey got underway. As the train left San Francisco and began speeding through tunnels and over bridges along the San Andreas fault, an assuring voice came over the public address system: "Ladies and gentlemen; there is no crew on this train, but there is nothing to worry about. This entire system is fully computerized and automated, it represents the latest developments in modern technology. You will be transported to southern California at speeds in excess of 200 miles per hour in perfect safety. Every single operation has been tested, re-tested, and tested again. Be assured that there is not the slightest chance that anything can go wrong ... can go wrong ... go wrong ... go wrongwrong ... wrong ..." Yes, sometimes things will go wrong, and you may well pay some pretty high prices to be obedient to God. But, before I make it sound too difficult, and before I talk you out of this required obedience, let me remind you of the other certainty of obedience. Always with the promised power and the possible trouble, you will find ...
They Had Joy!
When the apostles had been arrested and jailed, an amazing thing happened. The angel of the Lord came and opened the prison doors for them that night, and encouraged them to "Go and tell the full message of this new life." Had they had no troubles, there would have been no angel! And so, now free men, they start again to preach at daybreak. It must be that when an angel sets you free from jail you want to get an early start on whatever it is you are told to do! So, daybreak finds them obeying again.
The very idea of persecution makes most of us shudder, but Christ disagreed. Persecution is a priceless privilege that should make us leap for joy when it is done for righteousness' sake (Luke 6:22-23). Somewhere along the way we have felt the constant need to be on a happy high all the time. Don't forget that Christians are not the only ones who are happy. For some people, things make them happy; a new home, new car, boat, jewelry, prestige, and power. We Christians are never promised happiness, but rather joy. Joy is that inner delight, that quiet satisfaction that abundance of possessions or lack of them, that praise of others or lack of it, does not affect.
If we remember that the Holy Spirit is given to those who are obedient, and that one of the evidences of his presence is joy, then we know that the outer facts, be they good or evil, cannot interrupt nor destroy Christian joy.
A delightful story is told in The Little Flowers of St. Francis about Francis teaching Brother Leo the meaning of perfect joy. As the two walked together in the rain and bitter cold, Francis reminded Leo of all the things that the world, including the religious world, believed would bring joy, adding each time, "Perfect joy is not like that." Finally, in exasperation Brother Leo asked, "I beg you in God's name to tell me where perfect joy is!" Whereupon Francis began enumerating the most humiliating, self-abasing things he could imagine, adding each time, "O Brother Leo, write that perfect joy is there." These words are hard for us to deal with today, and yet, it is said that it was not until St. Francis gave himself up to God, silver and soul, that he started singing and dancing in the streets. Christian joy is really never complete until we surrender ourselves unconditionally to obeying God.
When the apostles left the court, were they weeping and groaning and crying with pain from the flogging they had received? No. Were they grumbling that God had let them down when what they were doing was his will? No. Did they bow, then, to the threats of the Sanhedrin and cease their preaching? No. They left the court rejoicing - that's right, rejoicing - because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. Does that not make us feel shameful when we have been silent lest we be laughed at, or called demented, or labeled as religious radicals? Day after day the apostles went from house to house and in the courts; they never stopped teaching and preaching the good news that Jesus is the Christ. If the church of today could get back to that kind of obedience, there would again be record numbers coming to own Christ as Lord, people would repent of their sins and believe and be baptized, and the kingdom would expand - but the bottom line is always obedience.
The kind of irrepressible joy which the apostles had has been experienced by others who have known also the commitment of obedience, have felt the power, have endured the trouble, and found the joy. History records that the apostle John, who led Polycarp to Christ, had warned him that suffering might follow, but as the years passed, Polycarp managed to escape serious persecution. He became bishop of Smyrna, and he became the leading Christian figure in Asia. But at 86 years of age, a Roman proconsul ordered some Christians thrown to the lions to provide amusement, and decided to include Polycarp. The crowd exploded with shouts and calls when they saw him led into the area. "Curse Christ!" the proconsul ordered, and Polycarp's reply was eloquent in its simplicity. "Eighty-six years I have served him, and he never did me wrong. How can I blaspheme my King, who saved me?" And he died at the stake, one of the early Christian martyrs, but with joy in his soul.
It was certainly not a life without struggle and trouble and persecution for Martin Luther, but his life of obedience is one of great joy. John Wesley, for all of his struggles, his being misunderstood by the church he loved, after living a life of zeal and fervor, died, saying, "Best of all, God is with us."
My own mother's Christian journey was an example of all I've said here. She was poor most of her life, she brought 10 children into the world, she knew cold, hunger, poverty, exhaustion, and finally, after suffering a long time, succumbed to cancer. But she lived one of the most victorious, vibrant, Christian examples I have known. In spite of all the pain and struggle she had a joy that could not be extinguished by outer circumstances. She sang the great hymns of the church and the gospel songs almost constantly. I recall one evening when she was preparing the evening meal, dad was also in the kitchen, trying to read the evening paper, and mother kept interrupting him by talking to him. Finally, tired of the intrusion on his concentration, dad said, "Janie, I wish you'd be quiet! I'm trying to think." Mother didn't say a word in return, for she really was sorry to have bothered him. But with her next breath, without malice or intent, she broke into singing, for that's what she did most of the time anyway. Somehow it was hilariously appropriate that she inadvertently chose the lines from the hymn, "Redeemed," which says, "I think of my blessed Redeemer, I think of him all the day long, I sing for I cannot be silent, His love is the theme of my song." Yes, I've known her in lots of trouble, but never without that spark of joy that springs up eternally in the heart that walks in faith and obedience.
Obedience Is The Key
Is there anything we Christians of today need more than an uncompromising, unreserved, continuous obedience to our Lord? This is one of the conditions of being filled with the Holy Spirit. Would you know this mighty power of love mastering you, using you, sustaining you, and glorifying Christ through you? Then obey! Obey! Maybe obedience is not such an ugly word after all!