Our Wednesday night New Year’s lock-in was a wonderful experience. This was the best way to bring in the New Year I have ever experienced! The last few years I have tried to be in bed by 10:00 p.m. and dream in the new year. The very last thing I care to do is watch a two ton ball of lights be lowered into a mob of partiers. Maybe I’m just shallow, but I’ve never quite grasped the significance of that one. But, what happened here this past New Year had eternal significance. And I wish such things could happen every night! There were about 60 of us, counting adults. God moved all of our hearts through a devotional the David Proctor lead us in. He and Debbie wrote 50 brief statements about Jesus on address labels and handed one out to every one of the youth that were here and a couple of us adults. He also gave us all a Dixie cup and a glow stick that glows when you bend it and break the little capsule inside. All the lights were turned out and after a few songs David talked about a world in darkness and how Jesus is the light of the world. Then we all bent our glow sticks and the whole assembly filled with light. David told us that when we follow Jesus, others can see the light in our lives. Everyone read the statement of faith from the labels we all had and talked about their meaning. At his conclusion he invited anyone who was ready to respond to Christ to let it be known. Right afterward Elon, who has been thinking about this for some time, and discussing it with her parents made her decision to follow Jesus Christ and be baptized for remission of sins. All of us gathered to witness and celebrate her baptism into Christ.
After that Seth and Anna Noreman, Stacy Laman’s nephew and niece wanted to be baptized as well. They called and their mom and dad and sister came with Coy, Jan, and Stacy and they were here to see Seth and Anna baptized into Christ as well. The lights that came down here at midnight brought about a celebration in heaven itself! I was never so thankful to be awake that late, (or early) on New Years!
What a great thing for parents and children to do together! This was a time of blessing for all of us.
Today is the first Sunday of 2009. We begin this year in the New Testament book of Romans. It is very significant that Romans begins and ends this letter talking about the “obedience of faith.” Look at Romans 1: niv5 Through him and for his name’s sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith.
nkjv5 Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name,
nasb5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles, for His name’s sake,
nlt5 Through Christ, God has given us the privilege and authority to tell Gentiles everywhere what God has done for them, so that they will believe and obey him, bringing glory to his name.
Now look at chapter 16:
nasb26 but now is manifested, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to all the nations, leading to obedience of faith;
kjv26 But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith:
nkjv26 but now has been made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures has been made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the faith;
niv26 but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him—
The problem here is how to understand the relationship between faith and obedience. This problem has plagued Christian thinkers for a long time now. Romans leans heavily on the faith side of the equation. But properly understood, obedience that comes from faith also proves the genuineness of that faith and is inseparable from it. To divorce faith and obedience is to deny the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is rooted in the obedient faith of Jesus himself. The gospel which is God’s power to save us, reveals a righteousness that is by faith.
The words translated obey or obedience occur 11 times in Romans, the words translated believe or faith occur 60 times. Interesting to me is that the words for faith stop abruptly at Romans 5:2 and do not pick up again until Romans 9:30. In the very heart of Romans, in chapter 6 the words for obedience occur five times. Let me just read the chapter… (read it).
The obedience of faith centers on the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That would be Jesus’ obedience. And a direct connection between Jesus’ obedience of faith and our obedience of faith is our baptism into Jesus Christ. This is the starting point of discipleship. Just as Jesus was baptized to fulfill all righteousness, so we are baptized into Jesus Christ to receive His righteousness. Just as Jesus died on the cross for our sins, we enter his death through baptism and are cleansed by his blood that was shed for us there. Just as Jesus was buried in the tomb, even so we, by baptism, through faith in his completed work are buried with him. Just as Jesus was raised from the grave on that third day, so we also are raised with him from the waters of baptism to walk in newness of life. While the word faith never appears in Romans 6, the gospel of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection take center stage. I would argue that this is the very heart of our faith.
Baptism is found at the beginning of the Christian life, where we enter a covenant with Jesus Christ, reenacting his death, burial and resurrection and receiving the benefits of what Jesus accomplished for us there. The journey of faith and obedience that we begin there leads us through the rest of our days and into eternal life with Jesus Christ. It is a new life, free from sin and actively walking in the obedience of faith.
The Christian life is the very highest and best life. It is new life free in Christ. Life in God’s grace that is not under the curse of the Law. It is Holy Spirit empowered life that enjoys resurrection victory. The Christian life is lived in the obedience of faith.
What do you call a faith that does not obey? Dead. Obedient faith is living and powerful through the working of God within us. It is not of ourselves, it is the gift of God.
How do I know that I am saved by the grace of God in Christ? By walking in the Spirit and being led by Him, I have assurance of the obedience of faith. I’m not talking about a religious charade where I make church part of my weekly plan so that I can punch my time card to get fire insurance. The obedience of faith is not about working your way to heaven or at maybe working your way out of hell. The obedience of faith is the Christian response to the grace of God given through Jesus’ death on the cross. It is a love relationship between us and our Creator, our Savior, our Lord. Yes, there is a compelling motivation of faith and holy fear in this too. But these are Spirit led and Spirit filled motives or they are not of Christ.
There is a story in the Old Testament of king Saul and his failure to have faith. He could sound religious, but in his heart he was not a man of faith at all.
He demonstrated his lack of faith by his disobedience to God. God rejected Saul, not because of the horrendous nature of his disobedience – David’s sins later were worse – but by his persistent unbelief. God considered this worse than David’s crimes.
The story is in 1 Samuel 15. Listen to Saul’s religious talk even after he disobeys God’s word. (Read verses 1-21)
Do you hear what Saul is saying? Can you see his attitude here? How would you describe his faith? Where does he put his trust? In God or in himself? Did you notice the pride and then the excuses? Saul seems to think he will be honored for his actions!!! He seems to think that he can do what He wants and please God. Oh, he gives a show of obeying and religious talk, but where is the obedience of faith? Where is the respectful relationship to God? Where is the honor of God’s Word in his life?
Saul says, “I did obey! I went on the mission and brought back their king. The soldiers took the best of the livestock to offer as a sacrifice to the Lord!”
Listen to Samuel’s reply…
1 Samuel 15:22 And Samuel said, "Has the LORD as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams.
23 "For rebellion is as the sin of divination, And insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He has also rejected you from being king."
What follows looks like a confession and repentance from Saul, but it doesn’t last. Saul, instead of heeding the rebuke of the Lord, and humbling himself to accept God’s discipline actually tries to destroy David who God anoints to replace him.
We need more than religious noises, we need the obedience of faith.
We need more than apologies for sins, we need humility of heart that accepts God’s judgments against sin.
The obedience of faith comes from an attraction to God. It comes from a humble response to the gospel of God’s grace. It agrees with God’s judgment against sin and recoils from sin. It accepts the leading of the Holy Spirit and embraces the saving work of Jesus Christ in his death, burial and resurrection.
The obedience of faith is empowered by the Holy Spirit to victorious Christian living.
God is calling all of us through the gospel of Jesus Christ to the obedience of faith.
