How Obedient Are You?
Obedience, here is a word that is more commonly associated with the lifestyle training of dogs than it is of people.
The dictionary defines obedience as
1. act of obeying: the action or condition of obeying authority
2. CHRISTIANITY church’s rule: the religious authority of a church or of a priest or other member of the clergy, or the people who are under this authority
If you sign a treaty, agreeing to its terms, fulfilling the conditions of the treaty makes one obedient, voiding the treaty such as just done with the nuclear disarmament treaty with North Korea is just one of many governmental violations of obedience.
There are instances of obeying the higher authority of God over the civil or criminal authority of man. Those type of violations are the exception, not the norm.
We have a societal breakdown caused by disobedience. There is a growing lack of respect for authority which will lead us on the road to chaos. A growing number of people prefer to do what is right in their own eyes, and for their own good without looking at the bigger picture. The solution is to make a simple choice, the choice of obedience.
The Scripture we are reading today covers it well. Obedience is a choice. We can choose to obey or we can chose to disobey. Our choice comes with consequences which has always been the case throughout history.
Matthew 3:13-17 gives us some powerful examples of choosing obedience. There are four things I want us to highlight today.
I. Seek to see the Big Picture
Look at verses 13, 14: 13Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John to be baptized by him. 14But John protested strenuously, having in mind to prevent Him, saying, It is I who have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?
Can you get a picture of this in your mind. John has been standing in the water telling people they need to repent and be baptized. Jesus, walking down the hillside walks down into the water with John and asks to be baptized. The scene must have been classic. Matthew gives us enough of a glimpse so the amplified Bible translates it as John protesting strenuously. To such a degree that everything John has told everyone else to do he is not will to have Jesus do. It says John had in mind preventing him from being baptized. Can you see it?
It is not that John’s thought process is wrong. He said he had need to be baptized by Jesus. He just didn’t see the bigger picture. Jesus came as a demonstration of how we should live our lives. As part of that demonstration he modeled the bigger picture.
Each of us have different gifts and talents. They cause us to focus on what we have and what we are doing with them oftentimes at the exclusion of others gifts and talents. All because we see the picture around us not the bigger picture of our function. As a result, we find ourselves strenuously protesting things which don’t fit into our area of expertise. When we are challenged by our thoughts or inactions, we, like John, try to prevent kingdom building from taking place.
We need to ask, what is it we have been strenuously protesting and why? Get a big picture perspective and see how your protest fits in.
We also need to understand…
II. Obedience may not always be popular.
Verse 15: 15But Jesus replied to him, Permit it just now; for this is the fitting way for [both of] us to fulfill all righteousness [that is, to perform completely whatever is right]. Then he permitted Him.
Jesus said, permit it just now, perform completely whatever is right, even though it may not be the popular opinion. We know John was of the opinion to say no, you have this backwards. Jesus said permit it, do it now, and then see what I have planned.
You need to use common sense. Don’t be like the manager of Bob’s Famous Ice Cream Parlor in Bethesda, Maryland. They were about to be robbed but manager Nathan Peabody was warned in time. By telephone: "Are you the manager? Listen carefully. This is the police. You are going to be robbed. Do NOT resist. Let the robber have your money. Our police will be waiting for him right outside your store and we need to catch him with the money on him. Thank you for your cooperation." Mr. Peabody cooperated. A man with a scruffy beard and a knife came in and demanded money. Mr. Peabody emptied the cash register and gave it to him. The bearded man with the knife took the money and left the store and kept going and going and going. THEN Mr. Peabody called the police and said, "I have been had!"
You have to know the source, the object of your obedience. John knew Jesus, that’s why he saw the need in own life. Because of that knowledge, he was able to be obedient to Jesus request.
When we are obedient something else happens. We need to…
III. Allow obedience to open our spiritual eyes.
Verse 17 16And when Jesus was baptized, He went up at once out of the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he [John] saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on Him.
I wonder how much we miss when we have our eyes closed to what God wants to do. If John had not been obedient, he would have missed seeing the Spirit of God descending like a dove on Jesus. It would not have had that memory to cherish when things later got tough for him as he was imprisoned and eventually beheaded for being obedient to Christ.
Last summer, the “in” place to eat in Paris was a basement restaurant called Gout du Noir. The small eatery drew long lines even though people barely tasted the food, couldn’t see their dinner companions, couldn’t even see their surroundings. Gout du Noir (“a taste of darkness”) served its meals in pitch blackness in order to give sighted people an experience of blindness.
In a reverse sense, we are much like the diners ar Gout du Noir, blind because we have not allowed God the opportunity to give us sight because of a lack of obedience in our lives. We think we see but or natural sight is but darkness compared to the spiritual sight and events taking place around us.
Wouldn’t you like to see like John? You can. Take a simple step of obedience. Walk out of the darkness into His marvelous light. And when you do…
IV. Realize Obedience Pleases God
Verse 17 And behold, a voice from heaven said, This is My Son, My Beloved, in Whom I delight!
God is not against you. In fact, God loves you and wants the best for you. The Bible gives the account of three people who were entrusted by God with a certain amount of talents and the eventual outcome of their obedience, their faithfulness to what they have been entrusted with. We are going to look at this later in our study of Matthew. I want to draw once verse from the passage in Matthew 25. Verse 23 records this of the obedient, faithful servant of God. His lord said unto him, `Well done, good and faithful servant. Thou hast been faithful over a few things; I will make thee ruler over many things. Enter thou into the joy of thy lord.’
The Bible informs us as believers we are all sons and daughters of God, those who have been adopted through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. John the Baptist had his role to play in his obedience to the call of God on his life, and the sharing of Jesus Christ’s ministry. We today have our part to fulfill as well.
The reason the church doesn’t accomplish what it could is we look to what we don’t have instead of what we have. John had his hands, his words, and a river of water to perform the function of God.
Let me begin to close by telling you this football story from December 1977. The Arkansas Razorbacks, coached by Lou Holtz, were preparing to play the Oklahoma Sooners in the Orange Bowl. Because of recent suspensions on the Razorback team (and the resulting dissension among players) Arkansas had become a 24 point underdog.
The negative press took its effect on the players as they prepared for the game; it was evident in the way they practiced. They were listless and unfocused, completely lacking confidence.
Holtz called the team together for a meeting. As the players sat slumped in the chairs, staring at the floor he told them: "Just because the press is writing our obituary doesn’t mean that we have to die. We’ve read all the reasons why we can’t win; I want to hear why can."
The players sat silent. Nobody offered an opinion. Holtz told them plainly, "We’re not leaving this meeting until I get some answers."
Slowly the players began speaking up: Even though they had lost some key offensive players, the defense was still intact; they still had the best place-kicker in the country; they had a great quarterback, and on and on. The more the players talked about why they could win, the more their confidence soared, and the more their outlook changed.
If you’re a football fan, you know what happened a few days later. The Razorbacks pulled off one of the greatest upsets in bowl history, beating Oklahoma 31-6.
Holtz said, "We won that game the moment our players focused on what we had instead of what we lacked."
Moses faced a similar situation when God called him to lead the people of Israel out of slavery. Moses’ response was "What if they don’t listen to me?" God’s response was "What do you have?"
Then the Lord said to him, "What is that in your hand?" (Exodus 4:2)
What Moses had was a rod. But it was more than a rod; it symbolized the power of God, and it was all Moses needed. That rod taught Moses not to look at what he had lacked, but look at what he had: the power of God in his life.
What do you have? Along with your talent and your determination, you can list the power of God among your assets. And needless to say, it goes at the top of the list.
Whatever challenges you are facing — whatever seemingly insurmountable odds — remember that the key to victory is focusing on what you have, not on what you lack (Steve Mays…One Minute Message…www.sermonnotes.com)
It is a matter of being obedient with what God has placed in our hands and as we do with that, more will come.
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