On Obedience

It was not until college that I discovered the gospel of God's radical grace, flipping my view of Christianity upside-down, finally realizing that a walk with Christ was not a checklist of things to do in order to earn approval. It was an incredibly freeing reality.

In more recent years, that incredible love that God lavishes on us at times grew a bit stale. It didn't become any less true in my life, but it didn't capture my attention or bring me to rejoicing like it used to. It was just another bullet point in a list of commonplace bits of doctrine.

As I recently started delving into the book of First Peter, these words caught my eye: "...you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy..." They caught my eye mostly because they aren't exactly true of my life. When I had first discovered grace, sure, I was quite often filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy. But nowadays I'm not so sure that's the first way most people would characterize me. (No, usually when people address you as 'Eeyore' they're implying something else entirely.)

But two nights ago I was asked to share my story of faith with a group of believers. It was truly good to reflect on my walk with Christ. There are many things about it that concern me to this day for a variety of reasons, but aside from that, rehashing this story and sharing it with others brought God's radical grace to the forefront again, and all at once it was new and fresh and powerful and meaningful.

When Erica commented on my upbeatness later that night, I recognized it as inexpressible and glorious joy. And I thanked God.

In recent months and years then, perhaps partially in a reaction to checklist Christianity, I've insisted that a relationship with Christ is much less about doing things and much more about experiencing God, getting to know him, having fellowship with him, thinking about him. See this post for example.

There is a large amount of truth to this, I believe, but I was challenged in another direction recently. On family vacation, Wesley was reading and relaying some thoughts from Bonhoeffer's Cost of Discipleship. He talked about how we need to teach obedience just as much as belief, and that Christ himself gave instructions for obedience to so many people before telling them to simply believe. For example, when the rich young ruler asks what to do to be saved, Christ tells him exactly what to do, and the man cannot bring himself to comply.

It's a lot easier to sit around talking about what you believe than it is to get up and obey. And as many parts of the Bible point out, including James, if you're not making progress in obedience, then your conversion is probably not an authentic one. The important distinction is this: we are not saved by obedience, which would usurp Christ's sacrifice and God's grace. Instead, our obedience is the response to and outpouring of our dependence on God's grace.

Furthermore, teaching obedience will often drive us back to reliance on God's grace, after realizing how hard the act can be on our own strength.

So, I'm afraid I'm putting too much emphasis on belief and not enough on obedience these days. There's a lack of balance. And this is where Peter comes back to mind...

Just before mentioning that inexpressible and glorious joy, Peter mentions that we are chosen according to the knowledge of the Father, through the work of the Holy Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ. We are saved for obedience. Wow. If that's the purpose of my salvation, then I better get my butt in gear...with the Spirit's help, of course. And if you don't believe Peter, take it from Paul, who in one breath says we are not saved by works, and in the very next breath says that we were created to do good works.

Now, there's plenty of careful unpacking to do in these concepts in order to get things in the right order and not put the cart before the horse. Suffice it to say here that, in total dependence on the help of the Spirit and the grace of God, there absolutely must be some obedience visible in our Christian lives.

Another verse in Peter's first hard-hitting chapter catches my eye:

"Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart."

Peter seems to make a distinction between the thought of love and the action of love. We know the truth and we lovingly see the people around us as image-bearers of God deserving of our compassion and service. Good. Now go out and do it, he says. You have love for them; now go and actually love them.

For me, someone so strapped down by timidity and always so hesitant to act, this verse motivates, speaking directly to me. Ironic timing, too, as just a few weeks back in a discussion of my spiritual gifts, I decided I in some ways have the gift of mercy, but too often it's limited to feeling mercy and not doing mercy. Peter's exhortation tells me maybe I'm not the only one in that boat.

May the fruit of the Spirit characterize our lives this summer, making us obedient servants of Christ.

(Sorry for the length, but it's good to process!)