Like Jesus | In Obedience
About this series:
Jesus calls each of us to become more like him - by being with him, learning from him and imitating him. This is sometimes known as the process of spiritual formation or the process of sanctification, where we progressively leave a self-focussed life and adopt a Jesus-focussed lifestyle. That’s because, just as he called his first disciples, he calls us to “Come, follow me” (Matthew 4:19), a journey John Mark Comer describes as being with Jesus, becoming like him and doing as he did (see Practicing The Way).
And deep within every true Christian is a desire, put there by God, to change in a Christ-like direction. In the new covenant we are transformed into people who want to be with him and want to become like him - “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts” (Jeremiah 31:33); “I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws” (Ezekiel 36:27).
But this process of transformation is not only the work of the Holy Spirit within us. In partnership with God, it is the fruit of us aligning ourselves with his plan to transform us to be like Jesus. How this all works and how we are changed to become more like Jesus will be explored through this series.
About this talk:
Disciples become like their teacher through obedience. Their goal is not simply to learn about their teacher, but to do what he says. They do not merely observe the teacher, but ‘obey’ his instruction and example. Spiritual 5 formation will only happen as we are obedient to Jesus. And so Jesus repeatedly connects discipleship with obedience: “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching” (John 14:23); “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples” (John 8:31); “If you love me, keep my commands.” (John 14:15); “go and make disciples…teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20).
John gives his reason for writing his first letter: “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life” (5:13). He is eager for his readers to have confidence, amid all the false teaching (and perhaps their own doubts) that were circulating, that those who trust in Jesus, believing the core doctrines of the faith, do indeed have eternal life. His words in 5:1-5 are both comforting and challenging - “this is love for God: to keep his commands.”
In 2005 a book was published based on a research project in which 3,000 US teenagers (including many who called themselves Christians) were asked about their religious beliefs. From their responses, the authors coined the phrase Moralistic Therapeutic Deism to describe the beliefs of those teenagers.
- Moralistic: God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other.
- Therapeutic: The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.
- Deism: God is distant and does not need to be particularly involved in one's life, except when God is needed to resolve a problem.
According to those surveyed, it would appear that the Christian faith could be summed up as: be good, be happy, be independent.
But the clear expectation of Jesus and every author of the New Testament is that in order to follow Jesus he must be received not only as Saviour, but as Lord too. As Lord he is the King of heaven and therefore his words can be trusted and should be obeyed. As Lord he is the way, the truth and the life, so he commands our loyalty and obedience. As Lord he is creator and judge and so we must bow to him and understand that we are accountable to him.
We read of Jesus, “Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered” (Hebrews 5:8). We understand this not to mean that he learned how not to be disobedient (as we might learn), but that as our high priest he experienced what it was in his humanity to obey his Father. He is thus our perfect example of obedience to God - to be like Jesus is to obey him just as he obeyed his Father:
John 4:34: “‘My food,’ said Jesus, ‘is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.’”
John 6:38: “I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.”
John 15:10: “If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.”
What does obedience to the words of Jesus look like in practice (giving a range of examples)? Are you able to give some personal examples? Why do we sometimes find it hard to obey his words? How can we grow to become more inclined to obey him?
Audio only
