Picture Perfect Obedience

Obedience is a big part of my life. As a high school teacher, I spend a lot of time trying to get 150 teenagers to do what I say. This is often a futile endeavor.

There are the usual comebacks to my demands: “Why do I have to do this?” or “I’m just not feelin’ it today.”

 And then there are the nonverbal responses: the heavy sighs, eye rolls, and dirty looks.

Sometimes these protests are followed by the grudging following of whatever I asked. Sometimes there is outright defiance.  Sometimes the students will do part of what they are expected to do and ignore the rest. The responses vary, but rarely does the obedience come easily and cheerfully.

I don’t think most of us are that different from my students. We may end up doing the “right thing,” but we too often get there through a journey of grumbling and whining and second guessing of whoever is issuing the orders.

And the One issuing the commands is God Himself.

Many of us will do what we can to avoid the hard “stuff” the Lord commands: being a good steward of the gifts He has given, being open to whatever mission He calls us to, being forgiving and loving, being willing to capture every thought to put under His control.

While we’re busy making excuses for why we can’t, we’re missing the “big picture” of what life could be if we surrendered it to the Father.  

 Before last Sunday’s sermon, I had never thought of Jesus’ night in the Garden of Gethsemane as the perfect picture of obedience. If anyone had the right to reject and complain about what he was commanded to do, it was Jesus: the spotless Son, asked to carry and redeem the wrath of His Father toward a world of messed up people who deserved every punishment they had coming to them. But the Son accepted His Father’s command to become the world’s most complete picture of love and sacrifice.

There is something very beautiful in simply saying, “Yes, Lord, I will do as you will.” No excuses, no avoidance.

However, the reality is that this kind of graceful obedience comes at a price. Jesus had to die a painful death and take on the identity of a sinner to fulfill his “Yes.”  His sorrow at Gethsemane was real as He agonized about what His Father willed. Yet He still left the decision where it belonged, with God the Father. Jesus didn’t try to bargain His way out. He didn’t try to make excuses for why He couldn’t. He didn’t challenge the Father with a series of “why me” questions.

To obey beautifully requires sacrifice of self to Someone way bigger than we are.  Jesus led by example with His journey to the cross. His death and subsequent resurrection remain the most miraculous, life-affirming acts of love in history. Our acts of obedience to our Heavenly Father will result in the beauty of God’s plan unfolding as we grow in Him, both individually and as a body of believers. Let us strive to follow His steps by leaving personal agendas behind and simply, beautifully saying, “Yes, Lord.”

Are you willing to make the little and big sacrifices it takes to obey? What excuses need to disappear from your life so you can follow the Lord’s commands willingly? Pray and let the Spirit speak the Truth to you.

Blog entry by:   Nancy Vasquez

To He Much Is Given....

Blog entry: 

Dominick Baruffi

When I was a child, my dad made a habit of coming into the room my brother and I shared just before bedtime. He would tuck his two boys in, read to us, and pray over us as Dante and I slowly faded from the land of the living. Almost every time he sat down with us, my dad would repeat the same phrase from Luke’s gospel. Lately I’ve taken to calling it the Baruffi family motto, so frequently was it repeated in our house those days.

 Sitting by our bedside, my dad would remind us: “To he much is given, much is required.”

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The words of my father seemed to be ringing in my ears as Nate preached from the stage on Sunday. I had been given much…but what had I done with it? Haven’t all my resources gone towards making my life as easy as possible? Just like the third man in the parable, I often conclude that, despite whatever “talents” I possess, I am not especially talented, and am therefore exempt from the commands of the Master. For surely, if God wanted to really use me, He would have also given me greater resources, greater abilities, greater opportunities to do great things? I tell myself this in order to justify any action I take that I know doesn’t fall in line with the way God is leading me. If much has not been given, then much is not required.

I don’t have nearly the time nor the space to tell you how hypocritical this line of thinking is.

What is needed, I think, is a new definition of “much.” You and I define it as “whoever has the most.” The Master defines it as “whatever I have given you.”

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Dallas Willard, one of my favorite writers on the spiritual life, once wrote that being a disciple of Jesus means learning from Jesus to live my life as he would live life if he were I. You might want to read that back again. I like Willard here because an important distinction is made; that is, the question is not so much “what would Jesus do?” but rather, “Given these talents, limitations and resources, how would Jesus respond?”

Here’s another way of putting it. You live within a very specific context: you have a job, a family, friends, classmates, etc. You are also equipped with a very particular skill set, regardless of how you may feel about the quality of those skills. The question that demands an answer from you daily is this: if Jesus were me, how would He go about my business? How would He schedule my day? How would he do my job? How would he spend my money? Keep in mind that while Jesus operates without limits, you do not share His ability to do so. You are limited in the time you have, the tasks you can accomplish, and the people you can impact. How would Jesus respond to the particular situations you encounter if He spent a day in your shoes?

I believe that we will come to think differently about the gifts given to us by the Master when we truly come to know the Master. I recently heard John Piper say there is a universe of difference between knowing about God and knowing God. He’s right. Take this word to heart today: know God. He has given us everything we need for life and godliness through the very knowledge of Himself as revealed in Scripture. Pursue the knowledge of God that leads to a transformed life, for that is the life we were designed for in the first place. The one who knows the Master’s heart knows what to do with what he has been given.

The Poor, Logs, and Pharisees

This week’s service was a bit of a roller coaster for me.

The first part of the sermon was encouraging because I truly love hearing about Jesus’ heart for the downtrodden- for the poor, the broken, the shame-filled, the outcast and those in bondage. I love being reminded that Jesus is so for the people we naturally consider the least.

So yes, this week's sermon was right up my alley. That is, until the end of the service when Pastor Nate said something about all of this applying to every person in this room and, in some way  or another, we're all poor, broken, shame-filled, outcasts in bondage.

My heart drifted to the floor like a deflating balloon. Not because it's a shock that I one of those, but the reminder that I'm called to love all of the messy Jesus-followers with abandon too. 

I guess what I'm trying to say is that my pharisaical heart loves people on my own terms, my ideals, my rules.

I love loving the poor, broken, shame-filled, outcasts in bondage who don't know Jesus.  Not always and not perfectly, but I see Jesus' heart for them and my heart aches th at they don't know the hope, grace and salvation that Jesus offers them. I love wading through their messiness with them. I love stories of tangible redemption (don’t we all?!)

On the other hand, I'm much less inclined towards the poor, broken, shame-filled, outcasts in bondage who are already following Jesus but still messy. I guess I want them to have it more figured out, to be further along, to have things fixed. I like making rules for Jesus followers to follow, even if it’s just in my head.

It's a classic example of pointing to the splinter in everyone else’s eyes and ignoring the log in mine. Moreover, it’s convicting to realize that I don’t know Jesus’ heart as well as I’d like to think, and I certainly am not living out His heart for His people.

In the end though I’m encouraged, even though it doesn’t feel like I should be.  The bottom line is that we’re all messy and broken and Jesus has chosen to love us anyway, right in our mess. With love that big and grace so sufficient, I’m hopeful God has bigger plans for my heart as He takes the logs out of my eyes.