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Preached in Markham Baptist Church, June 1, 2008
 

The theme of our thinking today and for the weeks to come is “No compromise”. 

In his book Dangerous Wonder Mike Yaconelli asks a series of questions that I really resonate with.  He asks,

“What happened to radical Christianity, the un-nice brand of Christianity that turned the world upside-down?  What happened to the category-smashing, life-threatening, anti-institutional gospel that spread through the first century like wildfire and was considered (by those in power) dangerous?  What happened to the kind of Christians whose hearts were on fire, who had no fear, who spoke the truth no matter what consequence, who made the world uncomfortable, who were willing to follow Jesus wherever He went?  What happened to the kind of Christians who were filled with passion and gratitude and who every day were unable to get over the grace of God.”¹

Mike has several answers in his book, but I think one of the answers is that we have compromised.  We’ve compromised our faith, our values, our understanding of who God is and what God has called us to be.  And all the while our Lord is calling us not to compromise.  When you are building your life Jesus says, don’t compromise and build it upon the sifting sand of the world’s values, build it upon the Rock who is Jesus. 

When you are walking along the road of life’s choices don’t compromise and choose the broad way, but choose the narrow way of following after Christ.   No compromise.

Last week we looked at the whole idea of no compromise with sin. This week I want us to think of no compromise in our obedience to God. Obedience is not a word we hear very often in our day unless it has to do with our dogs.  We take our dogs to obedience school. I tell my dog to run away but be never obeys! The other evening I laid down for a nap and when I woke up the front door was wide open, the wind blowing in.  I immediately run outside and look up and down the street for Jerry, our dog.  He is nowhere to be seen.  I think, “Oh well, we’ve lost him.”  I go inside, close the door and go look in his crate and low and behold there he is curled up in a ball.   Every one else on our street has a dog who, when they see the door wide open for an hour, would run away – but not us, we have a dog who stays in his crate.  Oh what a good dog, so obedient.

But seriously, Scripture is clear that when it comes to our relationship with God we are to obey.  It’s not a word we are to drop from our vocabulary when describing our relationship with God. There is to be no compromise – we are to obey God. 

Deuteronomy 26:16 says, “The Lord your God commands you this day to follow these decrees and laws; carefully observe them with all your heart and with all your soul.”  Joshua 1:7 says, “Be strong and very courageous.  Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left….”   1 Samuel 15:22 says, “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord?  To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.”

That verse can be a bit confusing because we say, “Hey!  Didn’t God give the Israelites a long list of sacrifices that they were to offer?”  Yes.  This verse isn’t against the sacrifices.  This verse is pointed to those of us who go through the motions of religion on the Sabbath but then disobey God the rest of the week.  If it comes down to offering sacrifices and not obeying, God says stop – obey – that’s what God really wants. 

Jesus says something similar in Matthew 7:21, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”  You know, we can have all the right words, but it’s no good if we aren’t doing the will of our Father who is in heaven. 

It is of utmost importance that we obey. It shows that our relationship with God is genuine that we are truly one of God’s followers.  And a disciple of Jesus Christ.

But sometimes it is difficult to obey God.  Why do you think it’s difficult to obey God?  Sometimes it’s hard because there are so many pressures on us that tell us that it doesn’t matter if we obey God.    Sometimes it looks attractive not to obey God and obedience to God looks crazy, even illogical.  “You want me to do that?”

This morning we examine a group of people who did what God wanted them to do, even when it seemed illogical and the options looked so much more safe and sane.

Open your Bibles to Acts 5 at verse 25. The disciples have seen the risen Lord Jesus Christ.  They have started to preach about Jesus and have proclaimed him to be Lord.  They have called people to believe in him and many have joined their ranks.  They have been called before the religious officials once already, threatened and told not to preach in Jesus’ name any more (Acts 4:18).  But they don’t listen, and in chapter 5 they are hauled once again before the religious leaders. 

We pick up the story at verse 27 of chapter 5: “When they had brought them, they had them stand before the council.  The high priest questioned them, saying, “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you are determined to bring this man’s blood on us.”

Which is a strange thing to say because in Matthew 27:25 after Pilate washes his hands of Jesus and says, “I wash my hands of his blood,” the crowd replies, “Let his blood be on us and on our children.” 

The text continues at verse 29: “But Peter and the apostles answered, ‘We must obey God rather than any human authority.  The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree.  God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior that he might give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.  And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.’ ”   

Did you hear it? Did you hear the refusal to compromise? Verse 29 – “We must obey God rather than any human authority.”   And they did. They were told to preach the gospel to every creature – and they did – and on one level it was a crazy thing to do.  So many were against them – they took beatings and lashings and imprisonment and persecution of all types – death!  But they continued to “go stand in the temple and tell the people the whole message of this life” (Acts 5:20).  They obeyed God. 

How did they do that in the face of such opposition?  How do we obey God when we feel that what he is calling us to do is just crazy – or when obeying God means we will face opposition and persecution?  Or when obeying God means going against all that the world says is right and true and even logical.  How do we obey God then? 

I think first, it comes from a sense of who God is.  Look at verse 29. Does Peter say, “um, we think it’s a good idea to follow God on this one.  We’ve weighed our options and we are going to follow God.”   No!  He says, “We must obey God.” 

That word “obey” in the Greek – that particular variation - is only used four times in Scripture and each time it is used it refers to the obedience that we have to give to someone who is in authority.   (There is “to obey” as a result of listening to another.  There is obey as a result of persuasion.)

We must obey God.  There is a sense of who God is.  He’s the almighty God, he’s the one in authority.  Sure, we are to submit to the rulers of this world – Jesus says this very thing – He says give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar.  But He goes on to say – Give to God what belongs to God.  And when Caesar, when the government is in conflict with what God tells us, we follow God.  He is the one who is in authority.  He is the almighty God.  Do you know that God is the almighty God?

It’s important because it makes all the difference in our obedience to Him.  How we view God influences our level of obedience. 

It is a truth that if someone on the street sees me race by in my car and shouts after me to slow down, I can ignore them and do as I please.  But let a police officer come along and say – “you’ve got to slow down,” I say, “Yes, sir!” And I obey, because I know he is one in authority.

And so our relationship with God. If we pull God down and make Him common, then we don’t need to obey. But if He is the almighty one – well, then…. 

It is a truth that we’ve become relaxed in our approach to God.  And in some ways that is very healthy.  The pendulum is swinging – we are swinging out of a generation that wasn’t relaxed in their approach to God.  We understand that we don’t need to dress up for church. We don’t need to brush our hair.  God is good and accepts us as we are and we have this healthy idea that God in Christ is approachable.

And we’ve made worship user friendly – this is healthy too.  We’ve done away with deep tones of the organ and replaced it with the lighter sound of the piano and guitar.  And the sanctuaries that are built these days are no longer big cathedrals but often are gyms with a stage. And all of that is good and fine because we have a new generation to reach. Sure there are exceptions but on the whole this is where the new generation is at. 

But we have to be careful because all of that – the grand sounding organ, the huge cathedral, the magnificent choir – was all meant to instill something in us when we came into worship – it was meant to instill in us a sense of our smallness and the grandeur of God.  It was meant to take our breath away and that now we were approaching the almighty God.     

Understand that I’m not suggesting that we go back to that – I think it’s all a matter of the heart – it’s a matter of how we think about God.  You can worship in the grandest cathedral and still have no sense of the awesomeness of God.  It has nothing to do with the fact that we worship with guitar or an organ, or in a grand cathedral or a gymnasium.  It’s a matter of how we think.

We have to be aware – we can fall into the trap of bringing God down, of making Him common.  And when He is common we no longer need to obey Him.  When He’s one of us, one of the guys we can sit on the front porch and eat pistachios with Him, we don’t have to do what He says – what authority does he have?  

D.A. Carson has said, “The heart of evil is that which brings God down and reduces him so that eventually he is simply one of us, where His Word is simply another opinion until we don’t have 10 commandments but 10 suggestions.  Where we don’t have a God who stands against us in perfect judgment because he is offended but instead a God who benevolently superintends us in providential gentleness like a sentimental grandfather. Gradually, gradually God is made common.  There is no fear of God before our eyes.”²

To be sure, we can approach Him with confidence in Christ any time, He accepts us as we are.    But do not lose sight of the fullness of God’s character.  He is the almighty one – one whom in our smallness we cannot fathom or even look at. 

When you go home today read Isaiah 40 and you get a sense of how small we are and how great God is:

“He is the almighty one who measures the waters in the hollow of His hand, or the with the breadth of His hand marked off the heavens.” (verse 12) 

“The nations are like a drop in the bucket; they are regarded as dust on the scales.” (verse 15) 

“Before Him the nations are as nothing; they are regarded by him as worthless and less than nothing.”  (verse 17)

“He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in.”  (verse 22) 

“He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.” (verse 23) 

“The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.” (verse 28)

Do you understand that is God is almighty?  Good.  Then understand that you are not a volunteer in the kingdom of God.  You’re a slave.  Jesus put it like this: “Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, “come here at once and take your place at the table”?  Would you not rather say to him, “Prepare supper for me, put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink”? Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded?  So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, “We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!” (Luke 17:7-10)

The word of servant there is bondslave.  A bondslave did not work for wages but lived under the authority and ownership of the master.   God is almighty and He is our owner, the one who calls us and sends us.  And our only response to such a vision of God can be obedience.  

Is there something God is calling you to do but you are hesitating?  You are hesitating because you aren’t sure that you can trust Him?  You aren’t sure He knows what He is doing?  To be sure you may want to discuss it with people you trust, you may want to pray, but in the end if God is calling you do something, then go ahead – our God is almighty.  He must be obeyed because of who He is.

But not only is He almighty - God is loving.  He is not some cruel god up in heaven but He is the loving God who demonstrates His love for you and me in this that while we were still sinners Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).  He loves you that much.  He is for you and likes you and wants you to offer your best for the sake of the Kingdom.  

And aren’t you willing to obey one who loves you more than the one who simply rules over you?  Aren’t you more willing to follow the one who gives than the one who holds back?  This is God – He loves you – and remembering this we are able to obey.

We need to have a correct picture of who God is.  He is almighty, He is loving – and we are able to say “We must obey God.”  And make no mistake obedience isn’t always about what we can’t do – we can’t lie, we can’t steal, etc.  Obedience is more about what we can do for God.  

Let’s not just gain a sense of who God is, but let’s be sure of what God has done.   Look at what Peter lists that God has done.

Verse 30 – He is the God of our fathers – that is Abraham and Isaac and Jacob – He is the God who promised his covenant love and has kept his promises to this day

Verse 30 -  He has raised Jesus from the dead. 

Verse 31 – He has exalted Jesus to his right hand as Prince and Saviour so that there might be repentance and forgiveness of sins.

Verse 32 – He has given us his Holy Spirit.

Peter is saying – look what God has done – we must obey God.  He is the God who has kept His promises to our fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.   We have to obey him.

More than that, He is the God who has conquered death and given us a Saviour in the person of Jesus Christ.  He is the God who has enabled us to change our ways and know forgiveness of sins.  And He has given us his Holy Spirit to live within us. 

Peter is retelling all that God has done!   We must obey God.  This remembering, this retelling helps us in our obedience to God. John Ortberg states that sometimes we Christians can suffer from amnesia or mindlessness we sometimes operate on auto pilot – here try a test:

Answer out loud – the one word that finishes the sentence.

The tree that grows from an acorn is a __________.

The vapor that rises from fire is called __________.

The sound a frog makes is a __________.

The white of an egg is called the __________.  ³

Did you say yolk?  Read the last sentence carefully again! 

Mindlessness is one thing that causes us to not obey God.  We forget what he is capable of.  We forget what He has done in our lives.

My friends as you think about obeying God – think about what God has done in your life – He has kept His promise of love for you.  He has given you a Saviour.  He has enabled you to change your ways and know forgiveness of sin.  And He has given you His Holy Spirit to live in you.

There should be no question – should I obey God?  Of course! Think of what He has done.  This act of remembering keeps us from mindlessness – and we say, “Hey God is good, I can obey Him in this.”

Let’s be honest one of the greatest things that keeps us from obeying God in our life is fear.  It was fear that kept the Israelites from entering the promised land. “It’s filled with giants,” they said.   It was fear that kept all the Israelites in their tents while the giant Goliath came out and taunted them.   It was fear that made the disciples to run away from Jesus when He was arrested and disown Him when He was crucified.   We fear that if we risk obeying God then He will not take care of me.

And I see that kind of obedience – which is not obedience at all - in me and in the church all the time and I’m tired of it.  It’s so dull, there’s no adventure of faith in that disobedience.  But as I read Scripture and read the history of the church, what stirs me to attempt great things for God is the obedience of Caleb and Joshua who say, “With God’s help we can take the land.”

What captures my imagination is the obedience of a young David who stood up the Goliath and says I come to you in the name of the Lord.  What inspires me is the obedience of the disciples who preach the word in the face of persecution.  What moves me is the obedience of Martin Luther who stands against the false interpretation of Scripture in his day and says, “Here I stand I can do no other.”

Or the obedience of Corrie Ten Boom who forgives the Nazi prison guard who served in the concentration camp. Or the obedience of a mother who trained her children in the way of the Lord. Or the obedience of a husband who loves his wife as Christ loved the church – giving of self, and faithful to the end.  Or the obedience of a church that says we will go out and share the love of Christ with our community and world.  

There’s nothing dull about that.  It’s a grand adventure and what we are called to as we remember Who God is, and what God has done we realize that we must obey God. 

Copyright MBC and Tom Cullen - June  2008

ENDNOTES:

1. David Kinnaman, UnChristian (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 2007), 47.

2. Michael Yaconelli, Dangerous Wonder (Colorado Springs, Colorado: Navpress, 1998), 24.

3. D.A. Carson, from a sermon entitled, “A Vision of a the Holy God” preached at Moody Pastor’s Conference 1998.

4. John Ortberg, If You Want to Walk on Water You’ve Got To Get Out Of The Boat (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2001), 198.