I Rejoice in Obedience

Pastor Burcham’s Sermon
Sunday, July 17, 2011

We’ve been looking at the book of Philippians and there, Paul is telling the Church at Philippi and us that the life of a Christian really can be filled with joy. Sometimes I wonder about that, though, because we as Christians often times seem rather somber. We seem so quiet about things and just so serious. But really, scripture tells us that our lives should be filled with joy and rejoicing. It’s kind of like the difference between dogs and cats.

Let me explain. A couple of weeks ago, we left for vacation. We left early on a Friday morning and did not return until the following Friday morning. We left our dog, Max, behind. Now Max was taken care of while we were gone. Somebody stopped in on a daily basis, fed him, watered him, let him outside, even took him for a walk or two and yet, the following Friday when we returned, we were still in the street and, as the garage door was going up, we could hear Max inside barking excitedly, jumping at the door. When we finally got inside the house, the only way that I can describe it, the dog turned himself inside out. I don’t know how else to describe what the dog was doing, as he was so excited. He was the epitome of joy. Now when we had cats, on the other hand, we were gone a month and they didn’t notice.

You see, Christians really shouldn’t be cats. We should be dogs. We should be excited about the life that God has given to us. And so Paul, in his letter to Philippians, is listing all the different reasons why we can rejoice and we can have joy. So this week, as we get about half way into the letter, he says actually we can have joy in obedience. Yeah, I’m not quite getting it either. The two don’t really go together. Joy, obedience?

For us, obedience is kind of an ugly word. We don’t really like it. We don’t like somebody telling us what to do. We don’t like the idea of being under somebody’s thumb. We understand that we want to be obedient to God and we understand that in His Word are many truths and He tells us pretty explicitly and very clearly how we should live, what we should do, what we shouldn’t do, but joy and obedience? That seems like a stretch to me.

It probably seems like a stretch because we need to understand the kind of attitude that one needs to have if we’re going to find joy in obedience. And it goes much deeper than the difference between I’m obedient because I want to, not because I have to. There are four levels to obedience in that. In fact, I would purport this morning that there are four levels for obedience, but only one of them can produce joy.

Let me explain. There’s what I call Level 1 obedience. Level 1 is obedience to the rules. That is, we’re going to follow the rules. It’s the most basic of obedience levels. We’re going to do what we’re supposed to do because we fear punishment. So let’s just take traffic rules. We’re going to follow the traffic laws because we don’t want a ticket. It doesn’t necessarily mean that we agree with the law. It doesn’t necessarily mean that we like the law but, because we don’t want to suffer the consequences, because we don’t want to pay the fine, because we don’t want to see our insurance rates go up, we will follow the law.

So I don’t particularly like nor think that I can only go 30 miles an hour on Douglas. I mean, honestly, it’s a four-lane divided highway, 30? 40-45 seems much more reasonable to me, but I don’t go 40 or 45, too often, because I don’t want to pay the fine. So Level 1 obedience is really all about the consequences and if you take away the consequences, well then you take away the motivation to be obedient. And so we’re all interested in these details of what exactly can we do and what can we not do. How far can one go? So, in traffic laws, if the speed limit is 65, we’ll say, “Well, you’re safe to go 70.” Right? Because they don’t pull you over for anything less than 5 over. You see, we’re all about knowing exactly what’s permissible and what’s not.

You can approach Christianity that way. So Level 1 for Christianity is we’re going to be obedient to God because we want to avoid punishment or, at the least, we want to stay in His good graces. So for a day like today and for a week like we’re about to approach, if this were a Level 1 obedient sermon, I would be very simple, very distinct, I’d say, “Do you think it’s hot here?” See? That’s Level 1 obedience because we’re fearful of the consequences of our actions. But that means we want to know all of the details. So what exactly does God say is permissible and what is not permissible?

Paul had it in his day. The Pharisees had it down to an art form. They had rules upon rules upon rules. Usually we point out the one that says they had determined how far one could walk on the Sabbath. Take one step further and it is an infraction and you have broken the rules.

Are we really all that much different today? So today, we ask the question, “So what exactly constitutes sex? How far can one go?” And “If it’s the truth, is it still considered gossip?” “If I’m protecting somebody’s feelings, is it still wrong to lie?” You see, we want into the nitty gritty. We want to find out exactly what can we do and what we cannot do. That’s Level 1 obedience, obedience to the rules.

But Level 1 obedience does not produce joy. The best it can produce is relief and the worst it can do is despair. It’s relief if we convince ourselves that we’ve tried real hard, we’ve done our best and we should be okay. Despair is when we realize that God accepts nothing less than perfection. That’s Level 1 obedience.

Level 2 obedience is obedience for results. Now this one is much different because we’re not following the rules because we have to but because we want to. And the reason we want to is we like the results. We’re obedient to the rules because we want to be that kind of person. We want to be a good person. We want to have good character. We want to have moral fiber about us. Maybe we’re convinced that’s the building block of society. Perhaps that’s how we were raised and these were the values that were instilled upon us, integrity and honesty and caring. We want to follow the Golden Rule. We want to do unto others as they would do unto us. And so we like the kind of person that we will become by following the rules. We have admired people that way and we have been burned by people of bad moral character and so, we are obedient for the results that it produces in us.

One could approach Christianity this way. We want to be a good Christian. If we’re going to follow God, we’re going to do it just like we do everything else in our lives and we’re going to give it 110 percent and we’re going to be the best Christians possible. If God says it, then we will do it. Certainly, this is better than Level 1 obedience. We’ve switched over from “have to” to “want to.” But Level 2 obedience doesn’t produce joy either. At best, it produces satisfaction. At worst, it produces pride. You see, we can feel fairly satisfied with our actions. We can feel good about the fact that if people look to us and consider us somebody of high moral character and value, if they see us as someone with high integrity and honesty and caring and compassion, we can like that but we can cross over to pride and be prideful about the people that we have become.

You know you’re at Level 2 obedience if when somebody points out that actually you’ve done something wrong, the defenses go up and you quickly shoot back, “Yes, but I’m only human. You can only expect so much from me.” And then immediately start the comparison, saying, “Well, I may have done that but I have never done…” and you pick. “And I’m certainly not like…” you choose who you want to compare yourself to. That’s Level 2 obedience. It’s obedience for results.

Level 3 obedience is obedience in response. There’s a huge shift here because the focus is not on us but something outside of us. That is, we want to be obedient in response to something that has been given to us, something that we have received.

So if we want to go back to the idea of “I want to be a good citizen. I want to be a law-abiding person,” we’re not going to be obedient to the laws because we fear punishment. We’re not going to be obedient to the laws just simply because we want to be a good citizen, but we’re obedient to the laws because we recognize where we live and what we have. And even with all of its faults, we look at the country we live in and the freedoms and the prosperity and we recognize the men and women who have sacrificed so much so we could have this way of life in this country and so we respond to that and we say, “No, I want to be a law-abiding citizen.” You see, it’s outside of us. It’s obedience in response to something we’ve received, something that’s been given to us.

Certainly, we can approach Christianity this way. God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son. Paul, in his letter to the Church at Philippi, says, “Jesus Christ, the Son of God, emptied Himself, became nothing, was obedient to the Father and to death, even death on a cross.” When the gospel message itself penetrates our hearts and we remember and we realize that God took on flesh and blood and lived among us, that Jesus, although He was obedient in every way, when He went to the cross, He took upon Himself our disobedience and all of the consequences, all of the punishment that was really due to us, Jesus took that upon Himself and so, in the blood of Jesus, we have forgiveness and freedom and we have the guarantee of heaven itself so we respond to that. As God has loved us, then we desire to love God. As God has served us, then we desire to serve God. So in response to what God has done for us, then we want to be obedient to God. That’s scriptural. That’s true. That’s fitting. That’s proper. That’s what I’ve been taught. We respond back to God.

But may I submit to you that Level 3 obedience produces more gratitude than joy. Level 3 is good. We should be grateful to God for all that He has done for us and the motivation for being obedient to God should be in response to what He has done for us. But if we’re looking for joy in obedience, I think there is a higher level of obedience. There’s one more for us to get to. Level 3 obedience in response produces gratitude more than it does joy. And there is, I think, a small danger. What happens when you don’t have anything to be grateful for?

Now I know we always have many, many things that we should be grateful for, right? But I’m talking about when life goes south, when you’re caught in the moment, when you can’t make the bills, when the relationship is falling apart, when the health is deteriorating, when you’re consumed with something happening in your life, it is very, very difficult to be grateful and even more difficult to find joy in that moment. So Level 3 obedience can produce gratitude but not joy so much.

Level 4 obedience is obedience through relationships. It’s not just what God has done for you but just who God is. I believe that’s what Paul is working up to in Chapter 2. I think you can see three of the four obedience levels in Chapter 2. It doesn’t really deal with the Level 1 obedience to the rules but the second one, obedience for results that can lead to pride, what does he say? He says, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.” If your motivation to be obedient to God is because you like the kind of person that it produces, you can feel good about yourself, he says, no, no, no, no. Don’t do anything out of selfish ambition.

How about obedience in response to what God has done? Certainly. He starts out talking about Christ, how He didn’t consider equality with God something to be grasped, how He made Himself nothing and became a servant, how He was obedient to the Father to death, even death on the cross. He lays out for us what Christ has done for us and certainly, we want to respond to the sacrifice that Jesus did and what He has given to us. But then he says, “Therefore, my dear friends, as you’ve always obeyed, not only in my presence but now much more in my absence, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” He’s not saying we have to earn our salvation. He just established the fact that we can’t earn it and that we don’t deserve it. It’s a gift of God that He’s given to us.

So what does he mean? “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” In other words, continue to develop. In my words, don’t be satisfied with Level 3 obedience. Strive for Level 4 obedience with fear and trembling, an unfortunate choice of words in the NIV. I’d say with awe and amazement of who God is and what God is doing. Strive to grow in your relationship with Him. Move beyond being obedient just because of what God has done for you but just who God is, a loving, merciful, strong, self-sacrificing God, the Son of God who says we can call Him brother and friend, obedience to God just because of our relationship with Him.

Maybe the closest I can come for this, if you had a good relationship or if you do have a good relationship with your parents, I understand not all of us had a great relationship with our parents but you probably have seen it, if you have a good relationship with your parents, if you were obedient to them, I’m sure probably because you feared punishment but also in response to all they had done. Parents do an incredible amount for us, but if you had a good relationship, don’t you want to please your parents just because of who they are? Just the person they are and who they represent in your life? Do you see what I’m saying here? That’s a deeper level of obedience, to be obedient to God just for who He is.

So St. Paul goes on, “With fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose.” In a relationship, there is this exchange that is gong on. We desire to be obedient to God and God enables us to be obedient to Him. He gives us the will to act and to do according to His good purposes. That’s where you find joy. That’s the joy in obedience, when you’re in this relationship with God where you desire to be obedient to Him and He is empowering you and enabling you to be obedient and all of a sudden, you realize you’re part of God’s plan, God is working in you and through you. That’s when you experience joy.

I hesitate to do this, but I will. I’ll use myself as an example. I’m not sure that I like it, but it’s the best I could come up with. I put a lot of time and effort, as all the pastors do, into my weekly message. I pour myself into this. At the end of the week, I can feel good about it. What I mean is I’ve done my study. I’ve prayed about it. I’ve determined, “I believe this is what God wants me to communicate this week.” I can even then deliver that message and be happy with it and say, “Yeah, you know, I did the best that I could do in giving that message.”

But if one of you comes up to me and sincerely looks me in the eye and says, “That made a difference,” or somehow you communicate to me and say, “That message changed me,” immediately I know that’s not me. This is not false humility here. I’m serious. That’s not me. That means God did something through me. Do you see what I’m saying? He worked in me and through me for His purposes. That brings me joy. That’s more than just being happy or satisfied. That means that I was part of God’s plan. I was part of God’s work. That’s Level 4 obedience. It’s not obedience just for what God has done for me but who God is and in this relationship of wanting to be obedient and God empowering and enabling me to be obedient. That’s when we can find joy, when you’re in that relationship with God and you know that He is working in you and through you and through your obedience, you find joy.

And joy is part of the Christian life. We don’t need to be all somber and sad. We should be rejoicing and joy filled. That unbridled excitement, that elation, that deep sense of happiness, that’s my dog turning himself inside out, that kind of joy.

And so the four chapters to his letter to the Philippians, Paul was saying to us, “We have all kinds of reasons to rejoice and be filled with joy, even joy in obedience.” Amen.