Andrew Wilkes – June 5, 2020

If you have walked in a relationship with Jesus Christ for any amount of time, you will have no doubt come to the following conclusion, obeying God does not always make sense. The truth is that God often commands His disciples to do, say, or be something that we never would have planned for ourselves, or anyone else for that matter.

In Matthew 3, Jesus submitted Himself to water baptism by John the Baptist. Sometimes we gloss over this part of scripture, but what happened is that our perfect Savior submitted Himself to a baptism for the public repentance of sins. Jesus did not do this because He was sinful, but because he was fulfilling all righteousness; Jesus was obeying His Father’s commands. When Christ came up from the water, the Holy Spirit came upon Him and He was empowered for His earthly ministry. One would think that with this enduement of power, Christ would experience constant “success” and live His best life. Instead, this same Holy Spirit led Christ into a desert in order to fast for 40 days and be tempted by Satan, God’s enemy. Surely, the path of God’s blessing and obedience cannot lead to such suffering. Sure enough, it is the way of God. Obedience doesn’t always make sense. At least, right now it doesn’t.

Christ’s life in the Gospels was constantly marked by laying aside His personal rights in order to obey His Father. We read in John 5:19, “So Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.’” I believe that part of the key to joyful obedience is found in this scripture. Jesus didn’t go searching for tasks to fulfill in order to be a “good” Son. He simply spent time with His Father and as He saw and heard His Father’s desires, Jesus obeyed. This obedience brought delight, and Hebrews 12:2 even says of Christ’s ultimate obedience of death on the cross that, “…for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” His obedience to the Father bore fruit in the end. My salvation is part of that fruit!

So now I want to ask you, what is God asking of your life in this moment? Read that carefully. I did not ask what tasks you needed to think of doing so that you could please God. Burdening ourselves with do’s and don’ts turns our walk with Christ into a lifeless bondage. Spending time with Jesus and hearing His voice is exciting and joyful. This is why we are told, “to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams” (1 Samuel 15:22). By simply being in His presence we will be able to hear God’s voice. This is where I have personally experienced God tell me to do “insane” things. Of course, these things always aligned with scripture, but they seemed strange, scary, and utterly exciting to me. This is why I left a cushy corporate job to work at my church. I didn’t take this upon myself to do something noble for God. Instead, I waited for a decade while spiritual desires stirred within me. While desperate for God to show me when and how I would leave the secular workplace for what He was drawing me to, I obeyed God in daily, painful drudgery that has borne fruit in my personal life. I wouldn’t trade this for the world.

By simply loving and worshipping Jesus, by being in His presence, we hear what God wants from us. The will of God is not always fun in the moment, but it always bears sweet, lasting fruit. It may not make sense now, but if we will simply obey, our joy will be full, even in pain, and God will get His Glory. So, set aside your logic and to do’s. Open your Bible and turn on your worship music and enter into His presence to simply love Him. You never know what God will tell you to do.