“OBEDIENCE”
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A sermon preached Readings: Luke
24:13-35, Acts 5:27-32 |
The Bethel
Institution was a huge hospital for the mentally ill in Nazi Germany.
Its work was clearly in opposition to the creed of Nazi National socialism,
which saw the incurably mentally ill as of no account
and as an unnecessary burden on the state.
Finally in 1940 the word came from the Fuehrer
that all the patients were to be gassed.
The
Director of the Hospital was Pastor Von Bodelschwingh.
His response was as follows:
”You can put me into a concentration camp if you want,
that is your affair.
But as long as I am free, you do not touch one of my patients.
I cannot change to fit the times or the wishes of the Fuehrer.
I stand under orders from our Lord Jesus Christ.”
This is a story which echoes down the ages in every
generation
all the way back to the very birth of the early Church..
So in Acts 5:17ff, we read how the Apostles are
arrested
and thrown into gaol for preaching Christ.
Then an angel sets them free,
and immediately they start preaching again.
“You
can put me into a concentration camp if you want, that is your affair.
But as long as I am free….” I will follow God’s way.
Sometimes we find we have our freedom taken away –
on other occasions we are given our freedom –
Freedom is a gift not to be squandered
but to be used in obedience to the Lord.
The truth of course is that few of us here tonight
have known real persecution –
there are few of us in this congregation who
like our friends Merfyn Temple and Graham Shaw
have found ourselves in gaol because of what we have said.
And maybe familiarity has bred contempt.
And the freedom which others crave and value as a prized possession
we take so easily for granted.
We do not seize the day and speak out
using the precious moments of freedom denied to so many others.
The angel of the Lord has given us our freedom.
How do we use it?
Like the 1st apostles, I pray it is in obedience to God.
I think of Oscar Romero the day
before he was shot,
telling his people to disobey the military of El Salvador
because their duty was to obey God not man.
I
think of Desmond Tutu in the latter days of apartheid
being arrested for civil disobedience
along with 100 other clergy in 1988,
saying that they were not doing what they did
as a negative act of disobedience to the state
but as a positive act of obedience to God.
In our freedom we are called to confront the powers
which oppose us and be obedient to God.
Of course in comparison with Central America and
Southern Africa,
our trials and tribulations can seem very petty affairs –
If
we speak out for Christ we risk what?
·
a little ridicule or loss of face
amongst friends and colleagues
·
the inconvenience of speaking out,
and the moral pressure to live up to what we have said
No
police informers in our car park,
No
political wing in Exeter Gaol,
No
death squads on Fore Street.
And
if we do not proclaim the Gospel in Word and deed,
that is our shame.
Preaching
of course is not just an activity for pulpits –
Indeed
it could be argued that the pulpit is the least important place for
preaching.
Much
more important is proclaiming the Gospel message
where those first apostles proclaimed it -
in the world, in the street.
This need not necessarily involve oratory –
it can be the quiet word of conversation,
or simply the act which points to Christ.
Was it St Francis who once said –
“Preach everywhere and if necessary use words”?
Indeed,
to preach in word and not in deed
is to undermine our preaching fatally –
·
To speak of God in Christ
and yet not live a life of Bible study and spirituality.
·
To speak of God’s love for us,
and yet not show that love to others
·
To speak of God’s forgiveness,
and yet to hold self righteous grudges against our enemies
·
To speak of the Gospel of justice and peace
and yet passively to condone violence and injustice
All
this is to be seen as hypocritical
and empty our words of their power.
True
obedience involves the whole person,
not just the mouth and the larynx.
AND WHY?
– Why were the disciples determined to
obey the Lord?
There
are many reasons for obeying orders –
but most of them come down to either Fear,
Duty and Love
Why
do we obey God’s call to us?
I
hope we never do so out of fear –
That is the way of the death squads –
but not the way of the Prince of Peace.
We do not seek to convert people by dangling them over the pit of hell,
but by showing them a foretaste of the Kingdom of Heaven –
nor should anyone obey Christ out of fear.
Maybe sometimes we are obedient out of duty:
Most of us go through those dry and sterile patches
when our prayers seem hard and empty
and our Christian service seems unrewarding.
On those occasions we may need to fall back
on the routine of our Christian duty –
We are in fact keeping the outer working of Christian life going
to make it the easier for the Spirit once again
to blow the wind of enthusiasm and true faith into our outer actions.
But such a way of life is a second best –
we should never settle for this as a permanent state.
Such dutiful religion is ultimately the duty of the
Prodigal’s elder brother.
He was in the right place, going through the right motions,
in one sense so close and open to the Father.
Yet in another sense so far away.
The
small child is told to sit down several times by his mother –
in the end with great ill grace he does so
and then cannot resist blurting out
“Mummy I am still standing up inside” –
Outer obedience ultimately needs to reflect
the inner obedience of a true child of God.
Ultimately our obedience must be born of love
When Jesus says “Follow Me” I pray I do it
not because I think he may harm me if I do not;
nor do I do it because I feel obligated to do it.
I do it because I want to be with him,
because his way is the most challenging
and yet the most exciting place to be,
because even the hard times are good in his presence
and the good times are sheer heaven…..
The first apostles preached fearlessly,
obeying not Caesar but Christ.
not because they had to,
but because they had met the risen Lord,
they had seen the holes in his hands and feet,
they had met him on the sunset road to Emmaus
or by the lakeside in the morning
they had known his love and care.
Why did they obey his commands?
Because that was the only way they could respond to his loving presence.
For
some that obedience was to be the seal of a martyr’s crown,
for others it was the start of a long life of humble service.
For the first disciples that distinction was a minor one -
what mattered was that they knew their Lord,
they heard his command,
and – whatever forces might be ranked against them –
love bade them obey.
So let me I leave you with the words of the Puritan
Richard Baxter –
and may we make them ours -
Lord, it belongs not to my care
Whether I die or live;
To love and serve Thee is my share,
And this Thy grace must give.
If life be long I will be glad,
That I may long obey;
If short--yet why should I be sad
To soar to endless day?