Theological Commentary: Click Here
Discipleship Focus: Obedience
- Obedience: Genuine and satisfying obedience comes out of our identity. Our true identity comes only from our Father.
When we look
at full chapters of a Gospel, we usually get many compound stories – especially
in the middle chapters that cover Jesus’ time in ministry. However, when we read through Matthew 7,
there are a surprising number of teachings that speak towards obedience to the
Father. This shouldn’t really surprise
us, though. Many of the stories since
Jesus began the Sermon on the Mount have been about getting us to think about
how we live and how God perceives what life should be like.
- Judge not. In other words, let the Father determine who gets to spend eternity with Him.
- Worry about your own faults before you try and fix other people.
- Ask God for what you truly need.
- Treat other people as you would have them treat you.
- Bear good fruit and consider what it means should find yourself bearing bad fruit.
- Do more than say you believe, live out your faith!
- Build our life upon the Word of God.
If you truly
look at that list, ask yourself how hard those teachings are to
accomplish. Then ask yourself what the
world would look like if it followed more of those teachings. I think these two questions help us
understand the power of obedience.
When we
pursue our own goals, our own dreams, and our own aspirations we lose all the
communal benefits that following Jesus’ teaching in this chapter bring. However, when we are willing to obey Jesus
and live according to God’s ways, it is not only us who benefit but also the
community around us that benefits.
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