Dy e-

Single — Minded Obedience NGPCRSSTe66—— ( Merk-40:-17=27

J+ LOTMA oy Ls a ¥ hl ee, SIE

The story is told of a little boy who was ordered to bed by his father.|But the +rttte

Jed way a trubhy modern little boy
-voy,f i : ime, ading some current—s+bt+est-prterpretettor-ond

tstten—tty4d + pnd so he reasoned thus:(° Father

~

tells me to go to bed, but he really means that | om tired, and he does not want me to

be tired. | But | know that | can overcome my tiredness just as well if go out and

ploy. [Therefege, though Father tells me to go to bed, he really means 'Go out and ploy.)
The logic is impeccable; granted the boy's presuppositions he isabsolutely correct.

And yet the little boy discovered that there was something uncompromising in his father's
demand:\ Ss he was spanked he found that his Father's commandé trascended logic, and that

a right relationship between his father and himself depend@ entirely on Mw unconditionsl

obedience. fo fs favhes s eV: 4
xh f

# / , , " eo - - ps
Now-we-sre not overly fond of talking sbout-=—God-of edgumnd-ankvargiiliaatobl,
\

eny_thought of = God-who-disciplines-his-chitdren-ks-comptettty—foretgn-to-our-easu a |

religous eppronch.L apart fiim-this~hewever, we handle the uncomprowising ethicel demands

of the New Testament in about the same way as the little boy handled his father's order to

go to bed.| Given just e little wikzm£ Intellectutl ingenuity we find it easy to squirm

out from under turning the other cheek, loving our enemy — as well as our neighbor-

ind alj the rest of it.\\an that is required is the assumption that Jesus didn't really

mena what he said, and that we have the innate ability to restructtire his demands to

correspond fo our own likes and dislikes.

HE fwd re t ta Kine Wu Oppor' kK aq ¢ roac We ;
Hew there a real danger in yret—t-havebeen_saying. Down through the centuries

many men have tried to take the tegchings of Jesus at face value, and to incorporate them

into a structtred way ‘ef Living, But if has never worked very well outside the monastery
and even here the result ‘seemed to be a clear repudiation of the spirit of the New Testament.
The danger is that a too liferalistic reading of Jesus! individual ethical statments

will lead away from the wery end he wes pursuing. | This hss happened frequently in history —

\
in the Sp»nish Inquisition:\ in the misguided bigamy of men who felt Jesus insistance on
i: \ \ _ ~ ” gubtee ge fs cay
sharing <pplied even to their wives; \and the pathetic piety of contemporary fundementotists
; . Pafajeraree Hesiard a
whose love for Jesus is exceeded only by their hateed-fer those who disagree with them.

page 22

ua

And SO We—find Otrselves—back where we started?) sking—the question.— whatwas. it thet
Jesus really sttd - and wretdoes-tt mean_to ne?\ br-purcuing an—anewer—wemust use logic
and—the-+eots-of-—taterpretetion: andthe best-we-ean-_do—is—tobe absolutely honest with
oursetves-——wittiin the ossump tton ttat-there-ts-something-herefor_us: that God's word
is—there—H-we-have-esrs—to-hear— t.

Therefere;—brck tote Text for = second-=nd-more—careft}—look—at whet—treraspired

and—whetwes—stith
|

— » A man =pproactied Yesus and asked: ‘Good teacher whet must | do to inherit eternal
life?! | Leke-octts-thim——reter;—- menber-of—the-Senhedring and-trom-whet—fodtows-we-know

that he woes © good man; a sensitive, generous, religious man.\ He had foldowed the basic
j \
\

mors! and religfous lew of his people since his mse ypaurhiy Bay he was not satisfied, ond

he come, =pporently in all sincerity,— asking what more he should do.. He wanted = simple

\
¥

answer, he wanted to be told something else to do, some yaxz other good work to accomplish
that wotld render fhim the knowledge that he wos suved. Maxzk

When the onswer came in honest simplicity he was shocked. It was guite a bit more
\ ~~

Thon he hed cnticipated. ‘One thing you teck/ Go, sell whet you have and ion ‘ie in pee,
: \ Crnky A -e4/A A. < Ma Ve
and you will have treasure in heaven, and come, follow me. “Jat that his counter= bey

yadec = |

and he walked way i sorrowful men. \He came looking for » logical answer from a reputeble
\ =
feacher of religion - and he received what only con be described s a call to radicel
draw , =

obedience Ir wes etrherfor, yes or no - and the man went AWAY «
Severe] Sere opservations are in order at this point.|\Dietrich Bonhoeffer, commenting on this
\ ;
bic sce Wi ; . : , «ss
incident, wrote: The young man's enquiry about eternal life, is an enquiry about salvotion,

the only ultimote, serious question in the wor Id.\(P6I (Cost of Discipleshipt) In other
:
words, fhe mon had gotten down to the basics, the fundementel question of I1fe:( What's

\

if all sbout:? What does ft all mena? What's in store for me:/ What is if that | cm missing?

Put this wey, or in s hondred other expressions, it is the ultimate motivation

behind men's religions.| Men know there is tore to life than meets | Men have never
been 2bdde to shake the inherent notion that life does not end with death,\ Snd since

\ <
time beg:n men have answered these fund:menfc! questions through the practice of religon.

lf we sre honest with ourselves, we will admit thet somewhere down inside us these questions
, |

are asked - and that we are answering them throgaht the church of Jesus Cyrist.-and the
Christein Foi ta.| Observation number one is «cademfia@: the man came to Jesus with a
question thet heunts all men, including us.

Observetion number two is that his approach, his wamner_ of asking the questi on wes

based on the cssumption that there was something he could do to provide an answer.\ He had
i ‘e =

identified ang emptiness, an incompleteness in his life, and he wes assuming that ff
existed because he had not done enough: he-hedmt+-putted-the-proper. levers. Again the man

has his counterpart in every age. | \Historical ly CHiristianity has always had fo carry the

W \ a“
burden of of © righteousness — sabe ~<—. \Be good ~ do good things and you'll get
Cet saey att the pther, pagéeaeaerd ~% ttfocoal ex é ttt the betel a,
your reward in heaven, | Time_only. permits. me— oo soy-eh-this pojnt; -thot—desudé—eoudn! t-h-ve
Vig ett tee Qe ad Pg tees 7 7 bes Dae a Pe, beet Py

necented{that approact. foro-minute. ‘For Those who aggrivated him most, those who crucified
him, were precisley those whe were doing the most good things. \The Young man assumed that he
= - \ *

could do something end win salvetion:\ to a certian degree we asume the same thing and we cre
-\ .
wrong: for the very fact of Jesus Christ points to the ppposite conclusion : the fact that

we cannot provide for our own selvation no metter how hard we try.

The third observation 1 want to make is that Jesus' response fo the man was aimed

ry om

specifically ot tha ir man — and was not) a universal ethical principle.\He told this perticular
\

men to sell oll he had, give to the poor and follow him, but he didn't tell that to everyone.
He did not lay down an ultimete equation — the sured and certian way to heaven.\ He did

. af
encounter « particular man with a particular problem and this is the particular response

he gave, a

wee

Theft is to soy, Jesus here by~passed th e ethiccl] question and dealt with the man as an

individiie I\p 3y tk coming in he first plo ce, . his obvious gtrinkinm=me anxiety the ran indicete
celatimashig we an,
that his-ebed-eree -he Godw was aes the “abe. Ween. was holding him back, Obviowmst:

Sati arere¥er
Jesus hit the nod on the head when he indetified tet something as the man's riches ~ because

he walked owoay sorrowfiil, more anxiety ridden thon he had been before.\ Jesus had probed
\

to the heart of the man.

¥ iy

The fourth observation is that this incident is characteristic of Jesus's relsftiosnhips
with the men of his avy. \ He required one thing of all those who encountered him — and thet
was a decision: 1 decision that cchrieg with ft radicel obedience.\ For Peter jt came

\ : : =
suddenly while he was fishing :'Drop your ne¢® and follow me: to Matthew it came as ne
was sitting at his counting tabl@: for them it wes a decision to leave everything behind.
For others the decision led beck to théir old lives, but «s new men, as obedient disciples
of Jesus chest, Thewas somathing streightforward and simple about out Lord.\ When men

encountered him they did/not sit down and\discuss theology — they decided: they beceme his

or else they rejected Aim.

To—sun—tp—brietty:o-man—came asking o legitimate ond universalt+y—human-questi-ons
He-came _scssuming he could provide jts sotutkéns+—_Jesusresponded—te—himby_preseribineg scours

of—action designed specifically to meet bis-need.—\Tyeman—rejected Jesus-because he wes
more—interested in doing good things than he-wese—obeying-comptetety—the—Sen—of—Gad.

One of the reasons this incident is so difficult to assimilate and understand is that the
ou Huon ty.
words decision, obediene©and discipline are no longer meaningful within the context of our

— ‘ \ ‘ ‘
religious experience.\ It has been said, and with a great desl of truth, that the church of
\ be
Jesus Christ today, is the easist, of all the institutions and organizations in our culutre,.

\
to get in «nd saty ie ner club requires less to enter?\\hat lodge or fraternal order require

\ \
less of jis members once theyare in?\ In-whatother_organtzstiondo—the_members exude—the
: - “\ s ~

the—feeting +nst—_theyaredeing +he-orgenizstion—a—_favor—by Retomsing? ‘ia long would even
the most superficial service club stty in business if it did not reqitire its members to

attend meetings and pay aues?/ and yet, the only thing a person has to do to belong to the
church is to sey "| DO’ to a series of questi ons that may or may not be token seriously,
depending on the honesty of that particular person.| It is not necessary to support the church
with money ~or time.\It is not necessary to do ony thing. In fact all one has to do to call
himself = Christian of Presbyterian persuasion is to show up once everyt two years for the
Secramenr of Holy Communion. If can be said injest, but ironic honesty, that even the Boy Scou

don't pur up with that. 2,000 years after Jesus wnt around calling men to radical obedience =

1"

»*

i

commanding them to drop what they were doing and follow him, we find ourselves in a culture

An
pe stort KCL N

thatfsssumes everyone is a Christian by Divine-Right.

The story -tben.ought.to.be-elwe-ys pushing us“ towerd-redefing church membership in terms

f

“of obedient discipleship.\ It ought to be teaching us the principle so elequently expressed

\

by Dietrich Sonhoeffer;: \that aman can betelve only by obeying: that knowledge of Jesus Chris
\ . -\ ;

knowlddege of salvation comes only when we fey our lives on the line — when we take the leap

of faith and seek to be obedient totfhe one we know as Lord and Savior.

Wie sre made terribly uncomforteble.by this story. \On the one hand we know what if means
3

we know what it would mean if we begen to take it seriously.\ And on the other hand we are

afniad that if we did teke if seriously, we might find ourselves the object od some preposter,

ous demand - like selling all we have. \ We are made equally uncomf rtable by the example of
those who heve taken the ebedtence-of“disciptest ip seriously. | We admire an Albert Schweltzer,

a Tom Dooley, = Bonhoeffer, whose sense of-discipleship cost him his lefe et the hends of

\

the-tezis.\ ‘ie even admire, when we are honest, the fundamental courage of the man whose

N

1 \
faith hes driven himinto a picket line for civil Plate, put at the same time we obher these

4

mén for their discipleship: their obedience to Jesus Christ has taken them down rozds that

neither we, nor onyone, want fo travel.\\/le are made uncomfortablea and if we think about if |
\ ;
long enough we ere driven to despsir.\ what's the use?\[ can't and won't do anything like the
= \ ~- _ \ - sal
Sut the »assage does not end with the man walking awey in sorrow, His predicament

prompted Jesus to remark that it was easier for a camel to negottate the eye of a needle then

for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.| t this, Peter, speaking for us all, asked:

.

“Then who con be saved?" ).And Jesus looked at them 2nd ssid: “Wyakz With man it is impossible
but nof with God.\ For all things are possible with God,"

a
\

\ Camel can't possibly get through the eye of * needle:\.\ rich man, or any man , on his

——

own wffots, csnnet eneter the kingdom of heaven.\ Salvation is not esrned nof won by fhe best

, No ta . : . . ; ;
efforts of men. Mother it is 2 gift, given by Go@, dependent on nothing but his grace and lov

And so just whot did the man reject? What was it he missed? What is that you odn | miss

1 \

when we refesesingte=rtnded 6bedTence to our bord desus-Christ?

id

Yes w wilatl » at tade es a rym fuscus sh Legh

P

nub je Th aecthtt. 7 fot C

|

|
\ The men walked away from the kingdom of God that wes right in front of him. He walked

\
\
\ away from 2 salvation that was within his grasp -— the minute that he encountered Jesus Christ
~¥. \
This is whet Christianity is all about :\ not a one-way ticket to a heaven that begins «efter
\ -
death. That's God's problm@a;he wil! provide: |with him all things are posssible. But a kingde

A

thet is present now, even in our midst: « sense of salvation that exists now - even in our wn

life times = knowldge that Jesus Christ has catted and claimed us, ond thet participating in
the work of his kingdom we sre doing the will of god.\ lt begins with obedience: with putting
our lives on the Line: \it becomes reel when we say in effect: “take my life, take my doubting
faith teke my efforts, on will , my all: \tt begins when we obey the call of Jesus Christ, by

lather Lttd acpic 4 ached a¢ Ais eto the CEL bie ate pextthe die Y jn Bi ee
“sinelearrintiot-ODedran

he aking the risk of o ce.
Shortly before he made the decisio the! ey wy cost him his life, Bonhoffer wrote
lis CApi Aap % the EPCATIOBDN ALA tat
movingly sbout desision—snd-discipleship. Lat at caine depended-beayvityen-his
\

thinkinet—elose_withFris-words:

Only the man who follows the commands of Jesus single-mindedly, and unresistingly lets

*

his yoke resi upon him, finds his burden easy ond under its gentle pressure receives the powe

to -ersevervin the right wey.\ The command of Jesus is hard, unutterablg herd, for those who

+
\

i). ; .
try to resist it.\ But for those who willingly submit, the ypkeis easy and the burden is Ligh
ie ct: | ;
The commandnent of Jesus is not a sort of Spiritual shock treatment.\ Jesus asks nothing of

is s 2 \

us without géving us the strength to perforia _it.\| His commandment never seeks to destroy life,
\

but to foster, strengthen and heal it. \(P3I Cost of Discipleship)

=

d meer
re | LA- Vv
F.) =r rt i " a \
a “ a“ . ,
\ ri QF 4 a
v\ \ J \ \ a a \ Se -
Oe ; DP hn Se ie
\ ; \4 we es Sou
4 ‘e \
\é oce