Good morning.
After the last time I spoke, a sister came up to me a couple of days later and said, “You know, when you spoke, it caused a lot of questions from my children.” The first thing that popped into my mind was, “Why do they let him speak?”
But anyway, I’m back up here again to talk about another fundamental principle of the Christian walk. The last time I spoke, four weeks ago, I spoke about that fundamental principle of faith, or confidence in the Lord. Today I want to talk about another fundamental principle: obedience to the Lord.
I want to start by giving my standard disclaimer: I’m up here talking about something the Lord is showing me. This is not something that is worked out or perfected in my life. It is something that the Lord has shown me and is continuing to work out in my life.
I’m not up here preaching at you and telling you that you’re wrong and I’m right. I’m up here sharing what the Lord has shown me. Maybe what the Lord has shown me will also be a blessing to you.
To get started with this issue of obedience, let’s turn to Romans 6:16-18.
Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey,
either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?
But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed;
and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
So let’s pray.
Father, we just thank You, Lord, for this opportunity to get together, to meet together as Your children, Lord, and to worship You. Father, we also thank You for the opportunity to get together and fellowship around Your Word, and to share what You are showing each of us.
Today, Lord, I ask that You would reveal to us this issue of obedience and these principles of obedience. I pray, Lord, that through Your life in us, You would make us more obedient to You. Make us slaves of righteousness, Lord. We pray this in Christ’s most holy and precious name. Amen.
As I talk about obedience today, I want to give you a quick outline. One of the principles of speaking is that you tell them what you’re going to tell them, you tell them, and then tell them what you told them.
First, I want to give a quick definition of obedience. Then we will look at an example in Scripture. From that example, we will glean some principles of obedience. Finally, we will talk about practical aspects that can help us become more obedient slaves of Christ.
Brenda also tells me that she likes hearing how these messages come about, so I’m going to do that too. On top of all that, you’ll get a metaphorical leap and an object lesson. So that’s what’s in store for today.
A couple of weeks ago, right after I spoke last time, I had to go to Montana on a business trip. I don’t know if any of y’all have ever been to Montana, but there’s basically nothing there.
I went to this small town in Montana—dead-center Montana—population 8,000. I was going to be there for a couple of days, so I needed to stay in a hotel. The only hotel in town was a Super 8, and I just couldn’t do it.
They told me there was a really neat bed-and-breakfast a little way out of town. So I went there. It was ten miles out of town, six miles of that on a dirt road. It was up a canyon, in the middle of nowhere. There was no television, no telephone, and no internet connectivity.
I was trapped in this bed-and-breakfast with no connectivity to the outside world. I got there the first night and thought, “What can I do here? I’ve traveled all day. I’ve worked several hours today. I’m tired, but what can I do?”
The Lord said, “Why don’t you just read the Word?”
So I said, “Well, let me look for something else first.”
But eventually I sat down and said, “Okay, Lord, You told me to read the Word. I want to trust You. I want to read the Word and see what You have to offer.”
Through that reading of the Word, He showed me a really neat picture of obedience in Scripture. That is what I want to share with you today. Right after He showed me that picture, He said, “Okay, this is your next message.” So, in obedience to that prompting, we’ll talk about obedience today.
What is obedience?
First, I’ll give you an earthly definition of obedience. Obedience is choosing to do what someone in authority over you requests, wishes, or demands of you.
There are a couple of key points about that definition. First, obedience is chosen. If the person in authority over you forces you to do what they wish, that is coercion. It is not obedience.
Second, the person making the request is in a position of authority over you. If that person is not in a position of authority and you are doing what they wish, then you are doing them a favor. It is not obedience.
In the Christian realm, in the spiritual sense, obedience is the act of subjecting your desires—putting your desires underneath the desires of Christ. Christ communicates those desires through the Holy Spirit, through His Word, and through those in authority over you.
The key to that spiritual definition is that you are choosing to set aside your will. You are choosing to set aside your ego and your desires and replace them with the desires of Christ.
Augustine, an ancient believer, defined obedience this way:
Obedience must be freely chosen and is based on faith and the imitation of Christ, who did the will of the Father rather than His own will.
Even with Christ, obedience was replacing His will with the will of the Father. For us, obedience is replacing our will with the will of Christ. That is obedience in a nutshell.
What is disobedience? Disobedience is choosing to do one’s own wishes over the wishes, requests, or demands of someone in authority over you.
Disobedience can come in many forms. It can come in outright rebellion—not doing what that person wants you to do. That is the most blatant and obvious form of disobedience.
It can also come in the form of acting like you did not hear them. That is one of my children’s favorite forms of disobedience: just acting like they do not hear.
Another form of disobedience is caring so little about a request that you forget what the request was. Then you end up not doing what that person wanted.
There is also the form of disobedience that delays obedience: “Well, I’ll do that, but let me do what I want first. Then I’ll do what you want.”
Basically, there are an infinite number of ways to disobey. There is one way to obey, and a numerous—probably infinite—number of ways to disobey.
In the Christian realm, the same is true. We have subtle and not-so-subtle forms of disobedience. We can completely ignore what the Lord asks us to do. We can act like we did not hear Him and say, “Well, maybe that was just me talking.”
We can delay, like I did at the bed-and-breakfast in Montana, and say, “Let me find something else to do first before I read Your Word.” But those are all subtle forms of disobedience to Christ.
We can also put so little weight on what He wants that we forget it and continue doing what we want to do.
Now that we have finished with those cheery definitions of disobedience, I want to look at the passage in Scripture that the Lord showed me and glean some principles of obedience from it.
I have read this passage over and over again. I think I have been reading it since I was able to read, probably when I was ten or eleven. But it was not until Montana that the Lord showed me a deeper meaning in this passage.
There are many examples of obedience and disobedience in Scripture, but we are just going to look at this one today. Then we will take a metaphorical leap and apply it to our lives.
The story I want to discuss is the story of Joseph and Mary, right at the beginning of the New Testament, around the time Christ was born.
Now, just to set the record straight, I know it is Mother’s Day and I am talking about Mary. It was just a coincidence.
If you could turn to Matthew 1:18.
Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: When His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found with child by the Holy Spirit.
And Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly.
But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.
She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”
Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
“Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which translated means, “God with us.”
And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus.
Now, skipping down to Matthew 2:13:
Now when they had gone, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to destroy Him.”
So Joseph got up and took the Child and His mother while it was still night, and left for Egypt.
He remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”
Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became very enraged and sent and slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its vicinity, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the magi.
Then what had been spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled:
“A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children; and she refused to be comforted, because they were no more.”
But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, and said, “Get up, take the Child and His mother, and go into the land of Israel; for those who sought the Child’s life are dead.”
So Joseph got up, took the Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel.
But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Then after being warned by God in a dream, he left for the region of Galilee, and came and lived in a city called Nazareth.
This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets: “He shall be called a Nazarene.”
There are four examples of obedience by Joseph and Mary in this passage. We will briefly look at each one and then get into the principles involved.
The first example was when Joseph discovered that Mary was pregnant before they were married. An angel of the Lord came to Joseph, informed him of the situation, and told him to take Mary as his wife.
The more I thought about this, the more impressed I became with Joseph’s obedience. I cannot imagine the disappointment and humiliation he must have felt when he found out Mary was pregnant.
Yet, even taking all that into account, Joseph put aside his own will and did what the Lord commanded him to do. He did that knowing that, for the rest of their marriage, there would be questions and embarrassment surrounding their firstborn Son.
People who did not know the truth would always be questioning that situation. But despite that, Joseph obeyed.
In this case, Joseph’s obedience was in response to a correction from the Lord. Joseph had been considering doing the opposite of what the Lord wanted him to do, but the Lord corrected him, and Joseph obeyed.
The next example was when the angel woke Joseph and told him to flee to Egypt. Joseph got up immediately, packed his family, and headed off to Egypt.
It would have been easier for Joseph to wait until morning—to get up then and travel in the daylight. But it took courage and trust to get up in the middle of the night and embark on a long, fairly dangerous journey.
In this case, Joseph’s obedience was in response to a warning from the Lord that something was going to happen.
The third example was when the angel came to Joseph and told him it was okay to return to Israel. Joseph could have stayed in Egypt because being there was a fulfillment of prophecy. But he did not. He obeyed the Lord and returned to Israel.
In this case, his obedience was in response to a release from the Lord.
The fourth and final example was when Joseph was concerned that they might still be in danger from Herod’s son. The Lord confirmed Joseph’s concern and instructed him to move to Nazareth.
Joseph obeyed, and this obedience was in response to a consultation with the Lord.
It is interesting that obedience came from four different angles: correction, warning, release, and consultation. I think there are some spiritual truths there. There is probably a good message there, but that will be another time for someone else to do.
I want to take a slightly different tack on this issue of obedience and what we see in Joseph and Mary’s obedience. This is where we take the metaphorical leap to bring their obedience closer to home and make it practical in our lives.
When we look at these stories, something goes unstated in Scripture but is there when viewed in the context of the Gospels. Joseph and Mary were moving around and obeying in order to protect the life of Christ—the baby Jesus, the Messiah.
They had this life of Christ in Mary’s womb and then in their arms. This life of Christ went with them everywhere they went. When they went to Egypt, He went with them. When they went back to Israel and to Judea, He was with them. Just like any newborn baby, He was with them all the time.
Notice also that every time Joseph and Mary obeyed, that obedience was in fulfillment of prophecy. When they obeyed, prophecies given hundreds of years before were fulfilled.
It is not evident in Scripture that Joseph and Mary knew, each time, that what they were doing was fulfilling prophecy. The angel told them in the first instance, but it is not clear they knew that fleeing to Egypt, returning to Israel, or settling in Nazareth were fulfillments of prophecy. But they were acting, and the Lord was fulfilling prophecy through their actions.
What is the importance of their obedience fulfilling prophecy? Each prophecy declared that Jesus is the Messiah, that Jesus is the Lord.
Taken together, these prophecies say that this one Child is the only Child who could meet the requirements of being the Messiah, the Christ, the Savior of the earth.
It is not that God could not have fulfilled these prophecies without Joseph and Mary’s obedience. But their obedience made the fulfillment of the prophecies more glorious.
The Lord would not have let any of those prophecies go unfulfilled. They would all have been fulfilled one way or another. But because Joseph and Mary obeyed, the fulfillment was glorious.
Another term for what the Lord was displaying in these prophecies—that Jesus is the Christ—is that He was maintaining the testimony of Christ. The testimony is that Jesus is Lord of all and that He is the Messiah.
Through Joseph and Mary’s obedience, they were protecting and maintaining this testimony of Christ. The Father would have had this testimony without their obedience, but it is wonderful that they did obey and so readily preserved the testimony of Christ.
Now it is time to take the metaphorical leap. What do we have in common with Joseph and Mary?
What we have in common is that we have the life of Christ. Just like Joseph and Mary had the life of Christ, we have the life of Christ, or carry the life of Christ, in us. Every believer does that.
The life of Christ that Mary and Joseph had was more visible and more tangible, but the life we have is just as real as what they had.
Just as Joseph and Mary obeyed and protected the testimony of Christ—that Jesus is Lord—the same goes for us. When we obey, we preserve the testimony of Christ in our lives.
It is not that this testimony will vanish if we disobey. It is just that the testimony of Christ is more glorious when we obey.
I am not saying that if we disobey there will be prophecies that go unfulfilled. I do not think there are any prophecies regarding whether I watch television this afternoon or call someone and encourage them. But if we disobey what the Lord prompts us to do, it detracts from the testimony of Christ in our lives.
How can we say with our mouths that Jesus is Lord, and that Jesus is Lord of all, when we are not saying it with our obedience?
When we obey Christ, we are saying with our lives that Jesus is Lord, that He is the Messiah, and that He is Lord of our lives.
There are five points concerning our obedience preserving, or maintaining, the testimony of Christ.
First, it is impossible to have the testimony of Christ without obedience. If we say with our mouths that Jesus is Lord but do not obey Him with our lives, then our testimony with our mouths is a lie.
How can we say one thing and live another thing and have that testimony be true?
Christ will have His testimony. If we are believers, He will have His testimony in our lives one way or another. It is simply much more glorious if it happens sooner rather than later through our obedience.
Second, when we obey the Lord and reveal that He is Lord through our lives, it takes the focus off our lives and puts the focus on Christ.
Our actions and our will are no longer the focus. Christ’s will and His desires become the focus of our lives, and they become the focus of those who see our lives.
Our messed-up lives are no longer the center of attention. The Lord’s will and the Lord’s desires are the center of attention. That is a glorious testimony when He is the center of our attention.
Third, the Father would have preserved those prophecies and fulfilled them without Joseph and Mary’s obedience. But if they had disobeyed, it would have detracted from His testimony.
The Lord will have His testimony whether we obey or not. The question is whether we want to stand in the way and hinder that testimony. He will have His way. He is God.
When we obey, we open the way and make the way smooth for His testimony to go forth. I think it is best for everybody involved—best for yourself and best for those around you—if you are obeying the Lord rather than hindering His testimony.
Fourth, when we obey, we maintain a godly authority structure. Maintaining that authority structure is part of maintaining the testimony of Christ.
How can we say that He is Lord if we do not have a clear understanding and a clear display of the authority that He is? Lordship requires authority.
The whole concept of authority and a chain of authority in the spiritual realm is very important to the Lord. It is also heavily challenged by the enemy. He will do everything he can to keep us from having a proper view of authority and living under that authority.
Without a proper view of authority—the authority of Christ—it is difficult to have the testimony of Christ.
Fifth, it is easy to look at this passage and dismiss the obedience of Joseph and Mary because they were dealing with such big issues. They had the baby Jesus. They had the Messiah as a baby. They had an angel telling them what to do. They were fleeing from a murderous, tyrannical dictator.
How can that relate to my issues of obedience today? What should I wear today? How can fleeing with the baby Jesus and deciding what to wear relate together?
When it comes down to it, about all we make are small decisions. We make many, many small decisions every day.
The typical American may make perhaps five big decisions in life: whether to go to college, which college to attend, what to do for a living, whom to marry, and how many children to have. There are only a few big decisions, and unfortunately they almost all happen when we are very young and inexperienced.
That is a good reason to learn to lean on the Lord when you are young and to learn to obey the Lord when you are young, because that is when you are making the big decisions.
But hearing the Lord in the big decisions can only happen when we are hearing and obeying the Lord in the small decisions—the hundreds of small decisions we make every day.
If we only seek the Lord in the big things, we will not have the relationship or sensitivity to hear His guidance and direction. Even then, if we are not practiced in laying down our own will, who is to say we will actually obey the Lord when He tells us what to do in the big things?
But if we obey Him and seek His counsel in the small things, we will have the relationship and ears to hear His voice when the big things come along.
Obedience in the small things requires that we seek Him in the small things. I do not believe He is just going to interrupt us every day and say, “Do this, do that.” I think He is waiting for us to ask Him what to do and then obey what He says.
Part of obedience is laying down our own habits, desires, and will, and asking the Lord, “Lord, what is Your will? What do I need to do right now?” When He gives that guidance—and He will—we obey it.
As we obey in the small things, He builds a foundation and a relationship through which we can obey Him in the big things. That furthers the testimony of Christ in our lives.
Okay, that concludes my introduction.
Just kidding. I’m not going to be like Kenny and give a thirty-minute introduction.
Now that we have talked about obedience and its importance, I want to switch to some practical aspects of obedience—some practical tips or guidance that we see in this passage with Mary and Joseph.
I do not know if you are like me, but I can always look back in my life and see places where I could have obeyed better. I can see the Lord working to bring me to obedience.
The first practical tip for obedience is found in Matthew 1:20, when the angel said to Joseph, “Son of David, do not be afraid.” The key phrase there is: Do not be afraid.
For me, things seem most comfortable when I am in control. When I am not in control, I become uncomfortable and fearful. It is unsettling to lay down my desire and my control and turn it over to the Lord.
Most of the time, I do not have the full picture of what the Lord is doing, but I still need to lay down my own desires. Fear not and obey the Lord. We need confidence that His judgment is good and His judgment is right.
There can also be the fear of reproach, or the fear of being scorned by the world. I think that was probably the fear Joseph was dealing with at that point in his life.
As we seek the Lord and He tells us to obey, there will be a fear of being the oddball. That fear of being strange or being the weird one keeps us from all kinds of obedience.
I have an example from this week at work. The company I work for has a new-employee lunch whenever somebody new is hired. Anybody at the home office can go to lunch and meet the new employees—or new victims, as we call them.
We had a new-hire lunch on Tuesday. We were sitting around the table talking about families and children, and it came up that we homeschool our children. One of the new ladies who came to work for us asked me, “Why do you homeschool?”
Immediately, I was gripped by fear. Two options came to mind. I could give the politically correct answer: “Because we wanted to give our children a better education.” That is true, but it is not the whole truth.
Or I could give the politically incorrect answer: “Because we wanted to give our children a Christ-centered education.”
Praise the Lord, I gave the most truthful answer. I said plainly across the table, for everybody at lunch to hear, “Because we want our children to have a Christ-centered education.”
When I said that, her eyes lit up. She said, “Oh, really? We need to talk about that more.” It turns out that she is a believer. Not only is she a believer, but she and her husband were Muslim and converted to Christianity.
I was able to meet this precious new sister in the Lord because I did not give in to the fear of being the oddball.
As we approach some point of obedience—whether it is something big, like what to wear today, or something small, like whether to call someone and encourage them—we need to keep in mind the words the angel said to Joseph: Do not be afraid.
The next thing we can glean from this story is found implicitly in Matthew 1:20-21. Joseph had hope.
The angel came to Joseph and explained the situation: “Joseph, something wonderful is going to happen. Have hope. The Lord is doing something glorious, and you will be part of it.”
In the midst of Joseph’s humiliating and stressful situation, the Lord gave him hope that He was working and raising up a Deliverer. Through Joseph’s obedience, that would come about.
As we obey the Lord, seek His counsel, and hear His guidance, that guidance will often require laying down our ego and our self-life. We need hope that the Lord is doing something glorious.
Just as the angel explained to Joseph what the plan was—the big picture—the Lord has explained to us in Scripture what the big picture is. We can have hope that the Lord is carrying it out through our lives.
The next practical advice for advancing obedience is found in Matthew 1:25. Scripture says that Joseph kept Mary a virgin until she gave birth to a Son.
If you look back at what the angel told Joseph to do, that is not specifically what the angel told him to do. But Joseph went the extra mile in his obedience.
He valued the testimony of the Lord so much that he wanted that testimony to be unimpeachable. He did not want anyone to be able to say, “Well, you know, it is really your son.” He could say, “No, it is not my son. It is the Lord’s Son.”
I do not know how many times I have obeyed begrudgingly. The Lord tells me to do something, and I say, “Okay, Lord, I’ll do it, but I’ll do just enough to have it be called obedience.”
We can begrudgingly obey and do only the minimum. But when we skirt the edge of obedience, we give the enemy room to accuse us of not obeying, because we did not fully obey the Lord or happily obey the Lord.
As we obey, we need to give wide berth to disobedience, to protect the testimony of the Lord. We should leave no room for the accuser to come in and accuse us of not obeying.
One practical example is our dress. If the Lord tells us to dress modestly, whom are we using as an example of modesty? Are we using the most immodest person we know, or someone we would consider modest?
Go the extra mile in your obedience. Give wide berth for the testimony of Christ.
The next practical point is found in Matthew 2:14. After the angel warned Joseph, he got up immediately in the middle of the night, took Mary and Jesus, and left for Egypt. He did not wait until morning. He left immediately.
I see three things in Joseph’s immediate obedience that challenge my typical pattern of obedience.
First, Joseph did not try to find the perfect way to obey. I have a tendency, when the Lord tells me to do something, to try to perfect it and make everything just right before I obey.
If I had been Joseph, I might have said, “Lord, we do not have the right suitcase to go to Egypt. The magi just visited, and we have all these things. We need a new suitcase before we hit the road.”
“I’ll wait until morning, run down to Benjamin’s house, get his new wheeled-luggage donkey suitcase, and then we will go to Egypt. Things will be perfect.”
But Joseph did not do that. He did not try to perfect the situation. He got up in the middle of the night with what the Lord had given him at that point, obeyed the Lord, and went to Egypt.
Second, Joseph did not rationalize his obedience. He did not say, “Lord, it is awfully dangerous traveling at night. The roads are rough. We could trip and fall. There could be thieves out at night. We will wait until morning because it will be safer.”
He did not rationalize. He got up immediately and obeyed.
Third, Joseph did not compromise with the Lord. He did not say, “We will leave tonight, but we will go to Bethany. That is sort of on the way to Egypt. We will check things out there, and if things are still bad, then we will go to Egypt.”
He did not meet the Lord halfway. He immediately got up and immediately went to Egypt.
One thing Brenda and I learned from a parenting class—and you probably find it surprising that we took a parenting class, considering you see our children—is that delayed obedience is not obedience at all.
Joseph did not delay. He obeyed immediately.
The next practical tip is found in Matthew 2:22. After Joseph returned to Israel, he was concerned about the situation because Herod’s son was still reigning. He sought counsel from the Lord, and the Lord gave him guidance.
When we are concerned about something, we need not try to reason everything out in our own minds. We need to seek the guidance of the Lord and obey that guidance when He gives it.
We need to seek the Lord for every opportunity to obey—not just the big things, not only the things that really jump out and trip us up, but everything. We need to seek an opportunity to obey Him in everything.
The next tip is not found in this story, but it is in the Gospels around this time. It is from Luke 2:19:
But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart.
I think it is wonderful that Mary, in the midst of all the turmoil and chaos of being moved around for the census, having a baby in a barn, and all that kind of stuff, was able to treasure and ponder these things.
Often we look down on our obedience. We may obey and then feel bad about it. We think, “I could have done better. I did not obey quickly enough.” We start to find fault with what we did. We nitpick our actions and our obedience.
If we obey and the Lord is glorified, we need to treasure that and ponder it, not nitpick it.
When we become self-critical, nitpicking and analyzing ourselves to figure out what we did wrong, we take the focus off the Lord and put it back on ourselves.
Instead of focusing on what the Lord did and what the Lord wanted, we focus on ourselves. The enemy wants us to take our eyes off the Lord, and he will use any means he can, including having us analyze and try to fix ourselves.
It is not our job to fix ourselves. It is our job to be obedient and obey. Then the Lord will take care of the fixing.
The next tip comes from my last message: have confidence in the One who instructs us. We need confidence that He knows what He is doing and that His will is going to be done through our obedience.
How do you have confidence? Through being in the Word, through being with the Lord in prayer, through exercising the confidence He has given us, and through being with the saints—with other believers.
I do not think Joseph could have acted with such decisiveness if he had not had great confidence in the Lord. Scripture says that he was a righteous man, which means he was a man of faith.
The last tip for obedience—and the one I believe is the most important—comes from 1 Peter. I do not think we can have a message these days without having at least one verse from 1 Peter.
This verse is 1 Peter 3:15.
But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence.
This is another passage that jumped off the page when I read it. The key phrase is: Sanctify Christ as Lord.
When I first read it, the words “sanctify Christ” jumped off the page. I thought, “I thought Christ was the One who sanctifies us.” But this passage tells us to sanctify Christ as Lord.
I continued to meditate on that. What does it mean to sanctify Christ as Lord? What came to me was that it means to set Him in a special place—a place of honor, a place of reigning in our lives. It means setting Him above everything, looking down on everything in our lives.
When I have that picture of Him sitting on the throne of my life, above everything and looking down on my life, every nook and cranny is visible to Him. Every nook and cranny is illuminated by His radiance.
When His radiance permeates our lives, everything we do comes under His dominion. But it is not merely coming under His dominion; it is coming into communion with Him, into His help, His friendship, and His guidance.
All of that is for His glory and for our salvation.
This position of sanctification is not a position He will seize. It has to be ceded to Him. It has to be given to Him.
He will not remain in that position if we ask Him to leave. He will step aside and allow us to take that throne back and try to run our lives ourselves.
He will wait for us to invite Him back onto that throne. Usually, we do that after we have made a mess of things.
When we have sanctified Him and He has that high place in our lives, the defense of this testimony—the defense of our hope—will come readily forth. It will not be something contrived or dreamed up under pressure. It will be natural. It will always be there.
We will always be ready to give an account for that hope.
When He is on that throne, we are constantly aware of His presence in our lives. Because we are aware of His presence, seeking His guidance and obeying that guidance becomes more natural.
There is another illustration of this. I like to give object lessons. Hopefully this will not be too silly.
What I have here today is a grocery bag, and in this grocery bag is my life. Everything in my life is in this bag. You did not know I was a bag person, did you?
I have a little stuffed animal representing my family and my children. This is Manatee.
I have my hobbies, which are gadgets. I have the fellowship of the saints, represented by His Word. I have what I wear: a classic work shirt from one of my collection of defunct companies.
I have my career, represented by a little computer mouse. I have my entertainment, a little DVD. I have what I eat: Sprite.
Lastly, I have the Lord in my life.
As we are going about life, when Christ is not sanctified, we have Him in our life. He is there with us. But when something comes up—like, “How do I deal with the children? How do I discipline this child in love?”—we think, “I have to figure this out for myself. It is all up to me.”
If somebody says something nasty to me at work, I think I have to figure out the problem for myself. Most of the time, without Christ sanctified as Lord, we are wandering around trying to figure things out for ourselves.
But when I sanctify Christ as Lord, I take Him and put Him above everything else. This looks really silly, does it not? But I have Him above everything. He is on top of everything.
He is in a position of preeminence so that you cannot look at me without seeing the Lord. He is there. He is in my life.
When an issue comes up, like how to deal with my children, I have the light of Christ and His life showing me and illuminating the situation. Everywhere I go, everything I look at, the life of Christ and His light are radiating and illuminating that situation.
When you have the life of Christ at the head of everything, it no longer becomes an extraordinary act to seek His guidance. Everything I do—should I watch this movie now?—I look at the situation, and the life of Christ is illuminating it.
“Obey your thirst.” There is probably some spiritual lesson in that slogan. Things become much clearer when you have the life of Christ always there, illuminating the situation.
To stretch this metaphor a little further, when you have Christ in an exalted place above everything, He becomes our helmet of salvation. He is there as a protection. We are under His covering.
We are in a proper position of subjection and submission to Him. But there is a cost to that. The cost is that there is reproach in obeying the Lord.
Imagine me going to work or school wearing this thing. That would be quite a situation. I would probably be teased about it for the rest of my career—however short that career may be after wearing this.
But sanctifying Christ as Lord in our lives will be just as obvious as wearing this light helmet to work. It facilitates our obedience. It facilitates us obeying Him.
It is necessary for that testimony to go forth, but it will be a reproach to us. I do not think we can have the testimony of Christ without standing out, without looking a bit odd.
We are called the salt of the earth. Have you ever thought about why salt is salty? Salt is salty because it contrasts with the food around it. If salt did not contrast with the food around it, you might as well put dirt on the food. It would have about the same effect.
As we are being the salt of the earth, we have to have a contrast with the earth. We have to be different for that testimony to shine forth.
Having Christ sanctified as Lord in your life will take a toll on your self-life and on your ego.
There is another thing about sanctifying Christ as Lord: all the other tips I gave earlier—fearing not, having confidence, and the rest—become part of life. They are no longer external tips, no longer things that have to be worked out in our flesh. They become natural.
When Christ is in our lives and we are obeying Him, obedience is the natural thing to be doing.
As we have the life of Christ illuminating the situation, He is our guide. We will fear not because we have His light. We will have confidence in Him. I believe we will go the extra mile as we learn to obey Him.
Again, this sanctification—putting the Lord at the top of things—is not something that happens automatically or easily. It is something we need continually to maintain.
We need continually to be aware, and we need continually to ask the Lord, “Lord, are You still in that position of preeminence? Are You still sanctified as Lord in my life?”
We need to be diligent to make sure we continue to sanctify Him as Lord in our lives. As we sanctify Him in our lives, we will become slaves of righteousness rather than slaves of sin.
I just want to wrap up and summarize what I have said today. Obedience is a good thing. Without obedience, there can be no testimony of Christ.
But with obedience, the testimony of Christ is carried forth in our lives.
To see this obedience in our lives—this obedience that leads to the testimony of Christ—we need to sanctify Christ as Lord of our lives. We need to put Him in a position of honor and preeminence so that His life and His radiance can permeate our entire existence.
When we do that, we will become slaves of righteousness. We will become the testimony of Christ, and that testimony will be gloriously displayed in our lives.
Let’s pray.
Father, I again thank You, Lord, for making the way for us to be slaves of righteousness—to be bondservants of You—and to go beyond that and be Your sons.
Father, I pray that You would show each of us when we are not sanctifying You, or when we have removed You from the throne of our lives.
Father, I pray that You would seal this message in our hearts. Remove anything that is not of You, Lord, and make real anything that is from You.
We pray this in Your most holy name. Amen.