Under Compulsion

Acts 5:27-35
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“We must obey God rather than man.”  That verse contains some cringe-worthy words – “God”, “obey”, and “must”.   Whenever those three words show up in a verse you know there’s going to be trouble.  Most people these days don’t think in such “fanatical” terms as “God”, “obey”, “must”.  If you try to throw that combination of words into a sermon these days, it’s a major downer, a downright preacher faux pas.  

In today’s world it is unwise to talk about “obedience” when it comes to the topic of God.  It conjures up images of that “angry old man” sitting on the throne ready to send everybody to Hell because we’ve been naughty rather than nice.  It is rather more prudent to stick to “Jesus loves me, this I know”.  We simply have a problem with the word “obey” and especially when it’s used in proximity to the word “God” and intensified by the word “must”.  Obey is what well-trained dogs do.  Compelled obedience is what that cruel institution of slavery was rooted in.  Religious groups that use the word so often tend towards spiritual abuse.  Ever since we discovered basic human rights we do not feel comfortable using the word obey in any context that involves humans. 

So that said, what do we do with this verse, “We must obey God rather than man”?  Well, if Randy were here we could expect a lesson in New Testament Greek right about now.  But he’s not so we’ll just ponder the question, “Have you ever felt like God wanted you to do something and you were restless until you did it?”  If so, then that’s what we’re talking about here – a God thing that we know we have to do. 

The Apostles felt compelled by the Holy Spirit to do what God was calling them to do in the name Jesus.  They were filling Jerusalem with blessing.  They were teaching what Jesus taught.  They were healing the ill and casting out demons.  As a group they were effectively eliminating poverty among themselves by sharing everything in common.  They were proclaiming that God had raised Jesus from the dead; Jesus, whom everyone knew had been crucified wrongly for treason by the Romans and blasphemy by the Temple authorities.  Yet, here they were saying the things he said and doing the things he did in his name to the same awesome effect. 

This was possible because the Holy Spirit was upon them.  The Apostles were proclaiming that a new age was upon them, a time foretold by prophets long ago.  A few weeks after the Resurrection during the Festival of Pentecost, which celebrated the giving of the Law at Mt. Sinai, God poured out the Holy Spirit upon the followers of Jesus and they began to tell about Jesus in many different languages.  Accused of public drunkenness at only nine o’clock in the morning, Peter gave a rousing sermon explaining that this was the fulfillment of the prophecies of the prophet Joel about the end of times when God would pour his Spirit upon his people.  This had happened.  Jesus was therefore the Messiah.  He was truly bodily raised from the dead.  The Holy Spirit was indeed poured upon them as promised.  A new day of salvation had dawned.  This was God’s truth and the Apostles were compelled by the Holy Spirit to proclaim it.

Yet, the Apostles got in trouble.  The Sanhedrin, the religious authorities, their power threatened, got jealous.  They tried to compel the Apostles with threats to stop teaching in the name of Jesus and implicating the Sanhedrin in his wrongful death.  Finally, after one healing too many the High Priest had the Apostles jailed only to find them the next day again publicly preaching in the name of Jesus and claiming an angel had set them free.

Oddly, the Sanhedrin thought that intimidation could stop the Apostles; that fear of their power could compel the followers of Jesus not to speak in his name.  Yet, their life-threatening abuse of power was no match for the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit who was compelling the Apostles to preach the Truth that Jesus, whom the Sanhedrin had crucified but God had raised and who was truly the Son of God and the Messiah for whom they were hoping.  Just as the Apostles and many others were filled with the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, so we find the Sanhedrin saying that the Apostles had filled (or rather fulfilled) all Jerusalem with their teaching in the name of Jesus.  

Isaiah’s prophecy concerning Jerusalem was being fulfilled:

2 In the last days

the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established
    as the highest of the mountains;
it will be exalted above the hills,
    and all nations will stream to it.

3 Many peoples will come and say,

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
    to the temple of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us his ways,
    so that we may walk in his paths.”
The law will go out from Zion,
    the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
4 He will judge between the nations
    and will settle disputes for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into ploughshares
    and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
    nor will they train for war anymore.

Come, descendants of Jacob,

    let us walk in the light of the Lord.”  (Is. 2:2-5)

As we can see obedience here isn’t about doing the right moral thing as opposed to the wrong for fear God will get you, which is the typical thought that comes up when we hear “God”, “obey”, and “must” in the same sentence.  Christian obedience is acting out of the compulsion that the Holy Spirit places in us to act on Jesus’ behalf.  The result of this compulsion to obey God by proclaiming the truth of Jesus in what we say and do is that the surrounding community begins to get transformed to look more and more like God is with us.  

So, how do we as individuals and as a church let ourselves be compelled by the Holy Spirit to act according to the Truth of Jesus and his resurrection?  Well, do you ever feel like you need to read your Bible more, or take a moment to sit and listen, or see a need and feel like “I’m the one to do something.”  That’s likely the Holy Spirit.  Sometimes the opportunity to talk faith with others comes up.  That’s a Holy Spirit created opportunity to listen and to share.  As far as we as a congregation, well, God places people in our midst who get hunches like we should have a Bible study, or we should have a potluck, or we should give that extra money to a particular need as Latona did when Willamsford flooded to the tune of $15,000.  We should listen to those people who have those hunches.  One thing that’s for sure, the more we all gather together, prayerfully and open to the Spirit’s leading, the Holy Spirit will lead us to something.  Things like Bible Studies are important.  Our enemy shows itself in the fear that tells us we are too old and too small, but the last time I checked the Holy Spirit provides the energy and the people and the JOY to do what he compels us to do.  We are under compulsion to bear the name of Christ, let’s discover the joy and the wonder of “obeying”.  Amen.

The Gift of Obedience

Acts 5:27-35

“We must obey God rather than man.”  That verse contains some cringe-worthy words.  If you’re the preacher whenever “must”, “obey”, and “God” show up in a verse, you know there’s going to be trouble.  Most people these days don’t think in such medieval terms as “God, obey, must”.  No, today it’s “All you need is love” and “Jesus completes me.”  Seriously, have you noticed that the words to “Jesus Loves Me, This I Know” have changed?  Well, they needed to be changed.  The hymn was written back in the mid-1800’s before vaccines and such and childhood death was a real possibility.  Back then the hymn was meant to help children deal with that possibility but today, they’re a little scary.  The most notable change occurs in the last verse and it reflects a shift to a rather narcissistic attitude.  Originally we sang “Jesus loves me he will stay, close beside me all the way”.  But now we sing “Jesus loves me still today, walking with me on my way.”  It’s like Frank Sinatra got his hands on the song.  “Jesus did it my way.”  The change in lyrics here captures the shift to the prevalent thought today that I don’t trust and obey Jesus, rather he’s just there to make my life more meaningful.  If you try to throw the “archaic” idea of “God, obey, must” into a sermon these days, it’s a major downer, a downright preacher faux pas.

So, the stand up routine is done.  I was just trying to say that we have a problem with the word “obey” and especially when it’s used in proximity to the word “God” and intensified by the word “must”. So that said, what do we do with this verse, “We must obey God rather than man”?  Well, I’m going to put my Bible scholar hat on and say a good place to start would be taking a closer look at what the Apostles meant by the word and see what gets lost in translation. 

First, what do we think when we hear the word obey?  When I hear it I immediately think of not doing that list of things I’m not supposed to do and in turn doing the things that I am supposed to do.  That’s the “obey my commandments” approach. 

I also think of Dana’s dog Cedar, my step-dog.  Cedar just loves doing obedience training.  Obedience training teaches a dog commands and expected responses and that makes everybody very happy.  It facilitates communication between dog and dog person.  Through hopefully positive rather negative rewards dogs learn what we want from them and they love it. 

This is largely the way we teach our children obedience as well.  But children are different.  They can choose to be disobedient.  But for me the adult, I ain’t no dog and I ain’t no child and the “obey my commandments” approach really doesn’t leave me feeling respected as a rational and free person.

Well, this idea of being free to make the rational choice to obey the commandments of God rather than any other authority isn’t what’s going on here with the Apostles.  The word in Greek there isn’t the typical one for “obey”.  It’s the word for following a strong inner compulsion to act on what you are convinced to be the truth.  It’s that word with the word for “ruler” stuck on the end of it.  It is a compulsion to obey a higher authority that you know is truth. 

So, what did this compulsion led to in the early church?  The Apostles and the Jerusalem church had become quite a scene.  People were getting healed.  They were effectively eliminating poverty among themselves by sharing everything in common…and all this in the name of Jesus whom everyone knew had been crucified wrongly for treason against the Romans, but the Apostles and up to 500 others had seen him after his resurrection.  A few weeks after the Resurrection during the Festival of Pentecost which celebrated the giving of the Law at Mt. Sinai, the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the church and they began to tell about Jesus in many different languages.  In a very rousing sermon that day Peter publicly explained that they were not drunk for it was only nine o’clock in the morning.  No, what was going on there was the fulfillment of the prophecies of the prophet Joel about the end times when God would pour his Spirit upon his people.  Jesus was the Messiah.  He was indeed bodily raised from the dead.  The Holy Spirit was definitely upon them as promised.  A new day of salvation had dawned.  This was God’s truth and the Apostles were compelled by the Holy Spirit to proclaim it.

They got in trouble.  The Sanhedrin, the religious authorities, their power threatened, they got jealous.  They tried to compel the Apostles with threats to stop teaching in the name of Jesus and implicating the Sanhedrin in his wrongful death.  Finally, after one healing too many they had the Apostles jailed only to find them the next day again publicly preaching in the name of Jesus and claiming an angel had set them free.  Just as the Sanhedrin thought that fear of their power would compel the followers of Jesus not to speak in his name, so the Holy Spirit was compelling them to preach that Jesus, whom the Sanhedrin had crucified, was raised.  Just as the Apostles and many others were filled with the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, so we find the Sanhedrin saying that the Apostles had filled all Jerusalem with their teaching in the name of Jesus.

As we can see obedience here isn’t about doing the right moral thing as opposed to the wrong for fear God will get you.  Christian obedience is acting because of the compulsion of the Holy Spirit to be in and under the authority of Jesus, the Ruler, to act on his behalf.  The result of this compulsion to obey God by proclaiming the truth of Jesus is that the surrounding community begins to get transformed to look more and more like God is among his people.  

This Holy Spirit compulsion to obedience to proclaim the truth about Jesus is a gift which reflects itself in what the Apostles called repentance and forgiveness of sins; two other cringe-worthy topics in churches these days.  Repentance doesn’t mean simply stop doing the bad things we do.  In Greek it literally means to be “with-minded”, with-minded with Jesus expressed through participating in his mission to bring in the Kingdom of God.  Repentance is being a disciple of Jesus not just trying to be a good person and generally good citizen and going to church is part of that.  Being a disciple is gathering together with other folks who are “with-minded” with Jesus to break out the Bible and study together, eat together, pray together, and outreach together.  Actually, when you find yourself compelled to do these things it is a sign that the Holy Spirit is at work in you.  Go with it.

Forgiveness of sins is also a gift.  Forgiveness of sins is not a legal decision made by a judge on the throne.  Forgiveness of sins is Jesus in the presence of the Holy Spirit with us picking us up in the midst of our sinfulness and carrying us towards being free of them.  Forgiveness of sins also means having a group of people “with-minded” in Christ who do the same, who pick us up and bear us in all our brokenness towards freedom from our sins.  This kind of repentance and forgiveness is the heart of Christian community.

How does a church let itself be compelled by the Holy Spirit to act according to the Truth of Jesus and his resurrection and find the gifts of repentance and forgiveness of sins?  Well, just gather together and see what happens.  Get together and start talking about Jesus.  Prior to Pentecost the Apostles hid for fear of the Jews just like we do with our ideas of faith being a private matter.   But on Pentecost just out of the blue while they were gathered together the Holy Spirit fell upon them.  Just gather together for whatever reason you can find and start talking about Jesus.  Only, I think the gathering together needs to be more frequent than just on Sunday morning.  I’ve a firm belief that the more we Christians get together, the more we will realize that Jesus is in our midst and convinced of that we will begin to feel the Holy Spirit compelling us to go with this gift of obedience and be a community of repentance and forgiveness of sins.  Amen.