OBEDIENCE QUOTIENT

5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 6 And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete

2 Corinthians 10:5-6 9 Another reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything 2 Corinthians 2:9

The above portions of Scripture is an extract of a bigger story. Paul is sort of reading the riot act to his ‘children’ at Corinth. He is defending his ministry against accusations brought forth by strangers and in his defense he counters by arguing that his war is in an another dimension. You can feel his anger, frustration reading through 2 Corinthians 10-11. Think about it, you have laboured and invested in these people only for them to be swayed so easily by others. He goes on a tirade and even allows himself to be caught up in this foolishness (2 Corinthians 11). It is worth noting that after all, Paul was human. He like all of us would get agitated and frustrated when things did not go his way. As it were, I pick out something interesting he speaks of in his verbosity. He appreciates the fact that he is speaking to Corinthians -those whom we know from other accounts that they are babes in Christian maturity (1 Cor 3:1) undeserving of meat from God’s word but those still nursing with carnality. He knows that they are still struggling. They are still doubting. They are still tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine. He postpones his punishment of them till their ‘obedience’ is complete. He is quite frustrated that they are not yet ‘ loyal’ as they ought to be. (6And after you have proved your complete loyalty, we will be ready to punish any act of disloyalty (Good News Translation))

This brings me to my point of obedience. Paul was demanding of full obedience, loyalty to himself and teachings and is a carbon copy of what Jesus was with his disciples. Indeed Jesus also showed his frustration when he realized that his disciples could not keep up with him. He exasperated, for how long he had to be with them for them to believe (Matt 17:17). In God’s kingdom, obedience is what is required. John 8:31 says that the true test of discipleship is obedience. Throughout scriptures, God demanded total obedience from men and those that did not fulfill His commands, instructions ended up missing the mark. It is military in God’s kingdom. The centurion servant touched a vitality when he showed Jesus that he understood rank and instructions. (Luke 7:1-10). In fact 2 Tim 2:4 attests that we are indeed soldiers who ought not to be caught up with civilian affairs.

Abraham was commended by God for obeying His commands to the tee. He did what he was told. David was commended by God for being a man after God’s own heart who did all that God asked him to do. (Acts 13:22). Moses missed the mark despite being a great leader. In his anger he hit the rock and God dealt with him rather harshly by denying him entry into the promised land. God anointed Saul as King and repented of this when he did not execute His will. Yet in this journey we do not start out as obedient men. We fight with God’s will at every turn. We do not yield or surrender to Him at the very first instance. We walk this journey. Paul understood this and he knew that the Corinthians had a journey to take to get to that place of total obedience. It is comforting to know that the disciples were in the same WhatsApp group -and many of us are. Our obedience quotient is small but we have a journey to take. I will show you why.

Often than not we do not do what God asks of us. We question His will. We try to negotiate. We even promise to do it ‘later’ maybe when the time is right by us. We do what is convenient and leave out what is uncomfortable. Unfortunately, in God’s kindgom, delayed obedience is disobedience. David says in Psalm 119:60, “I was up at once, didn’t drag my feet, was quick to follow your orders (MSG)”. As a parent, I expect my child to do what I ask him to do when I ask him. Abraham was asked to leave his parents house and he immediately did.(Gen 14) Peter, James and John left everything they were doing and followed Jesus. Prompt. This is complete obedience. Saul fulfilled partially God’s command we saw yesterday in 1 Samuel 15. God rejected him because partial obedience is disobedience. Jesus gave a parable of the two sons in Matt 21:28-32 in which we see the principle of obedience. One was told to go work in the vineyard. He flatly said, ‘No’ . He later changed his mind and did what his father asked him. The other son was asked the same thing. He said, ‘I will’ but did not do it. Jesus asks, ‘who did the will of his father?’ . This parable shows that there is redemption for us. We might have started out by saying no to what God has aked us to do but later God works on us. His Holy Spirit convicts us and we change our minds and do it. We end up doing His will. What is worse is saying that we will and not do it. Or postpone it. We do not know whether the other son who said he will do it was just taking his time. Maybe he still was planning to go work in his father’s vineyard. We do not know but what we know is that he did not end up doing it. Let us be wary of saying yes and not doing it. Reminds me of Jonah. He said no at first and suffered for it. He said yes the second time and he was redemeed. We know from the story of Jonah that the word of God came to him a SECOND time.(Jonah 3:1). Another lesson here is what our Pastor keeps saying, ‘God will not advance you beyond your last disobedience’

Friends, I do not wish to belabour the point but I would urge us to examine our lives and ask ourselves, ‘What has God asked me that I did not do?’. Repent of it and do it immediately. Today, I want you to go back to your hearts and minds and check. Is there a pending instruction yet to be done? Do it. Now. Leave that relationship. Now. Don’t wait. God’s commands are in His words written in our hearts and in the Bible. Let us take this journey together and rid ourselves of civility and go on to maturity. To the place of total surrender. Let us get our obedience quotient to the highest level. Total complete obedience.