The Discipline Of Obedience
By Woodrow Kroll
Luke 5
Luke 10
Luke 22
So like this, when you train a horse you discipline it with bit and bridle so that it learns to obey your commands. And once it's learned to obey, the process is much easier, and the horse and rider enjoy the freedom and pleasure of working together. In the same way, if we're to obey the Lord we'll need the spiritual discipline or training of obedience, as we'll see in today's study.
No one ever said talking seriously about discipline would be easy, but it is important. Discipline always hurts a little. You know, no pain, no gain. I think that's true in the spiritual realm just as it is in the physical realm.
Now we're thinking today about the discipline of obedience. F. W. Robertson said, "It is not said that 'after keeping God's commandments' but 'in keeping them' there is great reward." God has linked these two things together and no one can separate them--obedience and power.
Now folks, do you want to have power with God today? The road to power leads through obedience. And to be disciplined in obedience is not an easy task. I mean there are always those obstacles to obedience. Just like there are obstacles to every other discipline in our lives. But nothing worth gaining is easily gained.
Nothing worth obeying is easily to be obeyed. And if we're to discipline our lives to obedience, discipline ourselves to obeying Christ Jesus the Lord, then I think we need to see the struggles of others--those who had to accomplish this discipline. Now I don't know any better place to do that than to turn to God's Word.
Again, we're going to limit ourselves to the Book of Luke today. We want to see the discipline of obedience as it's evidenced in Jesus' disciples. Now there're some great passages in Luke that will tell us about disciplining yourself to obedience. The first one is in Luke chapter 5, we're also going to look at Luke 10 and Luke 22. But I want to begin in Luke 5.
And I begin with a very familiar story, in fact, I even referred to the story earlier this week on Back to the Bible. It's the story of Jesus telling His disciples to launch out into the deep. Let me read just a couple of verses to you from Luke 5, beginning at verse one:
"Now so it was, as the multitude pressed about Him to hear the word of God, that He stood by the Lake of Gennesaret, and saw two boats standing by the lake; but the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets. Then He got into one of the boats, which was Simon's, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And
He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat.
"Now when He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, 'Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.' But Simon answered and said to Him, 'Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.' And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink."
Quite a story, isn't it. Isn't it interesting that Jesus who was the son of a carpenter from inland Nazareth, is telling Peter who is the son of a fisherman from Bethsaida on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee, how and where to catch fish.
Now there are some lessons to be learned from this passage and our interest today folks, is in thinking about the discipline of obedience--life is filled with discipline. Discipline frees us to live a life that pleases God. Here's the lesson I see in this passage--the discipline of obedience means that we obey even if our Lord's commands are contrary to our own experience.
Now I want you to think about that with me. God calls us to obey even if the commands of God are contrary to our own experience. I mean here's Peter. His experience teaches him, you don't go out at this time of the day (you don't go out in the sunlight) and you don't go out into the deepest part of the Sea of Galilee and catch fish. But he received a command from God. And the command from God, the obedience that he had to give to his Lord, had to supercede his own experience.
You know, the USS WASP was one of America's great naval vessels in WWII. And when the Wasp caught on fire and began to sink, the sailors were ordered to abandon ship and swim away from the vessel immediately. Well, they jumped overboard, but instead of trusting their life jackets many of them clung to the sides of the ship. And when the vessel plunged beneath the surface--these sailors were sucked down with it.
Is there anything for you and me to learn from this first example, Luke 5, of the discipline of obedience? I think there is. When the Bible tells us something is good for us, even if our experience is otherwise, we have to believe the Bible. Because the discipline of obedience means we believe the Lord God--even when our experience tells us otherwise.
That's an important lesson. And it's one that's not easily learner, is it. But there's more than that. Look with me a few chapters later at Luke 10. Luke 10 beginning at verse 1, we want to see a second lesson about the discipline of obedience. Listen to this, Luke 10:1:
"After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go. Then He said to them, 'The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. Go your way; behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves. Carry neither money bag, sack, nor sandals; and greet no one along the road. But whatever house you enter, first say, "Peace to this house." And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest on it; if not, it will return to you.'"
Now there's more to this passage, but I think this is enough to teach us another lesson about the discipline of obedience. You see, one of the great disciplines in life that you and I have to come to some conclusions about, is whether or not we are going to discipline ourselves to obey the Lord every time or whether we are going to pick and choose what the Bible says we ought to do.
Now we've already looked in Luke 5, and we've learned that the discipline of obedience means that we have to obey even when what we're asked to do is contrary to our experience. But here in Luke 10, Jesus is sending them out as lambs among the wolves--these poor disciples. He's telling them to go their way, don't take any money with them, don't take any sandals with them, don't greet anybody along the way--just be about the Father's business.
Must have been tough for these disciples! They'd never done this before; they had no guarantee of success. In fact, isn't that the point of the discipline of obedience. The discipline of obedience means we obey even if our prospects for success are dismal.
Now sending the disciples out as lambs among the wolves did not sound like a very successful venture. But you see, Jesus went on in this passage to promise that He would go with them. The secret, my friends, to going out among the wolves of this world--as just a tiny sheep, as a little lamb--the secret is to know that the Shepherd goes with you. And the discipline of obedience means that we obey even if our prospects for success are dismal. I think that's the lesson of Luke 10.
The Roman Centurion was instructed to deliver a message. And in order to deliver that message he had to go through some pretty dangerous territory. One of the soldiers approached him and said, "Sir, if you try to deliver this message you're going to get killed." The Centurion looked at the young man and said, "Soldier, it's not necessary for me to live, it's only necessary for me to obey."
You know, there've been a lot of people in the army of the Lord over the centuries who've felt exactly that same way. They have had the discipline of obedience. And the discipline of obedience means that we obey even if our prospects for success are dismal.
Well, that's two passages from the Gospel of Luke, let me take you to a third. This is an interesting passage, Luke 19, Luke 19 beginning at verse 28. Now Luke 19:28 we're going to look very carefully at the story of Jesus sending out His disciples, and telling them to do something that they were very uncomfortable doing. Well let me read the story to you, Luke 19 beginning at verse 28:
"When He had said this, He went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. And it came to pass, when He drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mountain called Olivet, that He sent two of His disciples, saying, 'Go into the village opposite you, where as you enter you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Loose him and bring him here. And if anyone asks you, "Why are you loosing him?" thus you shall say to him, "Because the Lord has need of him."'
"So those who were sent departed and found it just as He had said to them. But as they were loosing the colt, the owners of it said to them, 'Why are you loosing the colt?' And they said, 'The Lord has need of him.' Then they brought him to Jesus. And they threw their own garments on the colt, and they set Jesus on him."
Okay, this is a first-century story. There aren't many of you going into town today that are going to look for a colt tied somewhere along the way, a colt of a donkey that you could bring to the Master for use. But I think the lesson of obedience, the discipline of obedience, is the same today as it was then.
I mean, just imagine, supposing the Lord said to you today, "I want you to go in town, and right along the street you're going to find a year 2000 model Buick. And the keys will be in the ignition and I want you to go and bring that car to me because I'm in need of it. And if anybody asks you why you're taking that car, just tell them that the Lord has need of it." I mean you can see how difficult this would be. People would have to be crazy to do this sort of thing, unless of course, they were completely sold out to the discipline of obedience.
Now that might get you accused of grand theft auto today, but apparently the owner of this colt knew these disciples, perhaps was a disciple himself, and knew what he had that the Master needed he should freely give to the disciples. So here's the lesson of Luke 19, friends. The discipline of obedience means we obey even if our Lord's commands make us personally uncomfortable.
Now I have people write me all the time or they send an e-mail or I talk to them when I'm traveling and they say, "You know, I had a great decision to make and I just couldn't make it because I didn't have peace about it." Well I believe the Lord wants us to live in peace with our decisions. But I have to tell you friends, I have to make a dozen decisions a day, I don't have peace about. I make the decisions based on God's Word. I do the right thing even if I'm personally uncomfortable with that.
And I think that's a part of the discipline of obedience. And what I learn from Luke 19 is that the discipline of obedience means that we obey even if our Lord's commands make us personally uncomfortable.
It was Donald Cole who said, "To become a Christian is easy. To live like one is another matter." We become Christians by repentance and faith. We live as Christians only to the extent that we obey Christ's commands. Now let's face it, some of the commands of our Lord are going to be commands to us that we are not personally comfortable with. Now God is going to expect us to give our witness to a neighbor that we're not comfortable with.
God's going to expect us to invest heavily in eternity and you may not be comfortable with that. God expects me to teach God's Word and a lot of people write to me and they're not comfortable with what I say. But you see, the discipline of obedience means that I have to obey even if the Lord's commands make me uncomfortable. That's what the Bible says and I think that's what the Bible means.
So look at the lessons we've already learned from Luke today. We've learned that the discipline of obedience is difficult discipline. Lesson number one is that the discipline of obedience means that we obey even if our Lord's commands our contrary to our own experience. Now lesson number two is the discipline of obedience means we obey even if our prospects for success are dismal. Lesson number three, the discipline of obedience means that we obey even if our Lord's commands make us personally uncomfortable.
You notice these disciples did not flinch when Jesus told them to go and get that donkey. Why? Because Jesus told them to go and get that donkey. And sometimes God asks us to go places, to minister in ways that exceed our comfort level. But the discipline of obedience means that we obey.
Now let me take you to one final passage, Luke 22, just a few pages from where we are right now. Luke 2 tells us another lesson about the discipline of obedience. Listen to this, beginning at verse 7 of Luke 22:
"Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover must be killed. And He sent Peter and John, saying, 'Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat.' So they said to Him, 'Where do You want us to prepare?' And He said to them, 'Behold, when you have entered the city, a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him into the house which he enters. Then you shall say to the master of the house, "The Teacher says to you, 'Where is the guest room in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples?'" Then he will show you a large, furnished upper room; there make ready.' So they went and found it as He had said to them, and they prepared the Passover. And when the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him."
Now in many respects this account is much like the one we just read in Luke 19. Jesus again is asking the disciples to do something they clearly do not understand--something that may be beyond their personal comfort level. The question is, "Did they obey?" And they answer is, "Yes, they obeyed." Verse 13 says, "So they went and found it as He had said to them."
See when Jesus prepares the way for us and obedience follows, it's always the way He says it will be friends. Always. So here's the final lesson I learned today from God's Word about the discipline of obedience. The discipline of obedience means we obey even if our Lord's commands are beyond our comprehension--even if you can't understand why God asks you to do what He asks you to do. The discipline of obedience means you do it.
The Lord Jesus doesn't expect our obedience to be based on our understanding. He doesn't expect our obedience to be based on our agreement. He doesn't expect it to be based on our prospects for success, or based on our previous experience. The Lord Jesus expects our obedience unconditionally. And if we've been disciplined in the grace of obedience, He'll get it.
B. J. Miller once said, "It is a great deal easier to do that which God gives us to do no matter how hard it is than to face the responsibility of not doing it." Now if you're lacking in this discipline today folks, if you're lacking in the discipline of obedience, there's no place like right now to begin. There's no time like right now to begin.
Why don't you ask God to identify an area of obedience in your life in which you're having some trouble today. And maybe you already know what that area is. Okay, commit it to the Lord. Admit to Him that you have a problem in that particular area and then ask Him for help. Ask Him to help discipline you in this one area. Conquer it, just that one area. And then you can move on to others.
The discipline of obedience is the basis for effective discipleship. We want to be doers of the Word, not just hearers. And to be doers of the Word means discipline--it means the discipline of obedience.
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