In the story known as ‘The rich young ruler,’ (found in Mat. 19:16-30; Mark 10:17-31 and Luke 18:18-30), Jesus’ disciples ask him “Then who can be saved?” and he replies, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” Just as it is impossible to save ourselves, so it is impossible to live as Christ-followers by our own strength. In fact, the bar is now even set higher: “love your enemies…be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect;” “give cheerfully and generously;” “rejoice always,” “be completely humble;” etc.
Jonty Allcock puts it like this: “Jesus has given me new life, and so the commands that once condemned me now come with the full force of God’s power to enable my obedience…to do the impossible. It is not a standard that is way beyond my reach but a description of what God is doing in me by his power…because of this, obedience can actually become our delight. We will still fail. We fail every time we try to obey in our own strength. We fail every time we get proud and self-reliant. We fail every time we begin to think that the commands of God are nasty and mean. We will fail when God’s word is not a delight to us. But for every time we fail there is forgiveness. The Lord Jesus had to die because we cannot fully obey. We return to him on our knees and ask him for the power to go again…That’s a prayer he loves to answer.” Have you always understood your walk with Christ to be one where it’s “impossible”’ to fully obey his commands in the same way that it is impossible to be saved? Do you agree with Jonty’s take on “obedience can actually become our delight”?
Jonty gives us 4 practical steps to help in our day-to-day obedience, stressing that “learning to joyfully obey God’s commands is all about a relationship with the God who made us: the One who loves us-the God who enables our obedience in order that we might become the people he has created us to be” (and therefore not to think four steps is “simply a technique we can master”). The four steps are (I’ve included another 4 similar steps by Klaus Issler in these [brackets]):
· I CAN’T (honesty about our own powerlessness); [Awake to Gaps: between where we are and where God is at work in us towards Christlikeness]
· I’M SORRY (sorrow about our stubborn refusal to let go of desires that are not ‘kingdom first’); [Admit with Honesty: reality of where our character traits fall short of fruit of the Spirit/ maturity]
· PLEASE HELP (hopeful calling on our heavenly Father); [Ask for Formation Grace: Boldly before His throne for daily grace/ empowering needed]
· LET’S GO (getting up and starting to obey) [Act, take a first step. Do something based on the previous three steps, trusting God to supply His enabling power]
On Sunday, I used a story from Corrie Ten Boom’s life to illustrate these 4 steps in action as she came face-to-face with a Nazi guard from her time in Ravensbruck Concentration Camp, in which her sister died, during WWII. It’s too long to repeat here but you can find it online. Can you see how these steps allow for both (i) our responsibility in character formation & ii) God’s willingness to work within us to ensure godliness? They also put us on ‘level ground’ in that none of us can claim to beyond the need of God’s life flow (“Apart from me you can do nothing”). Think of two areas in your life, related to God’s commands in the NT, where you could apply these steps straightaway (Finances, Relationships, Prayer, Church, the more than 30 ‘one anothers,’ etc.)