During a visit with my mother, we attended her church - the congregation of my youth. Amid keeping my children occupied and trying to pay attention to what was happening in the worship service, I found myself slipping back to those earlier years. My mind was drawn to the back row of the balcony. That's where I often sat as a teenager, once my parents released me to sit where I wished.
The back row of the balcony is about as far as one can get from what's happening up front, and still be among the gathered faithful. I must confess that I was not a very good listener. I cannot recall a single sermon I heard during those years. Then again, can you? There are times nowadays, when this inner teenager still wonders why anyone would listen to him. If the truth be told, this preacher is still trying to reach that teenager. Story sermons are my favorite to preach because they speak to this inner youth. In a similar manner, when a song connects with scripture - it touches me deeper than my intellect. When it flows from within me, composed with my pen, even, I hear the voice of God.
Hearing God's voice. Did you know that in the Old Testament the word for obedience literally means "to hear." F.W. Young in the Interpreter's Dictionary writes: "translators of the Bible are constantly faced with the problem of when to translate (this word) by 'hear' and when by 'obey'" (III:580). Perhaps this confusion between the two can be helpful for us. You see, "obedience" is not a very popular word in our present vocabulary, especially when we link it up with the word "blind." We are frightened by zealots out there who live in "blind obedience" to what they perceive as truth. How else can one explain a terrorist who commits murder for a righteous cause?
Closer to home, obedience is in ill-repute because we live in an age where each person must find their own way. "Be yourself," we tell our youth. That's fine advice in relation to peer pressure, but in the confusing experience of adolescence it's virtually meaningless. "How can I 'be myself' when I don't know who that 'self' is?"
In the first chapter our focus was upon "Servanthood as Identity." My major point was that Jesus Christ is our magnetic north, so to speak. We orient ourselves in relation to him. That's the beginning place for our sense of identity as servants of the Lord. When it is said, "to thine own self be true," as Christians we discern this true self in orientation to our Lord Jesus.
I'm not sure the identity question is only for the high-hormone years of adolescence. I think we all struggle with it. However, to speak about obedience, now, I must interact with that boy-man who used to sit up in the back row of the balcony. During those teen years it was hard to figure out to whom I was accountable. Surely, parents were starting to recede into the background. Yes, I was still accountable to them, but a new day was dawning. There were my peers, some a good influence, others not so wise. What we call peer pressure is really the beginning of a new sense of accountability. As a parent now, I need to recognize that peer pressure is not always a negative.
The topic of the last chapter was accountability, in this online "book" about Servanthood. Are you able to see the flow of this voyage? We cannot speak of obedience until we ground ourselves in identity and accountability. All of us are accountable to God. The purpose of accountability, though, is not to get by with as much as you can without being penalized. That's how our society often views it. From a Christian perspective, the goal of accountability is to become like the One to whom we ultimately are accountable.
A common thread woven through the patchwork of identity, accountability, and now obedience is the voice of God. When we say Jesus Christ is our magnetic north, so to speak, this is not some abstract concept. There is a voice - a very real voice - that draws us, like a magnet. Likewise, when we say that our goal is to become like Christ, there is a voice involved - a very real voice - that pulls us toward God's future. This voice also attracts us to one another. In this blessed community we discover who we are and whose we are in a deeper way, supporting and challenging one another, helping each to hear the voice of God - perhaps even to speak for God.
Helping each other to hear the voice of God. God was speaking to that teenager in the balcony so long ago. He still is. God is reaching out to all of us. Always has been. At this moment the Word is coming through Isaiah, chapter 55. "Word" ... "Voice" ... For all the wonderful things that happened with the invention of the printing press, one of the down-sides of moving so totally to ink on a page was the loss of a sense of God's voice in these words. Printer's ink can become embalming fluid. Of course, we can also listen with our ears and still not hear God speak.
Remember the confusion between "hear" and "obey" when translating the Old Testament? Well, this passage from Isaiah uses that word, "Shama," three times. In fact, at one point it is repeated for emphasis: "Shama shama." How would you translate that? "Listen carefully" ... "Listen as if your life depends upon it" ... "Listen with your ears and your hands" ... The link between hearing and doing becomes obvious in the words that follow: "Listen, Listen to me and eat what is good, delight in my rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me. Listen, so that you may live" (Is. 55:2b-3a).
This is the very same word that in Jeremiah 7:23 is translated as "Obey my voice and I will be your God and you shall be my people. Walk in the ways that I have commanded you." Obedience is intimately connected with listening. You cannot have one without the other. In our common walk with Christ, have you ever noticed that whenever we fail to listen, we stop following his voice? Likewise, when we quit seeking the Lord, when we no longer are trying to walk the walk of Jesus, we aren't listening to his voice. The two go together. Obedience is listening and listening is obedience.
In this day of equal rights, we have a hard time with obedience - because it implies an inequality. After all, it's a slave that obeys the voice of a master, isn't it? The problem is, for all our talk of equality, we are slaves of whatever captures our attention. Listen to Isaiah talk the talk: "Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?" (55:2a) To quote a song my teenage rock band used to sing, "I can't get no satisfaction." Not the best grammar, but that's the inner place to which God's voice is speaking. We are slaves of whatever captures our attention. To be obedient to God is to listen so intently that our body is leaning in the direction of God's voice. It's hard to lean without that foot just automatically stepping out, and before you know it you're moving down the path in which God is leading you. But walking that walk depends upon hearing that Voice.
As I see it, "blind obedience" is obeying without listening. Listening can be a troublesome thing, for we may hear conflicting words. Sometimes obedience is standing still until the truth becomes clear. Many times obedience is an uphill climb, going against the flow, not following the crowd. More often than I'd care to admit, true obedience can be "blind," trusting the voice when every other sense registers nothing. The path takes a turn around a bend and there is no guarantee what lies beyond it except that voice which beckons onward. Just make sure it's the right voice, folks!
One more thing about obedience, which I alluded to in the last chapter. Obedience is a direction not a conclusion. When we Brethren speak of baptism, we call it an ordinance, not a sacrament. By that we imply a listening to God's voice, a divine command, a marching "order" (an "ordinance" is connected to an "order"). We hear God's directions, and step out into God's direction. Thus baptism and the other ordinances, are not ends in and of themselves. They are not conclusions but, instead, are the direction God is leading us as we harken to his Voice and follow in the Way. Obedience is a direction.
Well, did I reach that teenager in the back pew of the balcony? He's still inside me. I'll let you know. Did you hear the Word? All I can do is let it go out from my "mouth," knowing it didn't start there, also knowing that it won't return to God empty (see Isaiah 55:11). Did I say that Servanthood is a two-way street? Oh, yes - that's what we'll explore in the next chapter. Our listening, our obedience is not a Pavlovian experiment, with God conditioning us to salivate whenever a divine bell is rung. Servanthood is an intimate relationship with the One who loves us enough to let us go. This love is what makes obedience possible. Shall we continue listening together?