Obedience and its reward.
by Dr. David R. Downey
If there is a concept that rises above all others in Scripture, it may be that of obedience. God constantly points to this characteristic in the people He can bless, for obedience is nothing more than observing, first, that God is sovereign and then trusting Him to lead.
Stated simply, our disobedience got us into this mess, Jesus’ total obedience got us out of it, and our challenge is to pursue obedience the rest of our lives. When we are obedient, Scripture says that we are worthy in our walk.
First John 2:6 states the case simply: “He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.” Jesus is our example. We know from Scripture that He was tempted in the same manner as we are, yet always obedient. To follow Jesus in obedience is a high bar, but it is nonetheless our goal.
Scripture tells us how we can be worthy of the One who has called us.
Unworthy
First, we must realize that we are unworthy. In response to God’s provision for his family, Jacob said, “I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which You have shown Your servant; for I crossed over this Jordan with my staff, and now I have become two companies” (Genesis 32:10). Some contemporary folks have made this a joke: “I am not worthy, I am not worthy!” But for those who follow the Lord, we start there.
In all four Gospels, John the Baptist says that he was not worthy to untie Jesus’ sandal straps (Matthew 3:11; Mark 1:7; Luke 3:16; John 1:27). John was a good and righteous man. He must have known that he was specially blessed by God. He suffered greatly for God’s cause, enough that any normal person would think he had something coming to him. However, John didn’t think that way. He spoke of Jesus with reverence and awe.
When the centurion told Jesus about his sick servant, Jesus said he would come to the man’s house to heal him. The centurion said, “Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed” (Matthew 8:8).
Jesus marveled at the man’s faith and said to those nearby, “I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!” (v. 10).
Other people, like eager Zacchaeus, the widow with her mite, and those in the parables, like the publican who beat his breast in contrition and the prodigal son who returned to his father declaring he was unworthy — these are the ones who attract Jesus’ attention and His mercy. We should remember that grace means unmerited favor, so we are unworthy of such grace.
We may wonder why God looks on folks who consider themselves unworthy, and graciously appears to them. Why does He tend to take people from the foot of the table to move them to the head? It is not because He is a merciless tyrant who expects his subjects rightly to grovel. Rather, He is a gracious God and knows that the humble and thankful saints are those who really want Him and obey Him. Such people know they need Him. Therefore, He says, “The last shall be first.”
Walking worthily
Though unworthy, we are called to walk worthily. In 1 Thessalonians 2:12, Paul writes, “Walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.” And in Ephesians 4:1 he says, “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called.” We never find in Paul’s language that being the Lord’s prisoner was an unhappy occupation. He was gladly God’s obedient servant.
In Colossians 1:10, Paul says, “Walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.” Paul is saying that a worthy walk goes hand in hand with knowing God.
Later, an angel speaks to John in Revelation 3:4 about the people of the city of Sardis: “You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy.”
I was listening to the radio a few years back, and a DJ was about to play a Sonny James tune. He referred to him by his nickname, Gentleman Sonny James (James was a Baptist). The DJ informed us that James refused to perform in any place that served alcohol when he played. He also never scheduled concerts on Wednesday nights because he always attended worship services wherever he was.
After this introduction, the DJ said just before playing the song, “With all those restrictions, he was still a pretty good musician.”
Sad to say that if we are going to walk obediently with unsoiled garments, some will consider us prudish. They may think we have too many restrictions, that we are uptight. Choosing to walk with Jesus is going to change the way we walk. Why should it worry us what people think about us, when Jesus is pleased?
Worthy One
When Jesus stated at His trial that He was the Son of God, the high priest said, “’You have heard the blasphemy! What do you think?’ And they all condemned Him to be deserving of death” (Mark 14:64).
The crowd said Jesus was worthy of death. The high priest and other chief priests declared Jesus’ worthiness in an unworthy way. What they intended for evil, God meant for good, for “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain” (Revelation 5:12).
In Revelation 5:2-9, no one is found worthy to open the scroll and break its seals at the end time. John, who recorded this message, wept because everything seemed hopeless. Then he was told that Christ is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll. The seven broken seals release the terrible judgment of the four horsemen of the apocalypse and the judgments of God on the earth.
Revelation 5:12 goes on to tell us that the Lamb is worthy “to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing!” This is borne out in Paul’s letter to the Philippians, where we are told that “every knee should bow, . . . and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” (2:10, 11).
When we speak of worthiness, it is immediately obvious in Scripture that Jesus is the worthy one, obedient to God’s will. Such a statement in our gathered company would bring a chorus of “amens.” And yet, we may ask where that leaves us. We want to be more worthy, but gazing on Jesus’ purity and authority might seem to be the best way to recognize our unworthiness. I often speak to Christian people who are burdened with the weight of their frailty. They are ever aware of their inadequacies.
How can we walk worthily when only Christ is worthy?
Our worth
The answer is that Christ’s worth becomes our worth. We should often meditate on Paul’s words: “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Jesus took our unworthiness on Himself. Since He was without sin and because He was Christ, the Son of the living God, our sins could not stick to Him. If we carry our sins alone, they will utterly destroy us. However, they are vaporized when they touch Jesus.
That is clear in the first part of this verse, but we should also look carefully at the second: “that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
We have this freedom, then, to be witnesses to the truth. Look at some of the verses that follow: “We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain. . . . We give no offense in anything, that our ministry may not be blamed. . . . But in all things we commend ourselves as ministers of God” (6:1, 3, 4). Paul then follows with a litany of behaviors that show our witness. We must never dismiss our need for worthiness but must realize that only in walking in obedience and devotion to the Lord will we find it. When we walk in this way, we discover the power that will be with us to effect change. His worthiness becomes our worthiness. Then we can communicate His redemption to others.
