Jeremiah 31:31-34, John 12:20-33
How do I obey? Lenten Preaching Series V

One of the first words that any baby learns to say very clearly and often mean it too, is “NO.” They learn to say no not only because it is very easy to say it, but also because they begin to hear a lot of no from the parents. We say no to the child mostly because we want them to be safe, for instance, no to touching the hot pot, no to swinging the cabinet doors, no to playing with anything sharp, no to eating everything that looks interesting, the list can go on and on. Couple of weeks ago, in our Lenten series we heard about God giving the Ten Commandments to Moses and the people of Israel. The Ten Commandments are in fact the foundation of a much larger array of commandments that God gave the Israelites, including commandments that deal with social justice, political and economic dealings, and a whole lot of religious and social commandments that deal with relationships and purity. They even had or have commandments on how to take care of the land and the creatures that live on it. In a similar way, we know and have to follow the tens and thousands of commandments or rules laid out by our law makers.

Every year we have to fill up a form for our 15th floor apartment to say we have a window stopper to prevent the windows from opening completely because we have children at home. One would think as parents we don’t need to be told that open windows on the 15th floor poses enormous danger to children, or for that matter any clumsy adult. But the fact remains that we need to be reminded by the city of this particular law every year. What must it be like for God to look at our lives and see how we repeatedly do, say, and think of things that hurt ourselves and others day in and day out? What is it about our hearts and our souls, and even our intellect that even with all the written laws we continue to disobey them? What makes us so rebellious and foolish? In the Old Testament book of Micah, it says, “He has told you, O people, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" I know for most of us, we would fall into the category of being looked at as “good people,” upright and law abiding citizens. But let me remind you that Jesus very clearly tells the rich young ruler in Luke, “Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good—except God alone.” Being able to say that we follow the commandments is not necessarily what it means to be in the center of God’s will. To be in the center of God’s will, we must learn to obey God. Which brings us to the whole question of what does it mean to obey God? The fact is we will always fall short of God’s glory, or will be in a place where by ourselves we would never seek and obey God. Right from the beginning God has known that we have no capacity in us to seek and obey Him, so what recourse could He take? One of the most beautiful passages from the Bible comes from what we read from Jeremiah today. It communicates God’s intense longing for us to be in a right relationship with Him, when our obedience to Him will no longer be a chore or something imposed upon us for our good but something that becomes our very nature. Jeremiah says,

“The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.”

I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. True obedience will not be an issue at all, because God has paved the way for us to be transformed. Easter is coming where we will not only see the glory of God, but we, the holy beloved people of God will be the ones who reflect His glory. And this is possible because Jesus has shown us how. Jesus loves us with an everlasting love, which he willingly gave his life for our redemption, for our rebellious hearts to once again belong to God completely. Jesus said to the disciples, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” Our true obedience to God can come only when we learn to willingly bury our selfish lives, when we learn to trust and hope in our God whose desire is to make us a holy people.  People who are holy not just for ourselves but so that God’s endowed holiness will draw others to Him who is always merciful and abounding in love.

I know we will struggle to keep ourselves in the center of God’s will for now, but God has given us His Son Jesus who has lived through the same struggles we have and has come out triumphant, and we have the promise of the Holy Spirit who is our comforter and our guide. May we surrender our lives to God trusting that he will transform us. Amen.