Consider this question as a thought exercise. Would a discipleship program be viable if it focused only on obedience? Suppose you collected 20 commands from the New Testament (maybe 10 external commands like “look after orphans and widows” and 10 internal commands such as “clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility…”) and made the goal of discipleship to be obedience to those commands. Since the goal of Bible study is obedience, is it viable to simply start with obedience? It sure would eliminate our fear of the dwindling teen attention span.
It’s a worthy question. The more you think about it, the more it makes sense. But…
The tension between obedience and knowledge is nothing new. In recent decades the idea of “social gospel” was derided by some as a “works” salvation that dismissed the work of the Holy Spirit. On the other end of the spectrum, we’ve all heard Bible study derided as “holy huddles,” groups of Bible study goers who soak up truth but do little with that truth.
As with most debatable spectrums, the answer is somewhere in the middle. And probably the best question that represents the middle in this particular spectrum is this: Is my Bible study making me a better person?
In our relationship with God He is conforming us to the image of His Son (Rom. 8:29) and completing a good work in us (Phil. 1:6). His Word is a key tool in this transformation process. I, however, am the funnel in this process. I can have epiphanies clicking on like an arena-rock light show, but if I’m not letting those “aha moments” change my behavior, I have missed the point. Let me cite a couple examples.
It’s great that I have an appreciation for spiritual reconciliation, for the peace that floods my heart because of the reconciling Jesus has done between the warring factions in me. But does that appreciation spill over to the conflicts that I navigate through the course of my days and weeks? Am I a peaceful person when I find myself in tense conversations? Have I accepted the role that comes with that epiphany, to be an ambassador or reconciliation?
It’s great that I am grateful for redemption and for my understanding that my freedom has been paid. But does that gratitude spill over to my day-to-day interactions when I get frustrated with store clerks and tech support call centers? Does it make me a more patient person as I interact with my family? Does it drive me to help others experience this freedom? Is my gratitude even visible?
It’s great that I’ve accepted God’s forgiveness of my past: for mistakes I’ve made and the sin I was born into. But am I paying that forgiveness forward? Scripture is clear that if I’m not forgiving people around me then I am showing that I clearly do not get it with regard to the forgiveness that’s been extended to me. Would “forgiving” make it in the top five if 100 of my friends were asked to describe me with one-word descriptions?
This all comes home in an instruction in Titus 2. In looking at this verse, it’s good to remember that slave/master relationships in the New Testament were not the same as relationships we might tend to picture. New Testament era slaves were often paid a wage and could work their way to freedom. An appropriate parallel today would be the employee/employer relationship, a relationship we can all relate to.
Titus 2:9-10
9 Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, 10 and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.
The concluding statement in Titus 2:10 captures it: so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive. The unstated implication of this verse is extremely convicting: it is possible to make the teachings about God unattractive. I don’t want to do that. I would hope that the more time I spend in God’s Word, the more I become like Jesus. The more I become like Jesus, the more attractive God is to the people around me.
So, it’s not a competition. In fact, knowledge and obedience are on the same team. It goes like this: knowledge plus obedience equals transformation. Obedience that comes from personal epiphany (self-discovered knowledge) is obedience that will last. An epiphany that leads to obedience will never be forgotten.
It’s a cycle of perpetual motion. And once it starts, you’ll never want it to stop.