[H]e humbled himself in obedience to God
and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
(Philippians 2:8)
“Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God’s law will disappear until its purpose is achieved. So if you ignore the least commandment and teach others to do the same, you will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But anyone who obeys God’s laws and teaches them will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.” (Matthew 5:17–19 NLT)
In last week’s verse, Philippians 2:7, Jesus took on the position of a slave, denying all the privileges of his deity. In this week’s verse, he now takes things a step further.
He takes the step of obedience, fully submitting himself to his Father’s will by dying. And not just any kind of death. He dies in the most humiliating and painful way – on a cross as a criminal.
When you think of the word “obedience,” what is the first thing that comes to mind?
In my mind, it refers to something I don’t want to do but will do anyway because it’s either the right thing or because I am submitting to someone in authority over me. Even if I disagree with or don’t like what’s being asked of me, I will obey them.
Contrast that to a biblical definition of obedience: In John 14:15, Jesus tells us, “If you love me, you will obey my commandments.” Obedience and love go hand in hand, with faith tying them together.
Said another way, obedience is an expression of faith and love rather than legalistic rule-following, and it is willingly aligning our lives with God’s will.
How often do I begrudgingly follow Jesus’s ways rather than deeply desiring to align myself with him and his ways simply because I love him? It’s hard enough to do this in human relationships, let alone our relationship with God.
For God SO LOVED the world, he GAVE his only Son. He initiated, created, and IS love. So how do we get to a place where who we are and how we live is motivated and driven by our love for Jesus?
The process of becoming more like Jesus, and thereby lovingly obeying his will, is a journey of transformation.
According to author Ruth Haley Barton, we cannot transform ourselves. Only the Holy Spirit can. But we can create the conditions for transformation to take place. We create those conditions through practicing spiritual disciplines.
I used to view spiritual disciplines as law. It was a legalistic approach to obeying God. It was a way of measuring whether or not I was a good Christian – do I read my Bible and pray every day? This approach does not produce transformation.
Seeing the disciplines as a way of opening the door to transformation and a way to finding deeper intimacy in our relationship with Jesus requires a posture of humility. Rather than trying to merely obey God and keep his commands, and instead seek to know him more deeply, is a game changer.
The caveat is that this approach does not usually happen first and is certainly not instantaneous. It is the discipline of training versus trying. Over time, we find our heart softening. We begin to adopt the mind of Christ. We discover we are beginning to change our attitude and the lens through which we view the world. We are building spiritual muscle that will produce resilience in difficult times when our faith is challenged.
Transformation is not convenient or easy. It is a slow and deep work that produces Jesus followers who look more like him and love others more freely. And the by-product is that obedience seems to become more natural. As we align our lives with the way and will of Jesus, we slowly die to ourselves and come alive in him.
Deb Judas is the administrative assistant and director of Formation for the Missional Initiatives Team.