To obey or not obey

1. There was once a young lady who graduated from high school and went off to college.

2. On her first trip back home she had all kinds of new information and ideas.

3. As she looked at her parents she became critical of how they lived.

4. One example of her dissatisfaction came from a picture over the family fireplace.

5. In this picture her father was sitting and her mother was standing.

6. The daughter said, “That pictures expresses a lack of courtesy.”

7. “It is impolite, improper, and rude.”

8. “Dad should have been standing and mom should have been sitting.”

9. The dad turned to his daughter and said, “Honey, you still have a few things to learn.”

10. “That picture was taken when we lived in the country.”

11. “I had just finished a ten mile hike and mamma just finished a day of horseback riding.”

A PICTURE CAN SAY A LOT.

a) The book of Jonah contains several pictures that are expressed with words.

b) The first chapter presents us with a man who rebelled against God.

c) There is also the mental image of a prophet running from God.

d) Jonah wanted to get out of town, away from God, and far away from the people of Nineveh.

e) His escape plans failed so the writer pictures the prophet’s confinement in a great fish.

f) If this book were made into a movie there would also be the image of him running to God.

2) The rebellion, running from, confinement, and finally going to God shows us something.

3) Obedience to God’s commands can be difficult, but being disobedient is a lot harder.

4) In our world there is a common attitude towards Christianity.

5) That is, being the kind of Christian the Bible describes is hard. Being a Christian takes work.

6) Because it requires effort, many avoid this way of life by or exchange it for something easier.

7) Since Christianity is not without effort creative people have come up with some ideas.

a) There have been attempts to join Christianity with various forms of entertainment.

b) More than a few have tried to make the church something like the YMCA.

c) If we offer swimming classes, exercise classes, nutritional programs, Christianity is easier.

d) Other attempts to lessen the demands of Christianity have also laid stress on the secular.

e) There are churches that offer music and performances better than many nightclubs.

8) All kinds of gimmicks are used to turn Christianity into something like a secular thrill.

9) Instead of being something difficult, the gospel is recast as fun, fun, and more fun.

10) Most people like fun.

11) A check of the Bible shows that it does not have a lot to say about fun.

12) I did a concordance search in several translations.

13) My search found only example of fun.

14) At least three Bible versions have the word fun one time (Acts 2:13 is the reference).

15) There were mockers made “fun” of the apostles.

16) Christianity offers a lot of things, and many of them are good and desirable.

17) The Bible does not, however, embrace the secular concept of fun.

18) It is not like a game or a constant party.

19) Rather, it is a way of life that has many good things mixed with difficulties.

20) We see this demonstrated in the life of Jonah.

21) The prophet found that being obedient to God was difficult.

22) God’s will was not something that he wanted to do.

23) He preferred doing things his way.

24) This same difficulty still exists.

25) It has existed for a long time.

26) In fact, long before Jonah was born this same problem faced mankind.

27) After Israel was released from Egyptian bondage it received a law.

28) This law was difficult to keep.

29) There were literally hundreds of rules to follow.

30) In Deut. 28, a chapter I am going to read from, God told His people they could do one of two things:

a) They could obey the hundreds and be blessed.

b) Obedience would take some work and effort, but it would lead to a good life.

31) The other choice was disobedience.

32) I do not see how anyone who reads this chapter can conclude that disobedience was easier/better.

33) I am going to read Deut. 28:15-29.

34) These verses describe the consequences of being disobedient.

35) Though I will not read past verse 29, the negative consequences continue till verse 68.

36) God used 53 verses to tell the people how bad it would be if they disobeyed.

37) Here are some of the consequences from the Old Testament law _— Deut. 28:15-29 – READ.

38) Jonah got to see the terrible consequences of disobedience in his own life.

39) For a time he thought that disobedience would be easier.

40) Not obeying would be better than obeying.

41) He found out that he was wrong.

42) It is ultimately easier to pay the price of obedience rather than disobey God.

THIS IS THE RIGHT CHOICE, BUT GOD TELLS US THAT MOST WILL STILL CHOOSE TO BE DISOBEDIENT.

1) In Mt. 7:14Jesus spoke about the number of people who will be saved.

2) When the end of time judgment comes the Lord said “few” will inherit eternal life.

3) Why will such a small number of people to go heaven?

4) Is heaven boring? Is it undesirable? Doesn’t God have enough room for a lot of people?

5) Is God’s dwelling place so unpleasant most do not want to go there?

6) The answer is found in the life of Jonah.

7) God requires obedience, being obedient is difficult, and most are unwilling to pay the price.

8) If we are not willing to pay the price of obedience we will not make it.

a) At the present time there are religious teachers who say we do not need to pay a price.

b) This was not what Jesus believed.

c) Mt. 9:37 refers to “laborers.”

d) These workers had to be involved with a “harvest.”

e) Some of us have worked in a garden or fields.

f) During my parent’s recent visit they reminded me of times we spent in a fairly large garden.

g) During that time we harvested all kinds of crops:

h) Pumpkins, watermelons, corn, raspberries, we dug potatoes, plucked strawberries, etc.

i) We harvested and sold crops. It was work.

9) Jesus said the “laborers are few” in His kingdom.

10) Why are there few workers?

11) Many are uninterested because the church is supposed to be a place of labor.

12) A high percentage of people don’t want that.

13) The church is therefore re-worked into a place of fun and recreation.

14) Jesus said His church is a place to work.

15) This was not the only time Jesus made this point.

a) Mt. 16:24 says the followers of Jesus are to “take up a cross.”

b) This meant something to those who first heard it.

c) Taking up the cross was a word picture.

d) For us, a cross is usually viewed as a piece of jewelry.

e) People in the first century had a different view of the cross.

f) Today those convicted of capital crimes are sometimes electrocuted.

g) Suppose we saw someone wearing a pair of ear rings that portrayed an electric chair with a body.

h) That would be bizarre and in bad taste.

16) We would immediately associate the electric chair with death and criminal activity.

17) This was how those in the first century saw a cross.

18) A cross was an instrument of death for the worst criminals.

19) A cross pointed to suffering, pain, and the severest of consequences.

20) Jesus told His people, “take up my cross.”

21) This means obedience is hard.

22) The faith of the gospel is difficult, but the price is a lot smaller than being disobedient.

23) What if Jesus had said, “take up my cross one time for 24 hours” before you die?

24) If this were required it would be more than many would want to do.

25) Doing it 10 times or 100 times would be a turn off to many others.

26) Taking up His cross once a week would sound radical to most of the world’s population.

27) Jesus said, “take it up each day you live.” He used the word daily in Lk. 9:23.

28) This responsibility is so great most will not do it.

29) Disobedience seems a whole lot easier.

30) This allowed Jesus to say in Mt. 7, “few will be saved.”

31) He was exactly right.

a) Serving God is not easy for many reasons.

b) Tonight we are going to survey one of those reasons: religious persecution.

c) Taking up the cross of Christ means that we will make some people angry.

d) Jesus promised this in Jn. 15:18. He said “the world will hate you.”

e) Acts 14:22 says that we enter into the kingdom through “many tribulations.”

THERE ARE PLENTY OF EXAMPLES IN THE BIBLE AND IN THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH TO SHOW THAT SERVING GOD CAN AT TIMES BE VERY DIFFICULT.

1) No matter how costly obedience is, disobedience is always more costly.

2) Each person who is responsible for their actions will pay one of two prices.

3) We can pay the price now in this life for obedience.

4) Or we can pay an eternal price after our time on earth for being disobedient.

5) God sets two choices before the world.

6) Which one have we selected?

7) Do we want to be one of the “few” in heaven? Do we take up the cross of Christ daily?

8) If we have selected the “I’ll pay later plan,” the price is eternity without God.

9) We take up the cross of Christ by first being joined with Him.