Walking in Obedience

I often hike the H-Trail at Thunderbird Park and stop to look at the stretch of city that can be easily viewed from the trail (Have you ever looked at it? If you haven’t, you really should. It’s amazing). Last week my eyes were drawn to Lubben Mountain, which lies just north of the trail. At the foot of the mountain are several neighborhoods, along with GCC’s north campus. I’ve seen this view a hundred times, but this time, I had to stop and take a picture.

I wondered if the people who live and work close to the mountain ever stop to look up at the creation before them. Do they enjoy looking at the mountain? Do they think it’s beautiful or drab? Do they wonder who created this? Do they hike this mountain? Does it go unnoticed?

As I thought of these questions I couldn’t help but think about that time in Exodus 19 when God finally had Israel to himself at the foot of Mount Sinai (go ahead…read it again!) God enters into a covenant with his people, promising to be their God and they, his people. On one hand, this relationship would be full of God’s blessing and sovereign rule over Israel. On the other hand, this relationship called Israel to loyalty and obedience to God.

Remember that this covenant was based solely on what God had done for Israel—he had redeemed them from slavery in Egypt (see Exodus 19:4-6). God’s grace and redemptive action came first. Israel was to respond in faithful—and joyful!—obedience to the law and covenant. Their obedience would be motivated by grateful response to who God is and what he had done for them. Their obedience would also enable them to be the holy people God desired them to be as they lived among the nations of the world.

And now that God had his people close to the mountain, he was going to show them his awesome power and holiness. God was going to come down on the mountain to show the majesty of his presence and to give Israel his Law and covenant. But first, Moses was to set limits around the mountain, and Israel would have to consecrate themselves for two days by washing their garments and abstaining from sexual relations. The point of this was for the people to present themselves before a holy God with “minds ready unto obedience” (John Calvin). The mountain was designated holy ground, and Israel needed to be made pure and set apart. They needed to be ready with obedient minds and hearts to hear God’s covenant and Law.

Do you remember what Israel said when Moses told them all that God had said?

“All that the LORD has spoken we will do” (Exodus 19:8).

The people were willing to obey God. They were willing to consecrate themselves in order to meet God. They were ready for faithful action!

As I stood on the H-Trail I wondered if the people who gather around Lubben Mountain—in their neighborhoods, in the classrooms, on the hiking trails—have ever said the same. Have they experienced the presence of the holy God in their lives? Have they experienced the redemption that comes through Jesus the Christ? Are they walking in faithful obedience to the God of the universe?

And then I wondered the same of our FBC family. Is the presence of God set before our eyes? Does his majesty move us toward faithful and joyful obedience? Are we seeking to be a family of missionary servants sent to make disciples?

Do we read Peter’s words to the church and believe the same of us?

“Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’” (1 Peter 1:13-16)

The God who called Israel at Mount Sinai to faithful covenant is the same God who calls us today to walk in faithful obedience to him. Although Israel had the willingness to obey, they lacked the ability to do so faithfully and perfectly (just read the rest of the Old Testament story!).

But Jesus entered into the Story and obeyed God’s law faithfully and perfectly, becoming the “mediator of a new covenant” (Hebrews 9:15), a covenant which God promised way back in Jeremiah 31:31-34:

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares 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. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

And now, those who have believed in Jesus have been redeemed by Jesus and have the new covenant written on their hearts. Now, our willingness to obey is coupled with the ability to obey- – for the power of the Holy Spirit equips us to live obediently before the One who has brought us “redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace” (Ephesians 1:7).

Are you walking in faithful and joyful obedience to God? If not, what is keeping you from doing so? 

Take some time today to reflect on who God is and what he has done in Jesus to redeem us from sin’s bondage. Remember and mediate on the truth of who God has called you to be in Jesus (Ephesians 1:1-14 is a good place to start).

And then take a hike on the H-Trail and take in the view…and praise God for all he’s done to make us his covenant people.

-Wade