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Friday, July 1, 2005 | ||
Obedience
Contributing Writer Several times in my life, I have taken what amounts to a vow of obedience. The first was the occasion of my enlistment into the United States Marine Corps. The second was when I was sworn in as a Reserve Deputy for the Fayette County Sheriffs Department. The oaths that were taken, to my best recollection, had to do with defending the Constitution and with the oaths came the implied, if not explicit, responsibility to obey the lawful orders of my superiors. The last vow of obedience was more personal and was taken at my ordination to the priesthood. I was asked, And will you obey your bishop and other ministers who may have authority over you and your work? I wasnt asked if I would respect the bishop, or agree with the bishop, or consult with the bishop. I was asked if I would obey him. While the word obedience is rapidly being stricken from the common use of the English language, the Bible did not shy away from its use. Many are very comfortable with quoting the passage from Acts 5:29, we ought to obey God rather than men (KJV), but we are much more skittish about taking seriously the injunction to Obey your leaders, and submit to them; for they keep watch over your souls, as those who would give an account (Heb. 13:17a NASB). Indeed, for most of my religious life, I have obeyed those over me as long as That is, as long as they were right, or as long as they werent in error, but most especially, as long as I agreed with them. I always had an escape clause that allowed me, in my mind, to disobey without being disobedient. It was a self-deluding premise, of course, for one cannot disobey without being disobedient. One obeys or one does not. One is obedient or one is rebellious. The question I had to answer was, Do I trust those over me in the Lord? If I do not then surely I am prohibited from making such a vow and receiving ordination at their hands. But if I do, then I must rest in the confidence that I can trust them or, at the very least, I can trust God to correct them when they are in error. In the meantime, my part is in fulfilling my vowmy part is to obey. This is not without some discomfort. Twice, I have been called upon to obey when I did not want to do what I was assigned. In the first case, I was asked to host and be the head of a statewide convocation. Having done something similar years ago and having found it to be a terrible experience, I declined, saying, The only way I will do that is if you order me to do it. The bishop looked at me for a moment in silence and said, So ordered. The convocation was a success and I learned a great deal. The second was when my bishop asked me to go to Africa for three weeks in 1998. I said, The only reason I will go is because you are telling me to go because I dont want to go. He acknowledged my desire to stay in the States and I promptly spent three weeks in Kenya and Uganda anyway, an experience that broadened my horizons more than I could have imagined. For people who are unaccustomed to obeying authority in the Church, the very idea must seem positively "un-American." After all, most denominations in the West invest authority in the congregation, not in the pastor or the bishop. In one large evangelical denomination, for example, an average of four pastors per week are fired or forced to resign. In this design, the leaders are expected to obey the followers else risk losing ones job. Yet, in Pauls second letter to the church at Thessalonica, it is clear that he expects the church to obey our instruction and there is even a penalty for not doing so (2 Thess. 3:14 NASB). Constantly, it seems, I am being challenged to obey God by being obedient to his delegated authorities in the Earth. Children are to obey their parents (Eph. 6:1), servants are to obey those over them (Col. 3:22), governmental authorities and the laws of the land are to be obeyed (Titus 3:1), and, yes, even those who are part of the Church are expected to walk in a genuine submission. The truth is that I dont want to obey. I am a rebel and I want my own way and I want it all of the time. I claim that I am submitted to God and to Gods Word but the truth is, if I cannot or will not submit to and obey those over me in the Lord, I am submitted neither to God nor to man. In my own walk, I have discovered that obedience brings a confident peaceeven when I want my own way but chose instead to fulfill my vow. I have discovered that the violation of this vow brings with it a disharmony and a sense of restlessness. I have also learned to trust my bishop and those over him. The bishop, too, has taken a vow of obedience. I realize that there are those who say, I will vow obedience to no man. Such an attitude brings its own torment and isolates such a one from both man and God. My answer to the question of obedience asked at my ordination was, I am willing and ready to do so. After all these years and several tests, I still am. The alternative is anarchy and the chaos and destruction that always inevitably follows. |
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