THE WILL TO LOVE - Vital Christianity

80“Faith and obedience are bound up in the same bundle. He that obeys God, trustsGod; and he that trusts God, obeys God.” 1“Unless he obeys, a man cannot believe.” 2“To obey God is perfect liberty.” 3–Dietrich Bonhoeffer–Seneca–Charles SpurgeonA young son of missionaries in Congo, Africa was playing in the yard when suddenly hisfather yelled, “Philip, obey me instantly! Drop to your stomach!” The boy obeyed. “Now crawltoward me as fast as you can!” The boy obeyed without asking a question. “Now stand up andrun to me!” Philip obeyed and landed in his father’s arms. Only then did he look at the tree bywhich he had been playing. Hanging from a branch was a fifteen foot snake!A matter of life and death! In this instance obedience saved physical life. Suppose theboy had paused, to ask, “Why, Dad?” or “Do I have to right now?” He would have been killed bythe snake!But obedience is not a natter of life and death physically. It is also a matter of life anddeath spiritually. Jesus warned:“Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven,but only he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. Many will say toMe on that day ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, drive out demonsand perform many miracles?’ then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you.Away from me, you evildoers!’” (Mt 7:21-23)Life and death, heaven and hell is not a matter of lip service but of lifestyle. Jesuscontinues to apply His Sermon on the Mount with warnings. After exhorting us to enter thenarrow road He warns us against false teachers who will come along and try to deflect us fromGod’s path. This is a danger from without. Now He warns us of a danger from without. Thegrave danger is self-deception, self-delusion. Jesus turns fro the danger of false professors,from unsound teachers to unsound hearers.This whole last section of the Sermon (vv. 13-29) is set against the backdrop of whatJesus calls “that day”—the Day of Judgment (v. 22). On “that day” there will be a lot ofsurprises. “Many” will find out that they have been self-deceived. This is why Jesus repeatedlygives is warnings in this section of His Sermon. He keeps flashing red lights in our faces so wewill be awake and aware of the dangers all around us and within us.Life must be lived in light of “that day”—the Day of Judgment when everything isexposed by God Himself.