Obedience: an Anabaptist Study

[MaxPC]

Right. This query is for those who are current/active members of an Anabaptist fellowship:

I am interested in the Scriptures and references you use for teaching about obedience as part of our relationship with God, the fellowship/church, and within family relationships.

I know, tall request.
It's the reason I'm posting this on a Friday so that plenty of time is available for consultation and rumination over the query.
Thanks much.

[RZehr]

Here are some that are familiar.

Obeying Jesus, God - Luke 6:46, Luke 11:28, John 8:51, John 12:49-50, John 14:23, 2 John 1:6, 1 John 3:22, 1 John 5:3, 1 John 2:5-6, John 14:15 and John 15:14, Ephesians 5:6, Hebrews 12:9, Ephesians 5:24, James 1:21-25

Obeying the government - Romans 13:1, 1 Peter 1:14, 1 Peter 2:13-14

Children - Ephesians 6:1-3, Colossians 3:20

Church - Hebrews 13:17, Ephesians 5:21, 1 Peter 5:5, 1 Corinthians 12:12-31, 1 Thessalonians 5:12,13

General - 1 Samuel 15:22 and plenty of other OT scriptures & accounts that show the results of both obedience and disobedience.

[MaxPC]

These are outstanding, Rzehr

Which setting (class lessons or in preaching from the pulpit) do you think is more effective for retaining the lessons?

[RZehr]

I'm not sure.
I guess I didn't give those references in either preaching or classroom settings in mind, but rather the father teaching his children in the home both formally and in the course of daily life.
In our settings obedience is so foundational, so taken for granted, that by adulthood it is a quite "boring" subject. The subject then becomes about brotherhood and working together more than simple obedience.

[lesterb]

I've been reading in Matthew the last while. I was impressed this morning with the emphasis in chapter 7 about doing the will of God, rather then just having a lot to say about God. Note verse 22, for instance. You would think that these people had the right to think everything was okay. They had done so much for God. But it wasn't for God, it was for self. I don't want to derail this thread, but this is a burden on my heart this morning.

Read the book of James as well, for more thoughts. When James says "works" I think "obedience".

[bible]Matthew 7,21-27[/bible]

[Bootstrap]

Excellent, Lester.

Often, when we want people to know that we are the obedient Christians - unlike that tax collector over there - we aren't being obedient at all. We want to impress other people with our religious practices, our deep knowledge of hidden things in Scripture or theology, our pious language ... and that's not obedience.

Obedience is always deeply rooted in love for God and neighbor. And the main obstacles to deep obedience are often (1) that we are afraid to try, (2) we aren't sure we can trust God. If we know that God is there, speaking to us in the context of our community, and that we can always trust him, coming back to him when we fall short ... that obedience comes by repeated practice, building up our obedience muscles over time, falling back on his grace, relying on him for guidance and strength and to want what he wants ...

What the Pharisees did derails all of that. In their zeal to prove that they are the Really Good Obedient People, they shut the doors on that tax collector over there, or the woman who is weeping at the feet of Jesus.

[Hats Off]

We see those people who wear the right things, say the right things, do the right things; they are obedient to the church in all things. But do they have life?
We see the young man now husband and father who did not do everything right but we see him now asking questions, taking a stand for things that are right. If he doesn't understand he will ask, and when he understands he has convictions and when he has convictions he will do his best to follow them and to become obedient. But his obedience is not the obedience of the group mentioned first.
The first group would be more inclined to condemn this young man for his failures rather than to acknowledge his sincerity. It is because of the first group that I own books like "The Zombie Church" and "We are the Pharisees."

[Josh]

One of the signs of obedience is spiritual fruit. If we lack the fruits of the spirits, and we lack love for our brethren and our fellow man, then it is quite likely we aren't actually obedient either.

[MaxPC]

We see those people who wear the right things, say the right things, do the right things; they are obedient to the church in all things. But do they have life?
We see the young man now husband and father who did not do everything right but we see him now asking questions, taking a stand for things that are right. If he doesn't understand he will ask, and when he understands he has convictions and when he has convictions he will do his best to follow them and to become obedient. But his obedience is not the obedience of the group mentioned first.
The first group would be more inclined to condemn this young man for his failures rather than to acknowledge his sincerity. It is because of the first group that I own books like "The Zombie Church" and "We are the Pharisees."

Amen and amen.