Colton Dixon has a song on the radio entitled “Build a Boat.” The first line of the chorus says “I will build a boat in the sand where they say it never rains. I will stand up in faith, I'll do anything it takes.” Every time I hear that song I can't help but think about Noah. Noah's faithfulness, courage and most of all, obedience, allowed him to do something that seemed crazy, but actually saved humanity. Had Noah not been obedient to God when he was told to build a boat, all life would have perished from the earth.
We are in the middle of a new sermon series at Rock Church entitled “Superheroes.” We began the series with the story of Noah as the world's first superhero. His superpower was obedience and he used it to save the world. Since sharing that message, I've been thinking a lot about obedience to God. How would our lives, and our world, be different if we all chose to be as radically obedient to God as Noah was?
I think the first thing that would happen is we would take a lot more risks. As I look back over my own life, I wonder how many opportunities I've missed because I was not obedient to God; fearful of the risk. Risk is scary. Risk can sometimes put us in uncomfortable situations. But many of the greatest things we will experience in this life require the greatest risks. I believe that this principle is true not only for us as individuals, but collectively as a church. I wonder how many times God has called us as a church to step out in some courageous way, but we have failed to do so for the fear of the risk.
I would also say that if we were obedient to God's leading, we would be more generous. I am certain that there have been times when God was nudging me to be generous in a certain situation, but I failed to be obedient. Let's be honest, generosity is sacrifice, and sacrifice is hard. But God has entrusted resources to us for the very purpose of giving us the capacity to be generous. And the more generous we are as individuals, the more generous we can be as a church in obedience to God's calling to share with those in need.
Finally, if we would allow ourselves to be fully obedient to God, we would be more loving. Jesus summed up all the law and the prophets in this: love God and love One another. That means love everyone. And he said “as I have loved you, love one another.” Obedience would be to love unconditionally. That means even those who are not like us. It means loving the peculiar and the hard to love, loving the strangers, even loving our enemies. To live in full obedience to the teachings of Christ is to love all and to love unconditionally.
For Noah, obedience meant building a boat of such proportion that it seemed impossible, but in the end save humanity. For us, obedience means, among other things, taking more risks by stepping out in faith to follow God's lead. It means being more generous, even when it is uncomfortable. And obedience to Christ teaching means to love others as he has loved us. I hope we are all inspired by Noah's example to live lives of radical obedience.
Have a great week. I look forward to us all being together this Sunday as we continue our series superheroes.
I love you all.
God bless,
Pastor Steve.