Pastor John Wright

Philipp Reiff foresaw it as “the triumph of the therapeutic” in the ‘60s; Robert Bellah named it as “expressive individualism” in the ‘80s; Charles Taylor now calls it the “Age of Authenticity”. Each person recognizes the background of contemporary culture that presupposes that self-expression as the highest good – “You’ve gotta make your own kind of music, sing your own special song; you’ve gotta make your own kind of music, even is no one else sings along” – as the ‘60s song taught us old timers. Indeed, at PLNU faculty spends a tremendous amount of energy to teach students to obey the faculty by having the students make up their own minds as an individual student. It’s kind of like a Sprite commercial, giving us images to tell us that “image is nothing; thirst is everything.” So, as Bob Dylan once wrote, “You’ve gotta serve somebody; it may be the devil or it may be the Lord, but you’ve gotta serve somebody.”

This helps us move into our Scriptures for this evening, Scriptures that speak of the significance of obedience to will of God the Father, of course seen in God the Son, through the power of God the Holy Spirit, One God, forever and ever. To start with the Ezekiel passage, move to the Gospel and end with the Epistle provides a good way of going at this.

Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32

Unfair! is one of our favorite cries. How many times is the word used in the Ezekiel passage, and by whom? How does the Proverb, quoted by Ezekiel, express this idea? What is “fairness”? When we think about it, do we really want “fairness” exercised toward ourselves? Do we really want God to be fair with us? What is God’s response to the complaint? How does the call to repentance respond to the cry for “fairness”? By the time the passage is over, what is God’s real concern in calling for obedience?

Matthew 21:28-32

To whom is Jesus speaking? Follow the story – how does Jesus respond to the answer that “they” give to his question? What does John have to do with it? (Hint: coming kingdom of God in Jesus)! What is the difference between the two sons in their attitude toward the “Father”?

Philippians 2:1-13

How does the Philippians passage read when read immediately after the Gospel reading? What does it focus our ears to hear and eyes to see? What is it to have the “same mind” as Christ? How would that bring about consolation in love, sharing it the Spirit, compassion and love, and having one mind? What is the purpose of Jesus’ “emptying himself” in this passage? What is it, then, “to work out one’s salvation with fear and trembling”?

What is it to be “obedient” to God in Christ concretely? What must result in us if obedience is to continue? We live in a day where we want to approach the practices of the faith as “options” according to what we like – maybe you could end by reading Matthew 28 and asking how would the Spirit have to make us over to be obedient to Christ as described there?

Have a wonderful evening!