Team Jesus Outfitters: A Jersey Called Obedience

What is the connection between the Gospel (the Good News that salvation has come in the person of Jesus to all sinners who will believe on Him) and obedience to Jesus?

On Sunday I spoke of this verse where Jesus boldly stated: “For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.” Why did he not say, “Whoever has prayed to receive me as Lord and Savior…”? Or better yet, “Whoever has thrown themselves, pour sinners, upon my grace by faith…”

Surely salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone to the glory of God alone, is it not? Yes. We know that it is. So what did Jesus mean?

“Everyone in white come with me!”

Last week I showed up at ultimate frisbee with my friend Alex. There were about 20 of us there and he needed a quick way to make teams. So he looked around and noticed about half of the people had on white shirts while the others had on dark shirts of different shades. So he made it quick: “Everyone in white come with me!” With that simple sentence, a team was identified and a non-team was identified.

Jesus Identifies His Team

Jesus’ words in this sentence were meant to distinguish between two teams wearing two different jerseys. But the two jerseys were not being worn on the outside immediately visible. There were those who had “decided to follow Jesus”. They were committed to Him as Lord. They had left their nets and their tax booths. They were not following him for the healing. They had already experienced healing. They were following him for him. They were obeying whatever he said at whatever cost might come.

The other non-team were all the others. Some had decided he was a liar (scribes and Pharisees). Some had decided he was crazy (his mother and brothers who were outside the door) and they were looking to seize him and take him home. Still others were interested but weren’t at all committed. They liked the show and found it more interesting than other daily activities that their rural life consisted of. All of these were a non-team. They did not do the will of God. They were not ready to follow Jesus at any cost.

A Means of Identification, not a Means of Salvation

As you can see, Jesus was not pointing out what saves his “team”. He was pointing out how to know the difference between his team and the non-team. To know God and be in his family, to be counted as a son and daughter of God is still by one door with the word “faith” on the doormat and “grace” on the posts and top. It remains true what John said:
”But as many as received him, to those who believed on his name, to them gave He power to be called the sons of God.”

Application:

I can think of a few ways that this is helpful for us:

#1. Do not believe all who say they believe in Jesus. Look for the jersey to confirm it. A believer in Jesus will obey Him.

#2. Don’t have any faith in your own re-birth into the family of God if you take a flippant attitude toward obedience to Jesus. Fear. Be exceedingly afraid, if you find that in your heart you consistently without repentance choose to disobey Christ for something on this earth more dear to you!

#3. Experience the unity of a community of disciples who obey Jesus. A church will have unity where its members and leaders are fully focused on obeying Jesus. They will be much more concerned about obeying Him than about whether they are in charge, included in every decision, praised for every accomplishment, or thanked for every deed of service. Look for a church of real disciples of Jesus who face hard issues directly and together with a commitment to obey Jesus even if it clashes with their previously held opinions and beliefs.

#4. Earnestly call one another away from sin. Sin against God is no small matter. It is cancer to the soul. It could mean that this person who is unrepentant is not at all on Jesus’ team though he or she claim Him.

#5. Notice the difference between religion and the family of God. No title or general category will be enough. No religious identity will be enough. No attendance to any place of worship will be enough. A disciple of Christ radically obeys Jesus…often in opposition to man’s traditions.

What about you? Do you find some application in this deep truth that I am missing?