Following Christ takes courage. It’s not easy to obey sometimes because of the world around us. And sometimes what Jesus calls us to do doesn’t quite make sense.
We see this in Matthew 3:13-17 (NIV), when Jesus makes a request of John the Baptist to baptize him like he has all his other converts.
Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14 But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”
15 Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.
16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
We see here three situations where it takes courage to obey Christ.
ONE: It takes courage to obey Christ when it doesn’t make sense.
John understands who Jesus is, that He’s the Messiah, the One he is preparing the way for. And because John understands who Jesus is, he doesn’t understand His request for John to baptize Him. In fact, he sees it the other way around: that Christ should baptize him!
Christ will never ask us to do anything contrary to the wisdom in His Word, the Bible. But there will be times when He asks us to do things that don’t make sense. Many times they don’t make sense to the world. Sometimes they won’t make sense to our family. And sometimes they won’t make sense to ourselves. But there are times where understanding will come on the other side of obedience.
TWO: It takes courage to obey Christ when there’s no concrete outcome to predict.
The response that Jesus gives to John, His reason for the request, is, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.”
I don’t know about you, but when I read that, my response is, “Say what?!” Maybe there is some hidden meaning there I am not getting, but it seems to me Jesus is saying, “Just do it, John. It’s the right thing to do. That’s all I can tell you.”
My takeaway here is that many times we will need to obey what we know we should do without any concrete reason other than it’s the right thing to do. We may not be able to predict a good outcome to our obedience. We may not understand how this accomplishes anything for our lives or for God’s mission. All we understand is that obedience is required.
THREE: It takes courage to obey Christ when no one gives us a pat on the back.
Finally, we see in the Scripture that there is a tangible evidence, reassurance, and validation directly from God after the obedience. The heavens open, the Spirit of God comes down like a dove and alights on Christ, and God’s voice says He is well pleased with His Son.
I’m a words of affirmation guy in the five love languages terminology; I crave the affirmation of those I love. But let’s face it: in most work environments affirmation, pats on the back, and attaboys are few and far between. And sometimes—OK, many times—our obedience doesn’t come with an approving message from the heavens or even a pat on the back from a friend. In fact, it very well may go totally unnoticed by everyone except God.
This can be the hardest part of obedience—when no one seems to notice. As C.S. Lewis said, “Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.” It takes courage to have that kind of obedience and integrity.
Are you willing to do what God asks of you …
… even when it makes no sense?
… even when there is seemingly no positive outcome or no reason other than it’s the right thing to do?
… even when no one sees or pats you on the back?