“Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom”. -1 Cor 1:22
The same is true of people today.
There are certain segments of the church that are all about wisdom and teaching and there are certain segments of the church that are all about signs and wonders.
But Paul preached Christ crucified.
What is that?
Obedience onto death. Obedience to God even if it means death.
“Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” -Matthew 26:39
Everything I enjoy, everything I have, is because Jesus was obedient unto death. Every good thing in God comes to me because of His obedience.
The Presence of God that I enjoy so much is mine because Jesus was obedient. The Glory of God that has overtaken my life is there because Jesus was perfectly obedient.
Obedience is everything in the Kingdom of God. It’s the air that Jesus breathed and the life He walked out on earth.
God rewarded His obedience by giving Him the Name that is above every other name; by giving Jesus the place of preeminence, where every knee would bow before Him in Heaven and Earth and under the Earth.
“And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming OBEDIENT TO THE POINT OF DEATH, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” -Phil 2:8-11
Notice that the obedience of Jesus is pointed out as the reason that God highly exalted Him.
Obedience matters to God. The Father required it of His Son even though He was perfectly sinless!
There is no one higher than Jesus, and none as obedient.
It’s not our great learning about God, or our great experience of Him that counts, but our obedience to Him that really matters.
I can flit around in the Heavenly Realms like an angel but without obedience it’s nothing!
What does it matter if I receive dreams visions and great experiences of God if I’m unwilling to obey Him?
Jesus said that His sheep know His voice, and it’s the most wonderful thing in the world that this is true, but does it do us any good if we’re unwilling to obey what He tells us?
If we would pray to hear His voice more clearly, then we should also pray to obey it implicitly!
And what about the Word of God that I hold in my hands?
I can understand the Word of God from cover-to-cover but without obedience it’s useless to me!
This is why Paul determined to know nothing but Christ and Him crucified. To know Him who was obedient to God even unto death, and live out that life, was the supreme goal for Paul and is God’s desire for the church.
Am I looking for wisdom and great teaching? Mighty signs and wonders? God is looking for radical obedience!
Do I consider obedience to God to be so important that I’m willing to die rather than disobey? That was how Jesus lived His life.
We are called to obey Jesus the way Jesus obeyed His Father.
“Chosen and destined by God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ…” 1 Peter 1:2
It’s telling to consider that the man who penned a very large portion of the New Testament and also moved in amazing signs and wonders points us to none of that!
Paul, instead, points us to the cross.
He points us to the death of Jesus and Christ’s obedience.
The Christian life is really about submission, surrender and obedience. Everything we enjoy is because of the obedience of Jesus Christ to His Father.
We’re called to follow in His footsteps.
“Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” -Matthew 16:24