There are some who believe and I would count myself among them that Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoevsky saved the Gospel for Russia. They were contemporaries, Tolstoy’s War and Peace was serialized in the same periodical at the same time as Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment. They both lived and wrote during the late 19^th century. When the Revolution came in 1917, the bible was banned, but the themes of justice, personal freedom, redemption and forgiveness lived on in their work. It was Tolstoy who detected and responded to the Russian people. Like Augustine who confronted the fall of Rome, Tolstoy set himself to defend the Christian faith in order that it might survive the troubled years that lay ahead. Tolstoy turned to the Gospels and into his own words and stories beautifully expounded their message.

In November of 1910, Tolstoy lay dying in a tiny village of Astapova in eastern Russia. He was in his eighties and according to his wishes he would be buried on his family estate on the edge of a ravine. A ravine where his brother Nicholas used to say a little green stick was hidden with the secret of the universe engraved on it. Tolstoy never found the green stick, but he died believing in it. He was a brilliant man, a tragic man, at times he desired the celibate life of a Monk, at others, he was a womanizing drunk. In War and Peace he explored power and the appetite of the will. In Anna Karenina, he considered carnality, the appetite of the flesh, the two passions whose destructive consequences he had experienced, especially the latter.

He weighed only 126 pounds, some say his books weighed more. He didn’t find the green stick, but he did find the secret to universal love in the Gospels. That secret was and is that a certain kind of person will love, that person would not persecute, commit murder or seek revenge. That person would seek happiness in doing good for others, thereby realizing their own good.

In the upper room, another man of sorrows was saying good bye to his disciples. He was telling them the secret of the universe, how to live in union with God himself. It was not a green stick, it was however, the secret that unlocks the meaning of life. Jesus gave his disciples the characteristics of a person who could change the world, that person is called a disciple.

The first characteristic is that a follower of Christ will develop intimacy with God through communication. “ ….if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want and it will be granted you.” [1] It has been my experience and training to teach the bible for explanation, to discover authorial intent. The Evangelical camp has focused on exegesis for the purpose of understanding the text. Of course this is important, without it we would be lost at sea, drowning in a multiplicity of possible interpretations. But this has also led to an academic content driven relationship to God, that the key to maturity is getting the right answer. Relating to the “word of God,” also has a reflective dimension. I have found a simple four step method very helpful. Read it, think it, pray it, live it. To read it means simply to take in the initial meaning of the text. To think it is akin to meditation, to mull it over, putting yourself into the event, understanding the history and context. Next is pray it, seek God’s application in your life. How does God want to use this story and concept in my life. Finally, live it; how does this apply to my 10:00 AM appointment? As I enter this day, who are the people who irate me and how will I love them in concrete action? Karl Barth said, “ I have read many books, but the bible reads me.” Another way of saying it is that the primary reason to read the scriptures is in order to submit their teaching. Jesus invites us to enter into the community of the faithful through submission, confession and obedience. That is why Jesus tells us who interact with him via reading scripture can ask for anything and get it. When we read the scriptures in order to submit, with a contrite confession, it strips us of so much fluff and frivolity that plagues consumer based prayer. The words of the late Henri Nouwen come to mind.

“ I call to you, O Lord, from my quiet darkness. Show me your mercy and love. Let me see you face, hear your voice, touch the hem of your cloak. I want to love you, be with you, speak to you and simply stand in your presence. But I cannot make it happen. Pressing my eyes against my hand is not praying, and reading about your presence is not living in it. But there is that moment in which you will come to me, as you did to your fearful disciples, and say, “ Do not be afraid; it is I.” Let that moment come soon, O Lord. And if you want to delay it, then make me patient.” [2]

[1] John 15:7 New Living Translation

[2] From a Cry for Mercy by Henri J.M. Nouwen

(If you have jumped into this series at this point, you will need to read parts one and two and then return here. Go ahead, I will wait here for you.)

My good friend Dallas Willard wrote, “Obedience is the only sound objective of a Christian spirituality.”[1] Whatever one believes about God and the spiritual life, if it doesn’t lead to obedience, then it is useless. Jesus explains this to his followers the night of his arrest.

Jesus and his followers were having dinner together in the upper room. He employed the metaphor from the vineyard, the relationship of the main vine to its branches. He told them that their future relationship would be something like they saw in the vineyard. That they would remain close and intimate through the help of the Holy Spirit. He had already told them that the first characteristic of a disciple was interaction with God through his revealed word and the vehicle of prayer. The second characteristic of a disciple was that the bearing of much fruit. It would be part of their common life.

The third characteristic of a disciple, according to Christ’s command, is obedience. He wants this for everyone. But he linked obedience to its motive.

“I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.”[2]

People have the propensity to go to extremes. A guy likes ties, so he owns 300. A woman loves dolls, so her house is stuffed with them. I know a man who revels in his minimalist approach to life. He doesn’t want a TV, mobile phone, car, or more than one set of clothes. I’ve encouraged him to acquire more clothes. Extremists can be entertaining, but when it comes to following Christ, extremists can do great damage to themselves and those they influence. There are some who say, you only obey God when you are inspired by his love. Then there are those who think of obedience as mechanical, just do it, you don’t have to feel it. The first group is just as dangerous as the last.

Those who must be inspired, “Just feel it”

Something strange happens to normal thinking people when they go spiritual. A switch is thrown in the brain and a different set of rules takes over that everyone in the regular world knows do not work. It goes something like this: “If I were to act loving to a person I dislike, that would make me a phony, a schizophrenic. For my obedience to God to be authentic, the desire of the heart and the act of the will must be a match. That is how you know the Holy Spirit is working.”

My answer to such nonsense is one word, Gethsemane. Jesus didn’t desire death, you might remember he asked three times to get out of it and only relented under great duress. What overpowered his resistance to obey was love, the love the father had for him and he for his father. He didn’t feel that love; it wasn’t that kind of experience. It was love at its most powerful. It was love as an act to benefit others; it was love as sacrifice, as submission. Jesus was a man for others. Jesus didn’t feel like it, but his commitment to his father caused him to submit. We celebrate this as the greatest act of love in human history. We sing about it, preach it, talk it, write it, paint it, sculpt it. It is the centerpiece of human history. Obedience is based on love, loving as Christ loved, even when we don’t feel like. In that moment the Holy Spirit is fully flowing, and we are expressing our love for out Lord, every step of obedience a chorus of, “I love you, I love you, I love you.”

The mechanics, “Don’t feel, just do”

If you didn’t notice in the previous paragraph, Jesus was emotional in Gethsemane. He didn’t feel like dying, but he did feel. In fact, he was at the breaking point emotionally and physically. There has been a school of spirituality that has advocated not getting too emotional about one’s sin, to deal with it in a detached manner. It goes something like this: “When you sin, don’t wallow in the regret, or the agony of disappointing your God, just confess it and move on.” Some have even gone on to say that the enemy wins when we allow our emotions to enter into the process. The thought behind this is that valuable time is lost in the service of Christ because one might want to linger with God on a deep level.

Jesus seemed emotionally invested in his sacrifice. It would make sense then that we who are intimate with Christ would lament and feel shame and regret when we sin. When a man cheats on his wife and confesses, there is deep emotion and it takes time together to rebuild trust. Whenever there is a breach of trust or mistakes made, our emotions are very strong and sometimes over powering. God is different than any human; therefore, God is not going to throw a lamp across the room at us or lose control of himself. He can be trusted to forgive when true repentance is present. He may discipline us because he cares about our character. But there is a precedent for taking some time with God and to feel our sin and also his forgiveness deeply. Otherwise, why call it a personal relationship? King David’s confession in Psalm 51 expresses this balance.

Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins.

For I recognize my rebellion; It haunts me day and night

Don’t keep looking at my sins. Remove the stain of my guilt.

The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.

Restore to me the joy of my salvation, and make me willing to obey you.

He runs the gamut: honest confession, acknowledgement of his rebellious heart, the shame of sin, his willingness to change and a desire to have joy again. That looks very emotional to me, but at the same time it doesn’t wait for just the right emotion to obey. David’s emotions are damaged and powerfully negative when he prayed this prayer.

That night Jesus taught his disciples that they were to follow him, to obey on the same basis that he obeyed his father. It is a tough persistent obedience wrapped in love. It is deeply felt and is reinforced with the rebar of commitment, humility, and inner strength. This is the kind of loving obedience that Jesus commands us to practice and is characteristic of his followers.