Perfection Through Obedience

There are a few points I wish to make this morning.  The first point refers to Jesus learning obedience by the things he suffered.  I used to be puzzled by this statement-until just the other day as I was doing a study on Hebrews.  As I thought about this verse I realized finally for the first time what the author was saying-thanks to the Holy Spirit of course.  When Jesus came into this world, He came sinless.  When He left this world, He was sinless.  How would suffering help teach obedience?  Many folks figure that if He suffered, it had to be because He had made mistakes and done the wrong thing.  Well, in His case that isn’t so.  However He did suffer because of other people’s wrong behaviors and He also experienced the suffering involved in saying no to the flesh.  Because He was made like us-had the flesh nature too, but without any sin, He still had to grapple with temptation and I have no doubts that many temptations were difficult for even Him to say no to.  He got tired, probably felt irritable at times because of weariness of body or of weariness of people’s blindness.  He had natural human drives which He had to control.  As it says in Heb 4:15b “He was in all points(all ways) tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” So because of these temptations which He had to experience and conquer, He learned obedience just as we do-He obeyed despite the temptations thrown His way.  He had to experience what it was like to be tempted and yet obey.  Before He left heaven He had not experienced temptation.  But here on earth as the Son of Man He experienced it in full force.  And He had to learn endurance while He was here too. 

In Heb 9:5 we see the results of His obedience.  It is saying “being made perfect” meaning being proven perfect and so could be the author of salvation for us.  So He had to go thru everything we do before He could become the author of salvation.  His success in going through the  experience of the cross was because He never failed-never sinned.  And all of that qualified Him to be the author and finisher of our salvation.  And as a result of that Heb 2:10 makes sense.  He now is able to bring many sons to glory just as He is now in glory. 

As I pondered these verses, it gave me a greater appreciation of what Jesus had to do and accomplished just for my sake.  And not only for my sake but for your sake.  Jesus did not have it easy.  It wasn’t peaches in cream for Him to live an earthly life.  So anyone who expects life and following Jesus to be peaches and cream or a bed of rose petals is sorely mistaken and will be disappointed.  And Jesus did all of this because of not only His love for His Father, but for His love for us.

Now since the daily practice of obedience by Jesus opened the way for us to be saved, let’s continue to follow the verse below and make it true in our lives

1 Pet 1:22

22        Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere love of the brethren, love one another earnestly from the heart. (RSV)

For our lives have to be purified on a daily basis-not only through obedience, but also the through the gratefulness & love we have toward God for having been saved by Jesus Christ from our sins, from the power of our sins, so that we have the power to obey. It is only because we have been saved by Jesus that we have the Holy Spirit, the down payment on our final inheritance, who also gives us the power to be obedient.  What a gift!  Let’s not forget it or neglect it. 

God bless and have a great weekend. The Good News Lady