The Eighth
Commandment:
There is no better
kept secret in human existence than the power of surrender. We have chosen to
label this eighth command, “obedience,” but it is a whole lot more than
obedience. It is obedience with a proper attitude. The command is followed by a
most detailed explanation on how obedience is to be manifested. It is to
produce in the leader joy, not grief. It is to follow, without the dragging of
the feet.
According James
3:1, it makes a lot of difference where your mistakes are made. Remember,
everyone makes mistakes. When you make a mistake, and you are alone, your
consequences are a lot less than if you make your mistakes while others are
following you. For this reason, the apostle James says, “Let not many of you become
teachers because teachers undergo a stricter judgment than those who follow.”
Connected to this
command is the concept of submission (the ninth commandment). Submission is a
hidden power that transfers all consequences to the leader. I know of no other
word in the English language that is more commonly misunderstood than this one.
The average person views submission as constrictive. It is conceived as the
taking away of freedom. The fact is, however, submission is a freeing concept.
It takes the Damoclean sword of ultimate judgment away and places it over
another. When you submit to another, the other receives all of the final
consequences.
The biblical
origin of submission is traced back to the fall. The woman violated the trust
of God and her husband; because of this second act of disobedience, she
received the requirement of being under his authority. This is a positional
judgment and has nothing to do with value. It deals only with the office and
never with the person within that office. When we submit to law enforcement
officers or courtroom judges, we do so not because those people are of higher
value, but rather their office is to be held in high value.
As we look at
obedience today, we must address the spirit of the law versus the letter of the
law. We must evaluate why a law was given, and what it was designed to
accomplish. We must do this without any motivation to avoid compliance. When we
talk about obedience, we cannot help but come face to face with the space
between legalism and lawlessness. Grace is not the absence of rules. Grace does
not allow every man to do what is right in his own eyes. Grace is not the
absence of structure. Grace involves living within the intent of the law.
This subject
cannot be addressed without taking a look at the famous line from the prophet
Samuel to King Saul: “To obey is better than sacrifice” (I Samuel 15:22). If we
are not at times accused of both legalism and lawlessness, then we are probably
not where we should be in the understanding of God’s design.
The
Eighth Commandment: