Obedience, the Key to Opening the Door to Heaven.

 Obedience, the Key to Opening the Door to Heaven.

 

By: Dr. Dale Weckbacher

 

Text: Jeremiah 35:1-19

Jeremiah 25:15

I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, sending them persistently, saying, ‘Turn now every one of you from his evil way, and amend your deeds, and do not go after other gods to serve them, and then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to you and your fathers.’ But you did not incline your ear or listen to me.

(ESV)

 

The U.S. Declaration of Independence states that every human being has the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Friday’s reversal of Roe v. Wade marked a restoration of the right to life for babies in the womb. Psalm 139:13 reminds us that God formed each of us in the womb. While the argument as to whether a baby in its mother’s womb is a life will continue even after the overturning of Roe v. Wade, a baby is important to God while in its mother’s womb. As one striving, although imperfectly, to live in obedience to God, I choose to consider a baby in the womb a life and not something to terminate for convenience. Abortion is a matter of whether one values life over convenience.

 

The only mention of the Rechabites in scripture occurs in Jeremiah 35 and illustrates obedience to God. Jeremiah uses them as an example for disobedient Judah. From this passage, we can observe,

 

1)      Obedience (Jeremiah 35:1-11) – While this is the only mention of the Rechabites, is a powerful picture of obedience. The passage begins with Jeremiah visiting the family and delivering them to the House of the Lord (Jeremiah 35:1-4). The level of specificity provided in the passage validates the passage for there could be eyewitnesses who could have seen Jeremiah bring the Rechabites into the Temple. Once in the Temple, Jeremiah tempts the Rechabites with wine to which they respond with they will drink no wine in obedience to their father who commanded them and their descendants to drink no wine (Jeremiah 35:5-6). Their obedience to their father continued with them building no houses, sowing no seed, not planting a vineyard, and living in tents (Jeremiah 35:7) with the family continuing to live in obedience (Jeremiah 35:8-10). The Rechabites also moved to Jerusalem for protection in fear of the army of the Chaldeans and the Syrians, moving to Jerusalem for protection (Jeremiah 35:11).

2)      Disobedience (Jeremiah 35:12-16) – God then uses the example of the Rechabites obedience to point out the disobedience of the Judah and the people of Jerusalem (Jeremiah 35:12-14). Jeremiah reminds the people of Judah and Jerusalem that he has provided ample warning of their disobedience only to have it fall on deaf ears (Jeremiah 35:15). Instead of an example of obedience like the Rechabites, Judah and the people of Jerusalem provide an example of disobedience (Jeremiah 35:16).

3)      Retribution (Jeremiah 35:17) – Disobedience has consequences, as mentioned in Deuteronomy 28:15-68. For Judah and the people of Jerusalem, this will be seventy years of exile.

4)      Reward (Jeremiah 35:18-19) – Obedience has rewards which for the Rechabites are never lacking a man to stand before God which will later be Jesus Christ the Son of God (Acts 2:33; 5:31). The reward for obedience is eternal.

 

The illustration of Jeremiah 35 is the choice of obedience and its eternal rewards like that enjoyed by Rechabites (Jeremiah 35:18-19) or the consequences of exile suffered by Judah and the people of Jerusalem (Deuteronomy 28:15-68; Jeremiah 35:17). Judah and the People of Jerusalem had ample warning and could have repented of their disobedience at any time but chose continued disobedience with the consequences of exile. However, God did have a remnant of obedient people in Jerusalem as evidenced by the presence of the Rechabites in Jerusalem. While the Rechabites went to Jerusalem for protection, something that did not occur due to Jerusalem’s capture by the Babylonian army, the Temple and the presence of God did dwell there.

 

The Church also has examples of obedience and disobedience, evidenced by the illustrations of the Church in Philadelphia and the Church in Laodicea (Revelation 3:7-22). The Church in Philadelphia, like the Rechabites, is an example of obedience (Revelation 3:7-8). God commends them for their obedience to the Word of God (Revelation 3:10) which would have included the Lord’s command that they love one another (John 13:34). This love for one another is how the world identifies the people in the Church as disciples of Christ (John 13:35).

 

In contrast to this Church, the Church at Laodicea is self-centered only living in obedience to the Word of God when it fits into their selfish desires (Revelation 3:15-17). The Church is not the building but the people in the congregation who when focused on their selfish desires would have zero interest in loving others and instead seek others who will help them advance their selfish desires. This is the self-centered consumer Church looking no different than secular organizations designed to make others feel good often at the expense of genuine spiritual growth.

 

Matthew 6:21 reminds us that our heart follows what we treasure. The challenge for everyone reading this is whether to be like the Laodiceans treasuring wealth or like the church in Philadelphia, treasuring God, and each other. When choosing, consider the Church in Philadelphia having an open door to heaven and escape from God’s wrath, a reference to the rapture, or the closed door of the Laodiceans, closing them off to heaven and escape from the wrath of God. My prayer is that those reading this would choose to open the door, following the examples of the Rechabites and the Church in Philadelphia.