Conforming or Obeying

“The apostles were brought in and made to appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. ‘We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,’ he said. ‘Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.’

Peter and the other apostles replied: ‘We must obey God rather than human beings!  The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead—whom you killed by hanging him on a cross.  God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins.  We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.’” (Acts 5:27-32 NIV)

Since this early time in the life of the Church, there have been pressures to go along with popular thought or behavior.  In the 1st Century, it was to honor and respect the Jewish system, a system that Jesus attacked on a regular basis.  Since Jesus was put to death, the leaders were anxious to regain control of the narrative.  Put your hope not in some false messiah, but in us as your leaders and experts in the Scriptures.  But the apostles refused to go along.  “We must obey God rather than human beings,” they said.  

In the ensuing centuries, that cultural pressure has remained, and the response of the Church has been mixed at best.  Sometimes that pressure has come from religious authorities and other times it has come from the secular or cultural authorities.  Martin Luther was persecuted by the Catholic Church for daring to proclaim the Scriptures were superior to church traditions in their authority.  Segregation of local churches was common practice from the beginning of this nation, through and beyond the Civil War era, and, still in some parts of our country today.  The pressures of the culture that races are not equal prevailed upon many to reject God’s view.

Today there continue to be many pressures to go along with cultural norms.  In the age of diversity, the church is pressured to accept biblical teaching as only one of many legitimate views of life and reality.  It is pressed to accept certain lifestyles, proclaimed to be sinful by the Scriptures, as normal and unremarkable.  From within, there are pressures to be self-focused—to have the biggest buildings, to build the church brand, to have the finest programs that will attract the most people.  While Jesus said to go into all nations (Matthew 28:18-21), many churches are content to stay focused on “our people” and “our community” because it is now in fashion to do so and reflects the self-centered nature of the society in which we live.  

And there are the pressures we, as followers of Jesus, will experience to conform to what those around us want us to do.  Parents may push us to pursue the normal, American way of life—get a college degree, a well-paying job, live close to home, marry and raise a family rather than a life of serving the Lord in other parts of the world.  Friends may pressure us into a lifestyle of drinking and hook-ups.  Professors may seek to persuade us that our beliefs are out of touch with reality.  

Regardless of the time period or what stage of life we are in, if we follow Jesus, then we can expect pressure to conform to the norms of the day. And here is where we need to maintain the courage and conviction of the apostles: We must obey God rather than human beings.  For it is, ultimately, God to whom we must answer for the way we lived our lives.  
Today, consider where in your life the pressures to conform are conflicting with the truth of the Scriptures.  And then pray for the courage to obey God rather than giving into the pressure to conform to what others expect of you.  

© Jim Musser 2014