Chapter 6, Whole Bible Objections, Whole Bible Christianity
When I talk about obedience, or anything to do with the Law really, one of the big objections I get is that “I don’t hear Jesus” (in my teaching). What they mean is that I don’t say ‘Jesus’ every other word. Or that I don’t constantly refer everything back to the crucifixion, or some other point of their Jesus dogma. I usually pose this question in reply – Is it that you don’t hear Jesus, or that you don’t hear? Am I not saying, or are you not hearing?
Jesus is all about obedience. It’s His Word in the first place that we obey. He showed up all through the Old Testament preaching and reinforcing the Law He delivered, and had Moses write down at Sinai. After He was born as a human, He consistently taught repentance and a return to God’s Law. He instructed the disciples to take this gospel to the whole world, making other disciples (a word related to ‘discipline’). We have His Spirit who only repeats what He hears from Jesus (John 16:14) and leads us into all truth, which is the Word. Jesus is God’s Word, with the Law, in form and action. You can’t read more than a few verses in the Scriptures without tripping over the issue of staying true to His Word, or returning to His Word, or teaching His Word. There is nothing about obedience that is not intimately connected to Jesus.
If someone doesn’t “hear Jesus” in the Law, or in teachings on obedience to His Law, they are probably 100% correct. They don’t hear (Matthew 13:13, Luke 16:31, John 8:43).