“In our text, when the author of first John references obedience, he is not talking about coercive power. He is defining obedience through our experience of and with God’s love. He knows that “when we love one another as God’s commandments and Jesus’ teachings call us to do, we realize that it is no longer about us as individuals. Rather it is about us as community.” John is reminding us that obedience to God’s commandments, obedience to Jesus’ teaching always comes down to one question: In any situation, what is the loving thing to do?”
August 24, 2025
Five Smooth Stones, Part 4
“Obedience: Only Kindness Matters”
1 John 5: 1-5
Rev. Dr. Heather W. McColl
1 John 5: 1-5
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith. Who is it who conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
Obedience: Only Kindness Matters 1 John 5: 1-5
This Sunday, we are lifting up the smooth stone of Obedience. If there was a stone in this series in which I was dreading, it would be this stone. I fully admit that the word, “obedience” carries baggage for me and for lots of other folks as well. Maybe it is my disciple background but this word, “obedience” brings to mind cult like thinking, cult like behavior.
Yes, I know we as disciples of Christ are not immune to cult like thinking or cult like behavior. After all, the incident with Jim Jones and Jonestown are within our denomination’s history. But in theory and hopefully in practice, we hold that there is no one right way to be a person of faith, that there is no hierarchy when it comes to faith, that each person is responsible for their own spiritual growth, meaning that we as individuals are called to study the bible, to spend time in devotion and prayer, that we as individuals are called to become the person God created and calls us to be.
Sure, there is conversation in community. Sure, there is dialogue between us as people of faith. Sure, there is study and learning together, each sharing the wisdom that they have gleaned. But in our disciple tradition and practice, there really is no “obey” meaning a call to mindless, brainless following of the person standing in the pulpit. Rather in our disciple tradition and practice we cultivate, we thrive on, we see intellect and critical thinking as a necessary and needed part of our spiritual growth.
And since I am naming my struggle with the word “obedience”, I think it is also fair to name how religion has abused and misused this idea of obedience, and in doing so, created a system for thousands of people over the years in which it was not welcomed or allowed to question the priestly hierarchy at all. One was told to obey and that was that. The leader’s word was Law. The leader’s understanding of God was God’s word. The leader’s viewpoint was God’s will. No ifs ands or buts.
And what this way of ministry of requiring obedience at all costs has done is driven more people away from and out of the church rather than invite people to be a part of it.
Now, please do not hear me say that I am denying “obedience” is a part of our faith. I know that verse after verse in our sacred text, it talks about obedience in reference to following God’s commandments, to following Jesus’ teachings and preachings.
That being said, I also know that our sacred text was written down by humans. I also know that our sacred text does contradict itself in many places. For example, in one part of our sacred text, it gives permission to own people while in another, we are told that as followers of Christ, no one should be seen as property. Or how about in one part of our sacred text, we are told women should be silent in church and in another part, Paul praises Priscilla as a leader and preacher in her church.
See how it gets complicated? Throw in that phrase, “obey the commandments” and we begin to wonder which ones. Because as you have heard me say on more than one occasion, It is either all the Word of God or none of it is the Word of God. We do not get to pick and choose.
Thankfully our sacred text addresses these complications and contradictions on more than one occasion. In the Old Testament, time after time, the prophets tell the people that the heart of Law, the heart of the commandments is a call to love kindness, to make justice and to walk humbly with their God. In the New Testament, more than one Gospel tells us the story of how a young man comes to Jesus, asking how to have eternal life, asking what is the greatest commandment. To which Jesus replies that the Greatest Commandment can be summed up as “Love your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your being and your soul AND love your neighbor as yourself.”
Even the author of our text today picks up on this theme when he says, “This is how we love the children of God…when we love God and obey God’s commandments”….meaning… in all things, through all things, we show kindness and love to one another.
Obedience to God’s commandments, obedience to following Jesus’ teachings and preaching is really a confession of our understanding of who Jesus really is. It is our living out our deep commitment to the vision of God’s Beloved Community coming to fruition here on Earth for all of God’s people. What obedience really is is our expression of the fact that our lives, our hearts, our very beings have been so transformed by the life-giving power of the Good News that we can do nothing else but share the gift of love in all things, through all things, and with each and everyone.
For me, for us, as people of faith, what the author of 1 John understood and what he is reminding us of again today is that this word “obedience” is defined, shaped, and understood through our experience of and with God’s love”, a love which is inclusive, a love which showers us with grace each day, a love supports us, encourages us, challenges us, renews us, restores us, holds us and calls us to a larger vision of what is possible in this and for this world.
You see, in no way shape or form, is obedience in regard to our faith about coercive power. That’s how the powers of this world operate. They bend people to their will. They threaten. They pass laws to restrict rights. They dehumanize others. Their mode of operation is fear, power and might, things which go against the very heart, nature and character of God. I mean, come on, if God had wanted a whole bunch of mindless, brainless minions running around, God would not have given us free will. God would not have given us a brain. (OK, there are still a few people going around without a brain or common sense but that’s another sermon for another day.)
By obeying God’s commandments to love one another, we show this world that there is a different way to be, a way built on community, a way built on connection, a way built on relationship, a way which calls us to work together to bring about healing and wholeness for all of God’s people.
I admit that this would be a great time for a sermon illustration to bring it all home but like I said, obedience is not my strong suit. So I will simply leave us with this…In any given situation, as people of faith, if we show kindness, if we do the hard work of making justice, if we love God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, with all our being and love another, for me, for us, that would be the best place to start when it comes to obeying God’s commandments. May it be so. Amen.
See also: Theology Tuesday for Sunday, August 24, 2025 – Obedience: Only Kindness Matters 1 John 5: 1-5.
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