When I stopped playing football at nineteen, people said to me, ‘Christians can play football!’ And I had no argument with that. But the Lord said to me, ‘You won’t!’ That was a command to me and if I did not obey that command, I could not fulfill my predestination. I could not be saved from my fallen state.
When you think about it, there are not many universal commands for Christians apart from those regarding the fundamentals of the Christian life. A command is always directed to the empowerment of your priesthood so that you can do the works ordained for you. He has made us a kingdom of priests to His God and Father, and the evidence of our priesthood is the white robes that are spoken of in the book of Revelation; it is the righteousness of faith and the authority of our sonship to do the works ordained for us. Rev 7:9-14.
Jesus said, ‘You did not choose Me; I chose [or elected] you and I ordained you that you would go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit would remain’. Joh 15:16. If you do the works of your priesthood, your works will remain and your sonship will be revealed. But the definition of your priesthood, or your sonship, might be contrary to what you think.
After I became a Christian at 17 years of age, I bumped into an old friend when I was about 21. He said, ‘You are not the same person that I knew’. He was not being poetic; he was being quite literal. I was different. I had become a student of the Scriptures. At school, I was not interested in anything academic, although I was an inveterate reader. I went through school with diplomatic immunity because I was an athlete. But all that changed when the Lord laid hold of me and said, ‘That’s not you. This is you! ’ I had a command laid on me. I grew up in a world where I had absolute freedom to do anything I wanted, anywhere, anytime. My values and the values of those around me were completely consistent. I didn’t have to be obedient. But when I became a Christian, my values were totally over against the command that God was giving me.
If the Lord gives a command, we must not think that we have the prerogative to choose to do otherwise. We would be in big strife, because the only prerogative we have is to say, ‘Yes’. This is because the ‘works’ that He requires of you are written in His book. He will also give you the capacity and a rich abundance of grace to enable you to fulfill those works, if you will stop being disobedient to the command of the Father concerning you.
He is laying a command on each of us. Jesus said, ‘The things that the Father commands Me, these I do.’ ‘I do nothing of My own initiative.’ Joh 12:49. If you are wrestling with obedience, you have not yet resolved the question of your own priesthood. You are still wrestling with the issues of self-revelation, self-appreciation, self-promotion and self-definition.
