Apr 2, 2022
Sometimes teachers ask their students to do difficult, strange,
even unorthodox things. In the cult classic movie Karate Kid
(and current reboot, Cobra Kai) we meet a gangly NJ teenager named
Daniel LaRusso, transplanted to Southern California. He's
trying to fit it, but of course there are the bullies, in this case
a dojo of karate thugs who constantly harass Daniel. Along
comes the apartment complex custodian Mr. Miyagi, who also just
happens to be a karate master. Mr. Miyagi befriends Daniel
and agrees to train the eager teenager.
In his first few days of "training" Daniel sands a deck, paints a
fence and waxes cars. For obvious reasons, he becomes angry
with his teacher for his lack of teaching...only to find out that
in those manual labor jobs he has in fact been learning karate.
From that point forward Daniel learns to trust and be obedient to
his sensei's unorthodox, sometimes even unreasonable teaching
methods. It doesn't make sense, but because it's Mr. Miyagi,
he does it. (To see what happens you need to watch the
movie!)
As we read through the Bible, God asks his people to do
difficult, even unreasonable things (circumcision anyone?) He
doesn't do it because he's mean or angry, he does it because he
cares about his people.
The same is true of Jesus. He legitimately asks his
followers to do preposterous things; loving their enemies, selling
their possessions, hating their families, and even taking up their
crosses to follow him! Is Jesus just being mean? Is he
trying to put people in their place? Or is it simply the fact
that Jesus cares about what his followers become? He wants to
transform his followers into a new kind of people. However,
for there to be transformation there must first be
obedience.
In Psalm 132 there is a pivotal verse (vs 12) which points the
reader to the importance of obedience and how it shapes our story
as God's people. If you want to learn how obedience can shape
your story, give a listen to this sermon as we continue with part
13 of Long Obedience in the Same Direction, we know that you will
find it to be very helpful!