Beliedience.

As I was working on this post, at one point my fingers unconsciously typed the non-word, "beliedience."  I decided this must be the Spirit working, proposing this as a way to talk about how what Dietrich Bonhoeffer says in The Cost of Discipleship, that "only the one who is obedient believes, only the one who believes is obedient."  Belief and obedience express each other.  

His focus is mainly on the first part of that equation.  We don't really believe in Jesus Christ unless we are obedient to his commandments.  He questions the all-too-common Protestant attitude that since we are saved by "faith alone," our actions really don't matter.  Indeed, if we focus on our actions too much, we fall into the "sin" of "works righteousness."  Jesus did it all for us, and we're just along for the ride.

But what we don't pay much attention to is the way the second part of Bonhoeffer's expression works.  If faith must be expressed in discipleship, does discipleship at the same time reflect faith?  In other words, does the fact that someone seeks to live as a follower of Jesus mean they trust in him, and if so, what as?  

It is safe to assume we would not follow someone whom we did not trust, at least in some limited way.  I mean, I trust an airline pilot or even an Uber driver to have enough sense and ability to get me to my destination.  I reveal this faith in them when I put my body into their vehicles.  But I would not trust either one to perform an emergency appendectomy, or to give me relationship advice.  Indeed, I would not trust them for much more than a recommendation for a good restaurant.

Bonhoeffer suggests we can only obey Jesus if we believe in him, that our obedience shows our belief.  I would add that what we believe about him is also revealed in the depth of our obedience.  The more of our life we give over to Jesus by our obedience, the more comprehensive, expansive, and ultimate must be what we believe about him.  If we only obey him about trivial and inconsequential things, then we believe he was a trivial and inconsequential figure.  In the same way, if we only obey him in in some circumstances, as one advisor among many, we are showing that we believe he is a wise human teacher.  Maybe even the wisest ever!  And if we don't even really obey him in very much at all but adopt him as our personal mascot or pet, whose function it is to affirm and bless everything about us, then we believe he is little more than a cartoon whom we follow superficially like a sports team or a hobby. 

But if we believe him to really be what the Nicene Creed says he is -- "Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten not made, of one being with the Father, through whom all things were made" -- then we are saying we trust him with our entire life, and the life of the whole creation, and therefore we obey him in absolutely everything, in life and in death.  Trusting in him at that level would also mean trusting in his providential rule over the world. 

So the question, Is Jesus God? is not just something for theologians to argue about.  It determines how we live our lives.  What we believe about Jesus is always revealed in the way we follow him.  We may dutifully mouth the words of the Nicene Creed loudly and daily, but if there are areas of our life in which we have decided to serve other lords, authorities, and influences, if there is a boundary beyond which Jesus' word does not apply, then we cannot truthfully say we believe or fully trust in the words of the creed.  If our obedience is limited, we demonstrate that our faith is also limited.  At best it is, as we say, aspirational. 

But let's not knock aspirationality; it is the best most of us are going to do.  No one in this life follows or obeys Jesus perfectly and absolutely.  The more we obey Jesus in every decision and action of our life, the more we are confessing with our bodies that he is God.  Obedience is a journey upon which we hopefully make daily progress.

It is, as the early Church recognized, a Way.  Churches are communities of people seeking to follow, which is to say, obey, Jesus Christ ever more fully.  Thereby we witness to him as Way, Truth, and Life, the only One worthy of complete trust, in whom we believe.

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