I was in a river canoeing one time, and it was shallow, and the current was pretty strong, so just for fun I decided to get out and see how far I could swim against the current. So I jumped into the water, and swam as hard as I could —but when I looked up, I had gotten absolutely nowhere! It’s hard to swim against the current: when the whole river is going one way, and you are trying to swim against it. 

But that is very much like what God has called us to do, as His people. 

Our whole society is moving in one direction, morally and spiritually. They have one set of beliefs; one way of doing things; what “everyone says” is the right way to do it; what we should all believe, and say, and do. But rarely does God want His people to do what everyone else is doing. He almost always wants us to “swim upstream,” against the current, and do things differently, HIS way. Because it’s only then that He gets glory from our life.

Our passage today, from the birth and naming of John the Baptist, shows us this. This happened over 2000 years ago, but it is very relevant to us today. It shows what happens when we obey God and “swim upstream”:

I.  When you obey God, you often go against convention.

:59 “they were going to call him Zacharias, after his father.”

Why were they going to do that? Because that is what they always did! That was the custom; the tradition. The Jews didn’t always name the child after his father, but they usually passed down some traditional family name (according to Richard Baucham in Jesus & The Eyewitnesses). This was Jewish tradition. “Everybody did it this way!” It’s what everyone expected. 

But that’s not what Zecharias and Elizabeth did. Verse 13 says God’s angel Gabriel appeared to Zecharias and told him that Elizabeth, who was of old age, would have a son, and that his name would be “John.” They decided they would obey God, and give him the name the angel gave them. It’s not what “people usually did;” it’s not what “everyone” expected — but it’s what GOD told them to do, which went against “conventional standards.” It was radically different from what everyone expected. They were “swimming upstream” when they did that. 

This is a great lesson for us today: if you are going to be serious about obeying God, and following Jesus, you are often going to have to “swim upstream” and go against “conventional wisdom” and traditions.

Nowhere is that more so than in regard to salvation. “Conventional wisdom” says, if you want to get to heaven, then you need to do a lot of good works. 70% of Americans, survey says, think that good works will get you into heaven. That’s what “everyone” thinks. But the Bible says in Romans 3:20, that “by the works of the Law, no flesh will be justified in His sight.” Romans 3:24 goes on to say we are “justified as a gift, by His grace, according to the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.” So the Bible says, if you want to be saved, STOP trying to save yourself by good works and deeds, and trust what Jesus did on the cross to save you. (Rest in HIM, like we talked about last week.) So to be saved, you have to
“Swim upstream” and go against conventional wisdom.

And it doesn’t stop at salvation, either. All through the Christian life, God will call you to obey Him, and go against “conventional tradition” and wisdom.

Conventional wisdom says “put yourself out there” and promote yourself; if you don’t do it, no one else will! But God says, I am in charge of your destiny; trust ME to lead you where I want you to be.

I think of the time in John 7 when everyone was going up to the feast at Jerusalem, and Jesus’ brothers told Him that He needed to go up to the feast to “promote Himself.” “Show Yourself to the world,” they told Him. Basically they were saying, “Put Yourself out there; promote Yourself!” And that is conventional wisdom. But Jesus did not follow their conventional wisdom. He obeyed GOD’s plan for His life instead. 

I Peter says “He has called you to follow in His steps.” Obey what GOD is telling you to do, not conventional wisdom. 

A few years ago a minister friend told me that he felt like he needed to go somewhere besides the place he was serving, and he asked me if I thought he should send his resume out to a bunch of churches. In fact he asked, “What would you do?” I told him the conviction God gave me was to never my resume out unless someone asked me for it — and whenever God has moved me, it has almost always come “out of the blue,” in some direction or some way that  I didn’t anticipate. And God has worked in some of the most creative ways to get me to places I never would have expected — like Texas! That’s not what “conventional wisdom” says. “Conventional wisdom” says “put yourself out there,” like Jesus’ brothers were telling Him. But God often has us “swim upstream” and go against “conventional wisdom.”

God will often, in our walk with Him, instruct us to do something that is NOT “standard procedure” according to the ways of the world. His ways are different. There are SO many applications of this; so many ways in which He commands us to do things different than the world: in our finances, in our marriages, in our families, in the way we make decisions, in the way we do business, in the way we do ministry — the applications are almost endless. You let God’s Spirit apply this to YOUR own life and your personal situations today. But know this: if you choose to obey God, it is more than likely that He will ask you to do something that is different from convention, tradition, and worldly wisdom. Remember, He said in Romans 12:2, “And do not be conformed to this world.” As His people, we are NOT to be like the world; we are to be different. So when we obey God, He will have us do some things that do not “conform” to the world’s methods and traditions.

NOW let me issue a caveat here: there is a kind of person who just gets a “kick” out of flying in the face of tradition. God is NOT telling us there that we should enjoy shocking people, or that we should relish confrontation. In fact, remember that Scripture commands us to be submissive to authority, unless the authority commands us to disobey God. God is NOT telling us here to just LOOK for opportunities to flaunt public opinion. We are not to SEEK controversy. I Timothy 2:2 tells us that we are to seek lead “a tranquil and quiet life with all godliness and dignity.” We aren’t to seek to be controversial; we are seek peace and quiet! But the Bible shows us that there are times when God will ask us to do something that will buck “tradition” and conventional wisdom. And when He does, we need to be ready to follow HIM, and not “conform to the ways of the world.” 

So ask yourself this morning: “Is there some area in my life today, where I need to obey God, instead of tradition or popular opinion?”

II. When you obey God, other people may not understand.

:61 “And they said to her, ‘there is no one among your relatives who is called by that name.’”

Zecharias and Elizabeth were just obeying God’s message to them through the angel Gabriel when they named their son, John. But as we see here, the people around them did not understand. In this case, they were probably “her neighbors and relatives” of :58 — and maybe some others too. But what this shows us is that there are always those who do not understand what you are doing when you set out to obey God. 

(And by the way, isn’t “they said,” a revealing phrase? “THEY said”! Isn’t there always, “they said”? “THEY SAID you’re not supposed to do it that way!”  “THEY SAID that won’t work.” “THEY SAID no one will like that!” “THEY SAID we’ve never done it that way before”, and on and on!)

But when you obey God, a lot of times there will be “they saids” and others who don’t understand what you are doing.

There was a young man in our youth group at church growing up whose dad was a local businessman, and he was very “business-minded.” At some point he discovered that his son was tithing, giving 10% of what he made, to our church. So he pulled him aside and said, “Son, if you would take that same 10% of what you made, and put it in a savings account, you would have quite a chunk of money there!” This man just didn’t understand; he didn’t have the spiritual perspective that God gives us everything we have; and we give that back to him show our gratitude for it, and to show that we realize where it all comes from. AND he hasn’t heard all the testimonies of people who tithed, and God blessed and make their budget work when they didn’t know how it could! He just didn’t understand. 

And we need to know that it will often be like that: when you obey God, there will almost always be people who don’t understand what you are doing. Sometimes, like for that young man in our youth group, it’s your own family that doesn’t understand. Maybe they don’t understand why you would tithe, or why you’d want to leave the religion you grew up with, or why you’d want to be baptized; or why you’d want to go overseas on a mission trip — or why you’d “throw away” a good paying career to go into missions or full-time ministry. Maybe they don’t understand some of the convictions that God has given you as you serve Him, or, like Zacharias here, some specific thing the Lord is leading you to do. Or maybe it’s your employer, who doesn’t see why you won’t compromise on a business form, or cut corners on the job like everyone else does. Or maybe it’s even people at church who don’t understand why you’re doing something that you really believe God wants you to do. 

We need to get used to being misunderstood. As our society deteriorates, this will become more and more of an issue. If we are going to be faithful to God over the next years, we need to be willing to fly in the face of increasingly hostile public opinion: Why can’t we have women pastors? Why don’t we accept gays and lesbians as members? Why can’t we support transgender people? Why not give women the “right to choose” abortion? And on and on. If we are faithful to obey God’s word, we are going to catch more and more “flak” over the next years. So we will have to make a choice: we can either serve the God of the Bible, or the god of public opinion. But we can’t do both. If you are going to obey God and be a follower of Jesus Christ, you need to to know that many people will not understand your obedience.  

III. When you obey God, you experience freedom.

:63 “And he asked for a tablet and wrote as follows: ‘his name is John.’ And they were all astonished.” :64 “And at once his mouth was opened as his tongue loosed.”

Many of you are familiar with this story: ever since Zacharias had questioned Gabriel’s message in :18, he had been unable to speak. Can you imagine how frustrating it would have been for him, to be unable to speak, and to try to have to make signs, or to write everything down on that tablet? I have no difficulty picturing that; I have been with a number of folks in the hospital who have had a breathing tube, or for some reason were unable to speak, and so they had to write. The frustration on their faces was so evident. Some of y’all have seen or experienced that. That’s what Zacharias had to deal with. But when he made the commitment to obey God in the naming of his son — even in the face of all the objections that “they” had — God opened his mouth again, and he got the freedom that he had been missing. But his freedom was waiting on his obedience to God.

The same thing is true for us. There is great freedom that comes to us when we decide to obey God. 

Like we referred to a few minutes ago, this is true of salvation. When you try to justify yourself before God by your own good works and deeds, you find yourself in bondage: how many good works do you have to do? How good do you have to be? Have you done enough? Are you saved today, or lost again today? Once I was talking with one of deacons about how much pressure there must be on people who think you can lose your salvation! Just how good do you have to be to keep it? Have your blown it? Was that sin bad enough? That’s not salvation; that is bondage!  But when you give up that “works salvation” and decide instead to trust what Jesus did on the cross, and rest in His grace, there is freedom! It’s like the burden comes off — like the old song says, “the burden of my heart rolled away!” Now you don’t have to worry about how good you are; now you don’t have to worry about how to save yourself; now you are trusting in what JESUS did to save you. Christ has set you free, and you are free indeed! There is freedom when you obey Him for salvation. 

And it’s true in so many areas of our lives too. You get a freedom and a joy and a peace in your heart when you obey God. When I was in seminary, I pastored a little part-time church, and for the most part it was a great experience, and the church grew. But after two years, the church made a decision that I knew was not God’s will, and after visiting with them about it, I resigned my position. I still remember to this day the feeling I had, as Cheryl & I drove away from that church. It was a feeling of freedom! We were driving away in our little Volkswagen Bug with the back floorboard rusted through, with no job, no income — but I had a freedom inside, from obeying God — and that joy of obeying God is worth more than any job or any income! 

When you obey God — often even in the face of public opinion or people who don’t understand — there is great freedom and joy. And again, there are so many ways this might apply in our lives:  

— Some of you may have an area of disobedience in your life, and you know it, and you are carrying it around like a big burden on your back. OBEY GOD, and you will lose that burden, and it will be replaced with freedom and joy!  

— Others of us may have gotten all caught up in the “traditional wisdom” what “they say” you ought to do financially, and you’ve felt like you had to have “that” car, and “that” house, and “that” stuff, and you have sacrificed and compromised to do it but you are in slavery to what “they say”! God says “do not be conformed to the world” — you don’t have to have everything “they say” you have to have. Obey God, and you will find a new freedom! 

— Maybe there’s somebody that everyone is telling you that you should hate and despise, but God is telling you to love and forgive them. You will lose a great burden, and find a great freedom, if you will obey God, even if others do not understand.

It applies in so many areas. Again, I can’t spell out every instance that this might apply to every person here today, but let God’s Spirit apply this scripture to your heart. Let me just say this: Obey God! Do what He tells you in His word, no matter what “everybody else thinks,” and you will find a new-found freedom and joy, just like Zacharias did. It’s just like the old song says: 

“For the favor He shows, and the joy He bestows

Are for them who will trust and obey.”

But you will never find the freedom and joy you are longing for, until you make the commitment to obey God. Just like Zacharias’ freedom and joy to speak was waiting on his obedience, YOUR own freedom and joy may be waiting for your obedience to God in a certain area of YOUR life, today!

IV. When you obey God, He is Glorified!

There is one more thing we need to see here: God was glorified through Zacharias’ obedience. Verse 64 says when he obeyed, “his tongue was loosed and he began to speak in praise of God.” “And fear came on all those living around them; and all these matters were being talked about in all the hill country of Judea (:66) all who heard them kept them in mind, saying, ‘What then will this child turn out to be?’ For the hand of the Lord was certainly with him.”

When Zacharias obeyed God, God was glorified. He was glorified by Zacharias himself, as his mouth was opened and he praised Him. He was glorified by those who saw what happened, the eyewitnesses. He was glorified by many others, as the word of what happened, spread — it says the news spread all over the hill country. And God is STILL being glorified by people today who read this story! When Zacharias and Elizabeth obeyed God, not only did they get a new-found freedom, but more importantly, God was glorified as a result.

This is what happens when we obey God; He blesses what He told us to do, and then HE is glorified, when people see that we did it HIS way:

— Take for example David in the Old Testament, when he went to fight Goliath. As soon as he volunteered, they told him: You’ve got to have the right armor if you are going to do this. So they got Saul’s armor and put it on David, but he said, no, that’s the “conventional way,” but that’s not what I’m going to do — and he just took the 5 stones instead, and went out and defeated Goliath “in the name of YHWH of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel.” See, if David had worn Saul’s armor, people would have said, “Saul was really smart to give him that; wow, that armor was really good.” But when he went without it, in the name of the Lord, then GOD was glorified by the victory. 

— Same thing for Ezra when he was leading the Jews back from captivity to Jerusalem. It was a 500+ mile trip, and there were a lot of dangers on the way from beasts and bandits. But he said in Ezra that he didn’t want to ask the king for troops to protect them, because he had told the king that God’s power protects those who seek Him. So instead of having troops protect them, they spent time in fasting and prayer before they left. So when they arrived safely in Jerusalem some days later, who was glorified? GOD — not the king and his troops.

See, when we obey God, and do things HIS way instead of the way “everybody else does it,” then God is glorified when He blesses and helps us. And that is the purpose of our life. We are not here to live “conventional” lives, just doing what everyone else does. God put us here on this earth, and called us to Himself, so that HE might be glorified by the way we live. We all kind of “know” that, as Christians, but a lot of times we seem to forget it. But through His word in passages like this one, God reminds us: don’t just automatically do the “conventional thing” every time; find out what His word tells you to do in your situation, and do that. And when you do, He will bless it — and then you and others will glorify HIM when He does. 

Maybe there is a situation in your life, right now, where this can happen. Would you ask yourself: “How can God be glorified through MY obedience (in some area of my life) today?” 

INVITATION:

— Is there an area of your life today, in which you are being tempted to just do what “everyone else does,” but God is showing you that He has another way for you to go? Maybe some family members, or friends, or work associates, don’t understand why you would do this “odd”-seeming thing that God is telling you to do. But ask God to help you obey HIM — even if no one else understands.

— Maybe it’s not you but someone you know, that you need to pray for in this invitation time, that God would help them to obey HIM, and not just go with the crowd.

— Or maybe the thing you need to do today is give your life to Jesus today as your Lord & Savior. That may not be the “popular” thing to do, but it’s what God has commanded us to do, in order to be saved.