'Obedience' is an Awkward Word

"Obedience is an awkward word for sinners. By nature we do not like it. We immediately think of abuses of authority. Abuse is widespread and at times terrible in its consequences, but such abuses do not delegitimize authority itself. Satan's attack on God from the beginning has been to tell humans that authority and love cannot go together. And Satan's proof of this dichotomy is God's call for us to deny ourselves when our own desires contradict His commands (e.g., in the garden of Eden). And yet God has shown Himself unbelievably loving as Christ sacrificed His comfort for our good (e.g., in the garden of Gethsemane). God is worthy of trust. Throughout creation, authority is to be an expression of God's own character (see Eph 3: 14– 15). David's final words are a beautiful reflection of authority's divine nature: "When one rules justly over men, ruling in the fear of God, he dawns on them like the morning light, like the sun shining forth on a cloudless morning, like rain that makes grass to sprout from the earth" (2 Sam 23: 3– 4 ESV). Authority exercised well blesses those under it. This is as true in the home as it is in the nation and as true in church as it is in marriage."

-Mark Dever, from the article "The Practical Aspects of Church Membership," in the book Those Who Must Give an Account: A Study of Church Membership and Church Discipline, ed. by John S. Hammett, and Benjamin Merkle,