A Sacrifice of Obedience was written through the years 2002 and 2003 as an intended sequel to Make Me Like Jesus. It was never published.
Fifteen years have now passed. As I look at the world around me, it seems less likely than ever that Christians in very large numbers will be drawn to a message about sacrifice or obedience. And I am no different. I resist both imperatives just like everyone else. I had hoped by this time in my life to be a little further along.
But obedience remains the bull’s eye of the Christian faith, and the very personal bull’s eye of my own life. Thus, the time at last seems right to revisit this manuscript and share it with whatever fellow pilgrims there may be on that isolated and occasionally lonely path.
You who read these words may be few. Even in Christendom, where the image of the cross looms large in the imaginations and theologies of its many churches and their members, the actual cross-life of sacrifice and obedience is not so well known.
Yet to such a life we are called. It is the only life to which we are called.
Let us, then, courageously explore together a few high points along the Lord’s earthly Calvary road to see what they have to reveal about that life.
A new edition of early 20th century best-selling author Harold Bell Wright’s The Calling of Dan Matthews edited by Michael Phillips.
A new and rather naïve pastor, Dan Matthews accepts his church call with great anticipation. But he quickly runs into deeply rooted problems: judgements, party spirit, church politics, and hidden agendas. Some problems come from well-intentioned people who don’t know better; others stem from selfishness and evil motives. In both situations, as Dan obeys the life and teachings of Jesus, the consequences are severe.
Dan Matthews believed he had a calling from God. Faced with the loathsome hypocrisy in his church, what will become of him and those he befriends?
