During the Jan. 29 chapel service at the University of Mobile, students were encouraged by Andrew Walker to find true liberty and contentment by walking in the Word of God and pursuing His precepts.
Walker is associate dean of the school of theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He also serves as an associate professor of Christian ethics and public theology.
In addition to his teaching, Walker has written for several media outlets including National Review, The Gospel Coalition and Newsweek. He serves as managing editor of WORLD Opinions and is the director of the Carl F.H. Henry Institute for Evangelical Engagement.
As Walker began the chapel service, he shared about his longtime friendship with Charles Smith Jr., president of the University of Mobile, who he has known for the past 17 years.
“One of the first Sundays that my wife and I came to Southern Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky in 2008, we visited Highview Baptist Church,” Walker recalled. “There was a couple in front of us. We had no idea who they were. After the service was over, this couple who was in the same stage of life as us turned around and introduced themselves and invited my wife and I to lunch with them. They were our first friends in Louisville when my wife and I started there for seminary. The beauty of the stage of life that you’re in right now is that you’re going to be making friends that you’ll have for your entire life.”
Taking ownership of faith
As Walker addressed the students, he reminded them that this life stage also means they must take ownership for their faith as he began his message out Psalm 119:45, “I shall walk in a wide place, for I have sought your precepts.”
“Why am I doing this text?” Walker asked the audience. “I thought if I was between the ages of 18-22, what would I be wrestling with? I thought about when I was at a Christian college back in 2004. I was wrestling with questions like, ‘What is the point of this Christian faith, or what am I hoping to get out of this for myself?’
“Here’s the reality, at your stage of life, you have to take ownership of your faith and look at what following Christ will get you,” Walker said. “Here’s my one sentence answer to that — the pursuit of holiness through obedience to God’s Word produces an unmatched contentment that will hold you steady through the turbulence of life.”
Walker also looked at the King James Version of the Scripture passage which states “for I will walk at liberty for I have sought your precepts.”
“I want to make a distinction between things we pursue for their own sake and things we pursue for the sake of something else,” Walker said. “The Psalmist David is talking about how we want to walk freely and want to walk in a wide place, without obstruction.
“Liberty in our culture today means to do whatever you want. Some of us in this room think if we have liberty we have it all, without regard to living for something more important. When we abuse our liberty our liberty ends up being a source of misery, which is in contrast to Psalm 119:45. Our identity has to be grounded in God and His Word. Precept is another way of saying God’s judgement or law. The law is a reflection of God’s holiness and His character. The Psalmist is saying he will walk without a guilty conscience because he is grounded in God’s Word. Scripture is telling us to align ourselves to that way. God’s law is not arbitrary, not restricting. The way that He has ordered the universe is not to punish or restrict you; it’s there to prosper you.”
‘Blessing of obedience’
Walker emphasized to students that “the blessing of obedience to God’s Word produces the greatest level of satisfaction.”
“That’s where true contentment and the ultimate satisfaction is found,” he said. “Obedience glorifies God and produces in us a weight of glory that is giving us a way to withstand temptation so that we don’t give in. When we look to Christ in obedience, it is far more rewarding than temporary gratifications.”
Walker reminded students that “limits are actually good things.”
“You are not meant to be chasing after every trend this world has to offer,” he noted. “Sociologists tell us that people are actually miserable without limits. We can form ourselves to God’s precepts and His ways. Restraining one’s sexual desires is actually going to bless you and your future spouse, even when you are tempted. It means resisting to view pornography. It means putting down the bottle or shot glass. It means we are called to live every aspect of life for God’s glory.”
‘Glory of Christ in the mundane’
Walker concluded the message by reminding students that they are called to an abundant life in Christ and prayed for the challenges that students are facing — praying that they would seek God’s precepts and His Word, finding the ultimate source of contentment, satisfaction and liberty.
“What I’m most interested in at the age of 40 is less about my resumé and more about contentment,” Walker said. “Most of the New Testament was written by people starving and in prison, not wondering if they have the latest iPhone, that’s where today’s culture gets it wrong in searching for contentment. Here’s the beautiful thing, if we understand the good gifts that God has given to us and put them in their proper place, that’s where contentment and truly walking in liberty comes in. The older I get I am convinced that we should be looking less for spiritual mountains and looking more for the glory of Christ in the mundane — routine obedience, the pursuit of holiness and contentment that only Christ can bring.
“Your Christian faith is the one place for assurance of hope. The Psalms are marked by tragedy and trial. David was looking for deliverance, where to place his hope. He mediated on God’s Word and looked to Him.
“The question for all of us is, where do you go to make sense of this life we have been given? Are you living for your own desires, or do you place your hope in the glory of Christ? True liberty will come from submission and obedience to God’s Word.”
UM has a video of Walker’s message posted on its YouTube channel here.
A full lineup of this semester’s chapel speakers is available from UM here.
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