I recently in passing saw a tweet from a seminary professor
(I don’t remember who, and can’t find it), commenting that in the so-called
Great Commission, Jesus not only told His disciples to go and make disciples
who know His commands, but who observe His commands (cf. Matt. 28:20). The two options are worlds apart: With the
former, just awareness of Christ’s Word is required. With the latter (Christ's command), obedience to Christ’s Word
is required. Jesus was telling His disciples
both to share His Word with the nations, and to make disciples among them who walk
in His Word every day until He comes again.
To Obey
The implications for Christians (and especially pastors) are
manifold. If we’d make obedient
disciples, first we have to be obedient
disciples. We must not only know what
Christ has said, but put it into practice daily. “Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who
walks in His ways” (Ps. 128:1). The fear
of the Lord is here defined as walking in His ways. And what blessing is promised as one reads
the rest of the Psalm. To make obedient
disciples, we must model obedience.
But further than merely modeling obedience is cultivating obedience. Jesus’ exact words (in our English
translations) are, “…teaching them to
observe all I’ve commanded you” (emphasis mine).
The import of “to observe” here is rich. We are to teach obedience. Similar language is found when reads of Jesus’ disciples asking
him, “Teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1). Jesus responds to them with what is today
known as “the Lord’s Prayer.” Note, they didn’t
ask him to teach them how to pray,
but to teach them to pray. I’ve told my Sunday school class recently
that apparently Jesus believed the very words of the Lord’s Prayer had the
power to induce prayerfulness in
them. When one regularly prays according
to Jesus' template, they find themselves drawn back to it. Thus they are among those who pray “and don’t
lose heart” (cf. Luke 18:1).
So in Matthew 28, Jesus doesn’t merely tell His disciples to
teach other disciples how to obey His
commands, but to obey. In other words, he says his disciples must show other disciples what obedience
looks like. They must give counsel that moves disciples away from sin. If one is, for instance, a pastor, he must remove things from
congregational life that are regular challenges to his peoples’ obedience to
Christ. One can hear in Christ’s Word
here, “I set before you life and death: choose life” (cf. Dt. 30:19).
This is exactly why the apostle told the Colossian church to
always let the Word of Christ dwell in
them richly (Col. 3:16): Merely knowing the command isn’t enough. It’s indwelling induces obedience (the new
covenant promise of Ezek. 36:27), which is exactly why we’re called to Christ
in the first place: to follow Him into all His will. Since the heart is the wellspring of life,
Christ's Word must reside there. If it does
reside there, obedience will lovingly and joyfully follow.
Love First
Upon further reflection of said Great Commission tweet, I
remembered the Lord’s famous words to His disciples the night He was betrayed: “If
you love me, you’ll obey my commands” (Jn. 14:15). Here Jesus makes plain that obedience is tied
to the affections, the same way that disobedience
is tied to affections. In other words,
to borrow from James K.A. Smith, you are what you love. Whatever you love will govern how you
function. If you can’t obey, it is
because at the very least your love is divided, and at most, your love isn’t on
Christ. Thus Jesus says obedience
depends on love for Him. Those who obey
Him are those who first loved Him (because, truly, He loved them first, 1 Jn. 4:10).
So can we conclude then that since we are called to be
obedient disciples who make obedient disciples, and since the key to obedience
to Christ is love for Christ, that the primary task for disciple-makers is not
only sharing His Word with people, but showing those same people just how good
and lovely Christ is? If obeyers are
lovers of Christ, shouldn’t we then show how lovely He is?
Is this not what Paul meant by referring to his own
preaching in terms of publically
displaying Christ? (See Gal. 3:1) It
certainly seems like this is Peter’s point in telling us that we have been
saved “to proclaim the excellencies of His who called you out of
darkness into his marvelous life” (1 Pet. 2:9, emphasis mine). And it is further in keeping with Paul’s
assertion that he and the other apostles’ job was to “spread the fragrance of
the knowledge of him everywhere” wafting “the aroma of Christ” (2 Cor.
1:14-15). Though Paul speaks here merely
of the knowledge of Christ, the fact that he refers to it as an aroma carries
with it the idea of more than teaching Christ’s commands: Preaching Christ is
showing Him as the true pleasant scent.
The Real Treasure
What are you doing presently to put Christ’s glory on
display? No Christian would ever deny
the need for obedience to Christ’s Word.
I’m simply saying that the key to true obedience is an obedience that
flows from the heart. And obedience
flows from the heart if Christ is there as the treasure. Examine yourself: is He your treasure? Could you live without anything else? Or can you honestly say with Paul that you’d
suffer the loss of all things if it meant you’d gain Christ and be found in Him
(Phil. 3:8-9)? Wherever you are, know
that you can meet Him there. And know
that in the end, wherever your treasure is, there your heart is also.
