Teach Them To Obey

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.