As John Piper notes,
“Jesus’ final command was to teach all his commandments. Actually, the final command was more precise than that. He did not say, “Teach them all my commandments.” He said, “Teach them to observe all my commandments.”
Jesus commanded all of His disciples to teach everyone in the world to obey all of His commands. Therefore, we cannot say that we are fulfilling the Great Commission until we are “obeying everything Jesus commanded” and teaching our disciples to do the same. The failure to teach it all and obey it all is the Great Omission in the Great Commission.
Disciples Obey Jesus’ Commands
The word “disciple” comes from the Greek word mathetes, meaning “student” or “learner.” It describes a protégé who learned and followed his teacher’s precepts and instructions. It speaks of a follower who adopts the lifestyle of his master. In the first century, a disciple-making relationship was based on intimacy and obedience. No wonder Jesus made the following statements:
If you keep My commands you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commands and remain in His love. John 15:10
You are My friends if you do what I command you. John 15:14
Disciples obey Jesus’ commands. Why have not been taught that? Nineteenth-century Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard offers this answer:
Kierkegaard did not stop there. He continues,
C. T. Studd is one of my heroes. He was a wealthy, Cambridge graduate who also happened to be the best cricket player in the world when cricket was one of the most popular games in the world. He was the most popular athlete of the late 1900s. Yet, he gave it all up to obey a missionary call to China. In a talk he gave at a businessman’s luncheon, he told how obeying the commands of Jesus changed his life:
I once had another religion: mincing, lisping, bated breath, proper, hunting the bible for hidden truths, but no obedience, no sacrifice. Then came a change. The real thing came before me… Words became deeds. The commands of Christ became not mere Sunday recitations, but battle cries to be obeyed…
The Great Commission and the commands of Jesus are battle cries to be obeyed. Are you obeying the battle cries of Jesus?
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This material was adapted from Dave Earley and Rod Dempsey, Disciple-Making Is … (B&H Publishing, 2012).
