What Commands?

Famous last words! The final words people speak just before “passing over” are often famous, and tend to summarize the life of the one speaking. From “et tu, Brute” (Julius Caesar) to “This is the last of earth – I am content” (John Quincy Adams) to “Codeine . . . bourbon” (Tallulah Bankhead), last words tell us volumes about the priorities that determined the course of one’s life.

Everyone is familiar with the final words of Jesus before ascending back to the right hand of the Father, so familiar that we rarely pause to consider the depth of their meaning. Here they are: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20). We are able to live confidently, knowing that all authority belongs to Jesus. We’re comforted by knowing that Jesus will always be with us. And we know that Jesus instructed his followers to “Go.” And then we move on without exploring further the mission Jesus sent us on.

What are we to do as we “go”? First of all, we are to make disciples. We are to raise up a new generations of apprentices for Jesus. We are to form followers, students, those who will commit themselves to “learning Jesus.” Of course, that assumes we ourselves are disciples. It will be hard for us to make disciples if we have yet to be made disciples. The “commission” of Jesus begins by challenging us to revisit our own commitment to come under his yoke, enter into his school and learn his teachings, his way of life, and the principles that produced his way of life.

We are told to “make disciples of all nations.” Discipleship/apprenticeship is not just an individual matter. Communities can be discipled; people groups can be taught how to follow Jesus. Cities can learn how to live the Jesus Way. Jesus instructed us to accept the greater mission of empowering transformation across human barriers to the life of the larger community.

“Baptizing them,” introducing people to the covenant relationship with God made possible by the work of Christ and the Good News of his work. Christian initiation includes careful instruction in the Gospel that includes the mystery of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The foundation of what we believe about Jesus is crucial to the ongoing yoked life.

From the very beginning we are to “teach them to obey.” The local church has a very important teaching ministry. Systematic instruction, training, and equipping are part of the mandate shared by the gifted pastoral leaders provided by Christ to the church; it is also the responsibility of the local congregation as a whole. However, it’s important to remember that we are not just teaching precepts or ideas – we are teaching obedience. We are teaching a lifestyle of loving obedience to God, a life formed by a hearing ear and an obedient heart to the presence and voice of God in our lives.

But now it gets a bit more difficult. Jesus specifically instructed us to teach his disciples to obey “everything I have commanded you.” Commanded! What commands?! I thought commandments were an Old Testament thing. A “commandment” implies an obligation, instructions intended to be obeyed. Relationship with God was all about “Law” before Christ; now it’s all about “grace.” Isn’t it?

Actually, the “yoked life” of an apprentice of Jesus, a lifestyle of loving obedience, includes a clear understanding that some things are not suggestions, they are commandments. Do you remember the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount? “For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.  Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:18-20). Jesus came to empower his followers to live out the spirit of the Law, not to set the Law aside. In fact, Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for setting the Law aside: “Why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?” (Matthew 15:3). Jesus advised the rich young ruler, “If you want to enter life, keep the commandments” (Matthew 19:17). Jesus had a clear teaching about what he consider the “greatest commandment” (see Matthew 22:36-40).

In fact, as committed disciples we are very interested in hearing and obeying the “commands” of Jesus. That will significantly define the Jesus Way for us. Are you listening for the commands of Jesus?