Matthew 28: teaching them to obey...

“And teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28: 20b)

Notice that Jesus did not say, “teaching them to know….” Of course, you have to know in order to obey, but you are not yet obeying if you just know what Jesus taught. You may hear, you may even say that you believe, but you can still walk away and fail to do any of the things that you learned. Then, you come back next Sunday as if nothing happened; it’s true, nothing happened. 

There is an old tent revival preachers’ illustration about the difference between belief and obedience. There was a tightrope walker who strung a cable across Niagara Falls. He walked across with his balancing pole and made it to the other side. People cheered. Then he put a wheelbarrow on the cable. Of course, the wheel had no tire, only the rim so it would stay on the cable. He pushed that wheelbarrow back across the cable. People cheered even more loudly. He asked them if they believed that he could do it again. “Yes, yes!” they cried. Then he singled out the man who shouted the loudest and asked him, “Do you really believe I can do it?” “Yes,” the man shouted enthusiastically. “Then come up here and get in the wheelbarrow and we’ll go back across the cable,” he said. 

True or made up, the story still shows the difference between belief and behavior. Belief is cheap; obedience is costly, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer reminded us in his teachings and showed us in his death when he was executed by the Nazis just months before the end of World War II. Likewise, Jesus believed in the promise of the Father, and he proved it by going to his death on the cross. Knowledge, obedience, service, sacrifice.

Jesus did not command that the disciples should teach just by imparting information but teach as well by leading them in spiritual formation. This is a life journey for an individual and the Christian communities he or she participates in. It involves a transformation of the inner self to be more like Christ; the inner self is reflected in the outer public self; then they are identical. Otherwise, the person is a hypocrite. 

King David was said to be a man after God’s own heart; yet he sinned greatly in the affair with Bathsheba. Is this a contradiction? It would be if David had persisted in denying that he had done nothing wrong. But a prophet with the word of God brought him up short, and instead of denying his guilt, he confessed and he changed. He was not perfect, but he had a perfect relationship with God. That is, when he sinned, he confessed and trusted in God’s merciful forgiveness. Here is what David wrote after the affair became public.

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; blot out my transgressions. … Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. … The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” (Psalm 51: 1, 10, 17). 

Our life in Christ is a journey, or as Eugene Peterson said in the title of his book: A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society (1980/2019 new edition). 

John Wesley taught that our salvation journey, if we take it, depends on God’s grace every step of the way. If God doesn’t offer grace, then nothing happens. We are unable to walk this path by ourselves. It begins before we are aware of how far we have fallen into darkness. 

 God reveals his presence, and we see our sins. God makes our condition clearer, and we begin to fear the future. God convinces and convicts us. This stage is called Prevenient Grace, grace that comes before we know it.

 God prods us again, and we begin to confess our sins and ask for forgiveness. God’s Justifying Grace meets our saving faith, and we are forgiven, reconciled, and loved.

 God doesn’t abandon us for other things. Instead, with full assurance of the power of God’s grace, we are invited by God to walk with him a while, our whole lifetime actually. This is Sanctifying Grace, the grace that transforms our life and makes us holy. 

 It is during that step of obedience that we begin to see real change in our lives. Sanctification is a gradual process, though punctuated with steps and marked by landings where we can take a breath and enjoy the view. But, we do not linger long because faith is always activated through love. 

 The grace that sanctifies us comes, according to Wesley, normally comes through two means, though Wesley always leaves room for the unusual and unexpected acts of God. The first means are sacraments: baptism and communion, sacraments where God has promised to be present if we will just be present. Sacraments are the outward sign of an inward grace.

 The second means are the practices. After all, discipleship is an apprenticeship with routine practices: prayer, Bible study, fasting, worship, and fellowship. These bring us into daily conversation with God, with others, and with our own soul.

 Finally, in our apprenticeship we learn to engage in acts of mercy fulfilling our obligation to love our neighbor, care for the orphan, the widow, and the alien, and alleviate the suffering of the poor and oppressed. 

 It was John the Baptist who “said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits worthy of repentance. … Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” (Luke 3: 7-9). 

 In fear, the crowds asked what they should do. John gave specific examples: ‘the rich should do this, the tax collectors should do that, and the soldiers should do this’ (3: 10-14). Then he promised that the one who came after him (Jesus) would “baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Luke 3: 16). And so it was.

  What, then, is the fruit of the Holy Spirit? 

 “... the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. And those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit” (Galatians 5: 22-25).

 Now we know what “And teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you” means.