Matthew 28:16-20
16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  19 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, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

This week, we are reminding ourselves of the overarching purpose of our church. This passage has come to be known as the “Great Commission.”

We looked at the…

I.   The Power (Authority) of the Great Commission

II.   The Activity of the Great Commission

III.  The Process of Making Disciples

Since making disciples is the activity of the Great Commission, Jesus uses three participles to explain the process of making disciples. They are “Go,” “Baptizing” and “Teaching.”

We have looked at the first two steps in making disciples which are…

A. As you “GO,” look for opportunities to make disciples.

B. Baptizing as a first step in obedience in confessing faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

The third step in discipleship is

C. Teaching Obedience

First, we need to understand that..
——1.  The goal is not head knowledge, although that is necessary.

2 Tim 3:7 speaks of “ever learning but never coming to the knowledge of the truth.”

While understanding many things about our life in Christ are essential to our spiritual growth, they are to be seen as a means to a desired end.

—— 2.  We are to teach people to obey everything Christ commands us to do.

Verse 20 “and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you”
**** “To observe all things” KJV

So, the purpose in teaching head knowledge is so they will know what Jesus expects.  But, then comes the learning process of working out Jesus’ expectation in obedience.

——3.  The difference between our level of knowledge and our level of obedience we call hypocrisy

Most of us have been in church for years. Most of us know a whole lot more than we are doing.

It’s like when a pastor changed his preaching strategy and began preaching the same sermon every week. The members began to complain and said, “Don’t you know any other messages?”
The pastor responding, “Sure I do.  And when our church starts practicing this sermon, I’ll go on to another.”

You see, the congregation just wanted more head knowledge, but the pastor understood that obedience was the key to healthy Christian living.

Let’s look at some…

——4. Verses on Obedience:

Titus 2:11-12  “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.”

***Did you see that?  God’s grace teaches us obedience. Obedience is a learning process.

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1 Peter 1:14-16   “As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’”

*** God is our heavenly Father and we are to be obedient children.

OBEDIENCE is to be our focus, NOT VICTORY – victory is a by-product of obedience.

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Romans 1:5  “Through him and for his name’s sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith.”

*** Faith is to be the driving motivation for our obedience.  Out of our faith comes our obedience: as the old hymn goes, “Trust and obey for there’s no other way.”  Too many people have a rigid legalistic view of obedience.

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To Jesus, the hallmark of a disciple is a life of FAITH-FILLED OBEDIENCE with complete abandonment to Him as Lord and Savior.

Luke 14:26 (ESV). “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.”

Luke 14:27 (ESV) “Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.”

Luke 14:33 (ESV) “So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.”

Let’s be honest: the concept of obedience is almost foreign to we Americans. So, today I remind us all that we are to be obedient Kingdom citizens first and foremost.