Redefined: Teaching

Redefined: Teaching
Matthew 28:19-20 //  September 23, 2018
I. Introduction:
A. Someone coined a saying a number of years ago that still holds true today for
much of the North American Church: “The great omission of the Great
Commission is obedience!”
1. The great oversight of the Great Commission, the great exclusion from the
Great Commission that Jesus gave us, that which is neglected the most in the
Great Commission is obedience!
• Turn in your Bibles to
II. Matt 28:18
A. Review the structure of this passage
1. One main verb which is a command – make disciples
2. Three participles that tell us how to do it – go, baptizing, teaching
B. Read
C. Note at the start of v20 is the third of these ways by which we make disciples –
teaching them.
1. This is the instruction to those who have already become disciples or
believers in Jesus Christ
2. An ongoing process that will really last the rest of our lives of teaching and
learning depending which end of the discipleship process you are on.
D. Now what is omitted so often is what we are to teach them.
1. As I read commentaries on this verse I was amazed at how many of them
emphasized the importance of teaching to fulfil the Great Commission and
how the church needs to be built around teaching.
2. But the passage says more than that.
a) Read 20a-b.
b) Teaching them to observe, obey, keep, and act upon what they are
taught.
3. Read one more time and watch for what we are to teach them to obey.
a) Read leaving out “all that” and instead put in “what.” Is that what it
says?
b) Now read it as the text is
c) We are to teach them to obey, observe, keep, and act upon all that Jesus
commanded us.
(1) Everything, not just the select few things that seem to be practical
to my life today!
(2) He speaks to our beliefs, our thought lives, our values, our morals,
our affections, our attitudes, our decisions, our words, our hurts,
our habits, our money, our time, our attention, our sexuality, etc.
E. Remember we learned last week that the very definition of the word disciple
demands obedience
1. Vines Dictionary said - “a disciple was not only a pupil, but an adherent,
someone who binds themselves to observing or obeying what they learn!
2. That means learning from Jesus and obeying His teachings about how to live
life
F. The great omission of the Great Commission is obedience
1. Not just teaching them
2. Not just teaching them to obey Jesus’ teachings
3. But teaching them to obey all of Jesus’ teachings/commands
G. Now let me do a quick side bar here so no one is confused at this point. I am not
down talking or minimalizing the importance of teaching and studying God’s
word.
1. There are many passages in this book that tell us the benefits and life changes
that come to us when we read, study, memorize and meditate on this book.
a) But disciples take it one-step further and apply it to their lives!
2. And let me add this also – before you can obey what Jesus taught you have to
read and study what He taught us!
a) And it is not just the red letter words of Jesus but He also said in John 16
that He had many more things to say to them, but they could not bear
them at that time, so He promised them that the Holy Spirit would come
guide them into all truth
b) That was a promise for the inspiration of the entire New Testament that
completes the teachings of Jesus for us.
c) And by the way the New Testament teaches us of the value of the Old
Testament in our current days as followers of Jesus
3. So to be able to obey Jesus it is important for us to spend time in this book, so
we can rightly divide just what God, Jesus, is saying to us and what He is
expecting of us and what we need to obey to be a properly functioning
disciple.
• So as a disciple the key question we need to constantly be asking ourselves as we
study God’s word and need to be asking one another as we seek to grow as disciples
is:
III. What is my next step of obedience?
A. This is probably the most important question we need to constantly wrestle with if
we want to be growing disciples. “What is my next step of obedience?”
B. As I prayed about this sermon, I was wondering after teaching the truth how I
would exhort MVC regarding this truth. There are many ways I could go with
“obedience to God’s word” so I was not sure.
1. What I did was start to consider how MVC is doing regarding obedience.
What do we need right now regarding this passage?
2. I realized that so many of us are at different places in our walk of obedience
to all of God’s word, so many of us need something different to keep us
excelling in our obedience to Christ.
a) Some are doing well – no one is perfect in their obedience but some are
doing pretty good in ordering their life according to God’s word
b) Some want to obey Him in everything but they are caught by some
stronghold of sin or the devil that has them enslaved to it
c) Some are fearful to obey God because they are not sure what He would
do if they really gave Him control of their money, relationships, habits or
hurts
d) Some lack in faith to obey Him because they tried that before and it did
not turn out the way they hoped it would.
e) Some struggle with obeying God because they are angry with God
feeling like He let them down in the past by not giving them what they
had hoped for.
f) Some never have realized just how important it is to obey God; they
thought they were doing well just by being saved and going to church a
few times a month.
g) Some even see obedience as legalism, rather than knowing it is a loving
response to God and the path to the best possible life we can have.
C. The list can go on but one common theme came to me as I was considering the
different places we are at. That is no matter where you are at “obedience is
achievable for you.” You do not have to be stuck or have to be plateaued, but
rather your next step of obedience is possible because of Jesus and His grace!
1. Yes, I did say because of His grace – grace is not the freedom to do whatever
you want because you are no longer under the law but rather grace is the
power to do what Jesus wants you to do!
2. I do not know where you are stuck or plateaued, but even in the Great
Commission itself, Jesus promised His presence with you to carry out
everything He asks of us. Read v20b
D. Obedience is possible not because you can do this if you try hard enough but
rather because of what Jesus has done for you and is doing in you.
1. Ezekiel 36:26
a) This is the New Covenant that Jesus ratified with His blood when He
died at the cross
b) He not only promised to forgive sins and He not only promised to
remove that old stubborn self-willed heart and put in a brand new heart,
one that is tender, responsive and God-willed heart
c) Then He says this: Read Ezek 36:27
(1) It is now possible to obey God because His Spirit lives inside of us
to cause us to walk in His ways
(2) And the Spirit within us creates within in us a carefulness, a
cautiousness, an attentiveness to observe, and obey God’s words.
2. Phil 2:13 – speaking in the context of obedience listen to what God says:
a) Read v13
b) God is at work inside of you and me as believers to do two things
regarding obedience:
(1) First, giving us the desire to obey Him and the will to obey Him
(2) Second, God is working in us by His spirit to give us the ability to
obey Him
3. Hebrews 13:21
a) Listen to this great promise. I call it the New Testament anointing.
Anointing is simply God equipping His servants to do his will.
b) Read
4. Your next step of obedience is possible because of Jesus’ work for you at the
cross and in His resurrection and Jesus’ work in you now by means of His
Spirit!
5. So whatever your next step of obedience is, Jesus is your need.
a) Whether that is for Him to show you what He wants from you because
you really do not know or to remove some obstacle in your life that is
holding you back from obeying Him, or even the desire to want to do
what God wants you to do rather than what you want to do, or the
enablement to do what you could never do apart from Him
So in closing we want to remove the Great Omission of the Great Commission in our
lives and at MVC. We do not just want to be black belts in studying and understanding
God’s word but we also want to be black belts in obeying, applying, doing, keeping, and
acting upon God’s Word
6. So what is your next step of obedience?
7. Turn to Jesus to know what that is! Turn to Jesus to remove any obstacles
that would be holding you back, turn to Jesus to enable you to carry it out!
8. Trust and obey for there is no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and
obey!
IV. Give two minutes of silence to consider before the Lord!