Teaching Believers to Obey Jesus' Commands

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen. Matthew 28:18-20

Notice the phrase "...teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you..." This is the true task that faces anyone who would attempt to disciple a new believer in Jesus. To seek anything less for every new believer than total obedience to all of Jesus’ commands is to disobey these final words of Jesus.

Is it truly realistic to expect every believer to be capable of obeying all of Jesus' commands? Jesus thought so. Do we? Do we really have in view disciples that live all of Jesus' most difficult commands? Can all of us really forgive 70 times 7, turn the other cheek and love our enemies?

I struggled for years with the distance I saw between Jesus’ commands and the actual ability of believers, including me, to obey those commands. Learning to abide in Jesus and to teach others to abide in Jesus finally closed that distance. I now believe every believer can in fact obey all of Jesus’ commands. I now believe I, too, can obey all of Jesus' commands.

The key to closing the distance between believing Jesus and obeying all of Jesus' commands depends on what Jesus goes on to say in the same verses already cited. He says, "and, lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Jesus' perfect presence is the only thing that closes the distance between hearing His commands and obeying His commands. Jesus’ presence in us is the source of our ability to obey. It was for the first disciples and it is for every disciple.

Obedience is relational. Obedience is not the result of any human effort that comes from our deciding to obey. Obedience to Jesus' commands is a gift that comes from His presence and His grace. Obedience comes from abiding in the true Vine. Obedience is received from Jesus. This is why Jesus says in John 15:5 "...without Me you can do nothing."

Today when I begin to disciple a new believer, I first point them to where Jesus is - in them - and what Jesus is willing to provide for them-everything He is - as the key to obeying Him moment by moment. Jesus' perfect presence and His constant willingness to be everything in us make obeying of all of His commands possible for all of us.

To teach people to obey the commands we must teach them to abide in the One who commands and will empower them to obey. Jesus is the only source of forgiveness. Jesus is the only way to enter heaven. Jesus is also the only source of obedience. Unless His perfect presence in us stimulates us to obey, we will begin to obey but we will soon tire and quit obeying.

A person who is truly obeying the commands of Jesus will always be aware that the power to do so is Jesus Himself. Every truly obedient disciple will say, "I am what I am by the grace of God."

Never once did Jesus lead His first disciples to depend on themselves or on any other human being for what He commanded them to do. He did teach them to depend only on Him. We must all do the same if we hope to see believers obeying Jesus.

He is in us. We can obey as we abide in Him.