We don’t like being ‘told’ to do things – especially when the thing we’re told to do is inconvenient, uncomfortable or costly! The ‘rebel’ that’s at the core of our sinful human nature dislikes any demands put on our independence. Cries of “why should I’ go hand-in-hand with “who do they think they are to tell me?”!
Yet when the Lord Jesus commands His first disciples at the end of Matthew chapter 28, there is no ambiguity of either why they should obey, nor of who He is:
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.
The crucified and now-risen Lord Jesus Christ is the King of Kings who has ALL authority. His command to go and make disciples continues to be highly inconvenient, terribly uncomfortable and immensely costly. Nevertheless, not only did those first disciples obey Him, they did as He commanded and taught those they baptized to do the same.
Last Sunday morning as our church baptized two disciples of the Lord Jesus who were seeking to obey Him, the ongoing cycle continued. Yet, His is not a controlling demand of obedience, but a wonderful command of grace: the final assurance of vs 20 says it all:
20…And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
To be committed to the King of Kings who loves you, died for you, is risen and who is with you, is no hardship but a privilege that only His disciples enjoy.
Spencer Shaw