Discipleship

Jul 20

Text: Matthew 28:16–20 and Philippians 2:3–13 ESV

Join us this Sunday, July 19 as we dig into our series on Matthew 28:16–20. Andrew Knight will be teaching on discipleship and how we have savior who has called us to walk with him and to walk with others. We hope you can join us!

Order of Service

Opening Worship

(3:30 PM live, at home/watch parties prior to service)

Sermon Video

A copy of Andrew’s sermon manuscript can be found below.

Closing Worship

Grace

If you would like a compiled playlist of the entire worship set, you can view it here.

If you have trouble accessing the video, you can view it on Youtube.

Obedience and Humility

Introduction

In our series this summer, we are tackling the Great Commission in Matthew 28:16–20. We are treating it like a diamond and looking at its distinct facets and cuts from many different angles. Last week we looked at it from the angle of God’s supremacy, and this week we will view it from the angle of Discipleship. My main point is this—If you are not teaching others to obey, then to Jesus, you disobey. But either way, we should not stop looking it. It is Jesus’ last words uttered while on Earth, and this alone makes it worthy of our attention. But also, according to recent research, half of the Christian church is ignorant of the phrase the ‘Great Commission.’ According to a Barna study, only about 50% of evangelicals understand the Great Commission as referring to Matthew 28:18–20. Why? Well, at least three thoughts come to mind:

It’s an extra-biblical term and maybe some aren’t aware of the connection.
It’s just not talked about all that often.
We put uncomfortable things out of sight and therefore out of mind.

But this summer we are keeping it out front and center and using additional texts to unpack our sermon series. Today’s additional text is Philippians 2:3–13. As you process it alone for a minute or two (and then break up and discuss it with those around you), systematically study the verses in three ways:

What stuck out to you?
What did you learn about Jesus?
And what questions do you have about the text that are unclear?

Now, you might be thinking, what does this text have to do with the Great Commission and discipleship? To steer you in that direction I would like you to focus on the relationship between obedience and humility (in Christ and in us), and why that might be crucial to the completion of the Great Commission in you personally.

Discussion

Before getting back to Philippians 2, let’s look at the context of Matthew 28:16–20:

Jesus has risen and appeared to his disciples 2-3 times at this point.
He scheduled this appointment with them on a mountain, which is very intentional of Jesus.
There were only 11 present. This is the first gathering when there had not been 12 disciples, which makes you consider how important faithfulness is.
And some worshiped, and some doubted. Jesus commissioned the faithful and faithless. It’s not about who they were, but who He is.
I want you to pay attention to the power of the Great Commission, the Purpose in the Great Commission, and the Promise for the Great Commission. And then he said to them,
- “All authority has been given to me.” (POWER).
- “Therefore, go (no more waiting) and make disciples of all nations.” (PURPOSE
- “Baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Spirit, and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” (HOW) “And behold, I am with you to the end of the age.” (PROMISE)
In other words, “Give your whole lives, to take the whole gospel, to the whole world.”
We know the disciples took this to heart because they each died in a different country!

This week I was with my boys on a mighty man retreat…(we get away for a night and talk about something manly, try something new, and I teach them to do something)…and besides just being with them, I love two things: 1) Being under a canopy (stars or tent cover). Behind you, under you, before you, around you. 2) We love the view: I love siting on a cliff and admiring the river below. What a view! And so in the Great Commission, I have a canopy of God’s promise over and around me, and I have a breathtaking view that reminds me that I have a behemoth yet a beautiful vision God has set out in front of my life to stare and gaze at! He says, “I’ve got you” (His promise) and “Go!” (with his spectacular vision)!

Who are you? As Christians, we are disciples who live under a canopy of promise with a breathtaking view/vision in front of us: Disciples trust and obey. There is no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey! And if there is an intimidating part of the Great Commission for me, it’s not the “Go” or “Make” or any areas of “all the nations” phrases. For me, it’s the “teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you…” The gospels are chalked full of Jesus’s teachings and implicit in “teaching them to obey all…” is this Commission. And this is where I’m taking our main point: “If you are not teaching others to obey, then to Jesus, you disobey.

Obedience

Obedience is hard, isn’t it? It’s hard in at least two ways:

Just because we are being obedient doesn’t mean we actually are. We can be obedient that sources itself from pride. We are obedient to please God and earn his favor, or we can be obedient to have an upper leg on other Christians for comparison sake. This is self-righteous obedience. This type of obedience sucks the life right out of you, and when you pass this type of obedience on, it sucks the life out of others too. Jesus said in Matthew 23:15,
“ Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.” (Matthew 23:15 ESV)
But it’s also hard because the right type of obedience the one that operates out of love, trust, gratefulness, submission. It is sourced in humility. Humble people aspire to true obedience. Obedience from the hands and obedience from the heart. Self-righteous people don’t obey, but Sin-saved people do! Humble people lose their agendas, their purposes, their desires, their priorities in order to prioritize others’ agendas, other’s purposes, other’s desires. They invite certain people over, they make friends with intentionality, they are invested in friendships that are totally for the sake of another. When was the last time you were in a friendship like that with no personal benefit derived from it?

We had a spiritual giant named J.I. Packer die in the last two days, and I have read some memoirs written about him, and I have been struck by his meekness and humility. (For example, he wrote book forwards and introductions to publish other’s books; he spoke at no name conferences to give them a name. He wanted to be remembered for just “being a man who pointed to where the green pastures were…”) Meekness and humility are so rare (especially in men) that they shock you with their other-centeredness.

And so enters Philippians 2:3–13. The exhortation is to consider others more significant than yourselves, and to put other’s interests above your own. And when you can’t, consider verse 5–8,

“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:6–8 ESV)

We see Jesus’ obedience was tied to humility. And then Paul notes the Philippians’ obedience when he refers to humility.

Because if you’re not humble, you will not obey. You just won’t.
So, let Jesus’ death for you humble you. Let his humility pitted against yours humble you. Let your failure to teach others all he has commanded humble you, and yet let his commission of us Christian shirkers and slackers humble you. Because out of this humility comes an obedience that is submitted to the Savior!

So let’s go obey, Jesus’ teachings all the way to the Great Commission! Let’s seek obedience that is birthed from humility, not pride. Let’s go obey rightly and teach others to obey rightly, or else we disobey.

The Call

Go find something in the gospels to obey. Because we disciple most often with our lives in front of our spouses, friends, roommates, siblings, co-workers, neighbors…
But we also disciple with our lips…go find someone to obey with. Now, it may take some time to build this type of relationship with someone so pick an “I” this week for the next 4-5 weeks with someone, and I’ll bet you will be in a discipleship relationship with them: INVITE, INVOLVE, INCLUDE, INQUIRE.

As we consider disciple-making, let us consider that it involves humility, and out of humility blossoms obedience. And when we obey, others will be trained, taught, and learn to treasure the calls of Christ.

William MacDonald, in his book True Discipleship says, “So, let us learn to lay our lives down and let go of our own interests and pick up a Great Commission obedience. Because if we are not teaching others to obey, to Jesus, we disobey.”

MatthewPhilippians

Andrew Knight