Jesus’s Last Command Revealed His Final Objective
The Inconceivable Last Command
I’m looking for to obey Jesus’s final command: “Make disciples of all nations . . . educating them to look at all that I’ve commanded you” (Matt. 28:19–20). Jesus’s ultimate command was to show all nations to maintain his commandments.
Really, the ultimate command was extra exact than that. He did not say, “Train all of them my commandments.” He mentioned, “Train them to look at all my commandments.” You may train a parrot all of Jesus’s commandments. However you can not train a parrot to observe them. Parrots is not going to repent, and worship Jesus, and lay up treasures in heaven, and love their enemies, and exit like sheep within the midst of wolves to herald the dominion of God. Instructing folks to parrot all that Jesus commanded is straightforward.
Instructing them to observe all that Jesus commanded is unimaginable. Jesus used that phrase. When a wealthy man couldn’t convey himself to let go of his riches and comply with him, Jesus mentioned, “It’s simpler for a camel to undergo the attention of a needle than for a wealthy particular person to enter the dominion of God. . . . With man it’s unimaginable, however not with God. For all issues are attainable with God” (Mark 10:25–27).
Due to this fact, the one who units himself to obey Jesus’s ultimate fee—for instance, to show a wealthy man to observe the command to “surrender all that he has” (Luke 14:33)—makes an attempt the unimaginable. However Jesus mentioned it was *not unimaginable. “All issues are attainable with God.” So the best problem in scripting this e-book has been to discern God’s manner of constructing unimaginable obedience attainable.
On this repackaged version of What Jesus Calls for from the World, John Piper walks by way of Jesus’s instructions, explaining their context and which means to assist readers perceive Christ’s imaginative and prescient of the Christian life and what he nonetheless requires in the present day.
Jesus mentioned that this unimaginable purpose occurs by way of educating. “Make disciples . . . educating them to look at all that I’ve commanded you.” There may be, in fact, extra to it than that—just like the atoning demise of Jesus (Mark 10:45) and the work of the Holy Spirit (John 14:26) and prayer (Matt. 6:13). However ultimately Jesus targeted on educating. I take this to imply that God has chosen to do the unimaginable by way of the educating of all that Jesus commanded. That’s what I pray this [message] will show to be—a type of educating that God will use to result in unimaginable obedience to Jesus. And all of that for the glory of God.
Instructing and Obedience That Glorify God
The explanation I emphasize the glory of God is as a result of Jesus did. He mentioned, “Let your gentle shine earlier than others, in order that they could see your good works and give glory to your Father who’s in heaven” (Matt. 5:16). The final word purpose of Jesus’s commandments isn’t that we observe them by doing good works. The final purpose is that God be glorified. The obedience of excellent works is penultimate. However what’s final is that in our obedient lives God be displayed as probably the most stunning actuality on the earth. That’s Jesus’s final purpose and mine. This helps me reply the query: What sort of educating of Jesus’s commandments may God be prepared to make use of to result in such unimaginable obedience? If the intention of obedience is in the end the glory of God, then it’s possible that the educating God will use is the type that retains his glory on the middle.
The final word purpose of Jesus’s commandments isn’t that we observe them by doing good works. The final word purpose is that God be glorified.
Maintaining the Commandments Linked to Jesus and His Work
How then can we maintain the fantastic thing about God in correct focus in relation to Jesus’s commandments? By treating the which means and motivation of the instructions in reference to the particular person and work of Jesus. The particular person and work of Jesus are the first means by which God has glorified himself on the earth. No revelation of God’s glory is bigger. Jesus mentioned, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). Due to this fact, his particular person is the manifestation of the glory of God. To see him as he actually is means seeing the infinitely useful great thing about God. Jesus additionally mentioned, as he was praying, “I glorified you on earth, having achieved the work that you simply gave me to do” (John 17:4). Due to this fact, his work is a manifestation of the glory of God. After we see what he achieved and the way he did it, we see the majesty and greatness of God.
Due to this fact, my intention has been to probe the which means and the motivation of Jesus’s instructions in connection together with his particular person and work. What emerges repeatedly is that what he’s commanding is a life that shows the value of his particular person and the impact of his work. His intention is that we not disconnect what he instructions from who he’s and what he has carried out.
We shouldn’t be stunned, then, that Jesus’s ultimate, climactic command is that we train all nations to look at all that he commanded. This results in his final objective. When obedience to his instructions occurs, what the world sees is the fruit of Jesus’s wonderful work and the value of his wonderful particular person. In different phrases, they see the glory of God. That is why Jesus got here and why his mission stays till he comes.
This text is customized from All That Jesus Commanded: The Christian Life Based on the Gospels by John Piper.
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