Simple Obedience Part One

Obedience based discipleship is fundamental to all church planting movements. Jesus told us to "teach them to obey all things I have commanded you" in the great commission. George Patterson, who may be considered the "granddad" of the church planting movement trend that has exploded in the last 20 years, wrote about this in his article in the Perspectives reader. Writing about "The Spontaneous Multiplication of Churches" he identified teaching obedience as one of 4 strategies that missionaries should employ in attempting to see a spontaneous movement. And in that category, he identified 7 New Testament basic commands. Those 7 are (1)Repent and Believe, (2) Be baptized and continue in the new life it initiates, (3) Love God and neighbor in a practical way, (4) Celebrate the Lord's Supper, (5) Pray, (6) Give, and (7) Disciple others.
Patterson is a pioneer in this kind of thinking in our day and I am in complete agreement with him. But as I was thinking recently and doing a 3 column study, I realized that it can be boiled down even further. I call it "Simple Obedience" and it can be boiled down to 3 things. (By summing it this way, I am not saying that these things are the only important things, but rather that they sort of "sum up" everything else).
Simple obedience can be summed up in the 3 phrases: Love God, Love People, Make Disciples. Obviously I am combining the "Great Commandments" and the "Great Commission". Here's a thought: Jesus said that the 2 Great Commandments are inclusive enough to hang the whole of the Law and Prophets on them. In other words, every command in the Old Testament boils down to them. And they are still incumbent on us as New Testament believers. And then after His resurrection Christ gave us the Great Commission. I wonder if we might say that the 2 Great Commandments and the Great Commission, taken together, sum up the Whole Bible!
That is enough from me today. Let's just "simply" listen to Jesus.
Matthew 22:37-40. Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."
Matthew 28:18-20. 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."

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