Commanded

This year, the church at the Ministry Center has been going through the Gospel of Matthew. From the call of the disciples to the Great Commission, Jesus gives His disciples numerous commands. Over the years of following Jesus, the disciples learn more and more about the nature of their Rabbi. They learn Jesus was a man with authority. In Matthew 7:29, they see that Jesus taught with authority, unlike the teachers of the law. In Matthew 8, the Centurion recognizes Jesus’s authority to heal his servant just by speaking. Later in Matthew 8:23-27, Jesus displays His authority over creation by calming a storm. Again, in Matthew 9:6, Jesus claims His authority when He says, “The Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” Jesus is clearly one with authority.

The commands of Christ are different than the commands of this world. Jesus’s commands invite us into God’s Kingdom purposes, and they cause change in us when we are obedient. This is clearly on display in the most recent story we went through at the Ministry Center. In Matthew 14:22-33, we see Jesus’s authority over nature again as He walks upon the waters of the Sea of Galilee. His disciples are struck by fear from the sight of their teacher walking on the water. In this moment of fear, Jesus’s actions display His authority and the purposes of His commands. Peter calls out to Jesus, asking Him to command him to walk on the water. Jesus responds with the command “come.” It is clear in this instant that the commands of our Lord enable us to do more than we could on our own. The theologian Fredrick Bruner puts it this way, “The commands of Jesus are enabling grace rather than only forbidding law.”

The commands of Christ call us to conform ourselves to the likeness of our Master. The strength of Christ is on display in us through our obedience to His commands. By the grace of Christ, we are commanded to share in and be transformed by His authority.