I was thinking about this week’s sermon title – Don’t Be Afraid to Obey – and I was thinking about how it applies to small groups. The last words Matthew recorded of Jesus in his gospel were this:
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28.18-20, emphasis added)
In this Great Commission Jesus instructed his disciples to go make other disciples by going to the people, baptizing them, and teaching them to obey all that He had taught them. If you look carefully, you’ll notice that Jesus didn’t just say teach them all I have commanded you. He didn’t just want his disciples to teach people to know, or to teach people to understand, or to simply inform them. He commanded them and commissioned them to teach the people to obey. Inherent in this command is the truth that their obedience would be a proof of their redemption, a sign of their transformation and spiritual rebirth.
So, here’s what that means for our groups. We need to engage people with the Bible. We need to help our group members identify how faith intersects with all areas of life. And we need to encourage them to do what Scripture teaches, and hold them accountable for applying the knowledge they acquire in group study and Sunday morning. It’s possible for people to be incredibly well informed on what the Bible says, and still never apply any of its truths to their lives. It’s possible for people to be great Bible scholars and yet never truly follow Christ.
As Bill Search says, “The point of Bible study is to allow the words to penetrate and change us. When a group becomes more intrigued with history, facts, and language than they are with becoming like Jesus” they are missing the point. Groups that have their focus on learning and neglect to emphasize transformation fall into a dangerous trap of becoming like the Pharisees. We must engage the Scriptures in our groups, but for the purpose of allowing the Word of God to move in us and draw us nearer to God. So as we seek to teach the people in our groups, let’s also do our best to hold them accountable to acting on what they learn by walking in obedience and faith.
