2nd Main Stage Session Recap: Surrendering to Obedience-Based Disciple Making

In our second main stage session, we focused on what it means to follow King Jesus in obedience. Here are the five things we noted from the 2nd main stage speaker sessions:

1.  North American’s Have a Problem with Obedience.

We value freedom as a culture, and we have theologies that make obedience optional. These two forces (and others) have created church cultures where we resist an emphasis on obedience.

2. King Jesus Calls for Obedience.

Jesus is humanity’s king (Messiah), and in Matthew 28:18–20, he calls us to make disciples who “obey all of his teachings.” It is a proper response to a King—especially King Jesus—to obey all that he teaches.

3. Obedience Is an Integral Expression of Faith.

The Bible teaches us that we are saved by faith, not works. Yet saving faith is a faithful faith in the Bible. It is empowered by the Holy Spirit and it includes trust, allegiance, and obedience.

4. Obedience Is God’s Love Language.

In John 14:23, Jesus said this: “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.”

We express not just faith by obedience, we also show our love to God by obedience.

5. Obedience Is a Path to Freedom.

Sean McDowell expressed what the freedom of obedience looks like in a blog that was quoted by David Young—click here to read.

There would be no sexually transmitted diseases. No abortions. No brokenness from divorce. Every child would have a mother and a father and experience the love and acceptance each parent uniquely offers. There would be no rape, no sex abuse, no sex trafficking, no pornography, and no need for a #MeToo campaign. There would be no sexual exploitation, no sexual abuse, no AIDS, chlamydia, herpes, HPV, or syphilis, no unwanted pregnancies, no pain from divorce, no deadbeat dads, no men who leave their wives for other women. No child would have to grow up in a home where a mom or dad abandoned them in order to do it their own way.

When we leave our own way of doing things and submit to the perfect ways of God, we’ll find true freedom!