AS YOU GO,
MAKE DISCIPLES!
The longer I serve as a pastor, the
more I become aware of how diverse churches can be. When I first learned the Great Commission, as this passage is
known, I was a kid in a church that saw its primary reason for existence to win
people to Christ, preaching the gospel and calling for public response every
time the church doors were open. Other
churches I visited confused me when they emphasized other things—like teaching
the Bible and calling on the people to grow to be more like Jesus in all that
they did. Still other churches seemed
to expend all their resources on international missions, others on local social
endeavors to improve the quality of life of the community.
When Christ
issued these last words to His disciples before leaving them to return to His
throne in heaven, He gave His priority to the task of making disciples. The question churches have been seeking to
answer is, what exactly does that mean?
What does a church look like which does what Jesus said?
All churches, of
course, should arrive at their conclusions about their focus in ministry based
on a common foundation, a base of mutually agreed upon authority by which they
develop their ministry purpose and direction.
Sometimes the focus arises more out of tradition, sometimes out of
speculations and theories about what makes an effective organization, sometimes
out of biblical conviction. Out bias
shows here in that we have accepted the Scriptures as our basis for authority,
an authority accepted and affirmed by Jesus Christ.
But even among
those who build their ministry focus and purpose on the Scriptures, there is an
amazing diversity among biblically based churches. Some are worship focused, some teaching focused, some focused on
social involvement, some focused on meeting “felt-needs” in people’s lives, and
others focused and engaged almost entirely on what is usually called soul
winning.
The good news is
that there is plenty of room for most of those things in the ministry of a
local church—but if we want to develop a biblical priority and purpose for
ministry, we really need to allow the Bible to instruct us about what must be
included.
As Jesus
prepares His disciples for His departure, He gives them these final words, a
commission to send them out with His assignment on their hearts.
THESIS: The primary calling
of the body of Christ is to make disciples who will grow to maturity in Him and
become wholly devoted followers of the Savior.
I. MAKING
DOUBTERS INTO BELIEVERS
--Even after hearing the reports of the resurrection, the
eyewitness accounts of trusted friends, some after seeing Him themselves but
not believing their eyes or trusting what they saw still struggled with doubt.
Matthew 28:16-17
16But the eleven disciples
proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. 17 And when they saw Him, they worshiped
Him; but some were doubtful.
--Why they were not yet certain that this was the
risen Jesus, we are not told, but we can understand their reluctance, their
doubts, since they were facing something beyond human experience, something
which defied logic and every instinct they trusted to reach sound conclusions.
--Whatever doubts they may have had when they showed up at
the mountain, the power and authority of Jesus’ presence overcame them.
--Matthew does not tell of the accounts recorded in the
other gospels but moves right to the charge Jesus gave to His disciples as they
were transformed from doubters to believers.
--In each of the four gospels, that charge focuses on
different aspects of the charge, or as it has come to be known, the Great
Commission.
II. MAKING
DISCIPLES OF THE NATIONS
A.
FOUNDATIONS OF THE COMMISSION
--In each of the four Gospels and in Acts, we find that
Christ lays out this Great Commission on a solid foundation that can easily
withstand the test of time.
--The Commission still stands as each one of us has been
commanded by the Lord of lords Himself to obey this order to make
disciples.
1. God-Ordained
Authority
--For those who are still struggling with doubts at this
time, Jesus makes it known that His authority is not His own, but has been
given to Him…an authority to rule in heaven and on earth.
Matthew 28:18 18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them,
saying, “All authority has been given
to Me in heaven and on earth.
--The throne He would occupy shortly at the right hand of
His Father was reserved for One who had “all authority” over all things,
heavenly and earthly.
--For the disciples to take this Commission to heart, they
had to have complete confidence that they were operating with all the authority
they would ever need to do their work.
2.
International Scope
--Up to now, the disciples had not really understood that
the message of hope and forgiveness offered through Jesus Christ was not
intended to be limited just to the Jewish people.
--Jesus makes it clear in Matthew—“of all the nations”
—as well as in Mark—“”into
all the world…to every creature”
—as well as in Luke—“to
all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem”
—as well as in Acts—“in
Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the
earth”
--But this is completely consistent with what God had been
revealing all along about His purposes for redeeming and forgiving those far
beyond the scope of the Jewish people.
Genesis 12:2-3 2And
I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great;
And so you shall be a blessing; 3And I will bless those who bless you, And the
one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
--The plan of God and the perfect provision of Christ were
always intended to include the nations:
Isaiah 49:6
6
He says, “It is too small a thing that
You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the
preserved ones of Israel; I will also make You a light of the nations So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
This past week I met a man who had spent many years of his adult life
taking the message of the gospel to the people of Indonesia, not because of
powerful sermon on the Great Commission, or an emotional appeal from a missions
speaker—but through the simple power of Isaiah
49:6 making it clear to him and his wife that we are responsible for making
disciples of all nations.
3. Biblical
Mandate
--Jesus anchored this charge to His disciples in the
authority of His own name—certainly enough reason for us to obey—but He also
made sure that everyone saw that the Scriptures had laid this foundation from
the beginning.
Luke 24:45-47 45Then
He opened their minds to understand the
Scriptures, 46and He said to them, “Thus it is written,
that the Christ should suffer and rise again from the dead the third day; 47
and that repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to
all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
--What an experience that must have been for the disciples
to hear in Jesus’ own words how the entire Bible bore witness to the message of
salvation He was now sending them out to proclaim!
4. Divine
Assignment
--Jesus had been sent by the Father from heaven as a
delegation of One to offer forgiveness to a sinful human race.
John 3:16 16
“For God so loved the world, that He
gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish,
but have eternal life.
--Now on the basis of that same delegated authority, Jesus
tells His disciples that just as He was sent, now He is sending them,
delegating the responsibility for telling others how to find forgiveness and
salvation in His name.
John 20:21 21Jesus
therefore said to them again, “Peace be
with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”
--Before we try to figure out the loop holes here and see
how we can get out of having to do this, make sure that we understand that this
assignment has come from the throne room of heaven, authorized by God Himself,
spoken without conditions to those who would align themselves with Him and be
His disciples!
5. Spiritual
Power
--The normal response, of course, is that we are hardly
capable of doing such a thing—Jesus was sent by His Father to preach the good
news of salvation but He had all the power and authority of His Deity to rely
on.
--Well, just so you know—so do we!
--We are not to assume responsibility for this Commission
until we have been empowered to do so, made ready by the power of God in the
personal presence of the Holy Spirit who will not only be with us, but will be
in us!
John 14:16 16“And
I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with
you forever; 17
that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not
behold Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you, and will
be in you.
Luke 24:49 49“And behold, I am sending forth
the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you
are clothed with power from on high.”
Acts 1:8 8but
you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall
be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to
the remotest part of the earth.”
--In these three promises Jesus made to His disciples, it is
clear that He does not expect us to operate with our own skills, our own
courage, our own power to succeed—He wants us to rely on the indwelling and
abiding power of the Holy Spirit to accomplish what only the Lord God Himself
can do!
B. FOCUS OF
THE COMMISSION
--Make disciples—
--A more literal translation of Matthew 28:19 might read…
‘’As you are
going, make disciples…”
--The imperative is not “go, baptize, or teach” but the
imperative is “make disciples.”
Note: In the Greek language, there is a difference between the present
imperative and the aorist imperative which affects the way we are to understand
this command.
Present Imperative—continuation or
repetition of an action already begun
Aorist Imperative—an action to be
undertaken at once which has not yet begun
Matthew 16:24 Let
him take up his cross (aorist, “at once”) and follow Me (present, “already begun but now continually”)
--Some have tried to make that a “one-dimensional” concept
that usually focuses on just one aspect of discipleship—evangelism, or taking
the message of Christ to everyone everywhere and seeking to persuade them to
put their trust in Him for salvation from sin.
--Unfortunately, a couple of problems usually arise as
churches and individuals tend to move to extreme
positions, one toward just evangelism
and no real effort to grow new believers to maturity in Christ, and the other
toward a focus just on growing believers
toward maturity without much effort to reach people who are not yet believers.
--When Christ speaks of making disciples, He is referring to
more than just getting people to make decisions.
--When Christ speaks of making disciples, He is referring to
an entire process by which those who know nothing of Christ are made
wholly
devoted followers of Christ.
Several years ago, I heard the pastor of a very
large church with a primary emphasis—almost an exclusive emphasis—on evangelism
speak in a derogatory manner about the trend among many churches to incorporate
discipleship into their overall ministry emphasis. He was incensed that they would allow anything to take away from
what was from his perspective the only legitimate reason for a church to
exist—to win the lost.
As he preached away with great
passion, it became clear that he wanted churches to drop everything but the
evangelistic mission of the church. His
fervor got away from him, however, when he called our attention to the text we
have before us today. He pointed to
Matthew 28:19-20, often called the Great Commission, and said,
“Discipleship! Discipleship! All I hear from some churches to day is
discipleship! We need to get back to
the work of soul winning. Tell me…what
does the Great Commission say?”
In a rather awkward moment, I don’t
believe he even realized it, but as people looked at the text, they read the
words—MAKE DISCIPLES! Which sound to me
an awful lot like discipleship!
Was the pastor wrong about the need
to emphasize evangelism? Not at
all—that indeed is a significant part of the ministry of discipleship—as is
growing up mature worshipers and helping believers grow us to maturity in
Christ just as they have been born to new life in Christ!
--What is involved in making disciples, from Christ’s
perspective? The passage tells us at
least a few of those things which we need to do to obey this Great Commission.
1. Going
--As disciples of Jesus Christ, we are not called to isolate
ourselves from the world and retreat from association with unbelievers.
--It is expected that we will continue to go about our
world, and that as we go, we will encounter those who are not disciples of
Jesus Christ and it will be our charge to introduce Him to them and invite them
to follow Him.
We have to be careful or we will effectively
withdraw into a closed world where no one but Christians are allowed. The Great Commission makes it impossible to
justify any lifestyle that ignores the nations, whether they are at the
farthest ends of the earth, or just next door.
“As you go” along your way, plan your life in such a way that you are
looking for the divine appointments with those who do not know Christ, that you
are willing to go beyond your comfortable surroundings and enter the foreign
realm of those who have not trusted Christ.
Ask the Lord to show you people along
your way who need to become His disciples.
Ask Him to give you fresh, new ideas
about how to find those off your normal path who need for you to come find
them.
Ask Him for courage and creativity to
make disciples of all nations!
If you are not presently engaged in
making disciples, what has to be different about how you are “going about your life” to obey the
command of Christ?
2. Preaching
(Luke 24:47)
--Luke tells us that Jesus reminded the disciples that the
Scriptures had foretold all that was happening and all that was to take place
still.
--The exhortation Christ gave His disciples as a significant
starting point for making disciples was to preach the gospel!
Luke 24:47 47and
that repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed (khrucqhnai) in His name to all
the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
--The word for proclaim here is kerusso (khru/ssw), which meant “to proclaim after the manner of a herald;
always with a suggestion of formality, gravity, and an authority which must be
listened to and obeyed” (Thayer).
--This is not to say that only formal preachers of the Word
are intended to obey this exhortation, but that whenever we step up to speak
for Jesus and call upon people to repent of their sins, follow and believe in
Him, we do so with an authority that
comes from Christ, not ourselves!
3. Baptizing
--Jesus tells us that making disciples includes not only
going and preaching, but also baptizing and teaching.
--Many mistakes have been made in trying to assign either
too little or too much importance to the place of baptism in the
disciple-making process.
The Error of
Baptismal Regeneration—Some have
taught and practiced baptism as a means of salvation, that you must actually be
physically baptized to be saved, or that when you are physically baptized you
are saved.
--Of course, neither are true since our salvation is by
grace alone through faith in the completed work of Christ for us.
The Error of
Neglect—Others have gone to
the opposite extreme and decided that since baptism is not essential for
salvation, they will simply ignore it and do nothing about it.
· Making disciples includes a commitment on the part of the
disciple-makers to also baptize those who follow Christ.
· It then involves a command to those who become disciples to
be baptized.
Acts 2:38
38And Peter said to
them, “Repent, and let each of you be
baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you
shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
--Just as the proclamation includes a call for repentance,
the proclamation includes an appeal for those who would become disciples to
also be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.
--Many folks who have professed their faith in Christ as
Savior and Lord have resisted baptism for any number of reasons, but for all
the reasons given, the truth remains that as disciple-makers we are responsibility
to baptize those who are “made disciples” and to those who are made disciples,
the responsibility for obedience includes following the command to be baptized
once you have believed and repented and trusted in Christ.
4. Teaching
--Those who become disciples must then be taught what it
means to walk in obedience to Christ, to “do all the things He commanded” as
they enter into a life-long walk with the Lord.
--What kind of disciples would we be if we neglected the
teaching and instruction of our newborn disciples?
--Too many churches have neglected this critical aspect of
growing up new believers so that they become mature disciples.
--They have become content just to see people “make
decisions” to trust Christ but do not seem interested in the long-term process
of seeing those same people “made into disciples” who grow in the fullness of
Christ!
--May God give us a passion for both!
In this Great Commission, Jesus speaks in very
comprehensive ways as He outlines His charge to those of us who choose to
follow Him. He uses the word “all” four
times in three verses suggesting that this plan is sufficient to accomplish all
that he desires to see in His people.
· All authority
· All the
nations
· All the days
· All the things
I commanded
Therefore, our obedience must be comprehensive, leaving nothing out of
all that He has set before us. We
cannot be satisfied to obey in part when He intends for us to follow Him
wholly.
What will our
response be to this final charge of our Savior?
· Will you get involved in going where unbelievers are?
· Will you obey Christ and be baptized?
· Will you follow through and be taught, or teach others?
· Will you pray for and get a burden for all the nations?
· Will you submit to the will of One who has all authority?
Christ commands
us to do some things here that we cannot ignore without suffering the
consequences of experiencing less than what He has planned for those who follow
Him.
As we go as a church, and as individual members of the body of Christ, we will commit ourselves to make disciples…and be disciples…who love Christ and long for Him with all our hearts so that we desire nothing in heaven or on earth more than Him and His glory!
April
27, 2003
Providence
Baptist Church
© David Horner 2003
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