The End of Discipleship (2)

Matthew 28:18-20

Review:

Matthew 4:19 HCSB

“Follow Me,” He told them, “and I will make you fish for people!”

Luke 6:40 HCSB

A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.

John 15:7–8 HCSB

If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this: that you produce much fruit and prove to be My disciples.

Romans 8:29–30 HCSB

For those He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers. And those He predestined, He also called; and those He called, He also justified; and those He justified, He also glorified.

1 Peter 1:13–14 HCSB

Therefore, with your minds ready for action, be serious and set your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires of your former ignorance.

The call of Jesus is ‘Follow Me.’ He alone has the power to transform us into what He described as ‘fishers of men.’ The passages I just read for us are all expressions of the same result - a transformation from what we were before Christ to what He makes us to be as He lives in and through us.

The Apostle Paul shared an observation in his 2nd letter to the believers in Corinth that may help us think more clearly about what it means to be conformed to the image of Jesus, to be transformed into ‘fishers of men.’

2 Corinthians 4:6–7 HCSB

For God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of God’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ. Now we have this treasure in clay jars, so that this extraordinary power may be from God and not from us.

There is a clear distinction between the ‘treasure’ - the knowledge of God’s glory in the face/presence of Jesus’ - and the vessel - clay jars, which in verses following he describes as being afflicted, perplexed, persecuted, and struck down.

Dallas Willard, in comments on this passage reminds us

The weakness of the vessel, Paul’s physical reality, was accepted and recognized by him as the occasion for the triumph of the treasure…Our various groups (i.e.denominations…churches…) become over time nearly 100 percent vessel. That is, what they seem to regard as essential … has to do with human…contingencies that have attached themselves to individuals brought up in a certain way…what kind of clothes should people wear…should they stand when they sing…what should they sing…

Should there be a prayer ministry..should it be part of the service, after the service, or at a different service? Should we allow (permit) miracles to happen in our services…How should the Lord’s Supper be done…

Should we use a prayer book, and if so should it be the old one or a new one? … What about those people who use incense…?

Dallas Willard, Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ (Colorado Springs, CO.: Nav Press, 2002), 236-237.

Now let’s listen -again - to the assignment Jesus gives to those who are following Him, those whom He is transforming into that which they are not:

Matthew 28:18–20 HCSB

Then Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 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 observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

A Compelling Command

“All authority...”

Throughout the time Jesus spent with His followers He has demonstrated His authority - over demons, over illness, and over nature.

Mark reminds us that as Jesus taught, He did so as One with ‘authority’ (Mark 1:27-28).

Now, as the believers who had been following Jesus are gathered here - at His command (Matt 28:10), to meet with Him for a final time. As He prepares to ascend to the Father He reminds them of His absolute and total authority.

He is making clear that the limitations that applied throughout the incarnation no longer apply to him. He has supreme authority throughout the universe.

Leon Morris, The Gospel according to Matthew, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press, 1992), 745–746.

Why is this important?

Let’s be as clear as possible:

Our assignment comes from the heart of God, given through the words of Jesus, and empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Will we obey or will we not?

Most of us experience some momentary shock of anxiety whenever a police vehicle is spotted behind us. We recognize ‘authority.’ Most of us have received property tax notices, which remind us of local and state authority.

Yet, as believers we often excel at reasons we can’t obey this command.

Make disciples...

This is not the first time Jesus told His followers to ‘go.’

Matthew 10:1 (HCSB)

Summoning His 12 disciples, He gave them authority over unclean spirits, to drive them out and to heal every disease and sickness.

Matthew 10:6–7 (HCSB)

Instead, go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

As you go, announce this: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’

Wandering from place to place, Jesus the Son of Man is an example for the wandering apostles, who as travelling preachers commissioned by Him carry the message first to the lost sheep of Israel.... But it is the Risen Lord who first sends out with power.... Mary Magdalene goes with the message of the resurrection to the disciples....The disciples then go with the preaching of judgment and salvation to the whole world,.... Philip receives a command to travel a lonely road,... Ananias is to go to the persecutor,... Peter is ordered to visit the Gentile house... Acts, supplemented by the Pauline Epistles, depicts Paul especially as the … wandering preacher … whose appeal to Caesar finally brings him to the capital....

Friedrich Hauck and Seigfried Schulz, “Πορεύομαι, Εἰσπορεύομαι, Ἐκπορεύομαι,” in Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, ed. Gerhard Kittel, Geoffrey W. Bromiley, and Gerhard Friedrich (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1964–), 574–575.

The primary verb in vs 19-20 is not ‘go’ but ‘make disciples.’

A ‘disciple’ is one who follows a particular teacher, one who attaches him or herself to a particular teacher and the way of life taught by that teacher.

There are three verbs attached to this command to make disciples.

a). go - which we know has characterized much of Jesus’ ministry

b). baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The NT record is clear - when a person professes faith in Jesus, believing in their heart that Jesus is Lord, confessing Him with their mouth the next step is baptism by immersion.

c). teaching them to observe...

When people believe they need to be ‘taught.’ In the book of Acts - the greatest text on church growth - ever written, we see how as the good news is presented and people respond, teaching naturally occurs.

…of all nations...

Here is where ‘going’ and ‘disciple-making’ often collide. This past week a missionary to Asia illustrated the challenge.

A. PROBLEM:

In the midst of the current crises - economic, political, climate, and so on - the most significant problem in our world is that people are lost, living apart from Jesus Christ.

According to our own IMB, every day over 157,000 people die without having had an opportunity to hear about Jesus. These aren’t people who have heard and rejected, these are among people groups who have never heard.

B. SOLUTION:

The good news. Carl Henry, a significant theologian of the mid 20th century once noted that the gospel is only good news if it arrives in time! For 150,000 plus today, it is too late.

If the solution is the good news and there are thousands of people who have never heard, then the answer as George M shared at the NWBC is simple: the gospel gets to the lost through the physical presence of Jesus in the lives of a missionary, regardless of the cost.

I am with you always...

As Jesus commissioned His followers to make disciples, He promised His presence. Nothing is more significant and nothing is more important than His presence.

It is the presence of Jesus in and through us that bridges the gap between the world’s biggest problem and the only available solution.

Now What?

Since the world’s biggest problem is lostness, and God’s solution is the proclamation of the gospel, you might wonder to whom are we called to ‘go and make disciples?’

About midway through Jesus’ three years with His followers He gave them instructions to ‘go’ - (Matt 10).

Luke’s account of this event shares words of Jesus we would be wise to consider this morning:

Luke 10:2 HCSB

He told them: “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.

‘Pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest...

Will you join me is praying according to the following pattern:

Pray that you and I will be those who follow Jesus wherever He leads regardless of the cost.

The greatest missionary force in all the world is sitting in churches all across the world Sunday after Sunday.

Dallas Willard shares a true story:

A lady came to a pastor who had been emphasizing discipleship and said, ‘I just want to be a Christian. I don’t want to be a disciple. I like my life the way it is. I believe that Jesus died for my sins, and I will be with Him when I die. Why do I have to be a disciple?

Willard, Renovation of the Heart, 245.

2. Pray that you and I will grow in our willingness to allow the love of God as evident in Jesus who indwells us by the Holy Spirit to do as Jesus Himself promised

2 Corinthians 13:13 HCSB

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.

3. Pray that you and I will be so transformed by following Jesus so that the works He did and the works He continues to do will the natural result of being His follower.

John 14:12 HCSB

“I assure you: The one who believes in Me will also do the works that I do. And he will do even greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.