GREAT COMMISSION: MT 28:20
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ONE PART DOESN’T COMPLETE THE WHOLE
There are somethings that are not complete without two part that make up the whole. For example: There is no such thing as (a one sided coin, a one person marriage, a one piece puzzle, or a one person team.) We would never think of these things being complete or even being a thing.
We should not think of Christ commission of making disciples as only having the one part that we have just studied of baptizing souls into Christ. “Making disciples” in our understanding should include the next part of what Christ says, (in verse 20.)
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
This is the second half of the sentence of Christ command and you notice that there is no break indicating a separation between the two parts of the commission. The second part comes right after the first just as it should as we live this commission out in our lives.
This is all obvious I realize and we all likely know it but I highlight because the second part (here in verse 20) is not done as intentionally or frequently as the first part. But it desperately needs to be as if the the success of what the first started depends on the second being completed.
ONE PART DOES NOT LEAD TO SUCCESS WITHOUT THE OTHER
There are so many things in life and things that God has called us to do that require more just getting started and initial commitment to succeed.
One of the best examples is marriage. Committing to someone for life is a big decision, likely the second most important decision one could make. That is why is it so important to choose wisely someone who loves Christ more than THEY LOVE you SO THAT THEY WILL LOVE YOU as Christ loves you and calls them to. But making a commitment to be married to someone for life is not more important than learning how to live as the husband or wife.
One without the other will end in failure. (as it does with many marriage in our culture. When there is commitment in the beginning but no knowledge or effort to change to be what is needed to sustain the marriage.)
When we spend more time, money and attention on the wedding ceremony than preparing for living as a husband or wife we have missed a vital part of what is going to help us be successful. (One reason I believe premarital counseling should be a prerequisite for any couple getting married.)
Becoming a follower of Christ through baptism is the beginning of our covenant with Christ. But what comes after in learning to live for Christ as His disciple is equally important. That is why it is so important the we individually embrace “teaching” those who have been baptized to “observe ALL” that Christ commands. Like with marriage, the first without the second so often ends in failure.
We cannot be surprised when many of those who are baptized but not discipled (or taught to observe all of Christ’s commands) do not continue long in the kingdom or their faith.
God calls ALL of us to make disciples and making disciples includes (baptizing them (as the believe in the gospel and respond with repentance) and “teaching them to observe ALL” that Christ has commanded.
When we read these verses we should not think disciple making is simply baptizing without what comes after it. We should not think one should go without the other but instead think of them as two parts of the whole. They go together and one without the other should seem incomplete to us.
Knowing this should cause us to be seeking and wanting to do the second part of making disciples as much bringing people to initial salvation.
Trans: so if we believe that it is our individual commission to make disciples baptizing them (after they believe the gospel truth and repent) and teach them to obey or observe all that Christ has commands…HOW?
BY TEACHING THEM ALL THAT CHRIST HAS COMMANDED AND THAT OBEYING HIM IS WHAT IT MEANS TO BE HIS DISCIPLES
Following Christ takes full commitment to ALL of His commands understanding that none of them are unimportant or optional. Paul gives us a picture of what this looks like in how He carried Christ commission to the those in Ephesus.
how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house,
for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.
So again, teaching them not only how to become a disciple but how to live as a disciple of Christ their Lord, giving Him rule over everything in their lives, everything they are and everything they will become.
AS WE TEACH WHAT Christ’s commands are and how to follow them SOMETHING THAT SHOULD COME THROUGH IN OUR WORDS AND EXAMPLE IS THAT IT HAS TO BE through our love for Christ AS THE CORE REASON.
This has always been the core of where God wants His people to live towards Him. Jesus made this very clear as well.
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”
When our heart is filled and driven by our love for Christ not only will we desire to please Him by doing His commands but they will not seem burdensome. Because a labor of love may be challenging but it is not burdensome.
For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.
trans: So one way that we teach these things is by:
TEACHING through our words as we relay God’s truth BY His Spirit. AS we do this we have the Help of Christ Spirit to help us.
TEACHING by living as Christ disciple in front of and in relationship with others
The most powerful way that you can teach others to “observe” all that Christ has commanded is by observing ALL that Christ commands yourself as you live in front of them and live in relationship with them.
Jesus is the greatest disciple maker and He taught through His words but He also taught with His actions as He lived among and with His disciples.
He taught them how to love God and love others through the way that He loved them as He shared a close relationship with them.
So who are you discipling? Who are you teaching to follow Christ by both sharing the truth of how to become a follower of Christ and/or be His disciple by obeying His commands out of love and living that out in front of them? This is your responsibility as much as it is mine.
Trans: What feeling come up when you hear that it is your responsibility to make disciples? It can be excitement, but also fear or feeling overwhelmed or impossible depending.
MAKE DISCIPLES BELIEVING THAT CHRIST IS WITH YOU!
But the next thing Jesus says should bring any apprehension to rest.
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
“And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
For some here it may be that the only thing standing in the way of you being a disciple maker is having faith in these words.
God never sends His people out to carry out His mission without first giving His power and and assuring them of His presence!
The most comforting truth in whatever situation or challenge or task we are facing is that we are not alone, but that Christ is with us.
In being Christ disciple, making disciples and everything else Christ is ALWAYS WITH US! (Surely making disciples is not to hard if we have Christ with us.)
BUT, What does that mean? How is Christ with us? He is not physically standing beside us as he was the apostles when He first said these words. No!
One picture of HOW CHRIST IS WITH US IS HOW HE WAS WITH PAUL AS HE carried out the great commission.
And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.”
But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth.
Trans: But through faith we understand that He is with us in an even greater way as well.
HE IS NOT ONLY WITH BUT HIS SPIRIT LIVES IN US!
In the first chapter of Matthew Jesus is referred to as “Immanuel” meaning God with us. Here in the last chapter we see Jesus telling us that He is always with us!
Jesus is not just watching over us as we face the challenges of disciple making HE IS LIVING WITHIN EMPOWERING US as we make disciples!
SO AS WE STEP OUT IN FAITH AND make disciples and live for Christ we are not relying on the flesh but living in AND RELYING ON the Spirit.
If we were just flesh and bones and that is all we had to rely on we would never be able to fulfill the commission. But...ROMANS 8:9 SAYS
You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
THE LAST PART VERSE 20 AGAIN, “AND BEHOLD, I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS, TO THE END OF THE AGE.”
I wonder WHY DID JESUS SAY IT THIS WAY? Why to the end of the age and not to the end of your lives?
To show the completeness of His presence as with saying “always.” BUT ALSO, He was not just talking to the apostles, but every follower from that time to the end of time.
HE WILL BE WITH AND IN HIS PEOPLE TO THE END OF TIME THROUGH HIS HOLY SPIRIT WHO IS GIVEN TO EVERY FOLLOWER AT BAPTISM.
IF GOD HAS given us the opportunity and ability through His Spirit we can let people into our lives, teach them through our words and actions how to follow Christ as they follow our examples.
Rather than simply seeing that we need to make disciples let us see ourselves as disciple makers just as Jesus! IF IT IS A PART OF WHO WE ARE IT WILL BE A PART OF HOW WE LIVE.