The Mission of the Church

Matthew 28:18-20 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 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, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Opening Prayer

The Great Commission is Our Mission

How do we see the Great Commission being carried out in the NT?

Matthew 28:18-20 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 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, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Jesus is saying I have all authority and I give the Church authority to grow.

We are to do four things:

1) Go 2) Make disciples 3) Baptize 4) Teach

Now, how do we go about carrying this out?

A lot of Christians would say Evangelize.

And they would leave it at that.

But, that’s not all of it.

And, I believe that is a huge problem in the American Church today.

And, that’s without discussing whether many evangelistic methods are even biblical.

Dr. Leeman says this about modern evangelism…

“Does Jesus intend for churches to work like the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), but for the Christian life?

When the DMV gives you a driver’s license, you have the ability to drive wherever you want.

They give you the responsibility, and then you are on your own.

There are no weekly gatherings of people with driver’s licenses.

There is no need to know the names of other licensees or to care for one another.

There are no driver-license pastors or shepherds, whose work is to make sure you are growing in your understanding of motor vehicle safety.

Strangely, this is how some Christians hear Jesus’ Great Commission:

“Go, make disciples, baptize, and teach”……somehow becomes

“Make converts, give them the license of baptism, and then let them go!”

Sure, maybe people should check in on the church once in a while, like getting your license renewed every few years.

And they should keep reading their Bibles and learning. But it’s really all up to them now.”

There are a number of problems with this model that Dr. Leeman is criticizing…

Which is very prevalent today in evangelicalism.

It ignores what the apostles did after Jesus ascended.

It ignores what the great commission says about teaching.

It ignores what the great commission says about obeying.

So, I want us to look this morning and see…

What is the practical outworking of the GC that we see in the NT?

As we look at the Book of Acts we really see the gospel being told by Christians to unbelievers…

But, what we see as a result is the spread of churches.

We see the gospel being told, people believing the gospel, and churches popping up in those areas.

So, the great commission (which includes evangelism, but is much more) has the result of churches being planted…

And churches growing.

When we look at the day of pentecost in Acts 2…

We see the gospel preached to a large crowd…

And, those who believed the gospel were baptized…

Acts 2:41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

To what were the 3,000 added?

To the church...in Jerusalem.

And, what then?

What are we told those 3,000+ people do after that?

Acts 2:42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

This is evangelism in the hopes of the conversion of souls…

And following, the bringing in of the converted disciples into the ministry of the local church.

What happens next?

Acts 11:19-26 Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews. 20 But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also, preaching the Lord Jesus. 21 And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. 22 The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23 When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose, 24 for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord. 25 So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch.

For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians. (TLI)

So, persecution comes along in Jerusalem and it caused a dispersion of Christians…

And, as those Christians went they shared the gospel with those who God placed in their path…

And a large number of people believed the gospel…

They turned to the Lord and became disciples of JC…

And, a church not only formed, but another church (the only church so far) sent someone (Barnabas) to help with the church start.

Barnabas teams up with Paul and they stay for a year and train the church in Biblical doctrine.

Now, as they travel on, the gospel is being preached in cities as they travel…

And, converts have been made by the preaching of the gospel…

Now, look at what has happened during this time that we’re told in a later chapter…

Acts 14:21-23 When they had preached the gospel to that city (Derbe) and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, 22strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. 23And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

So, Paul and Barnabas now make a return trip in the same way they came…

And, their goal was to visit the converts, strengthen the churches that had been started by the preaching of the gospel…

And strengthen the disciples that were made through conversion…

Strengthen them with what? Biblical Truth. Doctrine.

And they were setting these churches up with elders (leadership) for the long-term benefit of the church…

So, that the churches could function in the way God designed them to function.

In Acts 18:1 we see Paul preaching the gospel in the city of Corinth.

We know that there was a church started by Paul in Corinth because we have two letters from Paul addressed to the church in Corinth.

Churches were planted in Galatia, Ephesus, Philippi, Colossae, Thessalonica, and other areas.

Paul not only evangelized for the purpose of gathering disciples into a local body of believers known as a church…

But, he appointed elders in the church, as was his custom, in every place & church…(custom=God’s will)

What did the apostles do with regards to the obedience of the GC?

They preached the gospel and planted churches.

Churches are at the center of God’s Great Commission plan.

Who sends out the representatives to evangelize and plant churches?

Acts 11:21-22 And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. 22The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch.

The local church.

Who are these representatives coming back to and reporting to?

Acts 15:33 And after they had spent some time, they were sent off in peace by the brothers to those who had sent them.

The local church.

Who’s making the decisions of who to send and where to go?

The local church.

Who’s helping those churches as they are starting and until they can get a structure of leadership?

The local church. (Most of NT is written to churches)

Evangelism in the NT is a coordinated effort by churches to gather more people into the Church…

And, to evangelize areas where there are not like-minded churches…

And make disciples in order to start churches in those areas.

Evangelism is not supposed to be some freelance expedition…

It’s not intended to function like the DMV.

The GC is to be carried out by the church in the hopes of the conversion of souls…

And those souls being gathered into the local church...

For the purpose of fulfilling the GC.

What about After Conversion?

After Conversion, there is still instruction for the Church within the GC.

Baptism & Discipleship

Just like the Apostle and the NT Church...

Once their converted they have that conversion affirmed by the Church...

The Church baptizes them.

The Christian commits to the Church through membership.

The Church commits to the Christian through membership.

And, the Church disciples/instructs the membership in biblical doctrine...

And through Prayer.

Because the GC is not fulfilled unless all four components are being obeyed...

Matthew 28:18-20 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 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, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

We are to do four things:

1) Go (Be willing)

2) Make disciples (Evangelize)

3) Baptize (This is the bringing into the local church)

4) Teach (This is the gathered church maturing together)

Listen, there’s no doubt that salvation is the most important...

But, biblically, it is to be followed up with church membership...

Which is the God-ordained means of discipleship for:

Sanctification

Assurance

How can one be sure of their confession of faith.

The Church is a part of the God-ordained means for that very thing.

We should not discount nor neglect God’s will for every Christian to be connected to & member of a local church...

Because the Church is the manifestation of the Bride of Christ.

Challenge

I want to challenge you to see the people in your life as people God has for you to reach…

Don’t look to the pastor or someone else to do the work of ministry…

Look to Christ to enable you.

Look to Christ to present the opportunities.

Look to Christ to give you the words to say.

Look to Christ to change their hearts.

But, in your looking to Christ…

Be the willing servant that wants to be used by the Lord for Kingdom work.

The story of the spread of the gospel is the story of local churches carrying out the GC.

And, local churches are made up of ordinary people like you and me.

And, the GC is the work that we are called out to do.

Let’s pray this for ourselves, as a church:

Lord, let us be used by you to gather disciples into local churches.

Give us a heart to seek your face about planting churches.

Help us to see that nothing is impossible with You!

Closing Prayer