Matthew 28:18-20
Introduction
This is the
final message in our series on the Great Commission. The Great Commission is not an option; it is
a command given by Jesus to his disciples.
In the beginning, it was to the original disciples, but the command was
not just to the twelve. The Great
Commission is for everyone who calls themselves “disciples”—anyone who has
decided to follow Jesus. If you have
decided to follow Jesus, you are a disciple and this Great Commission is for
you.
Jesus said,
“I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore…”
In other words, we had better pay attention and heed his command because
it has the authority of the Son of God, the Lord of all Heaven and Earth, behind
it. The Great Commission is a command
that transcends all other missions we have in life. It is the Christian’s ultimate objective. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism,
said it this way: “You have one business on earth—to save souls.”
So let’s look at the Great
Commission as it was passed on to us in the Gospel of Matthew 28:18-20.
Matthew 28:18-20
18 Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in
heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the
nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all
the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even
to the end of the age.”
Review
Christ’s followers are to spread out
into the whole world and live the Great Commission wherever we are. We go to our homes, our neighborhoods, our
schools, our work, and even to faraway places to spread the Good News about
Christ wherever we are, every way we can, in whatever we do. A disciple is someone who makes Jesus the
first priority of their life—even leaving everything else behind if
necessary—learning Jesus’ ways and living them every day as they seek to make
new disciples. Today, we will consider
how Jesus said we are to make disciples.
He said, baptize them and teach them all of his commands.
Baptize
Baptism is the initiation rite for
new disciples. It is the beginning. Jesus welcomes anyone to be his disciple, but
anyone who wants to be his disciple must make a conscious decision to follow him. They must recognize that Jesus is the Son of
God, that he has the power to forgive their sins and save them. They must choose to trust Jesus to save them,
accept him as their Lord, and become his disciple.
Churches have a surprising number of
people in them who have never made this decision. Jesus has always had a lot of people
gathering around him who were curious, attracted by his ideas, or who admired
the way he lived (maybe that describes you).
Crowds of people followed Jesus around the countryside during his
earthly ministry, but he had only 12 disciples in the beginning who made a
conscious decision to be completely committed to Christ.
I want as many people as possible to
come hear the Good News about Jesus.
Everyone is welcome to come and listen.
But just because a person comes to church doesn’t mean they are a
disciple (AKA a Christian). Going to
church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes
you a car! A person starts their life as
a disciple when they decide to put Jesus first.
And the usual way for us to acknowledge that decision is baptism. Through baptism, we recognize a person is
adopted into the family of God and God grants grace to help that person to live
and grow as a child of God.
Some might say, “I don’t ever recall
making a decision. I know that Jesus is
my Lord today. I know he is first in my
life and that I would do anything for him, but I don’t remember when I first
made a decision. I grew up in the church
and sort of came to it gradually.” That
may be true and you might not ever remember the moment you made a decision, but
you obviously have decided. There’s
nothing wrong with that. The key here is
that you have decided to be Jesus’ disciple (remembering the moment is not that
important). Unfortunately, there are
many in the church who have not decided. They may even think they are Christians
because they go to church, but they aren’t because they have not decided to
leave everything else and follow Jesus.
Some might say, “Well I was baptized as a
baby and I don’t even remember it. Am I
still a Christian?” We baptize babies as
a decision of the parents to raise a child from the very beginning of their
life as Christians with the hopes that
one day they will make their own decision to follow Jesus. It is a chance for parents to seek God’s
grace for themselves and the child that they will do everything possible to
make a true disciple of their child. It
is the act of parents who are faithful disciples, but the child must eventually
decide for themselves. The baptism is
not complete until a child grows up and decides for themselves to be a
Christian (most often around the age of 12 when a child in confirmed in the
confirmation ceremony).
If we are going to make disciples, we need to
invite people to make a decision to follow Jesus. Now that doesn’t mean you have to walk up to
everyone you meet and immediately bombard them with some evangelistic sales
pitch. Sometimes you have to be
patient. Sometimes you have to get to
know people and build a real relationship with them. Sometimes you have to pray for people for a
while so that God will give you the opportunity to make a disciple. But at some point if we’re going to make
disciples, we have to challenge people to choose who will be their Lord.
I would like to challenge all of you today to
decide who is your Lord. Have you ever
decided? (I don’t mean do you remember
the day you decided, but do you know today who is your Lord? In other words, do you put Jesus first in
your life—above your work, your family, your ambitions, your money, etc.?) If you have never decided who is your Lord,
I implore you to decided today. Just
because you've been coming to church for a while, doesn’t mean you are a
Christian. Choose today if Jesus will be
the Lord of your life.
The decision to be a disciple of
Jesus is the beginning, but it doesn’t stop there. Next, we must teach people all of Jesus’
commands. Gavin will graduate from high
school this year. Over the last year,
Gavin has been considering which college he would like to go to after high
school. He finally decided on studying
computer network engineering at Georgia Tech.
Now suppose Gavin gets accepted into
Georgia Tech’s computer networks engineering program. Will that automatically make him a computer
network engineer? Of course not. In order to become an engineer, Gavin will
have to study for at least 4 years and pass all his courses and earn his
degree.
A person who decides to be a
Christian has made a wise choice, but it is only the beginning. Now they must learn Jesus’ teachings. This is what the disciples did. As they followed Jesus, he taught them his
ways—how to pray and fast, how to live, things to avoid, how to minister, how
to love people, etc. He spent three
years coaching them. And it was more
than book knowledge or just listening to a sermon. It was
“on-the-job” training. In other
words, he gave them opportunities to actually minister—to heal the sick, to
preach and teach, to show mercy to the needy.
This aspect of discipleship is so important.
Think about it: how do you teach a child how to throw and catch a
football? You could explain it to
them—describe all the elements of proper catching and throwing—and you probably
will, but that’s not enough. They have
to practice; they actually have to spend time throwing and catching to
learn. The same is true of Christian
disciples. It’s not enough to
come to church and listen to a sermon. We actually
have to practice our faith. We have to
pray. We have to practice
self-sacrifice. We have to love
others. We have to serve. We have to trust God to help us do things
that are beyond our ability. We have to
be a witness. We have to make disciples.
Discipleship is an ongoing,
contextual education experience. We
learn by doing. And just because you’ve
been a Christian for 30, 40, or 50 years, doesn’t mean you’re done. You still have more to learn. The Apostle John outlived all the other
original 12 Disciples. He lived to see
all the other’s martyred for their faith.
John is the only one who died of old age. Yet John never retired from being a disciple;
he never said, “I have finally learned it all.”
So even if you are a Christian who is 70, 80, or even 90 years old, you
are still a disciple who is learning while doing the work of Christ.
Jesus concludes the Great Commission
with a promise. He said, “I am with you always, even to the end of the
age.” As we decide whether or not to be
Christ’s disciple, as we encourage others to be disciples, as we practice our faith,
as we teach others Jesus’ commands, Jesus
is with us. Isn’t it good to know
Jesus is with us?
As we close, I
invite you to:
· Spend a moment in prayer and identify
someone you could mentor for the next 2 or 3 years the way Jesus mentored the
disciples—teaching them, encouraging them, coaching them in the faith, giving
them opportunities to serve.
· And if you’ve never made a choice to
follow Jesus, I invite you to make a decision today. Will you go where Jesus asks you to go? Will you love who Jesus asks you to
love? Will you follow him?