January 20, 2013, Make Disciples!

Scripture: Matthew 28: 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.” - NLT

- So far this year, we can sum up the sermons of January 6 and 13th with two simple commands: "Stay Salty!" and "Shine!"

- And we have these two directions straight from an eyewitness to Jesus' teaching, Matthew.

- This morning we can sum up today's sermon with another simple command from the eyewitness Matthew: "Make Disciples!"

- We understand that it is the job of the church to make disciples and we know that in order to make disciples that we need to do evangelism.

- But let me begin this morning with a very basic question: What is evangelism?

- Well, I believe that very short, straightforward question has a straightforward answer.

- Evangelism is an invitation to become a student, obeying and passing on Jesus' teachings.

- I know this definition is simple, but experience teaches us that the most profound truths of life are often very simple, while sometimes also difficult, requiring endurance and perseverance to be accomplished.

- How do we know this definition is correct?

- Well, very simply, we know this definition is correct from reading the Great Commission.

- 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.” - NLT

- Does anyone know what the key command is in this passage?

- I'll give you a hint. It's not "go" because the Greek actually has the feeling of "as you are going." 

- As you're going about your daily life, as you're going about your business, as you're going down the road, that's the general feeling of "go."
- So if the command isn't "go," then what is it?

- The key command is this: make disciples. Make disciples is the one word in the Greek, which presents the main idea of the passage as a command.

- So, Matthew is telling his readers, as an eyewitness, that Jesus commanded his disciples to make disciples.

- Making disciples, as Matthew understood it, was the bottom line for Jesus.

- Matthew put this at the very end of his gospel so that his readers would get it.

- His readers would immediately see that this is what Jesus expects of his church.

- Making disciples is to be the top priority for the church, as well as individual Christians.

- Now, what is a disciple?

- A disciple is someone who has accepted the invitation of Jesus to become a learner or student under him.

- The mission of the church is not to create converts, but to make disciples.

- Disciples are students of Jesus who learn to say and do the kinds of things he would have us say and do.

- Isn't that what the great commission says? "Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you."

- Disciple-making involves two key ingredients: "baptism in the threefold name" and "instruction in the practice of all [Jesus] commanded" (MSG)

- The qualities of a disciple of Jesus are made very plain in the Great Commission.

- The first quality is obedience.

- A disciple receives baptism as an act of faithful obedience while learning to obey everything Jesus commanded.

- The second quality of a disciple is becoming steeped in the person of God, who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. (We'll look deeper into baptism in the threefold name next week.)

- The third quality of a disciple is interacting with God and one another in student-teacher relationships.

- We are learning from our Lord and Teacher to become teachers and equippers of new disciples ourselves.

- The fact that we teach because we are called to teach implies that we must all see ourselves as learners or students of Jesus on this journey of becoming like him.

- What is it that we are to teach?

- We are to teach the wonderful message that in the person of Messiah Jesus, crucified, buried and risen, God has come near and his kingdom is available to all by faith in Jesus. That is, the gospel, the good news, the evangel.

- It is this good news, which is the basis for our evangelism. What is evangelism? Evangelism is an invitation to become a student, obeying and passing on Jesus' teachings.

- Somewhere along the way in the last 150 years the waters got muddied and our understanding got muddled and many church people started thinking that you don't have to be a disciple in order to be a Christian.

- Somehow we got to thinking that you can say yes to Jesus w/o saying yes to discipleship, becoming his disciple.

- Many of us church people started thinking that it's okay to leave the pursuit of discipleship to the professionals.

- Guess what? That's part of the reason why the church in North America is not experiencing the dramatic growth that much of the developing world is experiencing today.

- Too many of us have washed our hands of the responsibility of making disciples because we learned that we don't have to be disciples.

- The church has does not influence the world as it should because our authority to teach comes from our relationship with Jesus and the world can only see that relationship when we submit to him as his disciples.

- Our goal, as students of Jesus, is to learn from him and pass on how to obey everything he has commanded and we have this on his authority as the risen Lord whose rule extends to all nations for all eternity.

- "Every single person who is won to Christ must be anchored in Christ and taught how to live for Christ in day-to-day decisions." (Osborne 2010)

- To that end, Jesus leaves us with a simple and direct command: Make Disciples!

Prayer: - Lord Jesus, maybe some are here today who need to renew their commitment to learning how to be your disciples.

- maybe we all needed this reminder today that as your people all of us are called to be disciples who make disciples.

- Help us, Lord, to make disciple-making our top priority, as we help one another to be salt and light and as we reach out into the world with words and works of compassion, meeting needs that will open doors for others to become new disciples.

- Our gracious God and Master, prepare us to love you and love others like Jesus loves so that we are ready to receive with thanksgiving those new disciples whom you have set apart, so that we may continue to please you obedient service and zealous love.

- Teach us anew how to make-disciples which make disciples who love like you love and live like you would have us live.

- Father, forgive us for when we have thought and acted like being a believer instead of a disciple was good enough.

- We see now that we need to follow you through every moment of everyday as students of Jesus.

- We commit once again to learning your ways, following the teaching of your Son, Jesus, and obeying the instruction of your Holy Spirit. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.