Matthew
28:16-18 “Then the eleven
disciples left for Galilee, going to the mountain where Jesus had told them to
go. When they saw him, they worshiped him—but some of them
doubted! Jesus came and told his
disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy
Spirit. 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.” Before Jesus was crucified He told his disciples what
would happen. That they would desert Him but after He is raised from the dead
to meet Him in Galilee. Mark 14:27-29 “On the way, Jesus told them, “All of you will desert me. For the
Scriptures say, ‘God will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’ But after
I am raised from the dead, I will go ahead of you to Galilee and meet you
there.” Peter
said to him, “Even if everyone else deserts you, I never will.” Jesus came to
save and whoever accepts Him as there Lord and savior He will never leave them
and they will have eternal life through Him. The timing of this is not stated
but according to all of Jesus appearances to people and the time to travel to
Galilee it would have been after eight days after His resurrection and before
His ascension into heaven. The disciples where in Judea up to eight days after-
John 20:26 “Eight
days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although
the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with
you.”
The great commission is a command not
choice to all who believe in Him. Jesus says I have been given all authority in
heaven and on earth and I command you to do the following. Go and make
disciples in every nation. Each believer is to take Jesus and the good news to
the world. Where ever you go or travel make disciples. I will talk about a
disciple later. Baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
When we are baptized we are united with God the father, Son and Holy Spirit. We
become one with Jesus and filled with the Holy Spirit. We are reborn spiritually
and become a new creation and receive a new identity in Jesus. Jesus comes
alive in us and he lives through us. We are baptized into the Body of Christ,
Jesus is the head of the church and we are unified by the Holy Spirit. Teach
the disciples to obey all my commands. Being a disciple of Jesus is to obey His
commands. Discipleship is helping, teaching, and encouraging each other in the
body of Christ to obey His commands. Speak truth in love Ephesians 4:15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ. Jesus promises
to be with us while each of us do our part of the great commission till the end
when he comes back for His church.
The great commission is about taking the truth
about Jesus and the good news to the world. I don’t think it is always about
numbers. I am amazed at the sacrifice and love I see from people to do this.
Some we will never hear from in this life but God knows. Making disciples and
reaching the lost can be done in many different ways. Reading about the great
commission in a meeting with mature believers for 30 years over and over is not
making disciples, reaching the lost and doing the great commission. It is about
Jesus living through you and stepping out and living a life of faith to do
this. As far as I can tell this has very little to do with our personality,
speaking or how we look. Gifting, abilities or resources, position, degrees,
power or money. It has to do with Jesus and power, love, and faith in His name.
It’s not a competition and I’m sure not an all star at it but maybe it’s more
about the heart, attitude and helping others to do their part. I think we will
be all called to a different part of this and all of us will have challenges
when we set out to accomplish this. I just think it is important to be humble
and help others. I think we can all have a struggle at times finding our place
in this command.
I think this command is a blessing from the Lord
and when we disciples of Jesus attempt to do the great commission we step into
a different arena and battle. Satan the enemy sure doesn’t want you to be in
this arena. He will come in very deceptive ways. I will just mention one that I
have been a part of in my own life and in the life of many others. Satan
doesn’t care how busy you are just as long as your not doing this command. If a
person has their plate full of activity and none of it is the great commission
then we may want to examine the activity. I think it is easy to get snared into
this. I think we can have a tendency to take all the gifts, abilities and resources
given to us and create a way or system that takes us away from the example or
way Jesus done in His word. When you read the book of Acts when the church
first started what did the church get started with. The Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit and a small group of believers. They passed on Jesus death, burial and
resurrection to each other. 1
Corinthians 15:3-6 “I passed on to you what was most
important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins,
just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised
from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said. He
was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve. After
that, he was seen by more than 500 of his followers at one time,
most of whom are still alive, though some have died.”
In Jesus command we have
everything we need. God the father Son and Holy Spirit, His word, and each
other the body of Christ. We can use gifts, talents, abilities, resources,
positions, degrees, and etc but I think when we look to these it may lead us
away from the example Jesus set. The main thing is our faith in Jesus and
allowing Him to work through us as he wills. I think when we do the great
commission with the same Faith, hope, love and grace that Jesus gives us and
the with the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Teach, nurture, love and build up
others just like the example did with the twelve. I think this will lead to a
more healthy church full of disciples with deeper relationships which takes a
lot of time instead of perfection, performance, comparing gifts and abilities,
huge numbers, a report card, back biting, and doing it for all the wrong
motives.
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