Go Therefore and Make Disciples of All Nations

Matthew 28 records Jesus words to his disciples go and make disciples of all nations is what Jesus doesn't say say go and evangelize. He doesn't say go and blow and blow up and blow out with some big crusade and go back and report how many people heard and responded to the gospel. He doesn't even say go and translate a Bible in the tongue or the language of that people know this is going make disciples stated in Matthew 28 is known as the great commission Jesus directed to his disciples those who would follow to go everywhere, proclaiming the good news of the gospel, but is it more than that, there's Dr. Bert Parsons in this session we come to the great commandment of the great commission of Jesus Christ that parts where we hear Christ's very clear directive to go now with the great commission, we see that this is in fact a commission it's a command Christ is telling us to do something. It's not the great suggestion for the great option. It's not something that Christ puts to us that we can either decide to do or not do another one of the significant motivations for missions and evangelism and fulfilling the great commission is simply put, that Christ has commanded us to do it and that alone is sufficient as a motivation for us to go and to be faithful in fulfilling the fullness of the great commission has become diverse 19 we see how Jesus says go, therefore, that therefore is connected to what he has just said in verse 18 that all authority has been given him in heaven and on earth that is again Jesus is motivation and foundation for why we go. Jesus is connecting this command to go with the fact that he has authority because he has authority go because he has dominion and sovereignty over everything go we go with that authority we go not with our own authority. We don't have any authority in and of ourselves as a pastor of a local church.

We as pastors don't have any inherent or innate authority. Our authority is ministerial authority, its declarative authority. Our authority is not rooted in us. Our authority is rooted in the word of God.

Our authority is in God himself. So our job is to give people the word of God to teach people the word of God to proclaim the word of God, because ultimately ultimately we are accountable to God as under shepherds of Christ, the chief Shepherd and your accountable to God that we would be faithful stewards giving people his word and that was the authority with which the disciples were called to go out with her own authority, not with some sort of pompous arrogance to go as humble servants and stewards of the Lord and that's how we are to go. We are to go notice hope Peter says when people ask us about the hope that is within us. We are to give them an answer for that hope right and how are we to do it with meekness and gentleness were to go forth as humble servants of the Lord Jesus Christ, proclaiming and teaching and sharing the gospel of God in the whole counsel of God where to go, pointing people to Christ and not ourselves evangelism and missions in fulfilling the great commission is not about us getting applause and accolades and people thinking highly of us and wow what an amazing evangelist. He is or what raising missionary here she is rather that they would see shining through us the glory of God the authority of God and the beauty of his word that we would be people constantly pointing to him and not to ourselves.

We don't evangelize we don't do missions and we don't fulfill the great commission in order to get notches on our belt, or so that we can constantly brag and boast about those whom we've saved no the Lord is the one who saves the Lord is the one who regenerates, and we are called to be his faithful servants in proclaiming his truth. His gospel his word he get the glory from our evangelism from our missions from all our support from all are sending from all are mobilizing from all our training may he get the glory.

Now many people in coming to the great commission in coming to this great command of the great commission, where Jesus says to go and most of your translations rightly translate this go now.

Many were studied students of Scripture. They know that this word especially those of you who are here in seminary who studied the Greek language you know that this word is a participle that go is actually a participle and so sometimes people say will this should be translated as you are going or simply going but that isn't quite right. This is translated properly as an imperative, because the this participle in the way it is constructed in this sentence and this phrase really takes the place of a command itself. And so it is rightly translated in the form of an imperative in the form of a command as go and that means that we are called to go and where we called to go will. Jesus says go. Therefore, verse 19 and make disciples of all nations, where to go to all nations, where to go to all peoples where to go to all people groups where to go to all languages.

We are to go to unreached peoples and where to go to reached peoples where to go to the reached peoples and continue training continue discipling continue helping to mature and grow them in the word of God.

In the example of Christ and where to go to the unreached peoples in the unreached nations that they might hear that they might know that they might believe that they might worship how will they hear unless missionaries are sent. How will the nations here unless we go unless we support unless we give sacrificially unless we mobilize unless we produce resources that can help people go and can give people tools in her hand so that when they go they have things to give and to teach and to train that's one of the reasons work here is one of the reasons later ministries exists for the reasons most parachurch ministries exist to come under the church and serve the church to provide the church with good resources so that the church around the world might know that they might grow that they might worship as faithful followers of Jesus Christ.

That's why were doing. The series is an that the church might be impassioned, inflamed and have a desire for fulfilling the great commission because of the love of God in the command of God, because we know God and we want to make his name known to the ends of the earth but notice that Jesus doesn't just say go to the nations. He says very precisely go and make disciples of all nations. That is what Jesus doesn't say he doesn't say go and evangelize. He doesn't say go and make converts. He doesn't say go and blow and blow up and blow out with some big crusade and go back to report how many people heard and responded to the gospel. He doesn't say go and simply leave a gospel tract.

He doesn't even say go and translate a Bible in the tongue or the language of that people know he says go and make disciples. Now let's be careful here because evangelism and making converts and giving gospel tracts and translating Bibles into the native tongues of a particular unreached people, even holding crusades even doing evangelism from a soapbox or from the pulpit in a church all these things are part and parcel of making disciples. The mistake that many people make the mistake that many Christians in many churches and even many missions organizations have made over the past throughout history is that they have come to the conclusion not looking carefully what the great commission actually entails that fulfilling the great commission is only about evangelist or that it's only about making converts to see here's the hard reality if you've gone and evangelized, or if the missionary or missions agency is just gone and evangelized or just gone and made converts. They have not fulfilled the great commission. If we have gone and held evangelistic crusades or services or revivals of some people want to call them and they could see people come to Christ. They have not fulfill the great commission the great commission is fulfilled only when we are making disciples as the New Testament defines what a disciple is discipleship is hard and it takes time. It's not easy. It means face-to-face one-on-one training as will see a little later on in this passage. It's not just teaching people things it's not just telling people things is not just going proclaiming things is actually proclaiming and teaching and doing the hard work of training its one-on-one, face-to-face discipleship seats, not just a Bible study is actually walking with people coming alongside people, arm in arm and hand in hand walking with them, pointing them to Christ, exemplifying the life of Christ. Even in our own lives.

As Paul said, follow me as I follow Christ. And so even as Calvin says that we would follow others only in so far as they follow Christ that we would live among future than what it means to love the Lord and follow the Lord what it is to bear fruit in the Lord what it is to walk worthy of the gospel what it is to forgive what it is not to grow better not have vengeance against another Christian what it is is the disciples of Jesus Christ to show and demonstrate love among us to the watching world is the church's greatest apologetic is our love for one another Jesus and that's how the know they are my disciples. So as we do this as we do it here as we do it there as we go into it wherever were called to go and do we fulfill the great commission by making disciples through proclaiming through teaching, through training, through discipleship from mentoring through older men coming alongside younger men in teaching through older women coming alongside younger women in teaching and training them and showing them the old paths of what it means to know God, to love God and to follow his ways. This is what Jesus did, didn't he may disciples a lot of people say what Jesus was born to die will that's true. But Jesus wasn't only born to die. Jesus was born to live in his life. He not only fulfilled all the righteous demands of God's law. He not only lived the perfect sinless life, according to the standard of righteousness that the Lord is set forth. But Jesus also may disciples can common ordinary people. He took them many trained them. A disciple is what a disciple is a learner literally follower in Jesus ministry a peripatetic ministry like the ancients as he walked, as he taught as he lived his life in front of them. So his disciples came in behind them. They followed him. They walked with him, they learned from his ways they listen to his commands.

They saw how he interacted with people and so this is to be the work of the great commission making disciples.

This is the prominent verb that controls the entirety of the great commission make disciples and I have to say though, it's sad to say that in the world today in the church today.

We have done a very poor job in making disciples. We've done a very poor job at discipleship. People think that if they just if they can just get certain doctrines right in their heads. They can just affirm certain doctrines, the not sufficient for if we can just get people coming to church just get people coming to corporate worship, well then we may disciples well it's important to point out that coming to church, going to corporate worship learning right doctrine is in fact part and parcel of how each and every one of us and every faithful church member and attender is actually in part as a fulfillment of the great commission and having been reached with the gospel are actually week in and week out, in part, fulfilling the great commission because when we go to worship when we study the word of God we get on our knees and pray we work with our children and teach them the things of God and pray with them and the things of God. When we doing fulfilling the great commission seat for those Christians who don't go to worship who don't belong to a local church for those people who claim to know the Lord but avoid going to corporate worship avoid being in the word of God.

While the reality of it is is that they're being disobedient to the great commission, not to mention the fact that they may not actually be reached the gospel to begin with. They may not actually know the Lord, because someone who knows the Lord wants to worship someone who knows the gospel and loves the gospel of Jesus Christ and loves Jesus Christ, wants to worship. We want to be in the Scriptures we want to pray were motivated to do.

Why do we do these things widely come to worship.

Why do we give sacrificially of our time and our money and all her resources. Why do we do it because God is put a motivation and a desire within us to do it. He's given us the drive to do it. That's why you're here today you're here because you care about these things and you will learn these things, and growing these things were studying these matters because God is put a desire in our hearts.

He's given us a passion to learn he is given us the desire to be disciples and to grow as disciples and not merely remain babes in the faith to grow up into full maturity. We want the meat of the faith, but only meet in our heads, not only the doctrines of our heads for the debt doctrine in our heads will flow out to all of life as we absorb it in our hearts and is it exudes from her hands and her feet and all that we do in life that learning and studying and following the Lord Jesus Christ would be in all our lives every day as we live in. As we breathe as we worship as we praise not just on the Lord's day, but each and every day in each and every hour of our lives that we as disciples of Jesus Christ would see the great delight the great privilege that we have of being followers of Jesus that would shape everything we think, do and say. Jesus calls us to go and make disciples to make learners to make followers, not just converts not just people who understand doctrine.

The people who live out their doctrine, Jesus, and much of his ministry was not only giving assurance to those who lacked assurance granting faith to those who humbly came to him and wanted faith. Those who came to him and wanted healing Jesus also gave forgiveness and throughout his ministry. What we see Jesus doing we see Jesus also challenging people who had a presumptuous faith that is to say they didn't rest in the Lord. They didn't rely on the Lord. They were trusting in God they were presuming upon God. They were resting in grace they were presuming upon grace and what he say to them, he said if you love me if you say you love me and what will you do you'll follow me if you if you say you believe in me, then you'll keep my commandments. If we really believe the Lord Jesus Christ. If we really know him, then we are going to want to follow when we're going to bear fruit.

Naturally, because were united to Jesus Christ if we know the gospel walk worthy of the gospel. If we know the spirit will walk in the spirit. This is that natural organic way in which true disciples bear fruit in life if we don't have any fruit if we don't have obedience. What is that mean James tells us we don't even have real faith, so as we make disciples. And as we make disciples here in our homes and our churches as we ourselves are striving to be more faithful disciples to learn the word of God and things of God. In the example of Christ and as we go to the nations and make disciples. We are called to go and help to serve, to come alongside and that means were not just sort of blowing and blowing up blowing out think we've done our job. We are called to take our lives, take our money take our time, our energies and give ourselves to this most important command that Christ has given to make disciples and learners know this central verb, to make disciples as to subordinating clauses part and parcel of what it means to be a disciple for a disciple to be made.

Jesus first says is baptism look there. What he says in verse 19, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit. How this is significant because if what Matthew is re-records what Jesus said if it's important. The word order here in the placement of baptism will than what we see here is that baptism is not graduating right it's initiating right that baptism is not something that comes when someone has arrived.

But it's rather something that is given something that is administered when someone comes in when someone comes into the family of God and of the covenant community of God's people, that baptism is something that is given to all those who believe and as we believe to their children as we see even demonstrated in the acts of the apostles, the living out in the fulfillment and part of the great commission in the acts of the apostles. We see these household baptisms for those who believe, are baptized, and then all those in the household are baptized along with them because there's a special familial solidarity of special connection that those children have, to their believing mother or father. Special connection brings them into the covenant community's children. Children of Christians children in the family of God, and children are part of the covenant community will treat them as outsiders that we we treat them as part of the family of God, and in doing so. What we teach them to do.

We teach them to grow as disciples we teach them the things of God. We teach them how to read the Bible and how to pray and how to sing. We teach them what it is to know the Lord, knowing all the while that it's not there baptism that saves them.

It's the grace of God by faith alone in Christ alone that saves them hoping and praying each and every day that the Lord will save them that they will know him that they will trust the Lord Jesus Christ. We treat them as disciples don't we treat our children as disciples, hoping that they will indeed know the Lord that they will indeed trust the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation and are not saved because they're in our households are not same because they're baptized there say because of the grace of God in their lives by faith we pray for.

That's what we hope for significant Jesus says let the little children come unto me to not only does he rebuke the disciples when they try to prevent them.

Jesus is angry with the disciples says let them come unto me, do not hinder them but notice what else Jesus S. He gives a warning and a woe to any who would lead one of these little ones astray.

Jesus says it would be better if a millstone were hung around his neck and that he should lead a little one astray.

What does that imply implies that we are discipling and teaching our children.

Fathers are called to train up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Children are not outside of this great commission. Their part and parcel of who we are called to go and serve as we serve families as we serve men and women and children, teaching them so that they might be disciples of Jesus Christ, baptizing them into the name of the father the son and the Holy Spirit. Notice it's not three names someone name, because our God is one and Jesus says that this is the first aspect of the first way in which we need disciples… The great commission. It encompasses everyone from every nation, young and old.

Thanks for listening to renewing your bio this Wednesday by web leader teaching fellow Dr. Bert Parsons is taking us through his series, the great commission.

Walking us through every phase of Jesus command relearning how to fulfill it in our homes and our churches in our communities and to the ends of the earth. We put all five messages from the series on a single DVD and would be happy to send it to you for a donation of getting about. You can find us online@renewingyourmind.org or you can call us with your gift at 800-435-4343.

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