Do you recall a cherished, final conversation with a beloved parent or grandparent? Those significant, last words may have been carefully chosen to motivate you for the rest of your life.
Jesus told His friends, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20 NIV).
Known as the Great Commission , Matthew 28:19-20 contains three participles: “go,” “baptizing,” and “teaching” plus one imperative verb, a command: “make disciples.” Jesus’ primary admonition in this passage is for His followers to make disciples. The participles explain how to do that—we make disciples by going, baptizing, and teaching.
Dr. Robert Deffinbaugh sheds light on the Master’s command for His Church. He reminds us, “Apart from His sacrificial work on the cross, the most significant thing our Lord did upon the earth was to make disciples.”
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Whose Responsibility Is this Commission to “Make Disciples”?
The assumption of contemporary Christianity is that discipleship (making disciples) is the individual responsibility of every Christian. To follow this assumption through to its logical conclusion we must end up by saying that every Christian is to go, to evangelize, and to instruct. To some extent, of course, this is true. But when seen in its full-blown implications, it means that I personally am responsible for the total life and spiritual growth of certain persons. I should be evangelizing and edifying a certain number of individuals if I am really spiritual and if I am really obedient to the Great Commission. It is my contention that what we expect of ourselves, the eleven disciples themselves failed to do. It is now my task to defend this contention.
1. Please note with me that the eleven did not go. Look at the words of the noted church historian, Luke: “… and on that day [the day of Stephen’s stoning in which Saul played a part] a great persecution arose against the church in Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria; except the apostles” (Acts 8:1).
Now this is an amazing thing. The very ones who received the command to go forth with the gospel stayed home in Jerusalem. This certainly was not because it was the path of least resistance. They, as leaders in the Christian community, were the most likely targets for treatment similar to that of Stephen. Those who went forth to the Gentiles were not the eleven.
2. So far as we are told in Scripture, the eleven did not ‘make disciples’ in the same fashion as the Lord worked with them. We know of no examples of the apostles attaching to themselves a select group of followers, to carry on their work. Their work seemed to concentrate on a ministry to the masses, as the account in Acts 6:1-6 implies. The apostles did devote themselves to the proclamation of the gospel (cf. Peter and John, Acts 3-4) and to the ministry of the word (Acts 6:2,4).
3. Discipleship is the corporate responsibility of the church. The bottom line is simply this: the Great Commission was not given to the eleven as individuals, but to them as the church in embryo. We rightly recognize that the Great Commission was not merely a command to the eleven apostles. It was a mandate to the church, of which they were the foundation (Ephesians 2:20). More than this, it is not a command to every Christian to apply independently so much as it is for the church corporately. Discipleship is the corporate responsibility of the church. Although every Christian should give testimony of his faith, some are given the gift, the special, spirit-given ability, to evangelize (Ephesians 4:11, etc.) to teach (1 Corinthians 12:28; Ephesians 4:11), to help, to lead (1 Corinthians 12:28), and so on.
The church is the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:27). What He began to do and to teach, the church is to continue (Acts 1:lff). No Christian individually and independently can fully represent or reflect the person of Christ. Only the church can do this corporately. Each and every Christian is a valuable member of His body, and each has its unique function (1 Corinthians 12:20-30).
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We agree with Greg Herrick: “The Great Commission is not just another good idea—though it is that—it is the church’s marching order. As far as I know, He never communicated another plan.” Let us be found making disciples in Jesus’ name.
Discipleship Begins With Our Children
DiscipleLand’s family of Biblical resources forms a complete Children’s Discipleship System™ – an intentional, relational, and transformational process designed to help children know God intimately, love Him passionately, and to serve Him selflessly.
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THE WILL OF THE FATHER?
It is the will of the Father that all men be saved. The question is can men reject what the words of Jesus and still be saved.
John 6:40 For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day."
The Father wants all men to be saved. Can men say God only wants a select few to be saved and claim to believe the words of Jesus?
John 12:48-50 He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day……..
Can men be a true believer in Jesus and at the same time reject His word?
How many times can men say, "Jesus did not mean what He said." Can men proclaim their creed books and other denominational teaching takes precedent over the words of Jesus and still be saved?
THE WORDS OF JESUS
Mark 16:16 He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.
Can you reject the fact that Jesus said "Has been baptized shall be saved?" Are you receiving the sayings of Jesus when you proclaim that water baptism does not precede salvation?
Matthew 24:10-13 At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another…….13 But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.
Can men oppose what Jesus said and declare that men that are once saved are always saved? Will they still be saved?
John 3:5 Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
Can men proclaim that Jesus was saying, in order to enter the kingdom of God you have be born by natural child birth. Can you imagine Jesus saying that a requirement to enter the kingdom of God is being born of amniotic fluid?
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no one comes to the Father but through Me."
Can believers in Christ say that Jesus is just one of many roads to salvation and remain saved?
John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son , that whoever believes in Him shall not perish , but have eternal life.
Some say, that John 3:16 actually means that whoever God has preselected, will believe and be saved and all others will burn in hell for all eternity.
Can men give their private interpretation of Scripture and still be saved?
CAN MEN REJECT THE WORDS OF JESUS AND STILL BE SAVED?
(Scripture from: NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE)
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