Introduction
The most divisive command in history
Surely this must be the most divisive command in history. How can we possible follow a command that tells us to go and overthrow all the other beliefs in the world, to turn everyone into Christians. Look at the problems this command has caused. Uproar in the Roman empire. Wars with the Moslems in Jerusalem – they were called the crusades, and they involved most of the wests special forces (known then as the Knights Templar) in a campaign of forced baptism and murder that lasted centuries. How can we in these multi-cultural days be going to make disciples – Christians of all the world. Surely such an action by the established church is not acceptable in this day and age.
The command is supported by the other gospels and Paul
The book of Matthew can be a difficult book. We just have to look at a couple of sample passages. Passages that are not read very often – passages that perhaps we should avoid.
Mt 21:7. “They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them.” What really – on two animals?
Then there's the story of the resurrections – before Jesus was resurrected himself:
Mt 27:52-53 “The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus’ resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.”
This is not supported by any of the other gospels, and certainly not by Paul.
Perhaps we should just assign this command to the same dustbin, and conveniently ignore it?, but before we do that lets take a look and see if its in the other gospels, or anywhere else in the Bible.
This command is also found in:
Mark 16:15-16
He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
Luke 24:46-49.
He told them, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
John 20:21.
Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”
Acts 1:8.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
The letters of Paul
So we find this command of Jesus, or some variation of it in all of the gospels.
In the Old Testament
Its even a command to the Israelites in the Old Testament. It has always been God's intention that his word should be spread. God says to Abram (Abraham before he got re-named) in Gen 12:3 “all peoples on earth will be blessed through you”, and in Gen 18:18, the message is repeated, and in 22:18, 26:4, 28:14, Ps 72:17; Isa 19:25
Ex 19:6 The Israelites are to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.
Isaiah 61:6 And you will be called priests of the LORD, you will be named ministers of our God. You will feed on the wealth of nations, and in their riches you will boast.
Acts 3:25 – We are heirs to the O/T promise
Gal 3:8 Promise repeated “All nations will be blessed through you”
Isa 49:6. he says: “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.”
It has ALWAYS been God's intention that his word should be spread, that his love should be made known among the nations. The Israelites were to be a nation of priests – to bring the nations to God. The Christians have the task set for them in a different way., so now let us take a closer look at the task we have been set ...
What is the command?
Make disciples. Easy. So what does that involve? First of all it means we have to do something.
Witness
The first thing we have to do is to be prepared to tell people about Jesus. Just normally, in normal conversation. Perhaps you could expand on what you did last weekend. “Not a lot” isn't a very helpful comment, but you could speak to people about the confirmation service, and perhaps let them know how proud you are that there are 4 new members in our church. That's four people who have committed their lives to Jesus, and are prepared to publicly say so.
At this level we just have to give the chance for the person we are talking to, to review what we are saying. If they are interested – great, if they listen politely – great.
Refusees
Of course if they're not interested or even against what you're saying then they've made their choice. They have decide (for now at least) that they are not interested in Jesus.
When Jesus sent the disciples out with authority over evil spirits he said “If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town. (Matthew 10:14). In other words – walk away. We really are not here to cause problems, the world has enough trouble as it is. If people don't want to know, that is up to them.
Evangelize
Paul say in the 2nd letter to the Corinthians “Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men.” ( 2Co 5:11). There are times when trying to persuade people of the faith is the right thing to do. Think back to your own experience of coming to faith. Was there someone in that process who spent some time with you trying to persuade you? There certainly was more than one of them in my case. So, if it worked for you and for me, then it will work for others. We will find that to do this we have to have a certain level of knowledge and understanding, I remember one long conversation with a friend that ended with him saying “I'm never going to win this argument am I”. It was the truest thing he'd said in the whole conversation.
It may not of course be a simple one-to-one process. Your persuasion may be as part of an Alpha course, or something similar. It may not be you doing the persuading, it may be the course leader, the preacher, or one of the other group members. All you've had to do is persuade the person to attend the course.
Nurture
So we have finally persuaded someone, and led them to Jesus. There's a great sense of achievement when someone that you have been talking to and praying for finally gives their life to Christ. It will have been a long haul. Some statistics put the time taken for someone from the introduction to the commitment as 3 years. Anyway you've been with the person for a long time, and finally they've made a commitment. Great! Get them baptized, then its time to move on.
No! Not really. The person has taken one very significant step, and opened themselves up to God. There's a long way to go. We are called to make disciples, not converts. A disciple is someone who is walking with Jesus, learning from Him, and those around. They will have questions, problems, doubts, just as we all do, but they will need help coping with their new life style. They will need encouragement to come to worship, to read the bible, to pray regularly. They will need an environment where their faith can grow. They will need good teaching, so that they can understand the commands and obey them. They will need support as they meet opposition from the world. They will need your help as they start to get to grips with what it means to make disciples. Now is not the time for you to move on, but it is the time for me to move on.
We have looked at the what, so now we know what to do, when should we start?
When
Now! Well, all right, after breakfast!
Actually we should have all started a long time ago, but lets consider your new Christian. The one who's just given his or her life to Christ. When should they start making disciples.
They will need training, perhaps once they've been on the Making Disciples course, and assuming that they have passed the exam at the end we could do as Jesus did and send them out 12 at a time, or if we've had a fruitful year, we might manage 72.
No, that's not going to work. Jesus says there's only one requirement for making disciples. You must wait until the Holy Spirit comes. Look at the example of the disciples. They knew all about the resurrection – they'd seen the empty grave, they'd seen the alive Jesus, spoken with him, had breakfast with him. (I hope there's kippers in the hall today). Did any of that help them make disciples – no. They were still hiding in their houses, worrying about finding a twelfth disciple – to make up the numbers. Then the Holy Spirit arrived. In next to no time at all they were changed from timid and afraid, to bold and strong, and with Peter's first sermon came 5,000 converts!
We cannot make disciples without the power of God inside us. Jesus promised the Holy Spirit to give us the power to do all sorts of things, but with one aim – to make disciples. Without that power we are just going to be hiding in our houses afraid to challenge the world, or even one member of it. We must wait until the Holy Spirit comes. When he does we will act, because we cannot help ourselves.
Where
Now we have the urge, or the urgent need to tell others about Jesus. We want to argue the case, persuade people that God's way is the best. Where should we go?
Look at your seat, imagine it on a map with a big arrow saying “You are here” There's another big arrow, it says “Start Here”
The disciples were told to start with Jerusalem and work outwards to Judea and the rest of the world. The only difference is that we live in Billericay, so start there, in Billericay where you already know people, then move out to the rest of England, and finally the whole globe.
Why
But why? Why should I bother? Its nice here, I'm comfortable in Jesus presence. Why should I get up and go out into the stormy world?
Command
Firstly because it's Jesus' command. Jesus didn't give his disciples that many commands, “Make disciples” and “Love one another as I have loved you” are about it. Oh yes, there's lots of other guidance on all sorts of topics – this is how you should pray – and things like that, but real commands that MUST be obeyed – only the two I think.
While I was researching for this sermon, I googled “Jesus Commands”. The first three web sites in the list were obviously good matches, so I followed the links. They all have many many commands, but two out of the three of them do not have “Make Disciples”. If we can't even recognise these words as a command today, then I wonder where the church of God will be in fifty years time. Fortunately it has not always been so J Hudson Taylor, who founded the China Inland Mission said “The Great Commission is not an option to be considered; it is a command to be obeyed.”
So as its a command, and as there are only two it would seem strange not to obey it, as we have already agreed to give our life to Him.
Love
There are other reasons too. One of those comes from the other command. “Love one another as I have loved you” If you and I are the recipients of Gods love, why would we not want to share it. If you have been given something that is very good to have, are you going to keep it all to yourself, or are you going to share it around a bit.
There have been times when I have looked at people and thought to my self “How would they be better off with Jesus in their lives?” Their lives seem so perfect – better than mine. Not that I wished to be them, just that I couldn't see how their lives could be better.
That is a lie, of course, one that I had swallowed from the world. What ever you see, or think you see in others the fact is that there will always be some things in their lives that they would be better of without, and some things that they would be better off with. The thing that they would be better off with is a relationship with Jesus. He will help them get rid of some of the things they are better off without. Their lives will be transformed by God's love, and if I can't see that – then it is my problem.
No longer slaves
The final reason is that we are no longer slaves. When we gave our lives to Jesus we were freed from slavery, and became friends with God. If we really are friends with God, then we will want the same things that He wants. Jesus has been given “all authority in heaven and on earth”, and is in the process exercising that authority and spreading it out across the world. We are the mechanism that he he uses to bring the world fully under his authority.
Who
Because we are the mechanism, it falls to us to be the ones who go and do the work. Listen to another quote from J Hudson Taylor “It will not do to say that you have no special call to go ... With these facts before you and with the command of the Lord Jesus to go and preach the gospel to every creature you rather need to ascertain whether you have a special call to stay at home.”
He is of course speaking at a time when the church in England was not so sparsely populated as it is today. As I have said before the model Jesus gave the disciples was to start where they are. He didn't offer any of them – even the doubters amongst them – the opportunity to be a conscientious objector. The command is for everyone – you, me, and about 2 billion others who have accepted Jesus. All of us – no exceptions.
How
How are we going to achieve this mammoth task? Well, none of us have been put in charge of organising the workforce to plan the evangelisation of the world. I'm very grateful for that – its a job I'd hate to have to do. So the only thing we can do is to take each opportunity as it arises, and to be ready to make the best of it.
What would you say if some one was to say “Tell me about Jesus?”
Can you tell the story of how you came to faith? Could each of you give a 30 second testimony here and now?
Those who do get involved in the planning process for the evangelisation of the world – people like J. John - reckon that you should have two testimonies – a short one – that lasts about two minutes, and a longer one around about five minutes.
The Promise
If we do all this then Jesus will be with us – you and me – by the presence of the Holy Spirit to the end of the age. Which just means he'll be here until the job is done and the whole planet knows who he is.
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