I am at the halfway point for my current seminary class, and it has been a very though provoking and challenging four weeks. While I enjoy the eight week class structure I do feel much of it ends up being rushed and I have very little time to fully process everything that I want to with the course material.
This current class is on discipleship and within the first week I was hit with a thought that has not left my mind, and probably never will. The author of one of the books points out that the Great Commission says, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." I've read this verse, quoted it even, countless times, but until recently I never got what it was saying.
We see that we are to go and make disciples, not converts but disciples, that part I've got, and it's actually gotten me fired from a church. We are to baptize the disciples we make and welcome them into the family, and work, of God, modeled by the Son, and empowered by the Spirit. And the process by which we make disciples is to teach them to obey what Jesus commanded. Except that last part isn't right. Read the verse again.
"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
Jesus specifically says to teach them to obey all that He has commanded. Not some of the things. Not just the things that we agree with or find easy. Not even just the things we feel the people we are discipling need to work on. We are to teach them to observe everything the Jesus commanded.
The author of the course book asked if someone had a gun to your head and told you to write down everything Jesus commanded could you do it. Complete honestly, I couldn't. If I don't know everything that Jesus commanded, then most likely I am not personally obeying everything He commanded. If I don't know everything that Jesus commanded, then I most certainly cannot teach others to obey them. You cannot teach what you don't know. So with this being the case, I am not fulfilling the Great Commission given by Jesus.
The author posed some version of the question "What would your life look like if you obeyed everything Jesus commanded?" on some social media forum. He shares how a pastor responded, "Are you crazy?! That's impossible!" If it is impossible why did Jesus command it?
Look at the last part of the Great Commission again.
"and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
These are the last words Jesus spoke on earth. His final words were the promise of His presence for as long as we live. Jesus doesn't give a command and expect us to fulfill it on our own. Jesus is with us as we strive to fulfill His last command.
Are you fulfilling the Great Commission? By human effort it is impossible, but we have Christ with us, and are empowered by His Holy Spirit. However, the presence of the Spirit does not excuse us for effort. We must study and learn all the things the Jesus commanded. We personally must obey them, modeling the life that Jesus lived. As we do this, we must make disciples by teaching others to obey all that Jesus commanded.
This is possible. God became human in the person of Jesus Christ. As a mortal man, capable of sin, Jesus lived a perfect life, modeling for us how God intended for us to live. At the end of a well lived life, short as it was, Jesus died on the cross paying our debt so that we could find forgiveness and restoration, and then He rose again so that we could be empowered to follow His example.
Finally, He left us with this commandment. "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." This is what all who claim to be followers of Christ are to do. It is not simply the role of a pastor, but everyone who calls themselves a Christian.
Let us seek the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. Let us learn and obey all that Jesus commanded. Let us teach others to do the same. May we be people who fulfill the Great Commission.
Note: I recommend Disciple Making Is... by Dave Earley and Rod Dempsey and Discipleshift by Jim Putman, Bobby Harrington, and Robert Coleman, to anyone who seeks to be a disciple maker.
"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."
To God alone be the Glory!
Peace be with you
