Matthew 28:18-20 ESV
“Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
The Call to Make Disciples
As the Lord’s disciples, which we are if we are followers of
Jesus Christ, we are to be taking the message of the gospel to the world around
us, and we are to be teaching people how to be disciples (followers) of Jesus
Christ. We are to be proclaiming to them the excellencies of Him who called us
out of darkness (sin, wickedness) into his marvelous light (truth,
righteousness). And we are to be the salt of the earth and the light of the
world.
But we don’t do this in our own power, wisdom, and strength,
but only in the power, wisdom, and strength of the Lord Jesus. For when we
receive Jesus Christ into our lives to be Lord and Savior of our lives, and the
Holy Spirit of God comes into our lives to dwell within us, we are given the power
of God to be His witnesses in our own neighborhoods, in our own cities, to the
surrounding towns around us, and to the ends of the earth.
For how are people to believe in Jesus Christ if they have
never heard of him and if they have never been taught what it means to be a
follower of Jesus? And how are they going to hear about him, and how are they going
to know what it means to be one of his disciples unless someone tells them? That’s
us! And how are we to tell them unless we are being sent by God and unless we
are speaking under his power and authority?
As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of
those who preach the good news!” So, lift up your eyes and see that the fields
are white for harvest, but not speaking of literal fields of wheat or a literal
physical harvest, but of the world as the field that is white for a spiritual
harvest. And right now, at least in America, the internet is still wide open
for us to be sharing the truth of the gospel, and there are people out there in
the world who are listening.
And our mission is the same as Paul’s, to open blinded eyes,
so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to
God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are
sanctified by faith in Jesus Christ. And that message is the same as Paul’s,
that we are to call the people to repentance and to obedience to our Lord to
walk in his ways and in his truth for the rest of their days.
[Matt. 5:13-16; Matt. 28:18-20; Acts 1:8; Acts 26:18;
Rom. 10:14-15; Jn. 4:31-38; Jn. 13:13-17; Jn. 14:12; 1 Pet. 2:9; 1 Pet. 2:21; 1
Jn. 2:6]
The Making of Disciples
The making of disciples is not about just being nice to
people. We should always be kind, but kindness alone is not turning them from
darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. We have to speak truth
into them, but to do so in love. Also, it is not just handing them a gospel
tract (if anyone does that anymore), nor is it reciting words we have heard
others say which may or may not be backed up with Scripture.
Also, a disciple is a follower, a devotee, an adherent, who
is one who binds himself to the observance of and the obedience to something or
someone. So, to be a disciple of Jesus, it means that we are following Jesus in
obedience to his teachings, to his ways, and to his commands (New Covenant). So
a disciple is one who lives the Christian life according to the teachings of
the Scriptures, so this isn’t about just getting people “saved.”
This is about helping fellow believers to walk in faith,
according to the Word of God, to trust the Lord with their lives day by day, to
learn how to pray and what to pray for, and how to spend time in the Word each
day in learning all that God has for us. And then it is teaching them to obey
all that the Lord commands us, to apply what we are learning in the Scriptures
each day to our everyday lives.
For, we are to exhort (encourage, urge) one another every
day so that none of us may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. For collectively
we all form one body, but we each have a different part one from the other, and
we are all given different gifts of the Spirit of God. And these gifts and
callings (ministries) are to be used for the mutual edification of the body of
Christ so that we may all reach maturity in Christ as we each part does our
work.
We are to speak the truth in love one to the other that we
might all grow to maturity in Christ, so that we may no longer be immature,
tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by
human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. We are all to do this so
that we all might grow together to maturity in Christ. We need each other! So,
we need to be students of the Word of God so we are sharing truth and not lies.
For, we are to let the Word of Christ dwell in us richly,
not just in our intellect, but in our hearts, in our thinking, in our
believing, and in our behaving. We should not only be those who are speaking
the Word to others but who are living what we are teaching, by example of what
it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. For we can’t teach to others what we
are not putting into practice ourselves.
Then we are to teach and to admonish one another with all
wisdom, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in our
hearts to God. We are to address one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual
songs to encourage one another in our walks of faith and obedience to our Lord
so that we continue in Christ and in his word and toward maturity in Christ,
and so that we do not fall away and go back to living in sin.
[Rom 12:1-8; 1 Co 12:1-31; Eph 4:1-16; Eph 5:17-21; Col
3:16; Heb 3:13]
Come
and See
An
Original Work / May 20, 2013
Based
off John 1:35-51
John, the Baptist, called of God to
Make straight the way for the Lord,
Told his disciples about Jesus,
So two of them followed Him.
One of them who followed Jesus
Told his brother, Simon Peter,
Who then he brought to the Savior,
Who had told them, “Come and see.”
Jesus Christ, our Lord, Messiah,
On his way to Galilee found a man, Philip,
So he told him, “I want you to follow Me.”
Philip then found his friend,
And he told him, “We have found the one
The prophets spoke of – He is Jesus!”
Philip then said, “Come and see.”
Jesus saw the man, Nathanael,
While he sat beneath a fig tree,
Even before Philip called him,
So Nathanael did believe.
Nonetheless the Lord said,
“You believe because of what I told you.
You will see much greater things than these
If you will Come and see.”
Jesus’ calling to each one of us.
He tells us to believe in Him
As our Lord and Messiah,
And to follow where He leads.
He says we must turn from our sins,
Die to sin and self each day,
And put on our new lives in Jesus;
Bow before Him; humbly pray.
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