Making Disciples of Christ

Matthew 28:16-20 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.’”

I personally believe that this mandate the Lord Jesus gave to his 11 disciples at that time is a mandate for all who believe in Jesus Christ and who are his disciples, his followers, who are following the Lord with their lives in obedience to him and to his commands. For we are taught in the Scriptures that we who believe in Jesus Christ are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that we may proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light.

And we are taught that we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world, and that we are to let our light shine before others. And Jesus said that whoever believes in him will also do the works that he did, and Jesus’ primary ministry was in sharing the truth of the gospel, in addition to his ministry of healing and miracles. And when we believe in Jesus, and the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within us, we are to be our Lord’s witnesses to the ends of the earth. There is no reason to think these don’t apply to us.

And there is no reason to think that what Jesus told Paul should not also apply to us who are also ministers of the gospel of Christ. For what Jesus instructed Paul to do and to say represents the message of the gospel that we are all to share. So we, too, are to open the eyes of the spiritually blind through the preaching of the gospel 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. 

[Matt 5:13-16; Matt 28:18-20; Jn 4:31-38; Jn 13:13-17; Jn 14:12; Acts 1:8; Acts 26:18; Rom 10:14-15; 1 Pet 2:9,21; 1 Jn 2:6]

Thus, as our Lord’s present day disciples, we should be those who are going forth with the preaching and teaching and sharing of the message of the gospel of Christ, and who are making disciples of Christ of the people of this world. Now, we can’t make people become disciples of Christ, but we can certainly teach them how to become followers of Christ, which it appears not many are doing these days. So many people are cutting the gospel short by telling people to just “believe” in Jesus and now they are “good to go.”

The problem with that is that they are selling the gospel message short, and so many people are not coming to genuine faith in Jesus Christ. They are also mostly not teaching the people what it means to have faith in Jesus Christ, i.e. what that faith should look like. And so we have many professers of faith in Jesus Christ who are not living the life that God has called all his followers to live, for many of them are believing that they don’t have to because they are being told that they don’t have to do anything.

But the gospel of Christ is not a “do nothing” gospel. For we are to be teaching the people to observe (to keep, to obey) all that Jesus has commanded all his followers to obey. And he said that if anyone would come after him that he must deny self, take up his cross daily (die daily to sin and to self) and follow (obey) him. For he said, in essence, that if we hold on to our old lives of living in sin and for self that we will lose them for eternity. But if for the sake of Christ we die to our old lives of living in sin and we now live for God and his righteousness, then we have eternal life (Luke 9:23-26).

And then we read in Ephesians 2:8-10 that we are saved by God’s grace through God-given faith in Jesus Christ. And this is not of our own doing. So, we can’t decide what that faith should look like. The word of God is what defines what that faith should look like. And Jesus defined it in Luke 9:23-26, and in Acts 26:18 when he called Paul to the ministry of the gospel. For God-given and God-persuaded faith in Jesus Christ submits to Christ as Lord, and it results in the sinner leaving his life of sin behind him to follow our Lord in obedience in holy living in the power of God for the glory of God.

But so many people read Ephesians 2:8-9 separate from verse 10 and separate from the whole of the teaching in the book of Ephesians, and so they build a false doctrine of salvation around those two verses. But verse 10 says this: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” And we read this in Titus 2:14: “who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.”

As well, the grace of God is not a free license to keep living in deliberate and habitual sin without guilt, without conscience, without compassion, and without remorse, but many are falsely teaching that it is. But we read in Titus 2:11-13 this: “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce” (to say “NO” to) “ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.” So, please take this all to heart.

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15] 

Seek the Lord  

An Original Work / July 20, 2012

Based off Isaiah 55

“Come to Me all you who thirst; come to waters.

Listen to Me, and eat what’s good today,

And your soul will delight in richest of fare.

Give ear to Me, and you will live.

I have made an eternal covenant with you.

Wash in the blood of the Lamb.”

Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him. 

Let the wicked forsake his way, in truth.

Let him turn to the Lord, and he will receive mercy.

Freely, God pardons him.

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

Nor are your ways My ways,”

declares the Lord, our God.

“My word that goes out of My mouth is truthful.

It will not return to Me unfulfilled.

My word will accomplish all that I desire,

And achieve the goal I intend.

You will go in joy and be led forth in peace.

The mountains will burst into song… before you, 

And all of the trees clap their hands.”

https://vimeo.com/379408296