I have had a very busy week, but an emotionally and spiritually filling one. One thing taking up a lot of my time has been preparations for a pig roast in support of You Feed Them. This summer I became the secretary for this Christian organization that is providing reproducible, self-sustainable, organic farming in Africa. My next post will tell you more about how the evening went, and a list of the miracles God has been doing in Africa.
Since I have been so busy, I asked God for direction on a post that would be powerful, but would not take a huge amount of time to write. His response was to take a quick look at the Great Commission.
Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, 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.” (Mt 28:18-20)
Jesus gives us a very specific commission. There are four verbs in that commission.
Go – Have you gone out of your way to share the Gospel? Do you even share where you are?
Make disciples – do you just pray a short prayer with people? That is not part of the Great commission. Jesus calls us to make disciples. Take a look at these previous posts that examine what the Scripture teach about being a disciple: Before and After, Life-long Commitment Disciples were called to commitment and sacrifice. In every version of the Sinner's Prayer that I have seen, there is no mention of total commitment or sacrifice.
Baptizing – These are Jesus' last words before being taken up into heaven. These four verbs encompass and summarize what He had been teaching His apostles for three years. I don't understand how baptism ever become optional. There is so much significance to baptism provided in the Scriptures. Over the next month I will be sharing some things that you may never have seen before.
Teaching them to obey – This goes along with making disciples. I think the North American church has become lazy. So many think they are following the Great Commission when they pray a prayer with someone and then encourage them to maybe go to church somewhere. This is not what it means to teach someone to obey. Thousands of people who call themselves Christians have no idea what Jesus really taught. They have never been taught what to obey, let alone have someone walk beside them and teach them how to obey. Please take a look at this post to learn more about what this means.
Please examine your life according to the Scriptures. Are you really obeying the Great Commission?
Dear Jesus, Your words can be so challenging. We often dilute them with tradition or familiarity. We know the words and we deceive ourselves into thinking by knowing we are obeying. That isn't true. I fall into that trap so easily. Please help me to be more obedient to Your call. Be with all who read this post that they may have the courage and conviction to obey Your teaching. Help us to not be lazy, but to do the hard work of making disciples that understand the commitment you call them to. Enable us and empower us to walk beside new believers and show, them through our lives, what it means to obey You. We are sinful people Lord. We constantly fall. Fill us with the humility to confess when we fall, and share with those new believers that You love us even when we do fall. Our relationship with You is not about perfect obedience, but about heart level commitment and love to You, the One who died for our sins. May You be eternally praised! Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment