Two Simple Words: Make Disciples

In this message from Matthew 28:16–20, David Platt reminds us that following Christ means obeying the commission that he has given us. 

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Chapters

• 0:00 Setting The Stage In Matthew 28
• 2:54 The Great Commission Read Aloud
• 4:05 A Covenant Shaped By Christ’s Authority
• 9:33 Jesus’ Universal And Purposeful Authority
• 16:40 Trusting His Word Over Our Talent
• 17:51 Choosing Christ’s Strategy Over Ours
• 23:25 Make Disciples: Share, Show, Teach, Serve
• 29:15 Matthew’s Five Teachings And Open Ending
• 35:00 The Disciple-Making Pathway Diagram
• 41:15 Personal Responsibility And Reproduction
• 47:05 Addition Vs Multiplication Math

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:56

You are listening to David Platt Messages, a weekly podcast with sermons and messages from pastor, author, and teacher David Platt.

SPEAKER_01: 1:04

You got a Bible, and I hope you do. Let me invite you to open with me to Matthew chapter 28. As you're turning there and pull out those notes that you received in the celebration guide when you came in, and we come to the last last week in this follow me series, diving in to what it means to make disciples of all nations. We started this series, first Sunday of the month of January, looking at Matthew chapter 4, simple verse, follow me and I will make you fishers of men, teaching us what it means to be a disciple of Christ. And we've spent the last four weeks walking through various components of what it means to make disciples based on the life of Christ and what he did in the lives of these guys that surrounded him. And so we come to the culmination here in Matthew chapter 28, end of Matthew. We started where he began with his disciples. Now we're seeing where he ended in this book with his disciples. The thing that excites me is it was almost exactly a year ago that we had the opportunity to study this text together. I was a stranger to you, just this fill-in speaker, and you were a stranger to me. And we dove in and we read this and we studied it together. Now a year later, we don't just approach the Great Commission as this text. We approach it as the very mission of our lives and the mission of our church. This is the text, this is the command around which everything revolves. We're not just reading this text this morning from the sidelines. We are in the middle of the field and we are getting the plays called in from the sidelines, and we are getting to the line of scrimmage day in and day out. What does it mean to make disciples of all nations? We're not just talking about the battle plans anymore. We are anchored down in the bunker and we have staked everything on this mission. And so, with that perspective, let's dive into Matthew chapter 28, verse 16. The Bible says the eleven disciples went to Galilee to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. Just a pause there. Remember that whenever we see Jesus going to a mountain, really God meeting with his people all throughout Scripture on a mountain, it signifies a very important message. Even in the book of Matthew, his ministry starts with his teaching, the sermon on the mount. And then in the very middle you've got the mountain of transfiguration, and then at the end here you see Jesus taking his disciples to the mountain. Verse 17 says, When they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted. Then 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 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. I've got to be honest with you. We could camp out on this text for weeks. I could preach, and I know you don't find that too hard to believe, that I could preach on this text for weeks. It is so full of meaning. It is so thick. What I want us to do is I want us to look at this text. Why'd you laugh at that? Okay. I want us to look at this text this morning through the lens of it being like a covenant. As we come to the end of this series, and by a covenant I mean a commitment. Covenant is a commitment you make before God and before each other. I want us to look at this text through the lens of this church. What does it mean for this text to become a reality in our church? And I want us to break down, unpack three facets of a covenant that I believe we need to make together based on this text. The first facet of that is this we will be a church that trusts in the authority of Christ. We will be a church that trusts in his authority. Jesus starts this Great Commission thing by saying, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. That is the foundation upon which this great commission rests. All of his words spring from that foundation. If we skip over verse 18, we miss the whole point, the whole fuel behind this passage. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Now, the authority of Christ, this is about the tenth time that that's been seen, referenced in the book of Matthew alone. It's all over the Gospels. Over and over again, either people looking at Jesus and seeing his authority, Jesus doing things that demonstrate his authority, his authority is emphasized over and over and over again throughout the gospel. So this is not something new, but I want you to see two facets of author, his authority that are stressed here that relate to the Great Commission. First of all, I want you to see that his authority is universal. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. That word all is mentioned over and over again throughout this passage. All authority. Make disciples in all nations, teach them all things. I am with you all the days of your life. It is a universal authority. If he has all authority in heaven and on earth, that pretty much sums it up. He's got it. He's got all authority. And like I mentioned, this is not a new picture here at the end of Matthew. It's something we've seen throughout. If we had time, we could dive in and just do a uh this is one of those sermons we could camp out for a while on and just look at the authority of Christ as it's mentioned over and over and over again in the Gospels. Let me give you a summary though. You've got a list there. Think about the universal authority of Christ. Number one, he has authority over disease. Jesus has the authority to go to a blind man and say, I give you sight. He has the authority to go to those who are lame, who have never stood on their feet in their entire lives and say, Get up, take your mat, and walk. He has the authority to go to the lepers who are outcasts in their culture and to heal them, turn their lives upside down. He has authority over disease. Isn't it good to know that Jesus Christ has authority over cancer? Jesus Christ has authority over every disease, any illness we may come in contact with that's around the corner in any one of our lives or in the lives of our families. Jesus has authority over disease. Second, he has authority over demons. Some of the great texts in the gospels are seeing the demons flee from Jesus. He casts them into pigs. He is able to do whatever he wants with the demons. They run from him. People say the evil spirits flee from him. They bow to him. He has authority over disease, over demons. Third, he has authority over sin. He has authority over sin. You look at the progression throughout the Gospels. John chapter 5, he talks about how he has the authority to judge sin. But then if he stopped there and Jesus just has the authority to judge sin, that's not a good thing for us. However, he has the authority to forgive sin as well. He has the authority to conquer sin. He conquered sin, death in the grave. Therefore, sin has no reign in all those who place their faith in him. That's good news. He has authority over sin. Fourth, he has authority over suffering. Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you what? Rest. When the world has piled things on you, you're confused, anxious, don't know what's going on, to know that there is a Savior who has authority over any suffering this life might bring. And that his satisfaction over the suffering of this world is eternal. To those who were hungry from the things of this world, not filling them, he said, I'm the bread of life, and if you eat from this bread, you will never be hungry again. Drink from this water, you'll never be thirsty again. He has authority over suffering. Next, he has authority over nature. Jesus is on the boat with his disciples. There's a big storm that comes up. They're all panic. He wipes the sleep from his eyes. He yawns and he raises his hand and speaks a word, and all of a sudden the storm stops. That's authority. Another time, his friends, his buddies are out in the middle of the lake. He needs to get to them. They're in the boat out in the middle of the lake. Jesus needs no wave runner. He just takes a stroll across the lake because he has authority over nature. He has it all. He has authority over disease, demon, sin, suffering nature, and he has authority over nations. He has authority over all nations. Daniel chapter 7, verse 13 and 14. You might write that down and go look at it because it's a prophecy that gives us a picture of Jesus. Talks about the Son of Man who has sovereign dominion, power, and authority over every nation and every people, and his dominion will last forever. That's what it means for him to have authority. Not just power. But authority is the right to use that power. If you have a lot of power and you have a lot of strength, but you don't have a right to use it, or have an avenue where you can use it, then it doesn't matter how much power or strength you have. He has authority. He has all the power and he has all the dominion, the right, the rule to use it. He has authority over all of these things. I want you to think about how that changes everything. The fact that he has authority over a nation changes the way, the way we watch CNN or Fox News, the way we look at what's going on around us in the world, to know that Jesus Christ has all things under his feet, that he is in control. And all of these areas, all authority. It's exactly what Psalm 148 gives us a picture of. Great sea creatures, all ocean depths, lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds, they do his bidding. Mountains, hills, fruit trees, cedars, wild animal, small cattle, flying birds, kings of the earth and all nations, princes, all the rulers on the earth, young men and maidens, old men, every children, all of them bow to the authority of Jesus Christ. He is universal in his rule and his dominion. Now, he has universal authority, but second, his authority is not just universal, it's purposeful. And this is where I want you to see how the Great Commission needs this statement at the very beginning. How this statement fuels what he's about to say. Because it's not Jesus just bragging, look what I've got. I've got all authority. He's saying, I have authority for a purpose. Don't miss the picture here. Jesus is saying that all things are at his disposal to accomplish the mission that the Father had given to him. Everything under his authority to accomplish that mission. And the beauty of it is when you get into the picture of the church and the rest of the New Testament, we have a Savior who does not hoard his authority, he pours it out freely on his people. He entrusts his authority, he gives his authority to his people. He even said it to his disciples in John 15, part of those passages we've been looking at the last four weeks when he said, You can come to me and ask for anything you need, anything you want to accomplish this mission, and I promise I will give it to you. The authority of Jesus Christ dwelling and residing in each one of you. There is no limit. There is no way that this mission cannot be accomplished with the authority of Christ behind it. This is the beauty of this text. Our success, ladies and gentlemen, is not based on who we are or what we can do. It's not about how smart we are in this room. It's not about how educated we are. It's not about how talented we are, how gifted we are. It's not about what great intellects we have. It's not about how much money we have. It's not about who we are and what we do. It's not about what we bring to the table. Our success is based on who Jesus is and what he is capable of doing in our lives. That's the beauty of the Great Commission. That it's not dependent on what we bring to the table. And so let's not be so bold as to think that we've got that much to offer in and of ourselves. Jesus Christ and it's his power and what he is capable of doing in your life and my life that makes this commission so exciting. That our God delights to show his grace in our lives for his glory. So his authority, his full sponsorship is behind this whole thing. We will be a church that trusts in his authority. Not in ourselves, not in the charisma of this leader or that leader, not in the ability of this person or that person, but in the authority of Jesus Christ. And we will trust in the authority of his word. Everything we do will be dominated by this word. Our plans, our dreams, our hopes, our ambitions, everything will be driven by this word. Apart from this word, we have nothing to bring to the table. But with his word, we have a picture of a plan that he has promised to bless by his authority. That leads us to the second facet of this covenant, I think, that springs from this text. Number one, we'll be a church that trusts in his authority. Second, we will be a church that obeys his strategy. We'll be a church that obeys his strategy. Now we start to get into verse 19. But before we get there, I want you to think about the contrast or tension that I think we've seen throughout the Gospels up to this point between Jesus and the disciples. I think there's a constant tension in the Gospels between the strategy of Christ on one hand, and on the other hand, the self-directed strategy of the disciples. There's a constant tension between the two. You see, Jesus talks about how he had compassion on the crowds because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. And then you see pictures like Luke chapter 9, and the disciples get frustrated in Samaria because they aren't treated very well. And so they come out to Jesus and they suggest that we call down fire from heaven on those guys. Well, that's not exactly the plan that Jesus had for Samaria at that point. You see Jesus with a couple of disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration, and they're like, let's build a house up there, let's camp out here for a while. And he said, No, you're missing the whole point. You see Jesus at many points talking about the suffering that he was going to experience, even the death that he was going to experience. And one time Peter is even bold enough to pull Jesus to the side and say, Jesus, not sure what you're thinking, but as your PR manager, I'm going to need to suggest we go a different route than the one you're planning. There's a constant tension between the strategy of Christ and the strategy of the disciples. Could it be that that is the case not just in the gospels, but it's the case in the church today as well? That it's possible that we could, as a church, as his disciples, actually try to come up with strategies that miss out on the whole point of his strategy. Do you think that's possible? If that's possible, I think we need to be careful as a church to avoid that. And so I want you to think about it. They come to this mountain with Jesus, they've got their ideas, who knows what they might be of how they can take the world with this message. And Jesus comes to them with his strategy. And what they've got is two options in front of them. The first option is this a self-directed strategy that they come up with that hopes for his blessing. What I mean by that is the disciples, these were guys with good motives all throughout. They're not always pictured as the sharpest tools in the shed, but they at least have good motives at their heart, at their core. They want to do good things. They want to see the kingdom advanced. And so they've got good motives. Same picture today. I have no question that when you go to the Christian bookstores in this community and you look on the bookshelves and you see book after book after book after book giving a new strategy for the church, a new plan for the church, a new method for the church. This will work in your church. You see book after book after book. I have no question that there are good motives behind that. And I have no doubt that we could, as a church, with the talent and the thought processes in this room come up with some good strategy, with some good motives. But here's what we need to realize nowhere in Scripture does God promise to bless us based solely on our motives. Now let that soak in. I'm not saying motives aren't important. I think motives are very important. I think scripture teaches motives are very important. Do whatever you do for the glory of God. That is important. However, we've got to realize that if we come up with a strategy and have a God glorifying motive, then all we can do at that point is hope for his blessing. However, on the other hand, if we give ourselves to the strategy that Christ has outlined, we don't have to hope for his blessing. Maybe it'll come. We are actually guaranteed his blessing at that point. Two options: a self-directed strategy that hopes for his blessing. Second, a Christ-directed strategy that is guaranteed his blessing. Do we realize that when Jesus outlines in verse 19 the Great Commission, therefore go and make disciples of all nations, he is saying, This is my plan. You don't have to come up with another plan, a new method, or a new strategy. This is it. Give yourself to this. And he has promised by his character to bless that plan. Could it be that this frees us up from our personal agendas for what we think needs to happen in the church? And it focuses us on one strategy that drives us to the church. We're going to make disciples of all nations and all other agendas fall by the wayside at that point. I'm convinced that if Christians around our country would lay down their personal agendas and start giving themselves to the agenda that Christ has already lined out for us, that we would have huge impact in the world for the glory of Christ. Untold impact. So the question is, are we going to come up with our own strategies and hope for his blessing, or are we going to give ourselves to the strategy he has already outlined and be guaranteed his blessing? Well, what is that strategy? I'm glad you asked. I want you to think about a Christ-directed strategy in a few different ways. First of all, think about vision and the strategy. Christ is our vision. Christ is our vision. Now, all of this springing from the word. This is not my proposal for a new method. I hope this is just exposing what Christ has laid out for us. Remember where this whole journey started? Two words in Matthew 4, 19. Follow me. Give yourself to me. I will make you fishers of men. I'll do the work. Your primary vision is on me. You follow me, you become like me. Remember? No formal school with Jesus, no seminaries, no membership classes, no highly organized procedures and rituals. Follow me. Give yourself to my person. Our vision as individuals believers and our vision as a church is single-minded. We are growing into the image of Christ. That's why we study the word like we do week in and week out, because we want to grow into the image of Christ. Because we are focused on becoming like Christ, being conformed into his image. That's our vision. Alright? Second. Second, making disciples is our mission. Christ is our vision. Second, making disciples is our mission. When you get to Matthew chapter 28, verse 16 through 20, the passage we just read, in the original language of the New Testament, there is only one imperative verb in this passage. Just to remind you, just in case school's been a while, you don't remember the imperative verb, an imperative is a command. When my wife Heather gives me an imperative, that's a command. Do it right then. Or should do it right then. In this passage, there's one imperative verb, one command around which this whole thing revolves. It's one word in the New Testament. In the Greek, it's two words here in the English. It's make disciples. It's make disciples. And some translations even have go and teach all nations, which really is it's a much it's a completely different word than what we see later with teaching them to obey everything I've commanded you. So we need to make sure to separate the two. Make disciples of all nations. That is the mission that I'm giving you, Jesus says. So at that point we ask the question well, how do you make disciples? Well, thankfully, all of us know that answer. As a result of the last four weeks, we've walked through different components of disciple making. First component was to what the word? Share the word. The second component was to show the word. Third component was to teach the word. And last week we talked about serving the world. Okay? Those are the four components. You know what's really interesting? I want you to look with me at how making disciples is described in the in the Great Commission. First verb that we've got, therefore, go. Go just like I've gone, Jesus said. Same, it's a participle, just like baptizing and teaching. It's helping describe how to make disciples. And he says, Going. Just as I have gone, proclaiming the word, you go proclaiming the word. When we go, we do what with the word? We share the word. Let's connect the dots from the last few weeks and Matthew 28, 16 through 20. Going is to share the word. Then he says, baptizing them into the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Baptism, what we saw this morning, is the biblical picture of us identifying our life with Christ, with his life and with his death. This is a picture of we are we are in him. We are in his body, in his family. It's our identification with Christ and with his church. And so not only are we sharing the word, but we are showing the word. We are showing that we are identified with Christ. Then he says, teaching them to obey everything I've commanded you. We go and we share the word. We baptize, we show the word. We teach, teach the word. Connecting the dots, it's all starting to make sense now. Teaching them to obey everything I've commanded you. And then he says, do it in all nations. Go, baptize, teach in all nations. We share the word, we show the word, we teach the word, then we serve the world. It's all a part of this process of discipline. Now, before you turn over and start going to something else, I got to show you something really cool. Okay, so let me stop you before you're ready to get to the next blank. All right? Here we go. I want to show you something really neat in the book of Matthew, even the way this book is structured when it comes to going and baptizing and especially teaching. I want you to hold your place here and I want you to go back with me to Matthew chapter 5. I want you to look at Matthew chapter 5. And what I want to show you is five different times in this gospel where Matthew emphasizes Jesus' teaching and Jesus' instruction to his disciples. Five different times where that is emphasized. I think the outline of the book of Matthew revolves around these five blocks of teaching. And what we're going to see is at the beginning of each one of these, his disciples come together, either he pulls them together or they come to him, and then he teaches them for a block of teaching. And at the very end, we're going to see a statement repeated every single time that basically gives closure to that teaching. So start with me in chapter 5, verse 1. It says, when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them, saying, and then he starts to teach or preach the Sermon on the Mount. Now go to the end of it, chapter 7. And maybe underline this phrase in verse 28, because it's the same phrase you're going to see five different times. Matthew chapter 7, verse 28. First phrase, beginning of this verse. So Matthew gives some closure there, okay? Finish saying these things. And he goes on. The crowds were amazed. He taught as one who had authority, not as their teacher the law, and he came down from the mountainside. He gives closure when Jesus had finished teaching them these things. Okay, that's number one. Let's go to number two. Turn over to Matthew chapter 10. Look at Matthew chapter 10. Again, we're going to see him pulling his disciples together, the disciples surrounding Jesus for some teaching and instruction. Verse 1, chapter 10. He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles. He lists their names, and then it says in verse 5, these twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions. He gives them this teaching. And then you get to the end, chapter 11, verse 1. And we're going to underline that phrase that we saw, very similar to the last one we saw. After Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in the towns of Galilee. So he finished teaching and he moved on. Go to the next one. Turn to me to chapter 13. Look at chapter 13, verse 1. So we've seen him given the Sermon on the Mount and some instructions as the disciples went out. Look at the parables here in chapter 13, verse 1. That same day, Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. Such large crowds, large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it while all the people stood on the shore. And then he told them many things and parables, saying, and he begins to teach them this whole chapter. You get to the end. Look at verse 53. Matthew gives the closure. Very intentionally. Says in verse 53, when Jesus had finished these parables, same phrase underlined there, he moved on from there. So he finishes his teaching and moved on. Now let me show you two more. Look at Matthew 18. Matthew chapter 18, verse 1. Now, in between all of these, Jesus is healing, he's doing all kinds of different things, but there's a focus here on his teaching, these blocks. Look in 18, verse 1. At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And so he begins to teach them all the way through the end of this chapter. You get to chapter 19, verse 1, and you see the phrase, another time. When Jesus had finished saying these things, he moved on. He left Galilee and went into the region of Judea to the other side of the Jordan. Okay, one more. Go to chapter 24. Chapter 24. Look at verse 1. Again, we're going to see the disciples and probably others come around Jesus to hear from him. Chapter 24, verse 1 says, Jesus left the temple, was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings, and he begins to teach. We've got a concentrated teaching time all the way to chapter 26, verse 1. And there, for the last time, we underline when Jesus had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples, and then he moved on. So he finished. Every time he finished his teaching, and that was a transition point in the book of Matthew. Now, Matthew, pretty good writer, has given us this picture very intentionally throughout. So now we come to the sixth time that Jesus intentionally pulls his disciples together to give them a teaching, brings them on the mountain, same place that he first taught them back in Matthew chapter 5. He begins to teach them, gives them this commission. But what you'll notice is Matthew doesn't give that closure at the end. Now, if he were a literary scholar, he would have known it really would have worked out best to add a verse 21 in there and say, after teaching these things, a few days later he went up to heaven. And now we've got this closed picture. But that's not what Matthew is intending to do, not what the Holy Spirit is intending to do through Matthew. Why do we not have the closure after Jesus' teaching here? Why does it say after he finished saying these things? It would naturally say that. Then he went to heaven. The reason we don't have that closure is because the book of Matthew is intended to be intentionally left wide open in the end for the fact that the teaching of Jesus was not finished with these disciples. The teaching of Jesus would be reproduced through the lives of these men throughout history. The teaching of Jesus is still being taught day in and day out, week in and week out by men and women across this room who are raising up and saying we're going to make disciples of all nations. Could it be that we are still rewriting the end of the book of Matthew with the way we are reproducing the teachings of Christ? That's what the picture is. It's left open-ended. Jesus' teaching is being reproduced, sharing the word, showing the word, teaching the word, and serving the world. Now, with those components, now turn over to the back here, and I want you, I want you to look with me at a diagram kind of picture that maybe, maybe, maybe will help us get a grasp on this process called disciple making, this journey of what it means to make disciples. Start with the world there in the middle, and we're going to go to the right from the world. We go into the world and we share the word. It's where disciple making begins, leading people to Christ. We talked about that a few weeks ago. When we share the word, that first blank there is we lead people to believe in Christ, to trust in Christ. So you can put believer right there. Those who trust, who put their faith in Christ. That's where disciple making begins. But if we stop there, we'll never impact the world for the glory of Christ. We've got to continue on. We show the word. We show our identification with Christ, and we lead others to be identified and identified with Christ or with His church. So that we're not just believing in Christ, but we are established as that top-blank disciples, a disciple of Christ. I have identified with him. He is my master, my Lord. I'm his follower. I'm a Christ follower. Now, we don't stop there, because if we did stop there, then we still haven't engaged the world with the gospel. And so we teach the word. We reproduce the teachings of Christ. We teach people to obey everything Christ has commanded them so that they are not just believing in Christ and disciples of Christ, but so that they are themselves able, equipped to make disciples. Put in that final blank to the left, disciple maker. And then when we begin to make disciples, people are equipped to follow Christ and do this in others' lives, then we're able to go into the world and serve the world together with each other. Now that's a little picture, and I'll be honest, it's flawed in some ways. It's flawed most particularly, and the reason I even hesitated to use it was because I'm convinced that a true disciple of Christ is a believer in Christ and a disciple maker. But I think this pretty much pictures. How we have missed the point of disciple making. You say, what do you mean, Dave? Well, let me ask you, let me ask you two questions. First question, where would you put your Christianity, your Christian life in this journey, in this circle right now? I want to ask you that question because there's a there's a pretty big temptation for us to place our faith in Christ, trust in him for forgiveness of our sins, and then pretty much stop and camp out there in our church culture today. And we can come to church and remain pretty anonymous, particularly in a room like this, and never really begin to engage what it means to live my life identified with Christ. A temptation to not even not even be baptized or be a part of a faith family. There are probably many of us, many of us this morning who have never been baptized, never identified our lives with Christ in the biblical way that He has shown us to do that. Why not? We stop at number one, or maybe, maybe many of us go on and we stop at number two. The top there. But we never take personal responsibility, personal responsibility, not just the responsibility of the church as an institution, personal responsibility to show and to teach and to lead others in how to follow Christ, to teach them to obey everything Christ has commanded them. You say, well, what do you mean? Maybe we stop without doing that. Well, just imagine when we think of praying and studying the word and sharing our faith, the most, the most often avenue that we look to to teach people to pray and study the word and share their faith is we we put people in classes in the church. The church and that class will teach them how to pray. So put them in a prayer class or put somebody in a Bible study class where they'll learn to study the Bible. Instead of, wouldn't it be more effective if a new believer who is identified with Christ needed to learn to pray? Wouldn't it be more effective if you took them aside and said, Let me show you how I pray, let me teach you what God has taught me about prayer, and you begin to invest your life in that way in them. Do you think that's going to be more effective? How about studying the Word? I'm guessing many of us, when it comes to studying the Word, really aren't sure where to start. And the best thing for us to do would not be to sit in a class where we get all these tools, which would be helpful. Wouldn't it be better for somebody who studied the Word to sit down with us and say, hey, let me show you how to study the Word. Let me show you how to walk through the Word. Let me show you what I do when I come to the Word. Sharing our faith, a thing that most, if not all, of us, are somewhat timid about doing. Maybe the most effective thing is not to come up with a bunch of classes on how to share your faith, but to go with each other and learn to share our faith from each other. I want you to see the personal connection that's at the center of this, that's disciple making, that many of us have stopped short of. So where are you on this? And second. Who have you taken through this journey? Is there anyone that you've led to Christ, showed Christ to, in such a way that they are equipped to make disciples themselves so that now they are doing the same thing in other people's lives as a result of your life? The stark reality is, we've got to be honest with each other on this. There are many of us who have been Christians for five, ten, fifteen, twenty, twenty-five years, who can't name one person who is producing for Christ and making disciples with their life as a direct result of our one life. And we come to church and we sit in the seat and we sing the songs, we even serve on committees and teams and do different things. But if we give ourselves to spiritual activity with no productivity, and the way that Jesus is outlined, we miss the whole point. And this is a this is a question, this is an issue, we need to stop ignoring in church. Are we making disciples? Because it's when we're going through this journey that we begin to engage the world with our one life. Now it's at that point that some of you, as I've mentioned that in a couple different times, you've said, okay, I don't get it, Dave. Engage the world with my one life. How can my one life engage the world with the gospel? Well, I'm really glad you asked that one. Okay, I want to give you two scenarios. I want you to follow with me here, okay? One scenario. I want you to imagine with me that all of us in this room, well, not just us in this room, the 4,000 people that will worship in this room today. Imagine together, combined, over the next year. Imagine working together. We were able to lead one person to Christ every single day. It'd be tough. Maybe we could do it. At the end of this year, 365 people would have come to faith in Christ. It'd be an exciting year. Imagine we were to do that the next year and the next year and the next year. It'd be tough, but just imagine. After 30 plus years, you would see over 10,000 people come to know faith in Christ. We would make a small dent in the lost population of the United States of America. Let me give you a second scenario though. What if just one person from this room over the next year didn't lead somebody to Christ every single day? But over the next year, one person from this room led just one person to faith in Christ. But you didn't stop there. You showed the word to them. And you showed them, intentionally showed them, what it means to be a Christ follower. So that they were identified with Christ in this church. And you began to teach them to pray, and you began to teach them to study the word, and you began to equip them from your word, uh, from God's word to make disciples, so that at the end of that year it would be you and one other person. Picture that Jesus has given us here going out and serving the world. Suppose that were to continue. The next year, it would be four people. The next year it would continue to multiply, not adding, multiplying. You do the math in the same time frame over there that we see over 10,000 people come to know faith in Christ. In this scenario, same time frame, you would see nearly four billion people come to faith in Christ. Maybe Jesus knew what he was talking about. When he said, make disciples, give yourself to this command, this strategy. I promise to bless it. Think about it. If your life, if all of our lives in this room over the next year, with the grace and mercy and compassion of Christ that's been entrusted to each one of us, if it was produced in just one other life, immediately our influence in this community would double. Not to mention the partnerships that we would now have with people all over the world, through the trips we're taking, making disciples, engaging the world with our one lives. This is the strategy He has given, He has outlined. God help us not to go on with spiritual activity that misses the whole point. We've got to be intentional about this. This doesn't happen accidentally. Let me ask you a question. I want you to imagine with me that tomorrow God were to give you the opportunity to lead somebody to faith in Christ. Whether it's at home, at work, in your neighborhood, in Walmart, wherever. Tomorrow you had the opportunity to lead somebody to faith in Christ. My question is, what is your plan if you lead somebody to Christ tomorrow? What is your plan over the next six months to begin walking them through this journey? I'm guessing most of us probably don't have a plan along those lines. And that signals one of two things. Either number one, we're not planning on leading somebody to Christ tomorrow, which is not a good thing. Or second, we're planning on leading somebody to Christ and then leaving them there. What would happen if our lives were intentional about taking the grace and the mercy of Christ and pouring it into the lives of others? Sharing the word, showing the word, teaching the word, serve the world. This is our mission. And everything is secondary to this mission. Christ is our vision, making disciples is our mission. Third, people are our dreams. By the way, that blank below the world, there's nothing in there. I'm not sure why that blank's there. So everybody's looking at each other, like, do we miss it? What did he say? No, it's not there. Okay. People are our dreams. People are our dreams. And this is the beauty of it. This is the beauty of it. When people ask what your church is doing, it's no longer about this method or this meeting. It's now about the people that we are pouring our lives into. And we're starting to get to the heart of New Testament ministry, what it means to be concerned about the needs of people and not to be concerned about the programs that we come up with. That is our dream. That was Jesus' dream. We've seen it all along. When he comes to Matthew 28, 18 through 20, and he looks at these guys and he gives them these words. He knows that this whole mission is now staked on their faithfulness to this mission. And praise God, the disciples gave themselves to this journey. Praise God, the disciples did not stop like we often do at step one or step two. Praise God, the disciples did this and they multiplied the gospel. Acts chapter 17, verse 6, they turned that generation upside down with the gospel. People are our dreams, and the world is our goal. The world is our goal. Make disciples of all nations. Pantata ethne. This is used four different times in Matthew. Beautiful phrase talking about the gospel going to every nation without distinction. It's really interesting. You do a little study in the Jewish roots of Matthew, which is it's heavily Jewish book. In the very beginning, starts off with a picture of Abraham. And you go back and you look at Genesis, the picture of Abraham there, and you see God's blessing on Abraham. And what does he say in Genesis chapter 12? Very beginning of God's blessing on Abraham. I'm going to bless you. I'm going to bless those who blessed you and curse those who curse you. And all nations of the earth will be blessed through you. It's the same picture there. Genesis 18, 18. God comes to Abraham and says, All the nations of the earth are going to be blessed through you. Genesis 22, 18, all the nations of the earth are going to be blessed through you. That was the picture from the very beginning of the Bible. It's the picture that is coming to fruition through Christ. All nations blessed through him. Over the last couple of years, in those times with Asian believers, this is what I've camped out on with them. Teaching what it means to be a disciple maker. I remember the first time I walked through, I asked them the same question I asked you. And I said, if you were to lead somebody to Christ tomorrow, what are you going to do over the next six months? They said, Well, we don't know. And I said, Well, let's walk through. We walk through 25 truths that they can teach and show to people they lead to Christ. By the time I get back, less than a month later, they email me and say, We took the best notes that we could, but we need you to send us that stuff because since you've left, we led a hundred people to faith in Christ and we want to make disciples. They're catching it. So when you hear all nations, know that we are not the only ones who have this mission in front of us. There are brothers and sisters around the world that are literally sacrificing their lives for their mission, this mission, and I say we join them. I say we give ourselves to the same mission and partner with them and engage the world with the grace and the glory and the majesty and the beauty of Jesus Christ. We will obey his strategy as a church. And we will make everything secondary compared to that strategy. Number one, we will trust in his authority. Number two, we will obey his strategy. Third, we will be a church that depends on his presence. That depends on his presence. It's interesting. You go back to the very beginning of Matthew, chapter 1, verse 23, and you see Jesus introduced his birth. The angel says that you will give birth to a child and you will call his name Emmanuel, which means what? God with us. That is how Jesus is introduced in chapter 1, verse 23. You get to chapter 28, verse 20, and you got the same exact picture. God with you. Jesus with you. Now you can imagine. Put yourselves in the disciples' shoes at this point. You went from the most extreme low to the extreme high. Jesus died on the cross. He was gone. What in the world are we going to do now? Three days later, did you hear Jesus is alive? Well, now we're really talking. We're in business. We've got all kinds of things we can do now. And then for a few days he's there, and then he checks out. What's he thinking? He's thinking that when he ascends into heaven, his presence is no longer confined to one body on the face of this earth. His presence now fills the bodies of men and women all across this room who are disciples of Christ. His presence infuses all of us. His presence dwells in all of us. Now, here's the deal. We know that. We see throughout Scripture that God is with us. I'll never leave you or forsake you. It's repeated over and over again. God is with his people. We never have to question his presence. He's always with us. Scripture teaches that very clearly. Why would Jesus say that right here? Why would he come to the end of the Great Commission and focus on, hey, don't forget, I am with you. The emphasis is there. It's almost like he's saying, I myself am with you always. Why would he focus on that here? Because the presence of Christ is absolutely and completely necessary for the mission of Christ. Here's the deal. If we in our individual lives, and if we as a church give ourselves to this mission of making disciples, two things. Number one, we will need the promise of his presence. We will need it. We will need the promise of his presence. I am convinced that it is possible for us to coast through this Christianity thing and our church world and even be successful and not even need his presence to do it. This haunts me. It haunts me that it is possible to be successful in ministry and our church world that we've created with the right marketing and the right charisma and the right strategic planning. You can be successful in our church world. And never once need the presence of Christ to see it happen. And I want to live my life and my ministry. And I want us to be a church. That if his presence is not there, we will fall flat on our faces. That this whole operation will absolutely fall apart if he's not true to this promise right here. Because I'm convinced. I'm convinced when we lean on his presence like that, when we need the promise of his presence, it's only then, only then that we will see and know the power of his presence. I believe God is honored in a people who know that without him they can do nothing. Because it's then when he is able, he delights in showing his greatness in our weakness, his glory in our inadequacy. We will need the power, we will need the promise of his presence and we will know the power of his presence. He's faithful. Our God has promised, Jesus has promised to give us everything we need to see this mission accomplished. Now that's our covenant. We will be a church that trusts in his authority. We will be a church that our base is strategy. And we're going to be a church that depends on his presence, for without it, we fall apart. That's our covenant. I want us to come to our confession now.

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