Week 5 Discipleship - The Great Commission and The Church's Responsibility To Make Disciples

Today we come to one of the most important passages in the whole Bible for the life of the church: Matthew 28:18-20. I want to say right at the beginning that if the church loses this passage, the church will lose her clarity, her urgency, and eventually her obedience. Before we talk about strategies, structures, or methods we must hear the voice of the risen Christ. He says, "all power is given unto me in heaven and earth." That is where the great commission begins - not with our ability, but with His authority, The church does not invent its mission, negotiate its mission, or revise its mission to fit the spirit of the age. The church receives its mission from the Lord Jesus Christ, who reigns with all authority. That means disciple making is not a ministry option for churches that happen to be passionate about growth. It is the binding responsibility of every church because it comes from the mouth of the King Himself, Jesus. Because this command comes from the risen Christ, the church will answer to Him for how she handles it. We are not free to neglect disciple making without consequences. We are not free to replace Christ's mission without preferences. The Great Commission is not a suggestion given to the church that feel especially motivated. It is a royal charge from the enthroned Son of God. That means every pastor, every leader of the church, every teacher of the church, every congregation ought to live under the weight of this question: are we ordering our life together in a way that actually obeys the command of Christ to make disciples?

Transcript

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Welcome to Walking in the Living Word Ministries, a weekly podcast with your host, Pastor Mike Futrel.

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Thank you for joining us this week with Walking in the Living Word Ministries. We're in week five. This week, the Great Commission and the Church responsibility to make disciples. Our texts come from Matthew 28, 18 through 20, Acts 2, 42 through 47, Ephesians 4, 11 through 16, Colossians 1, 28 through 29, Hebrews 10, 24 through 25, and 2 Timothy 2.2. So we want to welcome you. As we begin week 5, today we come to one of the most important messages in the whole Bible for the life of the church. Matthew 28, 18 through 20. And I want to say right at the beginning that if the church loses this passage, the church will lose their clarity, their urgency, and eventually their obedience. Before we talk about strategies, structures, or methods, we must hear the voice of the risen Christ. He says, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. That is where the Great Commission begins. Not with our ability, but with his authority. The church does not invent its mission and we must not neglect it either, or revise its mission to fit the spirit of our age or our needs. The church receives it from the mission from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, who now reigns with all authority. And that means disciple making is not a ministry option for churches that happen to be passive about growth. It's about the binding responsibility of every church because it comes from the mouth of the king himself. And because this command comes from the risen Christ, the church will answer to him for how she handles it. We are not free to neglect disciple making without consequences. We are not free to replace Christ's mission with our prefaces. The Great Commission is not suggestive giving to the church that freely especially motivate us to do whatever we want. It's a royal charge from the enthroned Son of God. That means every pastor, every leader, every congregation member ought to live under the weight of this question. Are we ordering our life together in a way that actually obeys the commandment of Christ to make disciples? Now listen carefully to what Jesus actually commands. Go ye therefore, teach all nations, baptizing them, teaching them to observe all things, whatsoever I have commanded you. The heart of the command is not merely go, it is merely, and it's not merely teach the narrow sense of passing along information. The heart of the command is make disciples. That means bringing people into a life of following Jesus under Lordship. Understand, I'm not saying evangelism and helping people to come know Christ and give their life to Christ is not important. But most churches stop there. They do not go to the next step, which is making disciples. Yes, we're supposed to go and teach people how to come to know Christ, to love Christ, to give their life to Christ. But if we stop there, we have messed up. We have not followed the commandment totally. We're to make people to be disciples, to follow Jesus wholly. Baptism matters because it marks public belonging to Christ and to his uh people. It is not an empty ritual that is not a private spiritual symbol detached from the body of Christ. It's a visible sign that a person has been brought under the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Ghost. And it publicly identifies them with Jesus and His church. And teaching matters because Christ does not say teach them information only, but teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. That word observe must be impressed into the conscience of the church. Jesus is calling for obedient learners, not religious spectators. He's calling for lives shaped by his word, his command, his priorities, and his mission. And this is where many churches weaken the commission without realizing it. If we reduce the mission to getting people to make a decision without teaching them to follow Jesus, then we have not obeyed the whole command of Christ. Evangelism is central, but evangelism does not lead into baptism, uh, instruction, church life, and growing obedience. It leaves the work unfinished. If that all evangelism does, it leads to baptism but stops there, then we've not only left the person short, but we've left Christ short because we've not done what he's asked us to do. Jesus did not merely say get professions. He said make disciples. He did not merely say count responses, he said teach them to deserve all things whatsoever I have commanded you. The church must therefore resist every shadow version of mission that celebrates beginnings without and without neglecting information, while neglecting information. And do not miss the theological death of this. The Great Commission is given after the resurrection. It rests on the finished work of Christ, the victory of Christ, and the universal authority of Christ. Jesus sends the church as He exalted, as the exalted Lord who has conquered sin, death, and the grave. That means the church mission is not carried out uncertainly. We go under the reign of risen Christ, and we do not go alone. He says, Lo, I am with you always, even until the end of the world. So the Great Commission is not only a command, it's a commission wrapped in promise. The authority of Christ sends us, and the presence of Christ sustains us. The church is therefore a sent people, but she is sent people under the authority, the power, and the abiding presence of her king. Luke 24, 46 through 49 in Acts 1.8 helps us hear the same commission from another angle. Jesus says that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem, and then tells his disciples, all nations begin being and witnessing to others after they have endured the power from high. That means the Great Commission is a gospel proclamation with global reach, and is impossible to carry out faithfully without the empowering work of the Holy Ghost. The church is not sent to spread just a message that has no meaning spiritually, a moral message or a religious statement. The church is sent to proclaim the death, resurrection, lordship, and saving mercy of Jesus, calling men and women everywhere to repent and believe. And Acts 1.8 reminds us that witness is not a natural accomplishment of human enthusiasm. It's spirited power testimony to the person and work of Christ. John 20, 21 adds another soul when Jesus says, As my Father has sent me, even so I send you. The church does not only have a mission, the church has a missionary identity shaped by Christ Himself. We are sent into the world in dependence upon God, in submission to the Father's will and love for sinners and loyalty to the church. That does not mean the church shares Christ's redemptive offer, but it does mean we uh the church follows Christ's pattern of obedience witness. We do not retreat from the world in fear, and we do not bend into the world in compromise. We'll send into the world as witness to the crucified and risen Lord. Understand how the command takes flesh in church life. Uh current connect Matthew 28 and uh Acts 2, 42 through 47. After the resurrection, Pentecost, the church devoted itself to apostle doctrine, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayers. That is the Great Commission, life in a visible form. The church receives the truth, shares life, prays together, worships together, and grows together. And then you go to Ephesians 4, 11 through 16. And remember that Christ gave shepherds and teachers so that the saints should be equipped and their body built up in maturity. Then here Colossians 1, 28 through 29, where Paul says he warns and teaches every man in all wisdom so that they may present every man perfect in Christ. That is the possible ministry. Not crowds without care, but people growing towards maturity. Then he added Hebrews 10, 24 through 25, which teaches believers to consider one another, stir one another up to love, good works, and refuse spiritual isolation. Finally, uh read 2 Timothy 2.2 and explain it, explains multiplication. Truth is entrusted to faithful people who can teach others also. The Great Commission is therefore not fulfilled merely by making converts or merely by having services or merely by building institutions. It's fulfilled as churches preach Christ, baptize believers, teach them obedience, equip the saints, nurture maturity, stir one another to faithfulness, and multiply truth from one life to another. That means true fruit of the Great Commission is not simply attendance, but maturity, not simply addition, but multiplication, not simply movement, but depth. A church may grow as far as numbers and still remain thin if believers are not being taught, strengthened, corrected, informed in Christ's likeness. But when the commission is obeyed, biblically people do not merely gather, they grow. They learn the word, they bear the burdens, they serve one another, they endure suffering, they discern error, and over time they become the kind of believers who can help others follow Christ too. That is the goal, not crowds only, but Christ-like disciples who can faithfully pass truth unto others. And then you add 1 Corinthians 3, 6 through 9 helps keep the church humble and diligent. Paul says, I have planted apostles water, but God gives the increase. That means disciple making is truly over responsibility, but spiritual life is finally God's work. You know, preaching, teaching, warning, praying, planning, watering, but only God can give life, growth, and lasting fruit. That keeps us from pride when fruit appears. It keeps us from despair when work feels slow. It's our job to tend the field. It's God's job to grow it. We are laborers together with God, and that ought to steady the church. The Great Commission calls people for obedience, but it also calls for independence. We work hard, but we trust God. We spread faithfully. We spread what God says, the word says. We're constantly spreading those seeds. We water, we tend the fields, but we only we know only the Lord can make the seed leak live. So let me say it plainly before we close. A church may have many activities and still be unfaithful to the Great Commission. A church may have buildings, a budget, and a full calendar and still neglect the one thing Jesus explicitly commanded, make disciples. If a church is not preaching the gospel clearly, baptizing believers, faithfully teaching them to obey Christ, and helping them grow into mature and multiplication, then something central has been lost. We must not reduce the commission to evangelist moments only, and we must not reduce it to educational programs only. The command is larger than both. It is the whole church taking responsibility to bring people to Christ, ground them in the truth, fold them into the life of the body, and help them become faithful followers who can help others become faithful followers of Him too. And let me press this into our hearts before we close. We're living in the days of confusion, compromise, and spiritual weakness. That is not the hour of the church to become less serious about disciple making. It is the hour to become more serious. It is desperate desperation is increasing. Deception is increasing. Then the church must teach the truth more faithfully. If believers are weak, then the church must labor for maturity for more patience. The deeper, the darker the days become, the more urgent the Great Commission becomes. This is not the time to drift. This is a time to obey. So let week five settle deeply into our hearts. The Great Commission is not a slogan, is not a ministry department, is not one option among many. It is the living command of the risen Christ to his church until the end of the age. Lord Jesus, make your church obedient to your commission. Keep us from mistakenly actively for faithfulness and a visibility for obedience. Teach us to preach your gospel, baptize your people, gather your people, teach us to love, teach us to multiplication, deliver us from the shadow successfulness of ministries that gather people without grounding them. Give us pastors courage, give us churches clarity, give saints endurance, and give us all a deeper burden, not merely the uh just admiring the commission, but addressing the commission, organizing the commission, doing the commission, and we actually obey what the commission says. And as we move to week six, ground us more deeply in the biblical and theological foundation of discipleship so that practice will rest on truth. Folks, we're building the foundation one block at a time. We have five blocks. This is our fifth block. Next week we'll add block six. The foundation keeps gets stronger, gets truer, stands fast against the world and Satan and others who want to tear it down. So discipleship is moving forward as we move to week six. And we'll see you next week with Walking in the Living Word Industries.

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Thanks for joining us today on this edition of Walking in the Living Word with Pastor Mike Futel. We pray that you've been inspired and equipped to fulfill the plan that God has for your life. Subscribe to this podcast.