Go Therefore

 If you were asked, "Why are you a Christian," what would be your answer? What if you were asked, "What is the purpose of the church?", what would your answer be? Now there are plenty of ways that these questions can be answered, but are your answers based solely on God's Word or what you have come to believe about yourself or what the local church teaches? Jesus gave very explicit direction to His disciples as to their purpose and the purpose of all those who would believe upon Jesus based on their words. 

Jesus told them, "And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:18-20) This is what has become known as "The Great Commission." When Jesus commissioned the disciples, He was granting the disciples certain powers and authority to carry out His message of redemption to all humanity. This was not an option but a command that the disciples fully understood. Jesus also tells us, "If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you." (John 14-15-17)

Not only would Jesus be with the disciples (all) in the person of the Holy Spirit, but He also tells them, "If you love Me, keep My commandments." Obeying the commandments of Christ is one way of showing our love for Him. To use any reason not to carry out the Great Commission both corporately and individually reflects the believers or churches lack of love for not only the Lord, but also others. Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:29-31)

Now some who are reading this may feel that I am way off base, because you have been called to be a pastor, worship leader or some other ministry of the church, therefore you are not called to evangelize. This may true concerning your calling and or anointing from the Lord, but to neglect the great commission for any reason would indicate that you are special in God's eyes and do not have to obey some of His commands which are set forth in God's Word. God means what He says and shows no partiality (Romans 2:11). This in no way is to cause condemnation, but to bring us to the place where we become more engaged with the Lord and His business. Seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33) will move us from churchianity to Christianity. 

Another thing to consider, is, due to Christ’s authority conferred upon the church, Jesus tells His disciples to make disciples, not to only have people make a so called profession of faith. Why? The reality is, many in the church today have never really experienced true conversion. This is evident in two ways. First, they can take Christianity or leave it. They were only interested in not facing hell when they passed from this life to the next. The second is similar, these are what the Apostle Paul calls "carnal Christians" acting like unsaved people. (1 Corinthians 3:1-3) In both cases, they live by their five senses. They let their feelings and emotions control them and never come to the place of growing in faith due to not knowing God’s Word, nor submitting to discipleship. "Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." (John 8:31-32) To abide means to hold on to; to continue in.

Today many church building are filled with people who are not free, but bound by the things of the world and Satan himself because they do not hold on to or continue in God’s Word. They are not being made disciples, but are inundated with church programs that do not mature them spiritually. Temporal things are more important or have more place in their life than eternal things. This becomes very obvious in their life when a problem or trial arises. They flounder because they have built their life on sand and not the Rock, Jesus Christ. They have no foundation of the Word and therefore find it difficult at best to stand under the trials of life, under the schemes of the devil.   

Look at some of the what’s and how’s of making disciples, “baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." The Apostle Peter reveals, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." (Acts 2:38) First, there needs to be repentance. Recognizing that all have sinned and fall short of God. (Romans 3:23) Repentance is a complete turning away from the direction one is going to the direction of God. To be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ is repentance. It is acknowledging Christ as Lord and that sins are remitted. Forgiven as though they never happened.   

Next, Jesus says, “teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. The disciples were to impart and instruct new disciples to attend to carefully, take care of; to guard; to keep, ALL THINGS that Jesus had commanded them. This was not in word only but in demonstration. In other words, the disciple were not only to teach God’s Word to the new disciples, as Jesus did to them, but how to function in the ministry that Jesus emulated before them to make more disciples.

I believe that one of the greatest needs of today is to realize what God has accomplished for us in Christ; who we are in Christ; how God sees us in Christ and all the legal rights and privileges that have been given to us in Christ. The disciples of Christ took the things that Christ had commanded very real and very serious. They knew that they were no longer natural people but supernatural and they showed us what that meant throughout the Book of Acts. Hosea the Prophet tells us, "My people are destroyed because they don’t know me (Hosea 4:6) However, Solomon tells us, "For the LORD gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding;" (Proverbs 2:6) 

So let the Holy Spirit rise up in our lives and go forth in the name of Jesus for, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few" (Matthew 9:37) because the sole purpose for being a Christian and the sole purpose of the church is to win souls and make disciples. There is nothing to fear in doing this because Jesus is with us, even to the end of the age. PTL