DNOW: Discipleship Lesson 4

This week Tommy T. taught the lesson "The Great Commission" in our Discipleship Series. I will summarize a few of the highlights from the material.

THE GREAT COMMISSION

¹⁶ Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. ¹⁷ And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. ¹⁸ And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ 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, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:16-20)

The Great Commission is worshiped in many North American churches, yet not obeyed. I'm not just talking about sending mission teams to foreign countries. I'm talking about each believer personally accepting Jesus' call to follow Him and become His disciple. To fulfill the Great Commission every day. To embrace the cross--the true gospel of Christ. We do this by:

- Saying "no" to self.

- Surrendering the direction of our lives to Jesus.

- Choosing God's will over our own will.

- Enduring any sacrifice for the joy of obedience to Jesus.

- Following Jesus wherever He leads.

- Boldly proclaiming the gospel.

We either choose to follow Jesus, or we choose to follow the culture and the world. We embrace the commandments that Jesus taught, or we find reasons to compromise His Word. We are either all in or all out. You can be sure that Satan is always ready to help you find a compromise to being "all in." He is quick to whisper in your ear and tell you, "That isn't what that means..." or "There is nothing wrong with doing that..." or "The Bible was written long ago and in some cases doesn't apply today..."

This lesson reminds us that the Great Commission was Jesus' last words to us. You could say it was His GREATEST PASSION that we "Follow Him and become His disciples..." and then "Go make disciples...". In commanding us to "Go..", He made sure we understood that we would be going with His authority: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me."

We fulfill the Great Commission through four primary actions:

1. The Great Commission is fulfilled by GOING: Being intentional in our effort to reach the lost for Christ. Being sensitive to always be willing to intercede for others.

2. The Great Commission is fulfilled by PREACHING: Telling others about Christ. This is done in our everyday encounters with people God brings in our path. As we listen to others talk about their troubles, we should be in prayer asking God to give us an opportunity to point them to Jesus. Rarely will a day go by that your path doesn't cross someone who is hurting and in desperate need of Christ.

3. The Great Commission is fulfilled by BAPTIZING: We baptize the new believers in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Next, we incorporate them into the fellowship of the local church where they can be taught (discipled) all that Jesus commands.

4. The Great Commission is fulfilled by TRAINING: We teach the new believer all the things Jesus commands of us, including the command to make other disciples.

As a new grandparent, I have been reminded what is required to care for an infant. My grandson is totally dependent on his parents to take care of his EVERY need. There is nothing wrong with him being an infant and living on milk while someone else is attentive to his every need. But there would be something very wrong if he continued to desire only milk. This analogy also holds true for the new believer in Christ. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13:11:

"When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me."

Discipleship is an important part of our spiritual growth process. It all begins with the Great Commission.