What The Great Commission Means For You
Posted by David Wheaton | Friday, July 30, 2010 | 5:12 pm CT
Podcast: Download (Duration: 50:48 — 8.7MB)
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20).
Last week on The Christian Worldview Radio Program, we focused on how Christians should THINK in the midst of all the bad news with regards to the direction of our government, the debasement of our culture, and the denigration of Christianity in the public square.
To maintain a biblical perspective in the midst of the bad news, you must “set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth” (Colossians 3:2). When we focus on God and His Word, His promises, His Son, we will have a peace in the midst of earthly trials that passes all understanding.
But God calls His followers not just to THINK, but to DO something in the midst of this sinful, fallen world. In some of Jesus’ last words to His disciples on earth, He commands them to take part in God’s redemptive plan — to make disciples, to baptize them, to teach them His commands.
This is known as the Great Commission. This weekend on The Christian Worldview, we will discuss how every Christian should be taking part in it.
Additional Resources:
Make Disciples – by Dick Johnson
The Christian Worldview Transcript
Date: July 31, 2010
Host: David Wheaton
Topic: What the Great Commission Means For You and For Me
DAVID WHEATON: What the Great Commission Means For You and For Me. That is the topic for today on The Christian Worldview where the mission is to think biblically about all matters of life and faith so that we can then live accordingly. And to share the Good News that Jesus Christ is who He claimed to be, the Way, the Truth and the Life and that His Word is both relevant and our basis for living in this modern world. I am David Wheaton, the host of The Christian Worldview. Our official website is TheChristianWorldview.com.
Our National Presenting Sponsor is Summit Ministries, the very best in Christian worldview resources, conferences and curricula. Their website is Summit.org. We are also supported by two other national sponsors, The Masters College and The S. Lewis Johnson Institute and of course, listeners like you.
What the Great Commission means for you; why am I bringing this up? Last week on The Christian Worldview we focused on how Christians should think in the midst of all the bad news going on around us. We talked about how the government is becoming much more socialistic, interventionist in nature in our lives taking away freedoms that we have enjoyed in this country for a long time, taking over health care, the financial sectors, all different kinds of things we have discussed in the past on this program. I won’t go into all of them today but if you have listened to the program at all you know some of the things that are going on in our government that is very troubling for Christians.
Not only the direction of government, but the debasement of our culture as well. We look around us and think that the culture whether it is the media, the entertainment industry or the educational system or wherever, the culture of immorality is being promoted in this society now. It is depressing and discouraging for Christians because we have to live here and we are sinners too, but we are trying to raise our sons and daughters a different way, we are trying to live different lives, yet it is everywhere. The culture of pornography and everything comes at us like a giant wave.
If it is not the direction of government, if it is not the debasement of our culture, then it is just the very denigration of Christian freedoms themselves and the church’s seemingly weakness in the midst of this. Just this week there were a couple different stories that came out. You probably heard about this story from Augusta State University and there was a similar one at Eastern Michigan University as well. The Alliance Defense Fund, which is a non-profit organization that takes up legal cases when Christians have their constitutional rights infringed upon. This is from Salem Communications, “Christian student told she must accept homosexuality to graduate. Jennifer Keaton is suing Augusta State University. The remediation plan according to court documents included attending three workshops on diversity, a monthly two age reflection on what she has learned from research into lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender counseling issues and increased exposure to gay populations. The latter action came with a suggestion that she attend Augusta’s Gay Pride parade.”
In other words, you have this girl who is in the counseling program at Augusta State University and she is not going to be allowed to graduate because of her Christian beliefs on homosexuality because that is not acceptable any more. She is either going to be kicked out or go to “remediation.” She must learn a few things because she is living back in the 1500s or something. These kinds of things are popping up more and more I am noticing all the time. As the secularists in this country get greater in number, they want their worldview to be prominent. If you don’t agree with them, you are out.
So when Christians see the direction of the government, the debasement of our culture and with stories like this, the denigration of Christian freedoms in America, they get depressed. It happens to me as well too. We know what a great country this country has been, not perfect, we all know that. No country has ever been perfect. As long as there is sin nature in the country, it is never going to be perfect. We have been a very good nation relatively speaking. The propagation of the gospel and Christian freedoms has been the closest government to what the Bible would want in a society. Of course, a theocracy where Christ rules is the best. In exchange for that, this has been an amazing American experiment. We see this experiment starting to fail before our eyes and it is depressing and discouraging for Christians.
Last week we talked about how to maintain a biblical perspective, how to think in the midst of all of this bad news. In other words, we said that you must first of all expect it because sinful people do sinful things. We shouldn’t be surprised. We should be really surprised when sinful people actually follow the word of God. It is just unlikely and that should surprise us, not what is going on today. So don’t be shocked and surprised.
Number two; make sure you are seeking those things above. It says in Colossians 3, set your mind on the things above. Dial it in to things of God, not on things that are on earth. We focus on God; we focus on getting into His word. When we read His promises, when we focus on His Son Jesus Christ, we will have a peace even in the midst of the difficult earthly trials. It is a peace that passes all understanding. We shouldn’t have a lot of peace when all of this is going on against us, when there is persecution against us but God does give us His peace through His Spirit, His word and trusting in the promises He gives us in Scripture.
Maintaining a biblical perspective in the midst of a sinful world goes beyond just thinking. God calls His followers to not just think a certain way, it is good to do that, but he also calls us to do something in the midst of this sinful, fallen world. In some of Christ’s last words to His disciples on earth, He commands them, not just suggests or encourages them; He actually commands them to take part in God’s overarching redemptive plan for mankind. This is what is known as The Great Commission. In some ways the Great Commission, found at the end of Matthew 28, has become the great omission for Christians today. We get so focused on other things like social justice and creation care. I saw an article from Christianity Today that said creation care needs to be a top priority for Christians. I am thinking what really needs to be the top priority is The Great Commission.
One of the reasons I am doing this particular topic is that recently I have heard three different messages from pastors on this particular topic. After you have heard it three times you think, maybe I should be thinking more critically about this and how this applies to my own life and maybe we should do a radio topic on it. Dick Johnson, our Sunday School teacher at the church I go to in Minneapolis, gave a message on this particular topic a couple of weeks ago. I heard one of R.C. Sproul’s broadcasts one day on this topic. We were recently on a little road trip and we heard a Steve Lawson message on this topic of The Great Commission so while putting this all together, God has something in here that He wants me to know. That is why I am doing it. It has been so much in my consciousness recently.
You think about the fact that the final words of anyone are really important and usually quite profound. If someone is on their deathbed, they may gather their family around and say some of the most profound, important and meaningful things that they have said in their whole lives. It is the same thing with Christ here as He gives The Great Commission. This is the marching order for believers. In other words, He is giving us the mission He wants for us now that He is leaving the earth. This is really important if you think about it. He is on a mountain in Galilee. He has already been crucified. He has His disciples gathered around Him and He is going to be ascending into Heaven just days later. This is the final speech, if you will. Here is what I want you to do because I am leaving. If you look at the context of this, this is profoundly important for us to be able to understand, not just what He wants us to think, but what He wants us to do. I want you to think biblically but now I want you to live accordingly. What does that mean?
Here is what He says in the very last verses of the Gospel of Matthew. They are up in this mountain in Galilee. It is after the crucifixion and shortly before the ascension. Here is what He says in Matthew 28:16-20, But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. And when they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful. And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been give to Me in heaven and on earth. Go there fore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.
That right there is The Great Commission. You probably have heard about it before, but if you didn’t know what it was, it is found in Matthew 28:16-20. The question I have for today is why has this Great Commission become the great omission amongst us? I include myself in this. Why isn’t this the burning mission and purpose of our lives? Instead of getting distracted by all these other things that can take place in our lives but this should be on the frontal lobe of our brain all the time, The Great Commission, the last words of Christ. Why has the Great Commission become the great omission and what are some ways that Joe Average, individual Christian can pursue The Great Commission? I say it that way because often we look to the big names, the celebrity Christians, if you will, those who have big churches and have big programs and are on radio and TV to do The Great Commission and we sit back and watch. My question is what are some practical ways you and I can pursue this Great Commission?
The topic is What does the Great Commission mean for you and think there are six things I want to go over. Verse 17 says, when they saw Him, they worshiped Him, but some were doubtful. Christ tells us in advance here what is going to be the response to pursuing The Great Commission. Even before He tells us what it is, He tells us what the response is going to be. They worshiped Him; some were doubtful. In other words, when you go after and pursue The Great Commission and spread the good news of Jesus Christ, some are going to believe and some are going to doubt. There is not going to be 100% universal acceptance and agreement and belief in worship in what you are saying. Some believe, some doubt, it is always the case when we preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.
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DAVID: What does The Great Commission mean for you and me? I think there are six things that I pulled out of this. There are probably many more applications but I picked out six for purposes of today’s program. Honestly as I was thinking about this during the break, I can’t really think of a more important topic than to know how we should be applying The Great Commission. Christ is leaving the earth and here is what I want you to do. We should listen very, very closely to this and then figure out ways that we can act on it. We can talk about politics, we can talk about the culture, we can talk about the denigration of Christian freedoms, we can talk about all of these things but it seems to me that there is nothing more important than understanding the mission statement if you will, that Jesus Christ is giving to His followers before He leaves the earth.
The first thing I think it means is that when you pursue The Great Commission, some are going to believe and some are going to doubt. That is number one, so don’t have unrealistic expectations.
Number two comes from verses 18 and 19 in Matthew 28. And Jesus came up and spoke to them saying, And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been give to Me in heaven and on earth. Go there fore . . . Now the “all authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth,” when I was thinking about that, I thought, who says that? All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. In other words, I am the King of the universe. This goes back to the C.S. Lewis statement that the person who is making the claim that all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth; you are either a complete lunatic to be dismissed or you are a liar. If you are not one of those two and it is actually true, then you are Lord and this changes everything. You can’t read this sentence and say, Jesus said all authority has been given to me on heaven and on earth and that is nice so now I am going to go on with my life. You can’t do that because if He is who He says that He is, that He is the creator of life, He is the sustainer of life, He is the Savior of the world, He is the judge of the world. If this is true that He has all authority, then the other things that He says about Himself are true as well and that should affect our lives immediately knowing that we need to be right with the King of the universe. Otherwise, He is going to be our judge some day. It is like the verse that says every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. We are all going to bow. We can either bow willingly now while we are alive on earth or we will bow unwillingly someday when He stands over us as judge.
That is an amazing statement that all authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. The next verse, go make disciples of all the nations. This is easily confused for, well that is for those professional Christians. That is for those foreign missionaries. They are supposed to go over and evangelize and prosthelytize people way over there in the deep parts of Africa or Southeast Asia, thousands of miles away. I think that is actually what it is partly about. We saw Paul and Peter and the Apostles going around the area of the Mediterranean back in the first century and that is what they were doing. They were taking the gospel to the lands, but this is also the word and all three messages I heard said the same thing, go really means as you go or as you are going, in other words, in the course of your life. This has application to you and me as well. If you are a believer, this is for you. Not to go necessarily to some place overseas, although it may, but it certainly means as you are going in the daily course of your life; as you are going off to work, as you are going off to school, as you are in your home, as you go.
Then it goes into the third point, what does The Great Commission mean for you and me? It means that we are at first to make disciples of all the nations. This is the first of the three parts of The Great Commission, to make disciples of all the nations. If you know Scripture, you will know that He is not saying that He expects us to be the one that actually makes the disciples. God makes the disciples and He uses us, His own disciples to make others. In other words, we have the privilege of doing so. Success is not our duty. He is responsible for the conversions. We are responsible for following the orders. We know this because in Acts 13 when Paul and Barnabus were in Antioch it says, for so the Lord has commanded us. I have places you as a light for the gentiles that you may bring salvation to the end of the earth. When the gentiles heard the gospel, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord and as many as had been appointed to eternal life, believed. So don’t put pressure on yourselves to make disciples of all the nations, I have to convert 1000 people. No, just be faithful to be used by God to go and let Him make the disciples. A small variation there but an important one.
Those are the first three points. Some are going to doubt and some are going to believe. Number two, realize that Jesus is King and Lord of the universe and this is a command for every Christian, The Great Commission. Number three, as we go and make disciples, we need to know how do we actually do that? How do we actually communicate the gospel in a correct way so people will want to come to Christ? This is the key question here. How do we make disciples?
I think it is pretty simple. We tell them the gospel or the good news but that has become a general statement nowadays. It is a cliché; tell them the gospel. What exactly is the gospel? How can we clearly communicate it to someone? One thing that I have been thinking about recently that I think communicates the gospel really well and this is not a new concept, but I really like the framework of the creation, fall, redemption, and restoration framework for Scripture. In other words, you have the original creation back in Genesis where God establishes His authority. He is the Creator of heaven and earth, verse 1. It establishes His perfection and the perfection of creation. We see His relationship with Adam and Eve in the garden before the fall. So there is this perfect created order and this was God’s original intention for mankind.
This is a good way to understand Scripture; creation, fall and right now all God is doing in the world is about redeeming people out of this sinful world and to Himself and eventually some day there will be restoration of the heavens and the earth. So the creation part of it is good because it gives people an idea or understanding of why they are here. They don’t just see themselves as some sort of generic, random molecule floating around. No, God actually created you for a purpose. He wants to relate to you. So communicating that first is good. Some people like to communicate right that you are a sinner and I don’t have any problem with that. There are different strokes for different folks. I don’t disagree with that but I think talking about creation and why you were created and the purpose for which God created you and the intended purpose of creation that it was created to be perfect and for God to relate to mankind and to be in fellowship with Him and to serve Him. This gives answers that big question in life, why am I here?
You look in Psalm 139 and it says, For Thou didst form my inward parts. Thou didst weave me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to Thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are Thy works and my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from Thee when I was made in secret and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth. Thine eyes have seen my unformed substance and in Thy book they were all written, the days that were ordained for me when as yet there were not one of them.
What this shows for someone who doesn’t know Christ is that God formed me, he created me in my mother’s womb, specifically? I am not just a random accident and the product of the evolutionary food chain? The creation aspect of this framework gives someone purpose and understanding that they are individually created in the likeness of God. You see in Genesis 1 towards the end that God created everything in six days and He made man in His image and everything was very good. That is the creation aspect.
Then you go on to the next part of that framework, the fall. This begins to get into the reason that we need the gospel. This shows the bad news that man was given a choice, a test in the garden and he fell. Therefore, that curse, that tendency has been passed on to every single human being since then. That is the explanation for why there are bad things, why do people kill each other, why is there greed, why is there corruption, why is there violence? This explains it; the fall. People fell. God gave them free will and man chose badly and continues to choose sinfully to this day and there will be consequences for those choices. We can’t offend the just Judge of the universe and not be judged ourselves.
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DAVID: From clarity to certainty to conviction, that is really what we are after today as we talk about what The Great Commission means for you and for me. We try to be clear about what it is, clarity; to become so clear in that belief that we are certain about it and therefore we live with conviction that it should be our mission. We shouldn’t keep it to ourselves and shuffle around in our lives and not strive with all our effort to fulfill The Great Commission. This is really a part two from last week. Last week was how to think in the world in the midst of all the bad news. This week is about what to do in the world in the midst of a sinful, fallen world.
The listener question for today is this; why has The Great Commission from Matthew 28 become the great omission and what are some practical ways that Joe Average individual Christian can pursue The Great Commission? I say that because some times, as I said earlier, we look to the professional Christians to do this kind of thing. What are some practical ways, we as individual Christians can pursue it?
I have gone over three things, what this means for you and me to apply or pursue the Great Commission. Number one, it means that some are going to believe and some are going to doubt. We are not going to be universally accepted or successful in this. The whole world is not going to be converted. The idea that Christians are going to take dominion and the whole world is going to be converted is nowhere in Scripture at least while Christ is not ruling on this earth.
Number two, The Great Commission means that it is for everyone, not just for missionaries going overseas. Number three, it means that we are to make disciples of all the nations. How do we do that? I was explaining the creation, fall, redemption and restoration framework for understanding. This is a good way to actually understand the world and try to explain this to someone is really quite easy. You can tell someone your testimony that is fine. You can sit down and go over the plan of salvation, maybe the four spiritual laws. That is very good too. You can give them a tract, you can give them a book. People have different personalities. Those are all fine. Pray for different opportunities to do so.
I think it is helpful to understand this creation, fall, redemption, restoration framework because it gives people an idea of the greater purpose of life. You get the creation part that God created me individually. He wants humans to relate to Him. I get that. Then there is the fall part where we have willfully disobeyed and rebelled and therefore we stand in judgment under God. Acts 17, Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is declaring to all people everywhere that they should repent because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man who He hap appointed having furnished proof to all men by raising Christ from the dead.
In other words, man has fallen, man is sinful, God is calling you to repent because He has fixed a day when He is going to judge the world in righteousness. There is the bad news. Creation, fall, which is the bad news and then you have redemption, which is the good news. This is the news that this is what God is doing in the world right now. That is what His story is, God’s redemptive plan on calling sinners out of the world unto Himself. This is the good news that God is buying back. That is what redemption means. You buy back something. He is buying back the sinners who were in the slave market of sin. He is paying the purchase price to Himself for their sin. He is settling the sentence by the sacrifice of His own Son, paying the price that sinners deserve to pay for their own sin. It is that sway, that incredible swap from 2 Corinthians 5 in that Christ takes our sin on His shoulders and pays the price for it and He gives us His righteousness so we may be right with God. He pays for our sins and deals with the offenses we have against God. At the same time He also gives us His righteousness so we can live a perfect life in eternity with Him in heaven. That is the redemptive plan. It is not based on our works of course. Titus 3, He saved us not on the basis of deeds we have done in righteousness but according to His mercy by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior so that being justified by His grace, we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
We don’t bring anything to the table. God’s terms are I save you, you bring nothing. If you bring something, you corrupt the gift and then it is not true salvation.
That is what it means to make disciples. Tell them about creation; tell them about the fall; tell them about the good news that Jesus Christ is redeeming people out of the world.
The question is why has The Great Commission become the great omission and what are some practical ways we can apply this in our own lives?
Let’s go to Earl in Columbus, Ohio. Welcome to The Christian Worldview. What does The Great Commission mean for you and for me?
EARL: In today’s society it has been so ingrained that Christians are weird; Christians are odd. So many shy away from The Great Commission because they are afraid of being ostracized or condemned themselves by society. The thing that gets me is when I go out there and I find myself embarrassed when one of my coworkers who I assumed was not a Christian teaches me a few things. An example would be the first time I heard that if suddenly Christianity were to become illegal and in today’s society I don’t know how far we are from that, if you were accused of a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you. For me the fear is even beginning a conversation. What I have found helpful is when someone who I don’t know, haven’t spoken to before, I tell them I celebrate March 16. They say, what is March 16 and I say, Saint John Day 3:16, For God so loved the world, something like that, simple. I actually had a lady in our office come up and ask me one day if I was a Christian and I said yes, why do you ask? I drive a company van and she took it in for an oil change and the radio was set to a Christian station. Sometimes the little things we do have such a great impact on people.
DAVID: You are right. Let me just give one comment to that. As I said earlier in that verse from Acts, as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed. In other words, God is the one who is making the disciples. Just being faithful with the opportunities and saying a word or testimony or anything you can do is helpful if God is working in that person’s heart. I had an e-mail correspondence this week with a Jewish friend of mine and he wrote me a letter about the difficulty of a health issue in his family and he was very open about thinking about faith. I e-mailed him back and I knew that there has been some trust developed over the years and I talked about some of these things. I didn’t lay out the four steps of the plan of salvation but it was enough to prick his conscience for sure. Interesting, he e-mailed me back and I could tell from his e-mail that he had a little bit of a joke saying I will think about the faith as he is doing whatever. I knew God is working on is heart but he is not quite there yet. He is not quite ready as a Jewish man who is a very intelligent guy. He has been to one of the best schools and so forth but he thinks faith is something you believe in and there is no basis for it. Even if it is not true, you just believe it, just faith. He is not quite there yet.
The point is that God is certainly working on his heart. I couldn’t believe the e-mail when it came in and the things he was saying. Just trust in the fact that God is working on people’s hearts despite the fact that sometimes we don’t think so.
Let’s go next to Hickory, North Carolina and Dawn. Welcome to The Christian Worldview. What do you think are the practical ways we can apply The Great Commission to our lives?
DAWN: After what I have been through the last two years, one of the older preachers that I have had the precious opportunity to sit under said he had heard another older preacher say to him, that made it stick, was live it and if necessary, use words.
(break)
DAVID: Today we are talking about what The Great Commission means for you. You heard Dawn from North Carolina talking about the fact that there is a saying that says, live your Christian lives and use words, if necessary. There is some truth to that from a standpoint that our walk has to match our talk and vice versa. In other words, you can’t just have one or the other. The gospel was spread through communication, by the testimonies and words of the Apostles and Christ Himself. It isn’t just living the life and people are going to come up to you and ask you. It may happen, I am not saying it won’t but you have to live a sanctified walk and then there has to be talk as well. It is life and lips. It is walk and talk. It is both.
Let’s go next to Katy in Hudson, Wisconsin. Katy, welcome to The Christian Worldview. Why do you think The Great Commission has become the great omission?
KATY: I don’t know the whole answer as to why Christians don’t evangelize as much but I don’t know if it has to go along with the whole seeker sensitive movement or just the watered down gospel that we have been preaching in our churches. What I wanted to touch on, early in my Christian walk my brother taught me to memorize 1 Peter 3:15 which tells us always be ready to give an answer for the hope that lies within us. There are so many apologetic websites and books out there that are just wonderful that give us some insights to other faiths that are out there. They are not a substitute for a regular Bible reading but to equip ourselves. In the summertime, there are a lot of people of other faiths that come to my door. Right by my door I have tracts, I have my testimony so when they come to try to persuade me to look at their faith, I am ready to equip them with what I believe.
DAVID: That is great Katy. You are exactly right. There is no excuse for not being settled in your faith and knowing what the gospel is and knowing how to share your faith and to pursue The Great Commission. We have so many resources in this country. It is not a lack of resources. It is wading through the ones that are not worth it or are just downright bad. That is the hard part. It is not a lack of resources. It is a lack of discipline or motivation on our part that we don’t think it is important enough to fulfill The Great Commission so we don’t know what to say when we get into a situation with a co-worker or a friend. We don’t know how to share the gospel. That is really bad. It is not for a lack of resources. There are so many resources that it is just bubbling over in a sense. Finding the good ones that are doctrinally sound is probably the hardest part.
Let’s go to Tampa, Florida and Ralph. Welcome to The Christian Worldview. What is your comment on this issue of The Great Commission?
RALPH: I am not a great speaker but my problem is it says in the Scriptures that you have to be in the world, not of the world. That is number one. Number two is we tend to shy away from intruding in on other people’s faiths. I think that what we ought to do is to learn how to have a passion. If we could have a passion for talking to someone, that would help.
DAVID: That is a great point Ralph. If you feel a fear of talking to people, and I do myself, especially to those who have known you the longest and are your friends, unsaved friends. Those are often the hardest ones to talk to because they know you really well, you have established a relationship with them over a long period of time and yet they have been able to co-exist with you in some sense and not share the same faith. That could be difficult because there is a fear. Everything we do is based on the motivation of love or fear. There is a fear within us that we could lose this relationship. We are going to offend someone we have known for a long time. I think the main thing is to start praying for that person’s heart, that God will start working in that person’s heart because it is like the parable of the soils. It is all about the heart that God plows up. He uses us to communicate the gospel and it is a great privilege. Again, we are not responsible for converting anyone. We are just responsible to obey God in pursuing The Great Commission.
I have gone over three points and I want to quickly go over the last three. We have gone over that you are not going to be universally successful; some are going to believe and some are going to doubt. That is number one. Number two, this is a non-optional command. It is not just for foreign missionaries. Number three, to make disciples. That is what we spent most of the show going over today; creation, fall, redemption and restoration. I love that framework.
Number four, says baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Notice how baptism does not come before the conversion part. This is something that is so easily confused; if you are baptized, you are saved. Sprinkling a baby really only gets them wet. They don’t have a conscious will to understand they are a sinner in need of repentance. Baptism is a non-optional command. After someone is saved, we should be encouraging them to be baptized right away to identify with Christ.
Number five, teach them to observe all that I commanded you. This is also important as well that we are not just evangelists. That is wonderful to be an evangelist and encourage someone to be baptized, but this is where it gets hard. We need to teach them to observe all that I command you. In other words we need to be disciplers. Being an evangelist is not enough. He wants to invest our lives into people. You can’t leave the Christian babies in the Christian cribs so to speak. They will just stay there. They will never grow in their faith. So we need to invest the time and effort into people’s lives. This is the hard part because this takes our time and our energy and you can get hurt doing this. People you have invested your lives into, all of a sudden go off and all of that work you have put into them is seemingly for naught or they hurt you in some way later. This is the hard part.
I want to conclude with Psalm 118:4-6, Oh let those who fear the Lord say, His lovingkindness is everlasting. From my distress I called upon the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me in a large place. The Lord is for me; I will not fear; What can man do to me?
As we think about The Great Commission, as we think about living in this changing and challenging world, there is one thing we can always count on and trust in, Jesus Christ and His word are the same yesterday, today and forever.
