Discipleship Through Grace

Discipleship Through Grace The Great Commission (Discipleship Through Grace) Matthew 28:16-20 New King James Version (NKJV) 16 Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. 17 When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 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, 20 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." Amen. This is the Word of God, For us the people of God, Thanks be to God. I was so very happy to see this scripture when I looked up the Lectionary for this week. I think everybody has certain scriptures that stick with them throughout their lives and this is one of those for me. I want to first discuss the setting in which this is taking place and what it meant to Jesus' apostles and disciples at that time. Then I want to discuss what it means to us today as Jesus modern day disciples. The events of this scripture are taking place just before Jesus is to ascend into heaven and take His place at the right hand of our Father God. As we all know, the last words we hear from someone as they are leaving our lives whether for a short time or in some cases permanently are very important to us and often stick with us for the rest of our lives. For Jesus disciples, this is such an event. He is returning to His heavenly home and though He will always be with them in spirit as He is with us all, Jesus will no longer be with them physically. It is time for them to take up the lead of His ministry here on earth themselves and spread it throughout the world. It's no small undertaking by any means and also one that will be faced with opposition at every turn. Afterall, the Jewish authorities who had sent Jesus to the cross for crucifixion were already hunting them and trying to put an end to their ministry. This was a time of goodbye for the disciples and the time for Jesus to give them His final instructions on carrying out the ministry. 16 Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. 17 When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted. The scriptures state in verse sixteen that their were eleven disciples at this point. Judas Iscariot, who was one of the original twelve apostles had betrayed Jesus to the Jewish leaders and lead them to Him to be arrested. Afterward, Judas had gone outside of the city and committed suicide. The election of Matthias by the other disciples to take Judas' place in the ministry had not yet taken place and the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, who would later be known as the apostle Paul hadn't happened yet either. The verse also tells us that his gathering with our Lord takes place at Galilee. This is after Christ has already appeared to His disciples in Jerusalem as it is written in Mark Chapter 16, Luke Chapter 24, and in John Chapter 20. Jesus had first appeared to ten of the eleven remaining apostles in the place they had assembled in secret for fear of the Jewish officials having them arrested for being Jesus' followers. This is the occasion where Jesus had appeared in their midst and startled them until He told them 'Peace be with you' and showed them His scars so that they would know it was Him and not some spirit. When they knew it was their Lord He then breathed on them and told them to receive the Holy Spirit. After He left them, the eleventh apostles, Thomas came in, but would not believe what they were telling him. He even made the statement "Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe." When Jesus appeared again eight days later to all eleven apostles He confronted the apostle Thomas who did not believe Christ was resurrected even though He had already been seen by Mary Magdalene outside the tomb, by the other ten apostles, and by the two pilgrims on their walk to Emmaus. As we know, he was the original doubting Thomas. He finally believed when our Lord appeared before Him and told him "Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing." 28 And Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!" I'm going into all of this detail because verse seventeen states: When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted. You see, this was not referring to doubt among the eleven apostles who were in attendance at this gathering, but it referred to some of the hundreds that were there. The apostles were not alone at Galilee. The scripture in Matthew tells us that Jesus had instructed the eleven to gather there, but in 1 Corinthians 15:6 we are told After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. So, the resurrected Jesus was seen by over five hundred people at once before He ascended into heaven. At this point, His closest follower knew who He was and believed without a doubt the He was the Christ, He was the Son of God in the flesh and they would follow His every instruction. Verse eighteen states: And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Jesus is telling those gathered what we today already know. The Father in heaven had given the Son all authority to rule over heaven and earth and under this authority His followers were to carry out all of His instructions. In verses nineteen and twenty Jesus gives out the great commission: 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." Amen. For these original disciples, this meant that they were no longer to only preach to the Jewish people who were God's chosen people, but they were to take the 'good news' to the gentiles throughout the world as well, Just as Jesus Himself had done with the Samaritan woman at the well. From that moment on, all people were to be given the opportunity for salvation and the forgiveness of sins through the shed blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. This commission was for the eleven apostles and all the rest of Christ's disciples gathered there at Galilee that day and still holds true to all of His disciples two thousand years later. These verses also give us the confirmation of the Holy Trinity. Though the word trinity never appears in the bible, when the disciples are told to baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Jesus is confirming the three persons that make up our God. The three that are at work in our bible from the first verses of Genesis to the last chapter of Revelations if you take a closer look. The same three parts of our God that are at work in our lives today as we carry on the furthering of God's kingdom here on earth and making of disciples as the apostles first did. So, how do we go forth and make disciples of all nations in world today? How do we witness the gospel of Jesus Christ resurrected to the people of our time? First and foremost we must first make disciples of ourselves. We must graduate from being a believer and a church member to being an actual disciple of Christ. We do this by keeping ourselves versed in God's holy Word reading out bible at home, as well as devotionals and other Christian publications, taking part in bible studies and Christian book studies at church, and getting involved in a Sunday school class. We should also have a healthy prayer life, and attend worship services regularly so that we can give praise back to God for all of His blessings in our lives and be in fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ. All of these things will assist us in become living, breathing examples of disciples of our Lord and Savior. After preparing ourselves, we can then go out into the world and begin to spread the gospel. For some of us, this will mean doing mission work in foreign lands, helping to feed starving people suffering through droughts, wars, and diseases, helping build shelter for the homeless and disaster victims, giving medical attention in places where there are no doctors, building churches for new believers, building schools for children who have never had the opportunity for an education, and most importantly, showing them that God and His people love them and have not forgotten them. This is one of the most powerful ways to bring more souls to believe in and to know Christ. This can change the hearts of those who worship pagan idols and deities and those who have no faith in anything at all. Not all of us are meant for this kind of mission work though. For many Christians, their mission work and discipleship efforts will take place in their own communities. It can be volunteering at their local food banks, homeless shelters, retirement centers, or childrens' homes. It could also be helping the elderly or disabled in their area through a community outreach program by way of a local civic organization or their home church like our own church has. Many of you make have already been doing mission work without even realizing it. At other times, witnessing the gospel of Christ can be something as simple as holding a door open for a stranger or having a kind word for the aggravated and underpaid clerk ringing up your purchase in the checkout lane at the store. Through these random acts of kindness, your efforts and growth toward a more Christlike way of life will show through and hopefully inspire those around you to want what you have by knowing Christ. In doing any or all of these things, we are showing the changes that the grace of God has made in our lives and how that grace continues to work in and shape our lives. I'm speaking of that preventient grace that comes before salvation. It was the spark that God put in our hearts to that led us to the Lord to begin with. It was that same preventient grace that kept us safe when we put ourselves in dangerous situations in which we could have harmed ourselves or others along the way, but because we were sheltered by God's own loving hand, that did not happen, so that we may serve the purpose He had for our lives today. There's also the justifying grace we experienced when we finally took Jesus into our hearts and said 'Lord doing everything my way just isn't working. It's time that I start doing it your way from now on'. This is the grace of conversion, of salvation, and of being born again. It doesn't mean we are perfect by any means. Receiving this grace means that from this time on, we are going to strive toward a more Christlike way of life. It means we have a lot of growing to do in order to become a whole person and an obedient servant of God. After we've received that justifying grace, we now are in the midst of sustaining grace. This is the grace that is active in our day to day lives. This is the kind of grace that includes doing the things that I discussed that make us a better disciple of Christ. It's staying versed in the scriptures, having an active prayer life, taking care of family and friends, being kind to strangers, worshiping with fellow believers, doing good works, and being that living example of what a Christian should be. We must work on ourselves continually and allow God to work on us continually as a part of this sustaining grace. After all, our Lord's brother James told us in the scriptures that 'For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also'. This doesn't mean we can earn grace through the works of our hands. It means that we will do these works out of the kindness of our heart because of the grace we have received from God above and through these grace driven works, we will go forth and make disciples of all the nations. Pete 6-19-11