What Is The Great Commission

Getting better at this blogging stuff.  This was something I wrote a while back for something else, but as I read through it I realized so many people don't really understand the Great Commission.  This is the core and heart of what we are teaching where we are serving, but it is a lesson needed in so many churches today, so I thought this was an appropriate next post for the Making Disciples blog.

If we truly call ourselves disciples of Christ, then we must understand we are given a Great Commission and two Great Commandments.  The Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20) commands us to "make disciples".  There are three aspects to doing this.

1) Go.  It does not mean inviting someone to church.  It does not mean praying for the lost.  It does not mean singing praises.  All these things are good in and of themselves, but they are not part of obeying the command to "make disciples".  We must GO OUT to wherever God has placed us, our neighborhoods, our city or in some cases to another country, but we must go and share the gospel.

2) Baptize.  It means leading others to Christ and to the first step of obedience which is following in believer's baptism.  Every believer is commanded to make disciples, and therefore every believer is commanded to baptize.  If we relegate this only to ministers or "approved" representatives, then we not only rob ourselves of the blessing of obedience to Christ's commission, but we also fail to teach other what is the command of God rather than the traditions of men.

3) Teach them to obey all that (Christ) has commanded.  Obedience is not legalism, it is love.  Jesus 3 times in John 14 equates loving him with obeying His commandments.  If we are truly making "disciples" and not just "converts" then we must teach them how to make disciples, and not just make disciples but to make disciple making disciples.

The Great Commandment gives us the motivation and the fuel which spurs us on.  God saves people to bring glory to himself.  When we obey His commands and make disciples, we bring glory to Him.  That is the key to loving God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength.  We live our lives in a way that brings Him glory.  The second commandment is the heart of the gospel.  If we truly love someone, and we have the keys to eternal life, how can we not share this with someone who is lost and dying.  There are many excuses for why we don’t obey the Great Commission, but when we take away the excuses they all boil down to one reason: not enough love.  To have in our hands a jug of water and to walk callously past a person dying of thirst most Christians would recognize instantly as hateful.  Yet how many times do we walk past people we know who are dead in their trespasses and sin and fail to share with them the water of life?

The Great Commission is what we are commanded to live out if we are to truly call ourselves disciples.  Teaching others to be and to make disciples is an inseparable part of that.  Are you being obedient?  If you are not, as a regular part of your life, living out these three aspects of making disciples then what will it take before you will?  It is His command, it is His expectation.  What are you waiting for?