What The Church Doesn't Get to Vote On ...

The Great Commission

16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Matthew ends his gospel with what we call the "Great Commission".  It is to be the mission statement for every church in every nation for all time.  As someone has rightly said, "The Great Commisson is the one thing we don't get to vote on."  We know it is important because it is the last thing Jesus says to the 11 men before he goes back to heaven.  This is the same mission that He has equipped them and given them the authority to do.  And if this is Jesus' main strategy for reaching all nations with the gospel should not the church constantly evaluate if they are achieving this mission. Do we measure the number of disciples we are making?

First of all let's look at the nature of the Great Commission.  What has Jesus specifically asked us to do? One can see at the heart of this mission statement is making disciples.  Note it is says, "Go and make disciples".  Disciple making is is not a passive activity.  We need to prioritize and have a plan for making disciples.  Many churches state this is their main mission, but have no plan to accomplish it.  At the heart of actually making disciples is training them to be like Jesus.  Jesus' disciples were trained by the Master himself for three years.  Note Jesus's strategy. He chose disciples, led by example, build authentic relationships, and then equipped him to do what he was doing. Do we use this strategy? If leaders in the church are not training disciples like this, we are assuming our plan is better than Jesus'  Notice too "make disciples" assumes a process which is complete when someone is a disciple and then making otther disciples.  Of course this makes sense as this is the only way to reach the whole world with the gospel by replication and mulitiplication. 

Jesus adds, "And teach them to obey all that I have commanded".  Again this is teaching people to do what Jesus did.  Jesus was in complete obedience to His Father. So being a disciple is doing/obeying what Jesus commanded.  This is a challenge for most of us.  For me what worked was being in relationship with other disciples who are also endeavoriing to carry out this commission.  Note the word "education" is not intellectual in nature.  Though we need to learn how to read and interpret the bible (especially the gospels which focus on Jesus' life) teaching means more than this.  As Dallas Willard has said, "We are often educated beyond our obedience".  Simply put the church needs to put more emphasis on how we apply the Word than simply intellectualize it.   

Finally Jesus gives us a promise.  Virtually all of the above is impossible without Jesus' help and power.  Jesus says, "All authority and power have been given to you now go!"  Wow!  You mean I can only do the things Jesus did in His power?  Yes that's what he said.  The greatest reason we may fail in making disciples is we try to do it in our own power and authority.  

Friends, we all search for meaning and purpose in life.  Could there be any greater purpose than making disciples who make disciples?  At the end of our lives will we have made any disciples?  Let's get to work!