Make Disciples

Good evening and welcome to the Panhandle. Tonight we are looking at the last command in the Book of Matthew. So come on in, get comfortable, open your Bible and let's do a little surfing.

As we look Matthew 28:20, let me ask you when you hear the word disciple what is your first thought? If you are like most folks your answered probably was the Big 12. You know “The Disciples,” who later to would become known as the Apostles. But look at this definition of disciple - a follower or student of a teacher, leader, or philosopher: A follower or student of a teacher or leader, brothers and sisters in Christ that is all of us. After all look at the definition of Christian - one who professes belief in the teachings of Christ Jesus.

Now look at our Scripture for tonight's study: 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you all the days until the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20). This verse come at the end of Matthew's Gospel and is the last verse in what has come to be known as the Great Commission.

The commission is to teach the believers or new disciples “To observe all things whatever I have commanded you.” This statement is related directly to the content of Christ Jesus’ ministry. Salvation is not simply a pietistic experience of assurance that we are “justified by faith,” or “forgiven,” or “saved,” but is the assurance of a saving relationship with Christ Jesus whom we confess as Lord and serve as Lord by following His teachings. This is a righteousness of relationship, a new life in which we walk with Christ ~ 7 But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ-the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. (Philippians 3:7-9).¹

They were to make disciples by proclaiming the truth concerning Christ Jesus. Their hearers were to be evangelized and enlisted as Christ Jesus’ followers. Those who believed were to be baptized in water in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Such an act would associate a believer with the person of Christ Jesus and with the Triune God. The God whom they served is one God and yet is three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Those who respond are also to be taught the truths Christ Jesus had specifically communicated to the Eleven. Not all that Christ Jesus taught the disciples was communicated by them but they did teach specific truths for the new Church Age as they went abroad. Christ Jesus’ commission, applicable to all His followers, involved one command, “Make disciples,” which is accompanied by three participles in the Greek: “going,” baptizing, and teaching.²

In this verse we learn that those who are discipled must not only be baptized but also taught. The content of this instruction is everything Christ Jesus commanded the first disciples.

Five things stand out.

1. The focus is on Christ Jesus’ commands, not OT law. Christ Jesus’ words, like the words of Scripture, are more enduring than heaven and earth (24:35); and the peculiar expression “everything I have commanded you” is reminiscent of the authority of Yahweh (Exod 29:35; Deut 1:3, 41; 7:11; 12:11, 14). The revelation of Jesus Messiah at this late stage in salvation history brings the fulfillment of everything to which the OT Scriptures pointed and constitutes their valid continuity; but this means that the focus is necessarily on Christ Jesus.

2. Notice, Christ Jesus does not foresee a time when any part of His teaching will be rightly judged needless, outmoded, superseded, or untrue: everything He has commanded must be passed on “to the very end of the age.”

3. What the disciples teach is not mere dogma steeped in abstract theorizing but content to be obeyed.

4. It then follows that by carefully passing on everything Christ Jesus taught, the first disciples—themselves eyewitnesses—call into being new generations of “ear-witnesses” (O’Brien, pp. 264f.). These in turn pass on the truth they received. So a means is provided for successive generations to remain in contact with Christ Jesus’ teachings (cf. 2 Tim 2:2).

5. Christianity must spread by an internal necessity or it has already decayed; for one of Christ Jesus’ commands is to teach all he commands. Failure to disciple, baptize and teach the peoples of the world is already itself one of the failures of our own discipleship.³

And so we come to the end of our study of the 49 General Commands of Christ Jesus. I'm not sure what's next but until I figure it out by the leading of the Holy Spirit, may our Lord and Saviour, Christ Jesus bless your Bible study.

So until next time surfers,

Biblesurfer

 

 

1 Myron S. Augsburger and Lloyd J. Ogilvie, Matthew, vol. 24, The Preacher’s Commentary Series (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc, 1982), 18.

2 Louis A. Barbieri Jr., “Matthew,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 93–94.

3 D. A. Carson, “Matthew,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Matthew, Mark, Luke, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 8 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1984), 598–599.