Great Commission Week 2

Matthew 28:16–20 (NLT)

The Great Commission

¹⁶ Then the eleven disciples left for Galilee, going to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. ¹⁷ When they saw him, they worshiped him—but some of them doubted!

¹⁸ Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹ Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. ²⁰ Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Commission Impossible? 

The Great Commission tells us we are to make disciples by teaching all the commands Jesus taught. This sounds simple and straightforward.

Until you try to do it.  

Every attempt to obey Jesus’ command to teach others to also obey His every command unearths impossible sounding questions like…

• Do I even know everything Jesus taught?
• If not, how do I learn everything He taught?
• Did Jesus consider all the things His Father taught and commanded in the Old Testament a part of His teachings as well?
• Did Jesus teach not just through His words, but actions too? How do I track all of this???
• How do I literally remember everything Jesus taught so I can teach it?
• Who specifically am I supposed to teach everything Jesus taught?
• What if I haven’t mastered everything Jesus taught in my own life?
• Do I even like everything Jesus taught?
• Am I worthy of teaching everything Jesus taught?
• Do I have to be trained specially to teach what Jesus taught?
• What if I don’t have the spiritual gift of teaching - or I’m just not the academic, “book-learning” type who loves to study?
• What does teaching everything Jesus taught actually look like in real life?
• What if I don’t have extra time in my schedule to teach everything He taught?
• If I get satisfactory answers to all these questions and carve out the time and effort it takes to teach everything Jesus taught, will it even make any difference?

This feels complicated.

Fortunately, the rest of Scripture that comes before and after the Great Commission simplifies it. Here’s what the Bible tells us:

1. The command to make disciples was given to a group of people with all different kinds of gifts and abilities. God never intended for each of them to individually fulfill every aspect of it. For example, in order for Jesus’ teachings to be remembered with accuracy so they could be taught, someone had to write them down. Only those who walked and talked with Him as He was teaching could realistically do that. This task was completed over 2,000 years ago. God isn’t holding anyone else responsible for it.

2. In the same way, some people are empowered by the Holy Spirit to take the teachings written down for us in both the Old and New Testaments, connect the dots between them, and explain each in ways that help everyone understand and remember what they mean. They are able to describe the different ways Jesus’ core teachings play out in any set of circumstances at any given time in history. God does not hold everyone responsible for this task either.

• So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Ephesians 4:11-13 NIV
• Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through prophecy when the body of elders laid their hands on you. 1 Timothy 4:14 NIV

3. But all of Jesus’ followers need to regularly spend time talking to Him about all these things and how they play out in their own personal life experiences.

• Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do. Joshua 1:8 NLT
• Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:4-5

4. Although there is a “book-learning” aspect to Jesus’ teachings, the things He taught were never meant to be only academic exercises. True learning happens when lessons are embraced and embodied through hands-on experience. Everything we do and experience in life is an opportunity to intentionally choose to practice, and therefore, keep learning what Jesus taught.

• Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me - everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you." Philippians 4:9
• But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. James 1:22

5. The learning and growing process should never end for any follower of Christ. God is too big for any human to ever complete a course on Him – no one “graduates” from a discipleship course this side of Heaven. We master new teachings of Jesus in different ways through various circumstances at different stages of life. New lessons are always available while old lessons are continuously built upon and applied to new life experiences in fresh and interesting ways. More understanding and mastery presents as we keep being discipled, learning, and growing. Because we can only teach what we have mastered, we must never be deceived into believing we have nothing else to learn about what it means to be a follower of Christ.

• So let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. Surely we don't need to start again with the fundamental importance of repenting from evil deeds and placing our faith in God. Hebrews 6:1 NLT
• And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. Ephesians 3:18 NLT

6. Everyone who has embodied Jesus’ teachings will naturally talk about them. And even when they’re not directly talking about them, they will find their words seasoned and filtered by them. Embodied teachings also naturally flow out through actions, behaviors, feelings, and responses. Without even trying, committed disciples (those who are willing to be continuously taught) teach Jesus’ commands to everyone they encounter by the way they live – by being the kinds of people His teachings have helped them to become.

• A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. Luke 6:45
• These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. Deuteronomy 6:6-9

7. In this way, each member of the entire Church from all around the world is collectively able to teach all of Jesus’ teachings through their own life experiences whether they are given the specific spiritual gift to study and explain Jesus’ teachings or not. Other spiritual gifts are given for the purpose of ensuring Jesus' teachings can continue to be taught. 

• For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. Romans 12:4-5 
• Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms. 1 Peter 4:10

God never commands humanity to do anything impossible. With His guidance, insight, and empowerment we can do whatever He asks of us.

The Great Commission is happening all around us. The only question we need to worry about asking is whether we want to be a part of it – by allowing ourselves to be continually discipled and allowing our everyday lives to teach everything we are learning.

Teach me your ways, O Lord, that I may live according to your truth! Grant me purity of heart, so that I may honor you. Psalm 86:11 NLT

Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior and my hope is in you all day long. Psalm 25:4-5 NIV