Called to Make Disciples

April 28, 2019 Background Scripture: Matthew 28:16 – 20; Acts 1:6 – 8 Lesson Passage: Matthew 28: 16 – 20; Acts 1:6 – 8 “Said I wasn’t gonna tell nobody, but I couldn’t keep it to myself.” That should be the mission statement of all professed believers in Jesus Christ. We have come through the most sacred season for us, Easter. All of the reminders of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus should have energized us afresh to spread the good news. As we focus today on the text known as the Great Commission, we should be reminded that it was given by Jesus after his resurrection. We should embrace this as the mandate that it is. This world will not always exist as we know it. One day it will all be destroyed. But if that day tarries, death will continue to raid the ranks of the living. God’s word assures us that everyone has eternal life. The question that needs to be settled is: Where will you spend eternity? There are two choices available: eternal life with Jesus in the presence of the full glory of God or eternal life in torment in the Lake of Fire, where souls are eternally tortured without end. Jesus started a movement during his earthly ministry. This movement entailed the making of disciples who would go out and evangelize the lost by preaching the gospel. All who believe the gospel and accept Jesus as their savior, would be baptized and instructed in becoming disciples who would, in turn, go out and repeat the cycle. Mission, evangelism, and teaching work together to make disciples who are constantly engaged in preaching the gospel to a spiritually dead world. This is not a task or temporary assignment for someone to fill. The calling that is upon Christians everywhere is to make disciples. Many today have taken an easy way out. Rather than deal with lost people by sharing the gospel message with them, we have made church comfortable for us. We do what we like to do, when we like to do it, if we like to do it. We comfort ourselves by making our church environment comfortable for anyone who wants to join us—not that we are going out of our way to find them! We have used comfortable, welcoming churches as a substitute for winning souls and making disciples. Mind you, if someone happens to join our church environment who is lost, we will be sure to invite them to accept Jesus as their personal savior. Is this what the Great Commission is all about? I think not. The book of Acts is a record of the early church after Jesus ascended back to Glory. When they attempted to create the type of church environments that have become somewhat standard today, God allowed persecution to come against them and scatter them. As they were scattered because of the persecution, then they carried out the mandate of the Great Commission. They preached Jesus as they went and the lost were saved. It seems that only when persecution arose against the early church that they engaged in the process of evangelism and making disciples. Sadly, things have not changed much in two thousand years. We often witness great evangelistic effort and disciple making as a result of church splits and/or unresolved church disputes that leads to a multiplication of local churches that work harder separately than they did as one congregation. Whatever method God chooses to use, we are still called to make disciples. Robert C. Hudson February 21, 2019