Matthew 28:18-20

And Jesus came and said to them, “all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded.  And behold I am with you always, to the end of the age.

 

What is a Disciple?

 

A Disciple receives His reality/truth from Jesus not from the World.  We are under The King’s authority.

 

While Satan’s authority has always been illegitimate, yet we yielded to it as authoritative in our lives from birth, whether we knew that’s what we were doing or not.  Satan uses the agency of the World to deceive us into believing a whole host of lies as truth.  Usually using money, power, sex, or status to draw us into a life that is not worthy of the dignity that we were given in creation.  We live glorifying him, mimicking him as we steal, kill, lie, and destroy one another and ourselves in the process.  Believing we are going to achieve satisfaction in life, we go about doing his will, yielding to his authority, and glorifying our father on the earth.  But Jesus comes to earth and changes all that, showing us in human form, how God wants us to live and what God is like at the same time.  Having been raised from the dead, Jesus has broken the power of the enemy over us, and all we must do is now believe in the Truth, yielding to it as our sole authority in life.  That’s why Jesus starts out the “Great Commission” with all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”  We must now receive our reality, what is really true, from Jesus, not from the World and it’s Satanic master.

 

A Disciple has publicly identified himself with King Jesus being baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

 

Baptism is us telling the World, in a visible, tangible, public way that we no longer are a part of the Satanic Kingdom.  We are followers of the Son of God, as different as night is from day, as darkness is from light.  In identifying ourselves with Jesus we are also identifying ourselves with His people, the Church of the Living God.

 

A Disciple is constantly challenging the truth claims of the World as he/she experiences them in the people around Him.

 

Since we have received Jesus’ authority and identified ourselves with His Kingdom, we must begin to learn the way He would have us to live.  That means every area of our heart must be challenged, every vestige of the World must be sniffed out, every aspect of our life must begin to be submitted His authority.  We must learn to “observe all that I commanded.”  We cannot teach to others what we do not know.  We must observe all that He commanded, not just the parts that strike us as beneficial to us.  Submission to Jesus authority is an active and ongoing submission to His Word, the entire canon of Sacred Scripture, even the tough parts.

 

A Disciple is one who is learning to live in the truth of Jesus’ presence now

 

Jesus is not just some guy.  Nor is He just a guy who died by Roman execution.  He rose from the dead, and not only that, He ascended into Heaven and now lives for ever to make intercession for us.  Being assumed back into the Godhead as the Eternal Son, Jesus like the Father and Spirit is present everywhere.  But to His people He is not just present around us, but He dwells now within us.  Where the Body is, so is the Head. “Behold I am with you always, to the end of the age.”  Jesus present is not just an intellectual fact but a reality that is absolutely essential to our lives.  That we can know and experience God, having a sense and sureness not just of His existence, but His Presence is what divides Christianity from moralistic deism.  Jesus lives, not just in our doctrinal statements but in reality.  It is our faith in Christ, His real and living Presence that changes us, and those around us.  People are not convinced by our slick Gospel presentations.  They are not convicted in their hearts by the force of moral arguments.  The are transformed personally by a living person.

 

1. We are to learn what to believe, God’s Reality

 

2. We are to learn how to practice our faith, the tools that help us access God’s Reality

 

3. We are to learn all this together in His Kingdom Community, the Body of Christ

 

But unto what?  Why do we cultivate belief, practice, and community? To propel the mission of Christ forward.  We gather together to learn what to believe, what to practice, and how to live it out together……

 

“So we can carry the Gospel of Jesus further into the

world”

 

4. Making disciples of the whole world

 

Mission is the reason for the existence of the other three aspects of discipleship.  Think about the Pharisees for a moment.  These were men who knew the Word, men who prayed often, men who were highly committed to their church. (synagogue)  What was their problem with Jesus?  Jesus invited the poor, the sick, the immoral, even immoral Gentiles (woman at the well) into the Kingdom.  He preached the Gospel to all and invited all, and came seeking those the Pharisees had already condemned.  The Pharisees had 3 aspects of discipleship spot on, missed the fourth, and instead of making disciples, they made hypocrites and ended up missing the Kingdom all together.