» Make Disciples of all the Nations (Matt 28:18-20) Central Baptist Church, Okinawa, Japan: Spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ in Okinawa
...In fact, if you read again what the passage commands, Christ states a main command: Go and make disciples of all the nations. This command then entails two necessary elements that are attached to this main command. Those two elements that are part of making disciples of all the nations are:
1. Baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit
2. Teaching them everything that Christ has commanded us
A man, woman, or child that has simply been “led to Jesus” by a sinner’s prayer and is not baptized or taught is not a disciple. The Church has failed its mission if it stops at decisions. The Church’s mission is not being fulfilled unless it disciples the nations and it is not discipling the nations unless it baptizes disciples and teaches them everything the Lord commands. If you have a problem with me mentioning that obvious point then your problem is not with me but with Christ whose command is crystal clear. I don’t have the authority to tell the Church what to do but, remember, Christ has all authority and He clearly commands this...
...Christ has commanded that the Church teach men and women everything that He commanded them. Now, I want to ask you a question: how much is everything? Is it the portions of teaching that we think are important? Is it the portions of His teaching that we like? No.
The reason I keep having to remind us all of the authority of Christ is because we think that sometimes circumstances or our better judgment allows us to determine what part of God’s teaching we should shave off. Are we not placing ourselves in a higher place of authority than Christ when we do this? Did He not say that the Church is to teach disciples everything?
Beloved, I believe that it is disrespectful to Christ’s authority that we often neglect this important point and that disrespect is sin that we need to repent of. I also believe that when disciples themselves are content to stop learning because the Christian faith just takes up too much of their time, or learning about Christ is something that only sophisticated believers are called to, then I think that is disrespectful as well. Your Savior has commanded you learn everything...
... Until we see the Church as more than a place where we just give you basic information about Jesus, dunk you, and then give you tracts to hand out so you can bring more people in to give a surface level understanding of the Word, then we’ll never achieve what Christ has commanded. In fact, Christ gave us Apostles, Pastors, and teachers to fulfill this very commission we’ve been talking about:
Ephesians 4:11-16
11And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,
12for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;
13until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.
14As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming;
15but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ,
16from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
You see, we are baptized into the Body of Christ. Christ has lifted up and gifted men to be able to shepherd and teach the flock toward the goal of the unity of the faith. That unity is achieved by knowledge of the Son of God and the goal is a mature man and woman.
We’d be shocked if our child was 20 years old and didn’t know how to read, didn’t know any history, and couldn’t add. We’d be shocked if our child at the age of 20 years old was still asking us to hold his hand when he crossed the street, to change his diaper, or to feed him pudding because he didn’t have any teeth. Yes, those things occur but we recognize those as handicaps. But for a healthy child, we expect the child to mature in physical as well as moral areas.
Why, then, do we accept immaturity in ourselves in spiritual matters? Why do we think ignorance is a Christian virtue? Why do we refuse to learn our Scriptures? Why do we so easily forget elementary truths about the Gospel? Why do we need to have our hands held when we’ve been Christians for 5, 10, 15, 20 years...?
