We come again this morning to our text in Matthew chapter 28 verses 16 to 20. I confess to you a certain amount of frustration in my heart because I could spend weeks on this passage and pull all kinds of truth and teaching from other areas of Scripture to embellish it. But I’m going to really keep it very simple and straightforward and not try to cover too much ground so that it has a unique and condensed impact on our hearts.
Now let me say initially, it has always been God’s desire to reach the whole world. And so when we come to Matthew chapter 28 and we see that great statement in verse 19 “make disciples of all nations,” we are under no assumption that this is something new. It is not something new. It is something very old, for God in the very beginning intended to bring mankind into fellowship and relationship with Himself. In fact, it wasn’t until man in sin went away from God that God even designed separate nations. It wasn’t until He needed a witness nation, a missionary nation that He called out Israel to reach the rest of the world. It wasn’t until Israel failed to do that that God had to call on a small remnant of people to do what the nation would not do. And it is that that brings us to Matthew 28 and the words of Jesus “make disciples of all nations” were given to 500 disciples on a hillside in Galilee who were the believing remnant out of an apostate Israel. It was to them and all those who would be of like precious faith with them, including ourselves, that this command comes.
But this is only an echo, this is only an echo of God’s original intention to reach the world. Even in calling Abraham, He said, “Out of thee will come a seed and through that seed will all the families of the earth be blessed.” And it was to the nation Israel that God said, “Declare His glory among the nations,” 1 Chronicles 16 and Psalm 96, “His wonders among all people.” And in Isaiah 42 and Isaiah 43 and then in Isaiah 52 and in Isaiah 66, we hear the prophet who speaks, as it were, the heart of God telling the people to spread the message to the world.
It has always been God’s desire to reach the world of lost people and bring them to fellowship with Himself. In 1 Timothy 2:3 and 4 it says, “God our Savior who will have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.”
So, the heart of God has always been a heart to reach the world. In that verse which is more familiar than any other verse, it is simply stated, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
So, we’re not surprised then to hear a command like this, “make disciples of all nations,” for this is what God has intended from the very start. And now God has a remnant of people gathered on that hillside in Galilee and all those who will come from their ministry, including us, to whom this command is given to reach the world.
We’re reminded that the statement “make disciples” is the heart of our calling. That we’re in the world to do that. That teaching and preaching and praise, fellowship, all of those things which we cherish and hold dear to us are only means to an end. They are only elements of preparation for the real task which is evangelizing the world, which is reaching the lost for Christ. And so we are to be about making disciples of all nations, all peoples, all ethnic groups, all tribes, all races.
The idea of making a disciple is a beautiful, beautiful term. The word matheteuo, the verb that is used here, carries the idea of a believer and a learner. I suppose we could say it is a believing learner or a learning believer. Make believing learners of all nations. Make learning believers. It is not simply one who believes or you would have had another word. It is not simply one who learns or you would have had another word. It is a believing learner, one who places faith in Christ and who follows in a life of learning. As Jesus put it in John 8:31, the one who continues in My Word is the mathetes alethos, the real disciples, the genuine disciple, as opposed to the false one.
So, the mission of the church in the world can singly be defined as making believing learners, or learning believers out of all nations. We are here to seek those that are lost. The Father first sought true worshipers. He sent the Son then to seek and save that which was lost. And then the Spirit to empower us to witness, as it says in Acts 1:8 to accomplish the same goal. Jesus in John 17:18 said, “Father, as You sent Me into the world, so send I My disciples.” For the same reason, that is to seek and to save those who are lost. And Jesus said after the Spirit is come, you will receive power and then you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the uttermost part of the earth.
So, we’re in line with that calling and commission that has always been on the heart of God. Even when Jesus initially called the disciples, He said, “Follow Me,” in Matthew 4:18 to 20, “and I will make you fishers of men.” Nothing has changed. From the call of Matthew 4 to the commission of Matthew 28, there has been a training process so that those who were called to be fishers of men when they are commissioned to be fishers of men will know what that involves and will be faithful to fulfill it. The tragedy of the church of Jesus Christ is that so many people have lost sight of that commission and they have settled for a comfortable self-indulgent kind of Christianity that is little more than an inexpensive social club membership. That is not God’s intention.
I was gratified last Sunday after I poured out my heart in the morning service that there was a great response. The response immediately was that folks were talking about the message on Sunday night, to show you the tangible reality of the response, Sunday night’s offering which was the first time people could actually respond to what I said in the morning, Sunday night’s offering was five times a normal offering. And that was followed by a week of interesting letters. One dear couple wrote and said, “Pray for us, we’re selling our house so that we can move to something less expensive and use our resources for the work of God.” Another couple sent a check for $5,000 and said we have been saving for a satellite TV dish, we want this to go to the Lord’s work. That’s getting your perspective turned around. Instead of receiving the world, going to the world with the gospel. Instead of receiving their message, sending ours.
But many wonderful things have happened in response to what we saw last week as we began to look at the passage. We need to get out of that comfortable mold, we need to get away from that self-indulgent kind of Christian perspective and take on an own and possess and make ours this calling of god we have in this passage.
Now how do we do it? How do we make disciples of all nations? How? Well, last week I suggested to you that first of all we have to be available. Availability is the first thing. In verse 16 we read that the eleven disciples went away into Galilee and to a mountain that Jesus had appointed them. And that is to say they were available. They were where they were supposed to be when they were supposed to be there. And that’s where it starts. It starts with being available. It doesn’t start with knowing where you’re going. It doesn’t start with having a clear calling to a certain country. It doesn’t start with all of the fine print finished and edited and complete. It starts with just being there saying, “God, I don’t know what it is or where it is but I’m available. I’m here. You said to be here, here I am. I’m listening to Your voice. I’m reading Your Word, I’m gathering with Your people, speak to me, Lord, I’m available.”
The second thing we saw was worship. In verse 17, when they did see Him and He finally appeared there at first at a distance, and then drawing near, they worshiped Him. They fell on their face prostrate, as it were, before Him. Some of them doubting until He came near because they had not yet seen Him after His resurrection. But when He came near, surely their doubt was erased. And they, too, worshiped. And we suggested last time that it is necessary for one who would fulfill the great commission to have a worshiping heart. That is to say his heart or her heart is wholly set on Jesus Christ. All else is lost. All else fades away. When they on that hillside saw the risen Jesus Christ, all their shattered dreams were regathered, all their disappointment was instantly ended. Their sorrow was turned into unbelievable joy. It was a reversal of every emotion they were feeling and perhaps there was worship that occurred on that day that is equalled by few other worshiping occasions in all of human history. They saw the risen Christ and everything in them was born anew. They had a focus that was singly on Christ. Like Paul has said, “I am determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” Who said, “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.” Their focus was so clear. Who said, “That I may know Him in the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death.” It was that single mindedness that made the difference. They like David had set the Lord before them and all else disappeared. That’s what it takes. It is not only an available heart, it is a worshiping heart.
“This article originally appeared here at Bible Bulletin Board.”
