The Church's Commission

Good morning. This morning we're studying a passage that is well known to many Christians. We call it the Great Commission, as Melanie just read, verses 16 to 20. We've been doing a little mini-series here. We typically don't do these, but Matthew 16 and 18 and 28, in preparation for studying through Acts, as we're going to begin here soon, I wanted us to consider what Jesus said about the church before we look at the history that Luke gives us about the church. Matthew 28 is the focus today, and it's a challenging passage. Last week, the challenge was to hear about forgiveness. what forgiveness really means, how demanding it is, and how the end is reconciliation. This week, it's the challenge that to be a disciple, we make disciples. We're part of God's plan to build up the church for the glory of Jesus Christ. And I wanna say a few things about us as a church. Sorry if you're visiting, here's an internal conversation, but I wanna encourage you, Jefferson Park, because something that I've always delighted about being here is that there's a commitment that the gospel must be central to who we are and what we do. I wanna commend you and I wanna say let's continue strengthening that particular focus that the gospel of Jesus Christ is central to who we are and what we're doing. I also am very thankful that there's a unity in the commitment to the authority of the Bible. We're committed to Christ's gospel, we're committed to Christ's word, and it's always been a delight to preach because you're so eager to learn, to be fed. Sometimes I come across passages in the Bible, I'm thinking, am I gonna say that? Publicly, recorded on the internet, am I going to say that? The church will be disappointed if I don't say exactly what the Bible says. So thank you for those commitments that make it a joy to pastor and to preach. I want to take those two building blocks, a commitment to the gospel, the commitment to Christ's Word, and I want to think about something else today that's going to build on top of that. It's making disciples. It's taking the gospel that forms who we are, and it's taking the Bible that commands what we do, and it's how we're going to be disciples and making disciples at Jefferson Park. I pray it's a challenging passage. I pray it's a challenging message today that builds on those two core commitments. I believe we've come a great distance in disciple making, but I believe we have far to go. So the sermon's about making disciples. I want to just pause here for a moment. If you're not a disciple of Jesus Christ, much of what I'm going to say doesn't directly apply to you. Because in order to make disciples, you have to be a disciple. And so if you're not a disciple of Jesus Christ, I am delighted, we are delighted that you are here and you get to hear us sing about Jesus Christ. and that love that holds us fast. You get to hear singing about Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who came, who was slain, who's risen. But I wanna speak specifically to you right now because I want you to hear, you too can be a disciple of Jesus Christ. You too should be a disciple of Jesus Christ. Because this is what being a disciple of Jesus Christ means. You step out of darkness, you step into light. You come out of sin and you come into righteousness. You step out of death and you go to life. You go out of being guilty to being declared righteous and forgiven. It's an invitation when Jesus says, come and follow me. Come and actually live. Come and enjoy what life is about because Jesus says, I'm your creator. I know you. I know what's best for you. I came to take away the death so that you can live. So this is how you become a disciple of Jesus Christ. You realize that sin and death are real. You realize sin and death are real and we live apart from Christ in a destructive pattern in sin, headed straight for death and hell and judgment. and that God sent his only son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross so that all of our sin was judged on Jesus when he died. You look to Jesus and you say, Father, I see my sin and I want to believe that Jesus died for all my sin so that I can be forgiven, so that I can be alive, so that I can now live and follow you and enjoy the life you gave me. To be a disciple of Jesus simply means you say, I no longer want to live in this destruction of sin. I wanna believe in Jesus. He died for me. He rose for me. I want to live in his life. I pray you'll say that today. I pray you'll have a conversation with somebody near you today. Because we are inviting you, come be disciples. Our outline for our passage, if you are a disciple, is following Matthew 28. Really, it's focused on 18 to 20. I just decided the outline is going to be asking some basic questions. Who, what, when, where, why, how? So if you're looking at the passage, we're just gonna ask these questions. Who, what, when, where, why, and how? So first, we don't start with a who, Jesus starts with a why. Jesus starts this Great Commission with a why. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. But before he tells us what we're to do, he tells us why we're supposed to do it. And notice, it's all about who Jesus is. He's the one who has all authority. He is the one who has come and given all authority by the father because he submitted himself to death, even death on a cross. He is the king we can trust. He is the king we know he's good because he laid down his life for us. He has all authority. He destroys death. He conquers sin. He gives new life. Folks, this is the amazing thing about the gospel of Jesus Christ. The king of heaven and earth says, come and follow me. What an invitation. The king says personally to you, come and follow me. And then he gives a second invitation that we're gonna see today. Come and make disciples. Or rather, go and make disciples. He commissions to come and he commissions to go. Now I want you to look at verse 19, therefore. This is why 18 is so important. There's a reason who Jesus is and what he has, all authority, and what he does is important to everything we're gonna say in verse 19 and 20. The therefore, the Son of God descended to die for those he created because we rebelled. The righteous one suffered for our unrighteousness, as you just heard me tell the non-Christian. You, Christian, must remember that. His death secures our victory. His resurrection gives us new life. His ascension provides assurance. His return is our desire, what we long for. You have to realize here, as we are going to think about this great commission, We do so because Jesus Christ has all authority. He is completely sovereign. He's the king of all kings. He has power over life. He has power over death. He has the authority to crush every enemy. He has the authority to give every good gift in the heavenly realm. Therefore, go and make disciples. Our second question, who? Jesus told us why, it's because of who he is, because of what he's done. As we heard, he's risen from the dead. He's God who's conquered death for us. So who? Well, Jesus is speaking to disciples. We can see there that disciples have gathered as Jesus commanded on the mountain, and they're being spoken to here. You go and make disciples. You, the disciples. We follow Christ's disciples and we make disciples. A disciple makes disciples. That's the profound truth that you're going to get today. A disciple of Jesus Christ makes disciples of Jesus Christ. It's not really optional. This is the great commission. Last week, or a couple weeks ago, we looked at Jesus when he said, I will build my church. That's a grand declaration. In his authority, the church will be built, but members, Disciples you're the instruments of the building Jesus builds his church with the members of the church to be built up together This is the amazing a thing about the kingdom. It says come be citizens. Here's your job You get to work in the kingdom you don't just come to sit in a lounge chair and then soak up the rays and No, no, you come to find a meaningful labor in the kingdom of God. A disciple of Jesus makes disciples of Jesus. You invest in others. You sacrifice for others. It is a requirement that if you are a disciple of Jesus, you make disciples. It's simply a command. You can't claim to be a disciple if you're not making disciples. but it's also such a glorious invitation. Why would you not want to participate in the lives of others that Christ has touched and purchased to see how they can grow in Christ so you can grow with them? So this is a challenging passage because it run against two of our primary idols, comfort and being a consumer. We just like to consume and be comfortable with what we consume, but what God says is, I give so you can give away. I forgive you so that you can forgive. I bless you so that you can bless. That runs against our consumerism, our desire to be comfortable in just what we receive. No, if you're not giving it away further, you're not quite following Jesus. I appreciated John's prayer. for other churches. I appreciate that because it reminds us a call to discipleship is for each disciple and every disciple. Discipleship means we as a church, we're not alone responsible for reaching all nations. That'd be pretty daunting. There's more nations and members represented here. It also reminds us that discipling each member is not one member's responsibility, it's a church's. The church should look and say, every member, I need to think about how I can pray for them. I may not be the primary person meeting with them regularly, but it is my responsibility to gather and sing with them and sing to them, to gather and pray with them and to pray for them. Discipleship isn't a one-man show. It's a team effort. It's a united effort of all the members of one church and every church altogether. It's a big plan that God has set forth and invited you in to be a member. Okay, so that's the why, that's a who. If you're a disciple of Jesus, it's you. That's the point there, in case you missed it. If you're a disciple of Jesus, it's you. So now the what. What. You make Disciples that that is the primary command that controls this passage 19 and 20 you Make disciples and unless it's very very clear the primary goal has to do with people Christians are in the people business and People are what matter to God because He made them in His image, they have dignity and honor, He created them to worship Him, and we're supposed to be making disciples of them so that worship is more faithful. People. And a particular kind of people. We're supposed to be making disciples out of the messy kind of people. The difficult people. The sinful people. You see, a healthy person, they don't need medicine. Christ came to the sick. Christ came to heal those who were not well. And when we think about discipleship, it is always about the difficult people. Now here's the catch. When you're thinking, well, how do I know who's difficult? How do I know who's messy? If you're not dead, you're difficult. The only good Christians are the ones that have died and been given glorified bodies of Jesus Christ and now have hearts renewed that have no more sin in them. So to make disciples is to get involved in the lives of difficult, messy people. To be disciple means somebody's going to get in your life and is going to reveal and help you see and work out some of the difficulties, some of the messes. We can't be afraid to talk about life's difficulties. Will they be physical difficulties? Maybe our sinful responses to the physical difficulties? It's messy. It requires entering into the messes of other people and it requires letting them into our messes. So discipleship, and I'm just trying to give all the warnings ahead of time, it is difficult because it's about people like us. Making disciples is difficult because it's about meeting with and caring for people like ourselves. Secondly, it's really never done. You never get to kind of put a stamp on somebody. No, it's an ongoing process. It's dynamic change that's continually to grow because, quite frankly, sin is always gonna reside and we're just seeking to get rid of it more and more. Making disciples is one of the most difficult things you will do, which is why Jesus starts with all authority. It's been given to me. I am with you, he will say in a moment. As Christ command, he will give us the grace to do it. Okay, so what is discipleship? What is making disciples? We've gotta define some terms. Discipleship is simply this, following Jesus. If you're a disciple, you follow Jesus. More particularly, you deny yourself, you carry the cross, you follow Jesus. You simply say, I believe in him, I obey him. He's my master. It is a person that you are committed to. Jesus Christ, the King of kings, the Son of God, the Messiah. That's what discipleship is. What is making disciples. This is the regular investment in others by pointing them to Christ, teaching them the word of Christ, and praying for them in the name of Christ. It's a regular investment, it's a commitment to point them to Christ, to teach them the word of Christ and to pray for them in the name of Christ. Those are the three ingredients of discipleship. The gospel, that tells us what Christ has done and who we are. The word, that tells us what we're supposed to do. Prayer, that's what makes it powerful. Those are the three ingredients of discipleship. And then there's the fourth thing we have to recognize. Time. Time. There's time that you're investing. There's time that you're waiting on. It takes time to make a disciple. Reminding them of the gospel. Proclaiming the gospel. Teaching them the commands. Praying for them. It's a time commitment. Those are the three commitments. Those are the three ingredients of discipleship. Now there are different aspects of discipleship. So I want to make sure you hear this. There's three ingredients. The gospel, the word, prayer. It's that simple. It is that simple. But I want to walk through some of the aspects of discipleship. So one, correction. This is when you take the word of Christ and you help somebody who's confessing faith in Christ, help them see your life does not align with what God's word says. Let me apply the gospel balm. Let me help you see this. Let me pray that we will be able to walk together more faithfully in Christ. There's correction. Well, the other thing you need to do, and it's important to do both of these, is encouragement. Brother, there's a command in Scripture, and I think you just, you model this for me. I see this call in Scripture and I find it difficult, but I see you thriving to do this in a way that challenges me. I praise God that you've been faithful to this commandment. Would you help me learn how to be more faithful in this commandment? These are two things that need to be said side by side. We need not be saying all the correction and all the encouragement. We need to be saying both of these because they build up the believer. So two kinds of discipleship, two aspects of discipleship. There's correction with the word. There's encouragement with the word. There's also just exhortation. That's what I did in the introduction. I exhorted you. I reminded you. We have a commitment to the gospel. We have a commitment to God's word that this is encouraging, but it's also charging, let's be more obedient. These next two aspects, they go hand in hand. One's counseling, one's accountability. Two aspects of discipleship, counseling and accountability. Counseling is when you're meeting with somebody who needs a knot untied in their heart. Counseling takes place when there's something really twisted, and that happens to all of us. If you're a sinner, our hearts are twisting the truths of God. We need somebody to help see kind of, all right, here's how the knot gets untied, so that your heart is bent more towards the Father in love. Counseling is somebody getting deep inside of what you're doing, what you're thinking, what you're desiring, to help untie that knot. And let me tell you, every Christian should be a counselor. Because you have the Holy Spirit. You have the Bible. Counseling is when we untie the knot. Accountability is when we keep that knot untied. Counseling is when, in discipleship, you untie the knot. Accountability is when you say, I wanna come alongside of you, I'm gonna check on you. Is this knot getting tied up again? It's keeping that knot untied. Now, I want you to see something that all parts of discipleship is taking the Bible and saying, here's what Christ said. Here's what he says about you as a forgiven saint, because his blood has washed away your sin. This is what Christ expects you. His commands are clear. It's praying that we would be able to We would have the power, the empowering work of the Spirit to actually bring about change. So what does it look like to make a disciple? That is discipleship. Taking the Word, taking the Gospel, praying. What does it really look like? I think this is where most people get caught up. Because we often hear that model of Paul and Timothy, and I see a lot of young Christians saying, or all Christians saying, I really wish a Paul would come by and say, I'm going to Paul you. I'm going to come alongside and I'm going to teach you everything you don't know. That, quite frankly, doesn't happen that often. I don't see that modeled often. And I think it's actually fairly unusual. What I think normally happens is this. Two Christians decide they're gonna walk side by side, or more, with a commitment that they're going to seek to make each other more like Christ by studying his word and praying for one another. They're just simply a mutual investment. Now, if I look back on my life, I can see I have had a number of men who were like a Paul to me. But what's interesting about them is none of them ever came and said, I'm gonna be your teacher, I'm gonna be your coach, I'm gonna be your instructor. No one ever said I'm going to stand over you and teach you all the things you don't know. No, they were men who were older than me. One was my PhD supervisor, he had a position over me, but he just said, I'm gonna come alongside you and we're gonna meet. They simply wanted to invest in me, and what was amazing is we learned from one another. I'll never forget the moment that I was meeting with my advisor, my supervisor, and he said, wow, I've never seen that in Scripture. Do you know what kind of pride that blew up in my heart at that moment? Dun-da-dun, here I am. You know what that makes me? Simply a disciple of Jesus Christ. A PhD student, a PhD supervisor, he's saying, I learned from you. That just makes me a disciple. We had the word, we both had the spirit. We're learning from one another. That's discipleship, it is that simple. It isn't some superior coming to an inferior. It's two people longing to be more like Christ. Look for somebody who longs to be like Christ. So how do you identify that person? I believe Howard Hendricks has given the best way to identify this person. And I apologize for the acronym, but this is what it is. It's Howard Hendricks, you can blame him. He says to look for fat people. Fat meaning faithful, available, and teachable. Faithful, available, and teachable. Now I'd love to say no, it's better to say taff. But that's not gonna catch you at all, is it? He says when you're looking for somebody to enter into this kind of mutual discipleship, look for faithful. They keep their promises. They make a promise to a church to be there when the church gathers for worship, and they're there. They make commitments to lead and to serve, and they keep those promises. They're regularly prioritizing a proper care for their family, a proper commitment to the body gathered. They're reliable. Look for somebody who's faithful. Secondly, you want somebody who's available. If you're constantly have to run around to try to get an appointment, that's unhelpful for discipleship. They're available. They've not busied their lives so much that they don't have a time to meet They're available. And then really the most important, they're teachable. The person you want discipling you is not the person who has all the answers. It's the person who actually says sometimes, I don't know. Because if somebody is still not learning, they're not really discipled. You want somebody who's longing to grow with you. You want somebody who's longing to know more of Christ. So look for someone who's faithful, available, and teachable. Now, so the primary command here is make disciples. And then he gives us two very specific things about making disciples. You make disciples by baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and by teaching them to observe all that I commanded you. So this is still what? Baptize and teach. Baptism refers to that identity-changing act of belief. Baptism points to the identity change that takes place. Baptism really points to two different things. One, First, disciples proclaim the gospel so there are more disciples. We're supposed to be as disciples proclaiming Christ so that more people hear the gospel, so that more people believe in Jesus, so there are more disciples to make more disciples. They must hear the gospel of Jesus Christ so they can believe it, which means we must know the gospel of Jesus Christ and be bold in proclaiming it. To make a disciple, we have to proclaim Christ. And baptism here, this is significant. Baptism has been given to us as an ordinance of Jesus Christ. There's two ordinances, baptism and the Lord's Supper. Baptism is that ordinance that Jesus set aside to say, here's how you're going to mark off those who have believed, come out of darkness and come into light. Come out of sin and come into righteousness. Baptism, it represents the washing away of sin. It represents the death that's been defeated on the cross. It represents the new life that's been given to those who believe in Jesus Christ. Baptism marks off, it's the way the church has been given, it's the ordinance Jesus gave the church to celebrate a new believer. Baptism is a celebration. And on October 16th, we hope to have a baptism. We hope that someone who's come and said, I need to be baptized because I'm a believer in Jesus Christ, we hope to have this celebration. And that's important here because baptism is something the church is supposed to be regularly doing so that we see who's a new believer and that we're reminded of what Christ has done for us. Recognizing and remembering and observing baptism reminds us over and over again of what God has done to us. Now it says baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And while I would love to give you an hour discourse on the Trinity, time does not allow it. I want to make a simple observation. The name is singular. There's one God. That one God is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We have to be able to hold these truths in proper clarity. There is one God. That one God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Father is not the Son. The Son is not the Spirit. But they are all one God. We know they are all one God because they are all doing the one act of salvation. The Father sends His Son, the Son dies and rises again. The Spirit comes to indwell us. Salvation is the perfect work of the one God, all working together for us. The Father sends, the Son dies and rises again and the Spirit comes and applies it. That one God, all three, all three persons, they save and they love you. The second thing we want to think about baptism is it is a representation of an identity change. You're no longer in darkness, you're in light. You're no longer a slave to sin, you're a slave to righteousness. We are supposed to do this as a reminder to the person and to ourselves, baptism, of what Christ has done. And let me just encourage you, I don't think when we have the event of baptism, that's not the only time you should be affirming others. about who they are in Christ, that grand identity change. How often are you reminding other believers, other brothers and sisters to make them disciples? Jesus Christ died for your sins. You're forgiven in Christ. You're a new creation in Christ. These are the kinds of reminders that we need to hear and remember regularly. We need to remember who we have been declared. Secondly, So there's baptizing, that's one way to make a disciple, that's one part of making a disciple. Another part of making a disciple, verse 20. To make disciples, you must teach them to observe all that I've commanded you. Now, here's an observation. Every human being who has ever existed has obeyed Jesus Christ. Everybody who has ever existed has obeyed at least a command of Jesus Christ Either accidentally or or they just think hey, here's a good teacher. I like that thing. I'm gonna do that Everybody can claim they've obeyed Jesus Christ in some way What makes somebody clearly a disciple is that they obey all What makes somebody clearly a disciple is that they obey all every command, not just the ones that are convenient or acceptable or easy. They obey all the commands. That is what's emphasized here. We don't get to pick and choose. Surely Jesus didn't mean that. No, Jesus didn't mean it. Yet you have to die in order to live. It's better for you to cut out your eye than to go to hell. He said things that are hard, and we have to realize that obeying Jesus is hard, but His Spirit empowers us. We're reminded of 2 Timothy 3.16. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for a proof, for a correction, for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be completely equipped for every good work. We have to obey all his commands. Let me just list some for you. Here's a simple list of only 50 commands. These are things that Jesus said. Repent. Do not be troubled. Follow me. Rejoice. Let your light shine. Honor God's law. Be reconciled. No adultery. Keep your word. Go the second mile. Love your enemies. Be perfect. Practice secret disciplines. Lay up treasures in heaven. Seek the kingdom of God. Judge not. Don't throw pearls to pigs. Ask. Seek. Knock. Do unto others. Choose the narrow way. Beware of false prophets. Pray. Be shrewd as serpents. Fear God. Listen to God. Take my yoke. Honor your parents. Beware false teaching. Deny yourself. Do not despise children. Go to those who offend you. Forgive offenders. Beware of covetousness. Honor marriage. Lead by being a servant. Make church a house of prayer. Pray in faith. Bring in the poor. Render unto Caesar. Love the Lord. Love your neighbor. Be born again. Await my return. Celebrate the Lord's Supper. Keep my commandments. watch and pray, feed my sheep, make disciples, teach disciples to obey, receive God's power. It's daunting. Those are the commands of Christ. Those are some of the commands of Christ. Those are the commands of Christ and this is why we need numerous people committed to our discipleship because we need to be reminded of all those commands. That is daunting. Just to read the list, I'm thinking, wow, I'm pretty sure I don't like half of those. But by the grace of God, we can repent. By the grace of God, we can seek the grace to obey. By the grace of God, we can learn to follow Christ. To make a disciple is to focus on His Word, what He has said. The Bible is not optional in discipleship. Now let's go back a little bit in the passage. We're going back to verse 19. We're supposed to make disciples, baptizing and teaching. That's the what. Now we're gonna ask the question when. When. In verse 19, it simply says go, but a better translation would be as you're going. And I want to avoid two problem interpretations or understandings of what it means to go make disciples. One problem is some people will think, well, it's just as I casually go, I'm going to make disciples. You know, as I'm just going about my day and living my life, I'll make disciples as it happens. That's a wrong way of looking at it. The other wrong way of looking at it is to say, I've got to pick up everything I own, I'm going to sell everything I own, I'm going to raise support, I'm going to move to a desolate land and reach people who have not been reached. That that's what it only means. No, no, what it means is I'm going to intentionally commit to make my life one that makes much of Christ. I'm going to focus my energies, my priorities, my work, everything I have, to know that as I am going about, I am a disciple maker. It's not something that's gonna happen accidentally. It's not something a program does for us. It's something that we have to do by getting involved in other people's life. It requires time, energy, and devotion. So parents, let me encourage you and challenge you. As you are going, you are making disciples. Your children are learning what to prioritize by watching what you prioritize. You're making disciples and the question is this, as a disciple of Jesus Christ, are you making disciples of Jesus Christ? Do your children see you making the priorities in the way you live your life that you're making disciples of Jesus Christ? They see you keeping commitments. Ask your children, what are our family values? What do you see me sacrificing for? What do you see me prioritizing? There you'll see what kind of disciples you're making. Parents, it's a high and heavy call. Your children are watching and they're learning what kind of disciple they're going to be or who they're going to be a disciple of. Is it the way of the world? Or is it Christ? Be aware you are, by definition, making a disciple. But as a disciple of Jesus Christ, you have to be intentionally thinking about how you're making a disciple of Jesus Christ with your children. There's some other jobs here at Jefferson Park that I wanna walk through to help you see this is disciple making. One, if you're a nursery worker, I want you to look at that as an opportunity to make disciples. We don't assume those infants in the nursery are Christians. But what you can do when you're serving a nursery is not think this is just childcare so the other people can worship. No, you can be making disciples. You can pray over them. Please pray for my children when they're in the nursery. Please pray for our children in the nursery that they will not go to hell. They believe in Jesus Christ. You can sing to them songs they're gonna learn and remember. You can read them books. The nursery is a fantastic opportunity for discipleship because you have the most teachable children. You have the most teachable persons right there. You're gonna eat up whatever you say. Use your words to make disciples. in song and reading. Our children are Sunday school teachers. Again, this is an investment. This is not childcare so the adults can study the Bible. This is your opportunity to take a child and teach them, to come alongside the parent and say, I'm going to affirm everything your parents are saying. It's your opportunity to teach them songs, teach them the Bible. This is glorious disciple-making because you do not know the investment you're making. You will not see that investment, most likely, as to what your impact is, but it's going to be a long road where this child, Lord willing, learning from you and from others, will be a faithful disciple one day. Adult Bible studies, leaders, make sure you're always teaching in a way that gives people complete confidence in the gospel of Jesus Christ and the word of Christ. That is the goal when you're studying the Bible, when you're teaching the Bible. The Bible is authoritative. God's gospel is enough. Finally, whatever sphere of influence you have, at work, at home, at your community center, whatever sphere of influence, that's where you are, that's where you're making disciples. It really is wherever you are, but it's a commitment to make disciples wherever you are. So that's the when. Now the where. You make disciples, when you're going, of all nations. Now today, this does not seem that dramatic. We have many nations represented right here in this room. We have many nations represented in our city, in our country. We have many people groups. But for this, I mean, Jesus' disciples, they've always been Israelites. And they know that God has always chosen Israel as the one nation by which he's going to bring about his promises. But here, Jesus is saying, well, we're kind of blowing it up now. The promised one has come, Jesus Christ. Now those promises are going to go fleeting out. They're going to be rushing out like a dam has been broken to all nations, all the different people groups. So we have to be thinking, how am I making disciples of people who are different than myself? a different nationality, a different culture, a different skin color, a different accent, a different education, different manners, different background, different social status. Hear this on this one point. In the world, we gather around those who are like us. In the world, we gather around those who are like us. As disciples, we gather around those who are seeking to be more like Jesus. If you want the church to be people like you, you're not thinking about a disciple-making church. It's a social club. The church should be diverse, of all different kinds of folks, who all have the one thing in common, we all want to be more like Jesus. People of different educations, backgrounds, social status. Here's three ways we can reach the nations. Three ways, one, you can walk down the street. You don't have to sell everything you own to reach the nations. They literally live here in our city. There are numerous refugee communities. There are numerous students at UVA from different nations. You don't have to go that far to reach the nations. They've come to you by God's sovereign plan. All you have to do is be willing to walk down the street and talk to somebody who's different. and share the gospel of Jesus Christ that can give them life. Second, we can partner with those who are already doing a work in a different land, in a different nation. This is why we have missionary partnerships. We desire to pray for them, to support them, to know what they're doing in those foreign lands as they're seeking to make disciples there for those who aren't coming here. And third, this is for you parents especially, Pray God would bless us by calling somebody out of this body to go somewhere else and be a pastor. Pray God will call somebody else out of this body to be a pastor somewhere else. And I pray it's somewhere far from here. Pray that God would bless us by giving us someone who's going to go out to share the gospel. Now those are three ways we can do it. Here's the only way we're gonna actually do those three things. If you actually believe the gospel's true. If you actually believe people are going to go to hell. If you actually believe the judgment of God is real. If you actually believe Jesus Christ died on the cross and he's the only hope. That's the only way we're gonna go out of our comfort zone to go and make disciples of the nations. Verse 19, the last part. A why? Notice Jesus in this demanding commission. He bookends it with a why and a why. He starts with a why. I have all authority. He ends with a why. I am with you always. This reminds me of Moses in Exodus. God says, hey Moses, I want you to go talk to Pharaoh and I want you to tell Pharaoh to let my people go. Moses responds. appropriately Who am I Jesus or who am I God? God's response to Moses saying who am I is I'm with you God didn't tell Moses. Oh Moses. You got this. You're you're eloquent. You're strong. You're you're good-looking people like you He didn't try to boost him up to think like you can do this Moses. You're you're a fantastic, dude No, God just says I Am with you That's all you need to know. Christian, I just described for you, I think, a very difficult, daunting task, making disciples, and here is your confidence. Christ has promised he's with you. Jesus Christ, who has all authority, is with you. It's not up to you having all the answers. It's not up to you being clever. It's not up to you being the most mature. It's up to you trusting Christ is with me. I'm going to take his word. I'm going to trust him. I'm going to try to make a disciple. as I'm seeking to be a more faithful disciple. Finally, how? How? As elders, we think about how all the time. We are about the business of making disciples. This is what we primarily want to do. We want to equip you. We want to facilitate discipleship. This is most of what we think about. because we see this as our primary job description. And so I want you to see how we've thought about this. Right now, we're trying to make you a disciple. This is discipleship making, step one. The regular gathering, to sing together, to pray together, to listen to God's word together, to observe the ordinances together. This is the groundwork. This is the first step. This is the base. This is discipleship making. And the second thing we do to make disciples is we have a Wednesday night prayer meeting. That's where we gather to pray with one another and for one another. Not just led prayers like you heard from John, but praying all together. This is the groundwork. We hear the word, we sing the word, we pray the word in these two services, and then we have Sunday school and home groups. And these are the larger branches that are coming off this trunk. We teach topics, we have smaller groups, we get into more kind of pastoral care issues. And then we pray what happens there is that you find somebody in these groups, in this church, that you meet with regularly to study the Bible and pray. It goes out from the trunk of the Sunday morning worship service to the Wednesday night service to the small groups in Sunday school and to your own personal meeting regularly with other members in Bible study and prayer. That's our plan. That's how it's done. That's how we pray it will be done. Finally, I want to talk about what's before us, because this is an ordained discipleship-making tool, the Lord's Supper. You see, what this does for me every month is it reminds me, don't be a jerk, and ask forgiveness for being a jerk. Every month, I'm not projecting on you, I'm telling you about myself. Every month, this is a reminder to me, I'm supposed to be loving God and loving my brothers. It's a reminder because there's nothing more miserable than sitting right there and not being able to take the Lord's Supper because I've sinned against somebody. It's miserable. Because this isn't just about me and Jesus, it's about us. As you'll hear Sam, consider the body, consider the members. You wait and you take this together, and it reminds me, Don't sin, and if you do sin, seek reconciliation. That's discipleship making. Seeking reconciliation with other brothers and sisters, seeking to be obedient in the life of the body of Jesus Christ. Because that's what it tells me, if I sin against somebody else, Jesus' blood has died for, and I'm being a hindrance, I'm wrong. I'm not being a disciple, I'm not making a disciple, I need to repent. So as we approach this, this is why we give a warning. This is serious. How am I living my life? Am I living in reconciliation? Am I living at peace with everyone as much as it depends upon me? Am I seeking to make much of the blood of Christ by the way I love and live with others? That's discipleship making. It's a wonderful reminder that Jesus has given us to do regularly. So brothers and sisters, if you're a disciple, or making disciples, it is as simple as trusting Christ is with us, using His gospel to remind people who they are, teaching His Word, and praying. I pray you're going to be committed. I pray we will learn as a church how to be more committed to making disciples. Will you pray with me? Father, we thank you that you have sent your son. We thank you that your Holy Spirit has given us a new life in him. We thank you that we're washed in the blood of Christ. We thank you that you have risen him to new life and in your right hand so we have confidence. We thank you for your Holy Spirit that we can look to your word together and be convicted and confess our sins and be forgiven. I pray you would make us a church. that is committed to living together as your disciples for the glory of Jesus Christ. In his name we pray. Amen.