Think on These Things
October 1998
3. Definition of Terms in Mt. 28:18-20
4. Ye often hear it said...
Jesus said in Mt. 7:21f: "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." This demonstrates that a superficial knowledge and belief in Jesus is not sufficient. It is important that we seek after God to both know His will and to do it (Heb. 5:9; 11:6). Our own personal feelings can fool us into thinking that our "iniquity" (lawlessness) is an acceptable substitute for the truth of God.
The Great Commission itself begins with the word "go," which indicates that we must be proactive. We cannot expect the world to come to us. We must take the initiative to make sure that we reach out to everyone that we can. It is clear that every Christian cannot go to every nation. But, we can all reach out to those in our sphere of influence to do our best in representing Christ to them.
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One reason for our hopelessness is an event that received little publicity a few weeks ago - the failure of the Senate (by only three votes) to over-ride President Clinton's veto of the partial-birth abortion ban. Despite the majority of Congress, his veto assures the murder of hundreds of babies in this torturous way. Very few people who have witnessed this brutality seek to justify what is clearly infanticide. But apparently most of our people just do not care.
Romans 1:28-31: "And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; {they are} gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful..." The real question is: has God given us over to depraved minds? Have we not gotten the leader that we deserve? Is he not just a reflection of our society? If we want our nation to recover, the solution is for each of us to "acknowledge God" by learning and doing His will (Mt. 7:21).
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Definition of Terms in Mt. 28:18-20
Make disciples. That is, students or learners. Being acceptable to God requires a continuing transformation of our minds (Rom. 12:1-2) that involves learning about God for the rest of our lives (2 Tim. 2:15).Of all nations. Once Peter recognized that the gentiles were directly acceptable to God, he made this statement (Acts 10:34-35): "Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him." If (based on race, nationality, economic status, etc.) we restrict those who we invite to our services or who we teach the truth, we are disobeying Jesus' command to "teach all nations."
Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Baptism must be done by the authority of God, i.e., in exact compliance with that specified in God's word. It is also consistent with this teaching that one is baptized "into Christ" (Gal. 3:27). Baptism is not optional; we are commanded to baptize new disciples; the bible teaches no other way into Christ (Rom. 6:3).
Teaching them to observe all that I commanded you. Jesus taught the disciples during his 3-year stay on this earth and in the 40-day period after his resurrection (Acts 1:3). He also told them that he would send the Holy Spirit (John 14:26): "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." Jesus emphasizes the necessity of teaching, learning and truth (Rom. 1:16; Jn. 8:32; 14:6). The written words of the apostles are the words of Jesus, as Paul stated: "If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord" (1 Cor 14:37).
I am with you always, even unto the end of the age. Jesus said: "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them" (Mt. 18:20). We are assured that Jesus is totally involved in everything that we do when we are gathering and working according to his authority. Let us take comfort in this assurance.
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but part of the Great Commission states:
"... teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you."
If we, the disciples that were to be converted in the future, are to observe all things that were commanded of the apostles, this has to include the Great Commission. In addition, Jesus said "... lo, I am with you even unto the end of the world." This indicates that his statement was more than just to the apostles, since they all died well before the end of the world (or age).
In addition, the ordinary Christians in the first century understood that the Great Commission applied to them. It states in Acts 8:4 (of those Christians who were persecuted and fled from Jerusalem): "Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word." Clearly everyone was not a preacher, but they all did everything that they could to further the preaching and teaching of the word. Paul told Timothy (2 Tim. 2:2): "And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also." This method of evangelism "turned the world upside down" in the first century, and it can do the same thing today.
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