This post is the beginning of a continuation of my post last
week,
What is Sin?. In that post, I
shared that it seems that God defines sin differently for Christians and
non-Christians. For Christians, the
definition of sin comes from the Holy Spirit.
Sin is
doing what the Holy Spirit commands us
not to do
AND
not doing what the Holy Spirit commands us
to do. (Side note: Notice that I said “commands” and
not “suggests”. As maturing Christians,
we need to grow to the understanding that God is not a consultant; He is our Lord.)
An obvious problem arises when sin is defined by the Holy
Spirit instead of being defined in writing as in the Old Testament. Sin becomes subjective. It is up to each person to listen to and
follow the Holy Spirit. But some of us
don’t listen very well and some of us don’t follow very well. And it’s not like God is talking to each of
us through burning bushes either.
Learning God’s will is one of the most difficult parts of the Christian
lifestyle.
Fortunately for us, there are a few verses scattered
throughout the New Testament that let us know what God wants from believers
under the New Covenant. These certainly
can’t guide us on day to day specifics (that’s what the Spirit is for), but
they do give us an excellent baseline on broader issues. These are what I will be exploring in the
coming weeks.
This week I’ll be looking at what is what is commonly known
as the Great Commission. In Matthew
28:19-20, Jesus tells us, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”
When you read that, which of the commands seems most
important to you? A good argument could
be made that “go” is the most important command. After all, nothing else can be accomplished
if we don’t go first.
Or maybe “baptizing” is the most important of the
commands. We want to see people saved
and that happens by their accepting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. They then demonstrate that belief through
baptism.
Perhaps “teaching them to obey” is the most important. We want to please God, and we do that by
accepting His Son and obeying His commands.
Interestingly enough, though, I recently heard a compelling
argument that “make disciples” is the most important command. Apparently, in the original Hebrew text, the
grammar lends a slight emphasis to this command. I unfortunately don’t know Hebrew, but I can
understand the argument just by looking at the sentence structure in English.
Let’s start by looking at the first command, “go.” This is undoubtedly important, but going in
itself lacks purpose without a reason for going. And what is that reason? To make disciples. The other two commands then provide details
for making disciples. We are to make
disciples by “baptizing” and “teaching.”
Jesus taught us by example the importance of making
disciples. His ministry lasted only
three years and yet he changed the world.
How? He made disciples. Then they made disciples, their disciples
made disciples, and so on.
And Jesus taught us that there is more to discipleship than
just “baptizing” or “teaching.” There is
a relationship involved. Jesus didn’t
stop at simply teaching his disciples; he invested in their lives. He was there when they had questions. He ate with them, laughed with them, and
cried with them. They were able to learn
firsthand how the character of God reacts to different circumstances.
But it might be tempting for us to look at Jesus’ example
and feel that we are not called to the same type of discipleship. After all, He was God. That’s the only example worth following.
While that logic may be true, it is not the whole
truth. How would you feel if I were to
say to you “join with others in following my example”? Or maybe if I said, “I plead with you,
brothers, become like me”? Would you
think I was arrogant? This is exactly
what Paul says in Galatians 4:12a and Philippians 3:17a respectively. He says this because he understands Jesus’
command to make disciples. It means
leading by example and teaching others to follow that example.
So now here is my challenge – follow Christ’s command. Make disciples. Don’t wait until you are perfect because that
will never happen. Paul was not perfect,
but he made disciples. There are people
in your life that God has placed there for a reason. Friends, family, co-workers, etc. You are ideally placed to reach those
people. You won’t be perfect, but you’ll
show those people how God can work through imperfect people. And God will certainly help you along the
way.
Go for it!
