In part 1 we looked at the call to Go and the fear that keeps us from entering unsafe environments. In Part 2 we are going to focus on the ‘Make’, the command to produce something specific.
“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.””
Matthew 28:18-20 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/mat.28.18-20.NIV
Go and make disciples…a command that the church has held to for 2000 years. But what does this actually mean?
There are two verbs that drive this command. ‘Go’ and ‘Make’. This tells us quite a bit.
Like the call to ‘Go’, the call to ‘Make’ is active, not passive. I am the one called to produce something. It is not going to make itself! When I am told by my boss to generate a report, make a pizza, or sell a car none of these things happen by themselves. It requires me to actively produce a report, a pizza, or a sale.
In this case I am being told to Make Disciples. But what does this mean and how can I know if I am doing a good job? When I am told to make a pizza, it is not acceptable for me to make a ham sandwich, even if I like ham sandwiches more than pizza!
Jesus, the son of God, in the ultimate display of appropriate human relationship with the Father, while facing the ultimate suffering, said,
““Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.””
Luke 22:42 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/luk.22.42.NIV
‘Not my will, but yours be done.’ Jesus as a human had to resist the original sin in order to fulfill Gods call. Jesus had to submit himself to the Father’s will. The original sin that corrupted humanity in the garden of Eden was the act of Eve and Adam disobeying God in order to pursue ‘their truth’. Eating of the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, was violating the greatest barrier, Adam and Eve, who were already made in the image of God and preeminent above all other creation, no longer wanted to submit to God’s will. Adam and Eve wanted to be God! They wanted to determine what was right and wrong and what was good and evil. Adam and Eve wanted to live out ‘their truth’!
“In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.”
Judges 17:6 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/jdg.17.6.KJV
And yet we see throughout scripture, the catastrophe that comes when humans ignore or, worse, rebel against God’s will. At its very center this behavior is called sin. And God hates sin. He despises the disobedience that can consume humanity. He becomes angry even to the point of pouring out unbearable wrath on those who sin!
Probably one of the most horrific stories in scripture is the rainbow story, Noah and the Ark. At its core it is a story of God’s wrath on sinful humanity. Humans had become so evil, so disobedient, so corrupt, so narcissistic, that God literally regretted having ever made them and decided to destroy them and all the earth! And if it wasn’t for one righteous man, humanity would be no more!
“The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.” But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.”
Genesis 6:5-8 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/gen.6.5-8.NIV
God carries out his cleansing by literally killing all humans except for Noah and his family. And while the story of the Ark is a story of redemption and salvation of humans and the animals, it is first a story of God’s righteous anger toward sin. The rainbow provided, after the judgment, is a symbol that God will never again horrifically flood the earth in a display of judgment. But make no mistake, God’s wrath is real. His abhorrence toward sin is real. And His judgement is still coming.
Before you think this a hell fire and brimstone post, the story or Noah, is also one of love and salvation. Even in the midst of unimaginable evil, God provided a way of salvation. And Noah, one of the few righteous men to have ever walked this earth, worshipped God through a true sacrifice, and God’s love and promise was evoked.
“20Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and there he sacrificed as burnt offerings the animals and birds that had been approved for that purpose. 21And the Lord was pleased with the aroma of the sacrifice and said to himself, “I will never again curse the ground because of the human race, even though everything they think or imagine is bent toward evil from childhood. I will never again destroy all living things. 22As long as the earth remains, there will be planting and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night.”
Genesis 8:20-22 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/gen.8.20-22.NIV
The New Testament is also not shy about the judgment of God. In fact Jesus spoke about hell more than he spoke about heaven and more than any other person in the scriptures. Among other things Jesus describes hell as a giant chasm that none can cross (Luke 16), as an eternal fire that some will be banished to (Matt 25), a place of eternal punishment (Luke 16:23) and a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt 13:42). Hell is the result of sin. A righteous God cannot let sin exist, there must be a payment made and the payment required is death. For those to whom great evil has been inflicted, justice and judgment are good news.
But this same God who is angry with sin is also loving. There was literally only one way to free humanity that God has loved from the evil that had enslaved it and that is by sending His one and only Son to die in our place.
“8But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”
Romans 5:8 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/rom.5.8.NIV
The payment had to be made, the sinless son of God gave his life so that we who believe, who would become His disciples, would not have die, but could inherit eternal life. This is the grace of God, the free undeserved gift given out of love that we could have life.
But do not think that God’s grace is a license to go back to the garden of eden and adopt a truth any other than God’s truth.
“1Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? 2Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? 3Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? 4For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.
5Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. 6We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. 7For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. 8And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. 9We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. 10When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. 11So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.
12Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires. 13Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. 14Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace.”
Romans 6:1-14 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/rom.6.1-14.NIV
To ‘Go and Make Disciples’ is to introduce people to the freedom of Christ and train them in the ways of Christ, so that it is no longer I who lives, but Christ who lives in me. The call to follow Jesus is a call to die to one’s self and this begins with a dying to my right to determine what is right or wrong. If I am to live in Christ I must first die in the liquid grave of baptism. The waters of death are a cleansing that lead to new life. The sin that once enslaved me is no longer my master and like Noah I am brought through the waters of death and given new life.
The call to make disciples requires me to first understand that it is not my will but God’s will be done. when I make a disciple I must make a disciple of Jesus, the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, the one who is the second Adam, sinless, and sitting at the right hand of the Father! I am, by no means, to make a disciple of myself rather I must follow the instructions of God!
A disciple is a follower, one who submits to the teaching, the correction, the behaviors, and the values of a teacher. Therefore, when we are making disciples of all nations in response to the call of God, these people are to become like Jesus!
Take time, right now, to quiet yourself and seek Gods grace and His righteousness. This is the heart of God, that all people would come to know Him and be set free from sin and death. And this is the strategy of God, that it would be you who brings this Good News.