The Commission and Discipleship

During the first century one of the most amazing things was done that has never been done again and will never be done. During the first century, one of the most controversial Men in history was hung on Calvary's tree as a sacrifice, once, final, the end of all sacrifices. During the first century that Man, Jesus Christ, Yashua haMashiach, Yahweh in the flesh handed over to a ragtag group of men and women the exhortation to go forth and preach good news that Messiah had come, paid the price necessary for all sin, and rose again from the dead after three days to seal His promise of payment, and all His promises to His creation. There were 120 disciples (Acts 1) and within this group of men and women were those known as apostles, eleven men of whom was added Mathias to make twelve (Acts 1).

Let's look for a moment at what Jesus told His disciples also called believers. Matthew 28:18-20 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen. (NKJV)

Mark 16:14-18 Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover." (NKJV)

Luke 24:46-49 Then He said to them, "Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things. Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high." (NKJV)

John 20:22-23 And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." (NKJV)

Acts 1:4-8 And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, "which," He said, "you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now." Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, "Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" And He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." (NKJV)

Despite the moments of surety and belief, we must also see the moments of doubt and fear in these men and women upon whom the whole world is to hear the good news and be made disciples. It is on these disciples that Jesus hands over what we call Christianity. Upon these frail and sometimes hard headed people are given the commission to make disciples of all nations, and to pass on Christianity and the truths they were taught from generation to generation. The good news when and if accepted by a person would change them and cause them to be challenged and committed to the Lord Jesus from whom these precious words have come. We know that it takes faith to believe these precious words. We know that faith is essential to the new birth, so the Lord places into our hands from within the lines of truth the inspiration of the Holy Spirit who will impart faith to accept and believe the truth. All, not some, not many, but all people are desired by the Lord to repent and spend eternity with Him (2Peter 3). God places that faith in His creation when we hear the good news (Romans 12). All we do is believe it! Let's look at a famous event in Scripture.

John 20:26-29 And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, "Peace to you!" Then He said to Thomas, "Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing." And Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." (NKJV)

For the record, this event and many preachers have come together and portrayed Thomas as something that he is not. Thomas gets a bad rap because he didn't believe at first that Jesus had appeared to the other disciples. Notice in Luke 24 that Jesus rebukes all the disciples for their unbelief, the very same thing that many preachers give Thomas a bad rap. However the truth is written that Jesus has handed over to these men and women the foundation of Christianity which is based on frail human and imperfect men and women to go forth and give to other imperfect people a message of hope and a message that will perfect man if it is believed.

Therefore we have imitators of Jesus Christ, they are called disciples and believers, who are to go forth and save the world. NOT!! What we have are believers and disciples who are to reproduce themselves by preaching the message of repentance and forgiveness based on commitment to our Lord, and the learning that a disciple will do from the moment of his commitment until he dies or is raptured which ever may happen first. Notice that Jesus says, "Go therefore and make disciples", and He does not say things like, "Save the world" or "Have people pray this prayer" or "Shake the preacher's hand"! One more detail to the commission that confirms the point that I am making is the Greek syntax. The sentence structure of the commission confirms the nature of the relationship with God is one that is of commitment. Matthew 28:19 poreuqenteV oun maqhteusate panta ta eqnh baptizonteV autouV eiV to onoma tou patroV kai tou uiou kai tou agiou pneumatoV (TR), the key verb we read in the NKJV and the KJV and some other translations is "Go". poreuqenteV-poreuthentes is a participle, and it is not what so many ignorant messages say it is, a command. The same is true in Mark 16:15 15 kai eipen autoiV poreuqenteV eiV ton kosmon apanta khruxate to euaggelion pash th ktisei (TR)! The verb is a deponent verb meaning that the action is on the subject or the subjects responsibility, it is the Aorist tense which is usually a past tense translation in the English, and it is a participle. Literally it should be read as "Going" or while we are walking our path as disciples we are to disciple all nations. This would contradict all those who preach a "salvation" message to get people "saved"! We have not been given the responsibility of saving people! (See this article, Salvation) Salvation comes at death or the rapture, but conversion comes at repentance and forgiveness with our responsibility to teach all people to be learners and disciples. What a concept!! If you think about the parable of the sower, the first one had no understanding and the devil stole away the Word from the heart. The second didn't study and learn, so when persecution came, it dried up in its fire and died. The third one didn't prune his life after what the Word says, he allowed the thorns which are cares of the world to kill his conversion. Only one made it to see eternal life, the fourth one and there were three types of Christians bearing fruit, some thirty, some sixty, and some one hundred fold. (See this article Parable of the Sower)

4198 poreuomai poreuomai por-yoo'-om-ahee

middle voice from a derivative of the same as 3984; TDNT-6:566,915; v

AV-go 117, depart 11, walk 9, go (one's) way 8, misc 9; 154

1) to lead over, carry over, transfer

1c1) to lead or order one's life

Now the big question arises! Yes, we now see what the commission is, and yes we see what the commission actually does, but the tool itself is what must be shown. So the question is this, if we are to teach and disciple all nations, what do we teach them? I have heard one too many times that there's your truth, and there's my truth, and there's her truth, and the list is endless. We have denominations that believe one thing and others teach something else so what do we teach? Look at what Matthew records Jesus saying, "teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; " Now we know that Jesus has come and He has fulfilled the requirements of the Law given in covenant to the nation of Israel. We know that covenant between them is old and has become obsolete (He 8:13). We know that within that old covenant was the 10 Commandments. So what are disciples to use as a tool to teach the nations to become disciples? We use the Holy Scriptures and specifically the new covenant, the volume of the Book. We exercise sound skills to exegete contexts and passages and arrive at sound doctrines that we apply to our daily lives. From the Word of God we have principles and events that teach us how to handle daily living from the Old Testament since we know that it was given to us for our example (1Cor 10:11). There are foolish extremes as some tell you that the Old Testament is no good, and only the New Testament is worth reading and studying. The other foolish extreme is to make all live in the Old covenant that was given to the nation Israel (Moses' Pentateuch or specifically Deuteronomy) by observing their laws and statutes. Both extremes are ridiculous, yet both have enough truth for those who don't take time to study the Word of God being fooled and follow one or the other.

The disciple is therefore a learner of God's Word. When someone hears the good news and commits their life to Jesus, this is done by repenting of sins and receiving forgiveness for them. Jesus then washes that person in His blood and that person becomes born again or converted. However since we are talking commitment, that means clearly that while the person believes, while the person is learning and while the person is growing through the Word of God, the Lord blesses that person with insight into His Word and with a desire to reproduce the things of God in himself and other people. In other words, a person who is born again will desire to grow, a person who is born again will desire to learn, a person will be changing from one glory and maturity level into the next. The things of God will increase in importance as the relationship grows closer. Paul uses the marriage of a husband and wife as the example of Jesus and the church, the believer and His Lord (Ephesians 5). This is why a person will begin to manifest the character of Jesus in their lives because there is a new man inside. Someone who had been born from above will not desire the things of the devil and this world as a whole. There will be much learning and placing the flesh into subjection of the newly converted spirit where the Holy Spirit resides, but the center or core of the man is changed and Paul tells us that new person goes from being a sinner and now becomes a saint.

3101 maqhthV mathetes math-ay-tes'

from 3129; TDNT-4:415,552; n m

AV-disciple 268, vr disciple 1; 269

1) a learner, pupil, disciple

From this noun comes the verb used in Matthew 28 which the NKJV correctly tranlsates "make disciples". Disciples make disciples. That's the way the kingdom of God is set up. A disciple will reproduce himself into more disciples. We are to go forth and while we are going, we live our daily lives teaching others the Word of God, the whole Word in context. We begin in Jerusalem (our home town where we live), and everywhere we go!

4198 poreuomai poreuomai por-yoo'-om-ahee

middle voice from a derivative of the same as 3984; TDNT-6:566,915; v

AV-go 117, depart 11, walk 9, go (one's) way 8, misc 9; 154

1) to lead over, carry over, transfer

1c1) to lead or order one's life

A disciple is a learner and a disciple teaches one way or another depending on the call on their life. One may be a hand, another may be the heart, while another may be the nose. There are many members in the body of Christ and all are disciples. We teach by actions and we teach by what we say. One measure of whether we are born again is clear in these passages and words. If we are teachable, then we are to some degree a disciple. If we are not teachable, then we need to examine ourselves to see if we were ever born again. 2Timothy 2:2 And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. (KJV) Notice that unless one is faithful they can not teach because they have only evil that they could teach and their commitment is suspect. Therefore by definition of a faithful man is whether or not they teach the Word of God as it is written and been passed down from those the Lord placed in our lives to disciple us. A faithful man is a learner, a disciple.

So let's see why Jesus said to teach the principles and precepts that He taught His disciples. Jesus has a good reason why the Word of God should be taught. 2Timothy 3:16-17 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. In Jesus own words He said, "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life."(John 6:63) Take a look at what Isaiah tells us about the Word of God. 55:10-11 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. (KJV)

When we teach the Word of God to those who are committed to the Lord, it may feel uncomfortable, but our conforming to His image will take place. The Word will accomplish the Lord's purpose in it. The Word must be the central point of our lives, and our desire must be changed to agree with what the Word says. Notice what Paul tells the Romans! 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Notice that within God's Word we find God's will, it is perfect and good and acceptable. If God's will isn't these three adjectives, then we must question our walk with the Lord if indeed we even have been washed in His blood. The Word of God will be taken into our mind and heart as we practice it [be doers and not merely hearers (James 2)], use it to change our former attitudes into God's will and attitudes.

Now we should be able to see why it is important to not make up what we believe, why it is important to not believe something because it is said to us by someone we respect, and certainly why it is important to guard what we believe because it all means our spiritual lives and where we will spend eternity. (Read this article, Leaven, and this article, Two Cries)

You may not feel like much of a disciple and a learner, but that doesn't matter one iota! If you have committed your life to Jesus Christ, you are a disciple and you MUST guard that born again experience with all your might and all your strength and all your being (Does this sound like one of the commandments that Jesus said we needed to believe and do?). Hold fast to sound doctrine! Let me close with the writer of Hebrews! Hebrews 3:7-13 � Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.) Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.