Matthew 28:19-20 | Four Considerations in Disciple Making

This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

You could open your Bibles to Matthew chapter 28 and begin to study what is typically known as the Great Commission, Matthew 28, verses 18 to 20.

Matthew 28 · chapter mention Matthew 28:18–20

Before we get there, I will share a little something about myself.

I love watches.

I don't have just one watch.

I like good watches.

And my wife is always fascinated by my obsession with high-quality watches.

She says, you own these precision time pieces, but you're never on time.

What's wrong here?

I don't necessarily look at my watch that often, but I feel uh somewhat not completely dressed without a watch.

And so something about my love for watches got me into this story about the history of watchmaking and how the Swiss gained dominance over the watch industry.

You see what happened.

America was actually leading watchmaking.

They were the world leaders in watchmaking.

But they started to decline and losing their competitive advantage.

And in 1974, the last American-made watch company shut its doors.

What was the reason for that, you may ask?

Why did a world leader in watchmaking somehow disappear off the world stage?

Well, the difference was in America, it was predominantly influenced, the watch industry, by Henry Ford's system of mass production, the production line.

And so all these folk learned what to do was to assemble watches.

And they never paid attention to actually train up watchmakers.

The Swiss, on the other end, they were more concerned about training people to be watchmakers.

And so, uh, contrary, you will have a little cottage somewhere in the Swiss Alps where a master watchmaker would have maybe a dozen or so watchmakers.

And he would train these folk as they would assemble these watches, he would call them together and say, okay, let me show you how we make this little part and how we put these little parts together.

And these students, these apprentices, would look at the master watchmaker and try to do what he does good.

And my dear brothers and sisters, I do believe this is something to do with us too, in terms of ministry.

And I think here's some lessons to be learned, and also some lessons to be learned in terms of making disciples.

Turn your Bibles to Matthew 28, verses 18 to 20.

Matthew 28:18–20

It reads there, and Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.

This is often referred to as what?

The Great Commission, or the Gospel Commission, or the Church's Commission.

But lo and behold, often we see that word go, and that is where we begin and where we end.

The Great Commission is not just about going somewhere.

It's not about just reaching lost people.

The goal of the Great Commission is to make disciples.

And why I say that, if you look at the way it is constructed dramatically, the main verb in that sentence, that very long sentence, is the word make disciples.

That is the main verb.

The main verb is supported by two subordinate verbs, namely baptizing and teaching.

Baptizing and teaching.

And I will talk about that a little bit in our making of disciples, where we not only show people how to become a disciple, but also show someone how to be a disciple.

Now, first, let us define the word disciple.

What does the word disciple mean?

In Greek, the word means something of an apprentice, a student, a learner.

And we see that since developed with the rabbis of the first century.

You see, rabbis had followers that were called disciples.

These disciples or apprentices submitted themselves to the teachings of the rabbi.

These disciples, too, they would be placed into an environment of training and teaching where they were taught things about religion and religious life.

There was an expectation that these disciples would not only hear what the rabbi would teach, but also implement what the rabbi would teach.

And lastly, the rabbi served as a model, as an example, as an embodiment of what is being taught.

And with that thought in mind, let's think about how we go about making disciples.

And let's bring that right into practice here at Faith EV3.

And as I look at the Great Commission, aligning our lives to the words of Christ here, there are four considerations.

There are four considerations that I want to bring us.

Two, the first is the right environment.

Number two is the right expectation.

Number three, the right education.

Number four, the right example.

Let us talk about these a little more.

Baptizing them in speaks about the right environment.

Teaching them to obey speaks about the right expectation.

All that I have commanded you speaks of the right education.

And number four, lo, I am with you speaks of the right example.

So let's look at these four considerations in the Great Commission.

Number one, the right environment.

You look there in verse 19, it says, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

In making disciples, there is to be an immersion into not only the waters of baptism, but that which the waters of baptism represents, and that is the body of Christ.

It's not just speaking here of a ceremonial immersion, but an immersion or an initiation into what is commonly known as the church.

The church represents the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit on earth.

Thinking of this right environment, the church leans itself to everything in making disciples.

Turn your Bibles, please, to Acts chapter two, verses thirty-seven and thirty-eight.

We'll look at those for a moment because these verses show us how the apostles applied the Great Commission.

This is the application of the Great Commission.

The whole book of Acts is an execution of the Great Commission.

And here in Acts 237 it reads, Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart.

That is the gospel.

And Peter said, and they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, brothers, what shall we do?

And Peter said to them, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

You see, logically and chronologically, baptism followed shortly on the heels of repentance.

The act of faith and repentance virtually concurrently was met with this surrender and immersion into the waters of baptism, which necessarily also meant committing themselves to the local ecclesia, the body of Christ, the church.

Look at verse 41 and verse 42.

It says there, so those who received his word were baptized and they were added, in parentheses, to the church that day, about 3,000 souls.

And then verse 42, they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship and the breaking of bread and prayers.

That sounds to me like the things happening at church.

So those who became disciples that day, those who were made disciples, were immersed into this environment called the local church, where they had fellowship, the breaking of bread, and praying together.

But most importantly of all, it says there, they devoted themselves to the instruction, to the teaching of the apostles.

You see, the right environment is a teaching environment.

It is an educational environment.

And my dear brothers and sisters, education without any expectation is futile.

Right?

Those of you who are teachers, if you give your students, you instructing and teaching your students, but you have no expectations of them, that education doesn't go a long way.

But here with the Great Commission, the environment is an educational environment with an expectation.

Go back to verse 20 of the Great Commission.

It says there in verse 2, teaching them.

Teaching them.

Is that the whole sentence?

It says there, teaching them to observe.

You see, it's education with expectation.

Making disciples involves teaching somebody, educating somebody with the purpose of obedience.

That word observe in the Greek means to keep, to obey.

The NIV translates it, teach them to obey.

Obedience is the goal, dear brothers and sisters.

The syntax in the Greek makes it very clear that there's a causal relationship between teaching and obedience.

The teaching should bring about obedience.

The purpose of teaching is not teaching for the sake of teaching, but for obedience.

It is not for intellectual enlightenment, but obedient and my dear brothers and sisters, they say it's hard to teach an old dog new tracks.

But I think it's another thing to train and cultivate the human heart to follow Jesus Christ with obedience.

Teach them to obey.

Dr.

Craig Blomberg has the following to say.

He says, obedience to all of Jesus' commands is at the heart of disciple making.

Making disciples of Jesus, we must, of course, give attention to theology and to doctrine, but theology and doctrine without application is somewhat useless.

Let me give you an illustration.

Let's say I'll take you to the Ford dealership and I'm gonna give you a Ford F-150.

You can pick whatever you want in it.

Heated seats, backup camera, whatever the stuff comes with nowadays.

But I would say to you, you know, what we're not gonna do for you is put wheels on the car.

In fact, you can put wheels on this.

They'll drop it off in your driveway and you'll have your Ford F-150.

You'll call me in a few days and say, just get this thing out of my driveway.

I can't do anything with it.

And so, dear brothers and sisters, theology, doctrine, teaching, everything in the work of making disciples must have this goal of obeying Christ.

It must be practical.

It must have a benefit to people in the sense that they can mesh it into their daily lives.

Paul speaks in Romans 16, 26 of making the gospel known to the nations, leading to the obedience of faith.

The type of faith that Paul sought in people was not just an intellectual faith, but a faith that actually obeys the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is an obedient faith.

One scholar puts it in this way.

He makes the point very clear.

He says we are never to be content with discipling someone who is merely looking for an emotional or intellectual acceptance.

Faith and obedience, he says, go inextricably together.

Only in obedience is there faith, for faith is not an emotional feeling or an intellectual acceptance, but active obedience to a person.

Yes, we want to reach people for Christ.

But as Dr.

Dan Doran mentioned, he says, we are not after making converts, we are after making disciples.

You may look at someone and say, I want to share the gospel with them.

Praise God.

But it's another thing to say as I see this person at work, I want to make them a follower of Jesus Christ who will obey Jesus Christ, who will have a faith leading to active obedience.

That is the goal, dear brothers and sisters.

That is what it means to make a disciple.

There are plenty opportunities and there's plenty occasions where we merely make converts.

But are we actually cultivating obedient followers of the Lord Jesus Christ?

Are we making people who look like Jesus Christ?

He says there in Romans 1:5, Paul says, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith.

Romans 1:5

Once again, it's not just a faith, but an obedient faith for the sake of his name among the nations.

That is once again the great commission here.

Old Paul's evangelistic efforts was not just to merely reach people who profess faith in Christ, but he wanted to see people who have faith in a person and shows active obedience to that person.

So Christ says here in verse 20, teaching them to observe.

To observe what?

To observe what?

Let's look in verse 20 of Matthew's gospel.

Chapter 28, he says, teaching them to observe.

Here it is, all that I have commanded you.

So far.

We've looked at the right environment, we've looked at the right expectation.

Now we need to think of the right education.

The right education in making disciples has the Bible as its source, for this the Bible contains what?

The commands of Christ.

It is often called the Word of Christ, the words of Christ.

Colossians 3, 16, that the words of Christ richly dwell in you.

Acts 20, verse 27.

Acts 20:27

Paul speaks of his classroom curriculum.

His classroom curriculum is Acts 20, verse 27.

Acts 20:27

He says, For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole council of God.

All scripture is God-breathed.

Able to teach, correct, and train in righteousness.

In making disciples, our curriculum of education is to be the word of God.

The words of Jesus Christ.

Dr.

Michael Horton wrote a wonderful book.

If you can put your hands on it, it's called The Gospel Commission.

He wrote two books on the Great Commission, but he he he touches on a point there that I really appreciate.

He says we put a lot of effort in reaching the lost, but then we often reach the we lose the reach.

Did that make sense?

While reaching the lost, we might run risk of losing the reached if we do not immerse them in this.

And we may be doing a great job in helping someone to become a disciple.

But what do we do from that point on and helping them being a disciple?

In knowing how to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, we have to immerse them in the scriptures.

This is our curriculum.

Our curriculum is powerful.

It's more powerful than your words and my words.

It pierces to the heart.

Hebrews 4 12.

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing the division of soul and of spirit, and of joints and of marrow, discerning the thoughts and the intentions of the heart.

You see, my opinion can go this far.

My little anecdote can go that far.

But nothing goes down to the deepest crevices of the human heart other than the word of God.

That's gonna affect change.

Dear brothers and sisters, are you able to handle this two edged sword?

Discipling somebody and showing them how to bring their lives in accordance to obedience to the words of Christ.

We have to have the right environment for disciples to flourish and to be nurtured.

We have to have the right expectations.

The expectation is you obey the words of Christ.

We have to immerse them in the word of God, which is the right education.

But fourthly, we need to think of the right example.

You see, as I said, the Swiss gained mastery over the watchmaking industry when they had these apprentices exposed to great watchmakers.

They had good examples to learn from, to imitate.

And we have a great example too.

And that's my fourth point, the right example.

Christ is the right example.

He says there in verse 20 of Matthew 28, and behold, I am with you.

I am with you always to the end of the age.

We have to keep in mind Christ.

It is about Christ.

It's Christ's commission.

It has to be focused and centered upon a person.

The obedience is to a person.

The source of salvation is in a person.

The source of justification is in the person.

The life to model our lives after is in the person.

Hear what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11 1.

He says, be imitators of me as I am of Christ.

What is Paul saying?

He says, I imitate Christ.

Christ is with me, Christ is in me, his spirit is within me and working through me as I imitate Christ.

What is that saying that we often throw around?

More things are caught than taught.

Yes, we have to teach, but mentorship by example, by modeling, is a powerful tool, my dear brothers and sisters.

We need to be imitators of Christ in this great commission, in making disciples.

We are to think of these words.

Give you in ourselves an example to imitate.

Paul said he gave himself and his co-workers as models that people can imitate.

Philippians 3:17 speaks of this example that we are to those we disciple.

Philippians 3:17

Brethren, join in following my example and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us.

You see, there's a pattern.

A disciple of Christ has a pattern.

His pattern imitates who?

Christ.

He models his life after Christ.

And as he models his life after Christ, to be an imitator of Christ, guess what?

Those whom he seek to make disciples of Christ see that, and more is caught than often taught.

We cannot neglect, don't get me wrong, the importance of teaching doctrine and theology and the truths of scripture, because after all, the church is the pillar and the buttress of truth.

But oh, that we would be role models and not just teachers to our students.

Obedience is hard.

Obedience is hard.

But obedience becomes somewhat more tangible when we see someone else do it and practice it.

Philippians 4 9.

Paul says in this very pivotal verse in his mission to the church, he says, the things you have learned and received and heard and seen.

You see the pattern there?

He says, the things that you have learned and received and heard, but you have also seen in me.

And then he says, practice these things.

Monkey see, monkey do.

Right?

Hopefully.

Well, there's something tragic about monkeys, see, monkey do because monkeys can pick up bad behaviors, right?

No more jumping on the bed.

That's the sum total of my understanding of English literature.

That and the uh what's that uh deep book?

Um if you give a moose a cookie or something like that.

Great works of English literature here too, brothers and sisters, can I challenge you here for a moment?

As much as you imitate Christ, to make a disciple imitate Christ, don't you think that you're, if we are stubborn, if we are indifferent, if we are resistant to the word of God, if that will not rub off in some way or another?

So as much as a good example is important, a bad example can be catastrophic.

And so, dear brothers and sisters, let's take inventory here and ask ourselves if we are examples worthy to imitate, as 2 Thessalonians 3.9 says to us.

Are we worthy to be imitated in terms of our willingness to surrender ourselves to the scriptures and to obey and to learn and to receive the words of Christ?

Are we on a trajectory to become mature believers in Christ?

Doesn't Paul say to Timothy, take pains in these things so that people can see your progression.

You see, dear brothers and sisters, we will not obtain perfection, but there must be progression.

Is there a trajectory towards maturing in Christ?

Not perfection that we after, and that is certainly as a role model, we are to see progression towards maturity.

Let me close with these words of the Greek scholar, Dr.

Robert Mounts.

He says the following.

A faith that changes conduct.

Any other response would be inadequate.

Apart from a changed life, there is no real faith.

When people from every nation profess and demonstrate their faith by the obedience it brings forth, then will his name be honored?

And is the Great Commission not about the glory of God?

The Great Commission is not, dear brothers and sisters, to save people.

The Great Commission is about glorifying Christ through evangelizing the lost and making disciples.

Only when there's a faith that demonstrates obedience, then will his name be honored?

So, my dear brothers and sisters, uh, let's take a moment to think about this.

Consider faith EV free as your church home.

And you want to ask yourself, what am I doing to turn this into the right environment for making disciples?

Secondly, do I have the right expectation of those who become disciples?

Is the expectation obedience?

Number three is uh the right education.

Making disciples, am I looking to the scripture, the word of Christ, all that Christ commanded as my mainstay curriculum?

My is the scripture my scope and sequence of education.

And and number four, am I being the right example?

Am I worthy in a sense to be an example, a role model to those whom I aim to make disciples of?

And lastly, dear brothers and sisters, let's just circle back here to the beginning.

He says, make disciples.

Make disciples.

When does that end?

You see, if we make converts, it's easy to just put up the hand and say, I'm saved now.

Okay, we're done with you.

Bye-bye now.

And that often happens.

The make disciples has no end to it.

It doesn't say, okay, now you stop making a disciple.

And that's probably a sermon for another day, but there's something to be said of leading someone to become a disciple and leading someone to be a disciple.

Becoming is one thing, being a disciple is another thing, and I don't think the Great Commission bifurcates those.

It's all part of the packet.

We never stop discipling, and we are never stopped being disciple, if you like.

Well, let's praise God for his word and ask him to help us.

We know Christ.

You are with us.

You are our great high priest, our example.

Uh, you have suffered many things.

You can sympathize with us uh in that you were exposed to so many things here on earth that we are, and uh yet you never sinned.

So you are a wonderful example of sinless obedience.

You were obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

And so you are a worthy model to imitate.

We are your workmanships, modeled after Christ.

And I pray God that we will model you as disciples of Christ.

And I pray God today that Faith Evangelical Free Church would be a model, a biblical model of making disciples.

May this commission not only be our mission for missions, but the mission for everything we do and practice here at Faith EV Free.

I pray this with your help and dependence on you.

In Jesus' name, Amen.

That concludes this sermon from Faith Evangelical Free Church.

Our mission is to declare the Word of God and disciple believers into mature, devoted followers of Jesus.

You can learn more by visiting our website at faithfree.com.