| An in-depth look at the chruch's mission! |
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An in depth look at the church’s mission!
Matthew 28:16-20
Introduction:
Sometimes we may be so caught up in doing things, being so busy in the church that we might take for granted the reason, the main purpose for doing the things we do. The Great Commission is the most important command given to the church; those were Jesus’ final words to his followers before he went back to the Father. The purpose of the church is to fulfill the Great Commission. How do we know this is the purpose of the church? Let’s distinguish purpose from ingredients.
For bakers For churches
1.use flour 1. Evangelize
2.add sugar 2. fellowship
3.make cookies 3. make disciples
4.mix in two eggs 4 teach and equip
5.bake at 400 degrees 5. be an example
6.a cup of milk 6. take a short-term mission trip
From these two lists, number 3 is the purpose for each, the others are ingredients. We pray, worship, fellowship, evangelize, equip, model holiness to make disciples.
Read Matthew 28:16-20
1. The Great Commission is the lifestyle for every Christian.
-“As you go” The tense here in the Greek is continuous. It means, wherever you go, where you are, you are to fulfill this purpose.
2. The Great commission includes evangelism. Evangelism is never separated from discipleship. Evangelism is always the first step in making disciples.
Check out how the two elements highlighted in the Great commission.
Baptizing them and teaching them.
Those who were baptized were the ones who accepted the message, they believed it and were baptized into Christ, and this is a pattern you will find in the book of Acts. This is evangelism. Peter told the people “repent and be baptized all of you in the name of the Lord Jesus.” Jesus commanded and as they went they made disciples by baptizing and teaching them.
3. The Great commission is about building Christians all the way to maturity.
-teach them to obey everything I have commanded.
Many churches struggle with this part, because sometimes they might bring someone to Christ (evangelized), but then nothing is done to continue to develop them into mature Christians. The teaching part is left out. Someone said, there is not discipleship without teaching. Teaching them what? Everything Jesus commanded us.
See, the Great commission is not just commanding us to make disciples, The Pharisees had disciples, Socrates and Plato had disciples. The Great Commission is commanding us to make the kind of disciples that obeys, observes everything Jesus has commanded. There are certain things Jesus expects his disciples to know (doctrines or teachings), there are certain behaviors and attitudes Jesus expects his disciples to develop (pray, worship, fellowship, share your faith, generosity, being good stewards of the resources you have, love, good motives, serving,
4. The Great commission is universal or global.
It includes reaching the whole world. “all nations” “Te ethne” meaning people groups, every person in the world must be reached. In Acts 1:8 Jesus had said to his disciples that they would be his witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth.
As we carry out our mission as disciples of Christ, as Christians we must also remember that we are not in this alone. Jesus said, I will be with you to the very end of the age. He will guide us every step of the way in our evangelistic efforts, providing opportunities for us to be his witnesses and share our faith with others. This mission that he has given us is to be carried out all the way to the end of the ages. When we stop breathing, then we would stop making disciples, We exist for a purpose, Christ has told us what our purpose is as a church, so we should not do anything in the church if it doesn’t complement that mission.
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