Matthew 28:19 - 20

“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.” (Matthew 28:19-20 ESV). After reading these verses, the first question that comes to mind is how does one limit what can be said about these two verses to one short study?

Notice the action expressed: Go, make, baptize, teach. Who is to go and who is giving the command? Verse 18 tells us Jesus is giving the command and from verse 17 we learn the command is given to the eleven disciples. How do these verses apply to us? The disciples were told to go and make more disciples and those disciples, as disciples, would then go and make more, which would finally include you and me.

The “therefore” following the command to “go” looks back to “All authority” that was given to Jesus and links it to “I am with you always” of verse 20. Going forth to make disciples can be a dangerous task in many places, maybe even the cost of your life, but regardless of the outcome, Jesus is in control and will use your possible suffering and even death to find loss sheep to build his kingdom with. Here in the west we have forgotten that when we go we are engaging the enemy and in any conflict there will be casualties on the frontline. When we who are from the kingdom of God go and search the domain of darkness for loss sheep, we go under the authority of Jesus, aware of intimate danger, with the willingness to sacrifice everything if necessary to accomplish our mission.

The current emphasis today is to go as a witness, but unless these new converts are properly trained, your invasion into the domain of darkness will weaken and soon its evil will overcome you as it is currently happening in America. Go, make, baptize, and teach is much more than just witness. We each have different gifts and strengths which we need to develop and apply. As a Christian you have no choice; you are expected to sacrifice and be involved.

Prayer

Father, we will never have an effective witness unless we are in love with Jesus as the Word and are willing to be crucified with him to allow him to live his life in and through us. Unless we are totally committed to “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain,” our witness (actually our life) will have little eternal impact. It seems that our love is growing cold as we become a selfie generation. It's time we take the focus off ourselves and present an image of Christ-likeness to the world. Father, forgive us and have mercy on us!