Big Idea: As the church is committed to make disciples, the Lord calls us to “go”, and as we go we are to call all peoples to repent of their manner of life and turn to Christ. In baptism we identify with those who are also Christ’s disciples and are committed to growing in our love for Him.
What is a disciple of Jesus? A disciple of Jesus is a faithful follower and proclaimer of Jesus’ excellencies.
Matthew 28:18–20 (ESV) — 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 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, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Going
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Matthew 28:19 (ESV) — 19 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…
Baptism marks a decisive event in the life of a disciple where he consciously and voluntarily leaves his old convictions concerning life behind, and enters into a new one.
“The Great Commission includes the baptism and careful discipling of new believers. Matthew is not satisfied, Jesus is not satisfied, with any hasty profession of faith, any perfunctory baptism. The apostles are called not to evoke decisions but to make disciples. And that is an altogether tougher assignment. Matthew has shown throughout his book how slow Jesus’ disciples were to do and be what he wanted. The apostles would not have an easier ride as they set out to continue Jesus’ mission. There would be much blindness, much failure and misunderstanding, much opposition.”
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Matthew 28:20 (ESV) —20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Discipleship to Jesus does not come naturally. That is to say, it is not part of our natural make up. We do not just relax into following Christ. It is a long, slow, and arduous process of re-learning what it means to be human, in the truest sense of the word, through instruction and practice.
2 Timothy 3:16–17 (ESV) — 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
Romans 6:1–4 (ESV) — 1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
Romans 8:1–4 (ESV) — 1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
1 Corinthians 1:30–31 (ESV) — 30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
Questions to consider
What is baptism and what role does it play in making disciples?
What are the two aspects of re-educating Christ’s disciples? Do you have a tendency to focus on one instead of the other? Why?
What would it look like to continue to grow in Christ as submit ourselves to Him?
