Make Disciples

Today on Renewing Your Mind what it means to go and make disciples. Jesus saying you will be my witnesses not you should try to be my witnesses but you will be my witnesses by virtue of being united to Christ by virtue of being his disciples. You will be my witnesses here and throughout the world. Christ does tell us to go and make disciples of all nations can often keep us from obeying clear command, but today Dr. Burk Parsons explains what's behind the great commission and why we can be bold as we bear witness to Christ coming to the great commission to this whole matter of making disciples. Too often we skip over some of the most significant elements and fundamental elements of what is going on. The great commission. When we hear these words from Jesus.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations. When we hear that language. Most of us say okay were familiar with that we know what the great commission teaches. We know that the Lord has called us to go to all nations.

But what if I told you that that's called net commission that Jesus gave to his disciples so long ago, is not altogether new that Jesus concern for the nations is the concern of our Lord from the very beginning that the very reason we exist. The very reason the world exists, the very reason that anything exists, the very reason that God created was that he might have a people for himself who might praise to God created the world God created all things fundamentally for his glory. But secondarily he created all things that we might exist that God might have a people for himself. According to his good pleasure that she would call that would praise him forever. To understand this we need to have a better grasp of what the Bible in fact does teach about the Lord's care for his name being glorified and for his name being lifted up for God to be known among the nations, not just to be known among the Jews, but that God's name would be known among the nations that he would have a people for himself in every tribe and tongue and nation were to do that we need to take a quick look throughout Scripture to understand what it is that God teaches us he shows us throughout Scripture about his concern for the nations beginning in Genesis chapter 1, we read of course after he created man and woman he told them to be fruitful and to multiply were familiar with that I trust and that we read again in Genesis 8 when Noah and his family are about to depart the ark that God reminded them, be fruitful and multiply, and then twice in chapter 9 as their now coming off the ark after the flood had subsided, the Lord calls them again, be fruitful and multiply multiply throughout the years, dispersed yourselves throughout the earth and take dominion over it.

But then what happened in Genesis 11 people migrated from the east, and they came together and they said let us build a town for ourselves either a tower that reaches to the heavens and as they came together they said let us come together so that we would not be dispersed throughout the earth. And so what did God do his concern was not ultimately with the city. The concern was not foundational.

He with a tower reaching to the heavens. The concern ultimately was that they were coming together, speaking one language that they might not be dispersed throughout the earth that went directly against God's command to go and dispersed themselves and to multiply to all the earth. And so what did God do, but he scattered them confuse their language so that they would have to scatter than what we read in Genesis chapter 12 the Lord says that Abram go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you and I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing I will bless those who bless you and him who dishonors you I will curse in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Right here in Genesis chapter 12 after the Lord had dispersed all the peoples confuse their language. God called one man from the Chaldeans and said go and through that man. He would make it him a great nation and through that one man and his descendents he would bless all the families of the earth, every tribe and tongue and nation.

All the nations and notice what the Lord says that he will do, he would bless him and protect he would bless and honor and curse those who cursed and that in Genesis 28 again as Jacob had his dream. We get so caught up in all the details of the dream when the focal point of the dream is God's reiterated promise to Jacob.

We read in Genesis 28 versus 14. Following your offspring should be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad west of the East to the north and to the south and you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And then again the promise of blessing and protection. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you and I've done what I've promised throughout Genesis throughout the entire Torah we read of God's promise and concern for the nations even making provisions for the nations and the foreigners among Israel throughout the Psalms. We can read numerous Psalms about God's concern for the nations about how the nations would praise God as the nation saw God's power and God's work in and among and through his people similar to what we saw in their crossing of the Red Sea and the destruction of Pharaoh and his horses and chariots that God's name would be known throughout the world, and wherever Israel went in there trans Jordanian conquest of the promised land. They heard time and time again we know of your God. We've heard about what your God did your enemies we know of this God's why so many came to trust them wherever they went because they heard about what God had done to the Kings and the princes, the most powerful nations under this God was with Moses is concerned.

Lord, if you don't go with us and it's hopeless.

The Lord went with in the Lord tabernacle among them. In Genesis 22 a messianic Psalm that begins with sadness and crying out my God my God why have you forsaken me ends with praise.

It ends and culminates with a focus on what will happen through the restoration of God's man in verse 27 of Psalm 22, all the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord and all the families of the nations shall worship before you in the in Psalm 67. The psalmist declares I God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us because, as God blesses his people and protects and sustains his people through his people through his work in them through his light shining in them in his face shining upon them and reflecting upon their faces, and in their lives as they live, confess and proclaim God's praises God does his work of bringing the nations to himself so that this is the purpose so that your way may be known on the earth. Your saving power among all nations, let the peoples praise you will God let all the peoples praise you let the nations be glad and sing for joy throughout the prophets. We can read of what will happen in the day of the Lord when that day comes, and how the nations will flow to the mountain of the Lord and when the nations began to flow to the mountain of the Lord, the great Mount Zion. What we begin to read about John's Gospel. What we read about John the Baptist declaring that this Jesus from Nazareth is indeed the son of God and the Lamb of God who takes away not only the sin of Israel. But it takes away the sin of the world and then we come across John's record of Jesus cleansing the temple in John chapter 2 in Mark chapter 11 Matthew chapter 21 it seems abundantly clear that while Jesus was concerned about what seem to be underhanded, thieving, and exorbitant interest rates in charging on the buying and selling and exchanging of monies and payments for lambs and animals for the sacrifice that ultimately, the concern that ultimately the reason why Jesus cleansed the temple was not because they were buying and selling and exchanging money that took place for centuries just on the other side of the valley got even a provisions for such a thing. It would have been the Prudential and wise thing to do is families were coming and traveling and buying animals to sacrifice.

The problem was that they were doing it in the court of the nations. The problem is that the court of the Gentiles was to be a place of prayer has why Jesus said this was to be a house of prayer. You've made it a den of thieves. They crowded in to the court of the nations. The court of the Gentiles that God had reserved for the nations to be able to comment to pray and to worship Yahweh, and they had turned it into a busy, noisy place of commerce, so we cleansed it here. Wonder why Jesus wasn't immediately arrested for doing that they had likely only recently been doing this because of an edict that had been issued that allowed this likely the reason Jesus wasn't immediately arrested because many of the Pharisees who actually knew their Bibles knew that Jesus was right. It's not for no reason that one of the head Pharisees, a ruler among the Jews kingdom.

The next evening or that evening they came by night and inquired because Nicodemus and most of the Jews. They believe that they were saved by virtue of being a Jew.

They had the word of God to have the confidence the oracles they have the promises of God. They had their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They have the prophecies, they were the people of God and the Messiah was to come and to save them and they were destroy all the nations.

All the enemy pagan nations, and so Nicodemus came and inquired Jesus made it clear to him.

You can enter the kingdom of God. In other words, you can't be saved unless you are born again in the Jesus goes on to make it even abundantly clear in that passage saying it's not just you Nicodemus. This is for whoever believes for God so loved the world, not just Israel if you knew your Bibles, you would know that God so loved the world, you would know God's heart for the nations, you would know God's concern for all the families of the earth. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes whoever believes whoever believes occurs time and time again throughout chapter 3 of John's cost concludes with that same language.

Whoever believes will be saved. Whoever believes will not perish but have everlasting life. And then we read in acts chapter 1 Jesus saying you will be my witnesses not you should try to be my witnesses but you will be my witnesses by virtue of being united to Christ by virtue of being his disciples. You will be my witnesses here and throughout the world. And then what we read in acts chapter 2 reversal of battle were now all those men and women who were in Jerusalem at the time from all over the world were gathered together in one place, and the Holy Spirit came in tongues of fire came upon them, and everyone could hear in his own language. The truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ for the nations.

When we hear from Peter in chapter 2. In a sermon at Pentecost.

He says very plainly versus 1721 and the last days, it shall be, God declares that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh in verse 21, it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

And then Peter in chapter 3. Speaking Solomon's portico, Peter says all the prophets who spoke in from same on those who came after him also proclaim these days, the coming day of the Lord and peters essentially sink you should know the word of God and you should know the law of God, the prophecies of God and if you know them, you will know that what I'm saying is true that the day of the Lord has come in the proof of that is that God has now begun to reach the nations in mass then Peter says in verse 25. You are the sons of the prophets, and of the covenant of God made with your fathers saying to Abraham and notice what portion of God's promise.

Peter quotes and in your offspring all the families of the earth will be blessed. So Matthew chapter 28 when Jesus says go therefore and make disciples of all nations. Matthew Jew writing largely to Jews recording these words of Jesus recording this commission of Jesus is recording something that every Jew who knew his theology. Every Jew who knew the word of God well every Jew who understood God's concern for the nations heard this and said of course. Of course we are being called to go to the nations.

Of course we are called to go from here and to go and to spread this good news because we know of our Lord, we know his heart for the nations we know why God created man and woman we know why God created the earth. It was that God might have a people for himself. See when we come to the great commission, we have to first of all, realize that the Bible actually never calls at great now.

It is great in the sense that it is a grand commission. It is weighty and heavy. It is significant it is monumental and what Jesus is calling us to do, but too often when we hear that language of greatness. It can be both intimidating and daunting and it can actually lead us to almost complete complacency doing nothing because it seems to grandiose it seems to overwhelming see the reality of it is is that while this commission is indeed great.

It's also very ordinary because as his disciples. They were to be about the business of living their lives and going from Jerusalem to Judea Samaria to the uttermost parts of the earth as they live their lives as they raise their children as they took care of themselves as they made tense, or as they fished or did whatever it is they were called and gifted to do. They were to go and to make disciples see we are by nature disciples, we are by nature learners. We are by nature those who learn and grow in and want to be informed and want to learn how to grow and want to learn wisdom and humility. We by nature are people who want to know and grow God pleading us. We are by nature worshipers.

If you don't believe that we are by nature worshipers. Every human being worships something well then you can just go and visit any European or British football game. You can go up to menu Liverpool game and you can see how everyone worships.

We are by nature worshipers. We are by nature learners and we are also by nature teachers.

We are by nature disciple makers from the very moment we begin to talk. We begin to tell those around us things that we know things that we have learned and things that we want them to know even though they might already know it.

And as we grow we want people to hear from us because we've learned something we experience something we've we've we've understood something we come to grasp something we come to understand a new a new biblical truth or new point of typical theology that we can't wait to share with those that we love because it makes us so filled with passion excites us and enlightens us. We want people to know what we've learned is no greater picture of that in the relationship between a mother and her children.

Mothers are by nature trainers and nurturers fathers to training and nurturing and teaching. We are by nature disciples and Jesus says go and make disciples of all nations make disciples of what may seem like a silly question, perhaps even obvious question, but it's an important question make disciples of water make disciples who too often.

Our concern has been to go and make disciples of people who look like us and talk like us and dress like us, and act like us to do everything just like we do, because it's only when they've reached that plane than they really made it. We are called to make disciples not of ourselves to be constantly about the business of pointing those that we are teaching and those that we are training to Jesus Christ that we are called to make disciples of all nations, making them disciples of Jesus Christ. That means working constantly to get ourselves out of the way and pointing those who are under our care, not only those in our church is not only our friends and our families, our children teaching.

Even our children that ultimately though, we want them to imitate us as Calvin would add only in so far as we imitate Christ that ultimately we want our children to imitate him that we want our friends and want those that were working with those that were teaching in any capacity to imitate Jesus Christ. Now it's important to point out that in the great commission, we don't come across the word evangelize doing.

We don't come across the word evangelism in the great commission.

Many people, when you asked them what is the great commission about they'll say well it's about evangelism.

Well, while evangelism is certainly contained within it subsumed within the whole charge of making disciples, we have to understand that evangelism is only one part of disciple making only one part of fulfilling the great commission. Too often, that has been the sole focus of too many preachers and too many ministries throughout history both in America and the UK and elsewhere evangelists would come and blow in blowup and blow out for come in handy gospel tract or even a Bible that is not making disciples. And if we are only going and evangelizing. If we are only going and handing out a resource only going in getting a Bible. We are sometimes doing more harm than good, because ultimately we need teachers. Christ ordained and called us to go and to make disciples one on one face-to-face and that means that we need to go and evangelize and proclaim the gospel and wherever we proclaim the gospel and people respond to the gospel.

It's there that the spirit plants the church in the great commission. The fulfillment of what Christ has called us to do and making disciples can only happen in and through the local church. It can and must only happen where God calls one and then another brings them together and they gathered together in corporate worship, not through logging in online but actually seeing one another, gathering together singing together and affirming together and confessing together regularly weekly. Jesus promised the end of this commission, that as we do this and as we go as we make disciples.

He promises just as he did to Abraham just as he did to Jake.

The promise to bless and protect them. And behold, Jesus in Zion with always to the end Christ calls us to make disciples. When we understand what's behind his command that we can find great joy and an great purpose in carrying it out. Thanks for listening to Renewing Your Mind on this Friday. Dr. Burk Parsons was our teacher today. He was speaking of legionnaires London conference in our theme. There was the light of the world.

There were seven messages at all and would like for you to have them contact us today with a donation of any amount him will make them available to you like digital download will also send you a book which Dr. Parsons co-edited it's John Calvin's a little book on the Christian life. It's excerpted from Calvin's institutes of the Christian religion, and it's really a wonderful resource for living the Christian life. We invite you to request both resources would you give your donation of any amount you can go online to Renewing Your Mind.org or you can call us at 800-435-4343. Speaking of conferences that let me encourage you to take a look at our upcoming events. When you go to Lincoln or.org. For example, our West Coast conference in Seattle is coming up in June. You can find details about that in all of our events.

When you go to Lincoln or.org/events.

I hope you've enjoyed the highlights of our London conference next week will feature portions of one of Dr. RC Sproul's most popular series. The consequences of ideas, beginning Monday here on Renewing Your Mind