To Build Up or Tear Down
Part 3 – The Great Commission
Pastor Bruce A. Shields
House of Faith Church | www.PS127.org | www.TruthDigest.org
INTRODUCTION
Last week we talked about building up sinners in love. We looked at why love is important, how God is love, and how we MUST love other, whom we can see, to be able to love God, who we cannot see.
We examined Jesus' mission and example on earth, as one who came, not to condemn the lost, but to save them. If we, who are called by His name, are truly following Christ, then we too must make it our mission in life, not to condemn sinners, but to save them.
Jesus did everything in love, as described in 1 Corinthians 13. When Jesus ascended, He gave what is referred to as the Great Commission. This is our final instruction on everything He taught.
Everything we do, as followers of Christ, has got to fit this instruction, otherwise, we are not truly following in His footsteps.
His mission was to save the lost. This should be ours as well.
Are we, as a body of believers, following Christ's example, saving the lost, and doing so in love?
You cannot push someone into heaven. You cannot drag someone. They cannot ride your coat tails. But you can show them the love of Christ, and when you do, you are being obedient to our Lord, regardless of the other peoples response.
Not everyone who heard Jesus came to salvation. This does not make Jesus any less obedient to our Father in heaven than if everyone came to the Lord.
Our obedience is NOT measured by how many come, but whether we have been obedient in sharing the Good News.
SCRIPTURE READING
MATTHEW 28:18-20
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
BUILDING UP AS JESUS DID
I. GO AND PREACH TO ALL NATIONS
1. Preaching is not teaching. Although they are close, preaching is sewing the seed of God's Good News, or the Gospel, for the Holy Spirit to convert souls. What Jesus is saying is; “Before my Holy Spirit can dwell in them, and before you can teach them to obey all that I have commanded...they must receive salvation.”
1. Acts 2:21 “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. “
2. Romans 10:14-16 “14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
2. Jesus tells us to sew seed.
1. Matthew 13:18-23 “ 18 “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path. 20 The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21 But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away. 22 The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful. 23 But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”
1. Seed (The Good News) is sown, not everyone is saved
1. 19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path.
2. 20 The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21 But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away.
3. 22 The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.
4. 23 But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”
5. Not everyone who hears, receives.
3. Preaching to all nations, we sew the seed of God's Word.
1. We preach to all nations in our own way.
1. Preaching to family
2. Preaching to neighbors
3. Preaching to friends
4. Preaching to strangers
5. Preaching to anyone who will listen
2. We minister in our own ways
1. How we conduct business
2. How we treat our spouses
3. How we live our lives
4. How we treat those in need
3. However it is done, it must be done!
II. BAPTIZING INTO THE NAME OF FATHER, SON AND HOLY SPIRIT
1. The word 'into' means proclaiming an understanding of the core foundation of Christian belief.
2. Jesus is saying that believers MUST be brought into and understanding there is one God, and WHY Jesus came and died, and that the Holy Spirit is now at work within the Church.
3. All these doctrines are necessary for one to be a follower of Christ.
III. TEACH THEM TO OBEY ALL I COMMANDED YOU
1. Once the gospel (seed) has been preached, and the listener has been baptized into an understanding of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, they are NOW READY for instruction.
2. Instruction can only come AFTER the seed was sown, and the baptism into the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
3. This is where instruction into doing all things in love, preaching and teaching begins. This is where every believer should be, having the seed sown, baptism into understanding of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and receiving teaching in the word so that they too can share their faith with others.
CONCLUSION
EVEN UNTO THE END OF THIS AGE
We are living in the dispensation of the church age. Jesus promises that He will be with us, and we will have the Holy Spirit here on earth, right now during this age, until this age is finished.
This age will end at the Rapture, when God will gather His people, and the new age will begin. The dispensation of tribulation.
Until this time, the church, we, are to preach, baptize and teach all nations, all people.
And we are commanded by God to do this in love, to extend this love to the lost.
Matthew 9:11-13
11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?”
12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
When the Lord commanded us to be separate from the world, He did not mean hide from it, but when you live in it (as we must), be a light in it, not “like” the world, but different.
Now that we have looked at what the scripture says, ask yourselves again,
Are you obeying what Christ commands in the Great Commission?
