By a show of hands this morning, how many of you have ever played golf? That includes on a course, at the driving range, or even putt putt. Now, how many of you like golf? Trust me, playing golf and enjoying golf do not always go together. I seem to enjoy golf much more when I in my office wishing I was playing than when I am actually playing.
Well my family is a golfing family. I started playing golf at age 8, and when we spent time together growing up it was normally on the golf course. I don’t remember at what age, but somewhere in our teen years my brother Matt and I both surpassed our father in golfing ability. We both played competitively and were relatively decent players. We also developed a good understanding of the golf swing and how it functions. Now fast forward with me several years to 2006.
May of 2006 I had the opportunity to play a great course called Longaberger. It was a business outing and my father had an open spot and invited me to. The course was absolutely beautiful. Not only beautiful, but expensive enough that I was only going to ever play it if someone invited me. So the day before we played my brother and I gave our dad a few tips on his swing because he wasn’t hitting the ball well. At the outing we were partnered with two guys who didn’t know us at all, and we didn’t know them. As we arrived at the first tee, my dad mentioned how much I had helped him with his swing, and that he was hitting the ball much better. I think he may have even used the term fixed, Mike fixed my swing yesterday. Now that immediately put some pressure on me. You see, there is kind of an unspoken rule in golf, you only give advice to someone you can beat on the course. If I am not a better player than you, I don’t try to tell you what you should change in your swing. So by him saying that I had fixed his swing; expectations were created for how well I should play.
No more than five minutes after my dad mentioned me fixing his swing, I attempted to hit my first shot, which was not the best shot I have ever hit. And that is how my day went from then on. I had glimpses of glory, moments when it looked like I had played golf before. But I also had moments when I thought about asking “How many innings are in one of these golf deals anyway?” “Do I need more than one club?”
My lowest point of the day came on a par 3. The pace of play was very slow, and so it was not only my group at the tee box, but the group behind us was present and watching as well. I proceeded to send 3 consecutive balls into the woods on the right side of the hole. After each poor shot, I asked my father to throw me another ball, at which point he would ask, “What are you doing?” I finally had to say, “I’m giving these people a pretty good show.” Well I finally managed to hit the ball in a straight line, and moved on to the next hole.
By the end of the day, our playing partners should have surely been thinking, why is this kid offering to fix his dads swing when he can’t hit the ball straight himself. By the looks of things, I shouldn’t have been teaching anyone how to play golf because it seemed as though I had no clue how to play myself.
Now, we’ll come back to my golf story later, so don’t forget about it. But, I want us to look together today at what is arguably the most important instruction Jesus ever gave. Why do I say that this passage is the most important? I say that because it was his final instruction to the disciples. I can only imagine it was well planned and thought out, and of all the parting words he could have shared, this is what he chose.
Matthew 28:18-20
Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
Mateo 28:18-20
Jesús se acercó entonces a ellos y les dijo: —Se me ha dado toda autoridad en el cielo y en la tierra. Por tanto, vayan y hagan discípulos de todas las *naciones, bautizándolos en el nombre del Padre y del Hijo y del Espíritu Santo, enseñándoles a obedecer todo lo que les he mandado a ustedes. Y les aseguro que estaré con ustedes siempre, hasta el fin del mundo.[a]
I want our attention to focus this morning on what we see as two words in this passage, make disciples. Now it isn’t a frequent occurrence that I am tempted to use the biblical Greek that I learned in college. But this week I wanted to get into the original language of the bible and see what the original author was trying to convey. Perhaps you noticed that I said we would focus on what we see as two words. I say that because the phrase we see translated as “make disciples” is really only one word in the Greek. I won’t confuse us by stumbling through the pronunciation of the Greek word, but it has two possible meanings, two ways it could be translated. It means, to be a disciple of one/ser discípulo de uno, or to make a disciple/hacer discípulos.
Generally the word disciple brings to mind the twelve that Jesus called and taught. The twelve disciples. But are they the only ones that can be called disciples? I think it is clear from this passage that the term disciple is not reserved exclusively for the twelve. In fact the Greek word for disciple is used 261 times in the New Testament. 233 of those instances are in the gospels, and the rest come in the book of Acts. It not only refers to the disciples of Jesus, but to the disciples of the Pharisees, the disciples of John the Baptist, and even the disciples of Moses. And in our text, Jesus tells his disciples to go and make more disciples, so the term is not reserved only to the twelve.
So, my first question for us this morning is, do we consider ourselves to be disciples? I know many of you here this morning are believers. I know others of you recognize that the term Christian is overused today and has lost a great deal of its meaning, so you choose to identify yourself as a follower of Christ. But how many of us have ever looked at ourselves as a disciple? And what is the difference between holding a belief in something, and being a disciple of someone?
Well the definition of the word believe/creer says this…
1. To have a firm religious faith: to accept as true, genuine, or real
1. Tener una fe religiosa: aceptar como una verdad, genuina o real
2. To hold an opinion.
2. Tener una opinión
The definition of the word disciple/discípulo says this…
1. One who accepts and assists in spreading the doctrines of another
1. Persona que acepta y ayuda en difundir las doctrinas del otro
In my opinion there is a vast difference between holding a belief in something and being a disciple of someone. Belief in something today can be resigned to nothing more than a mental exercise. I believe that I should make healthy choices in my eating habits. I believe it, I know it is true, but even if I never act it out, I can still believe healthy food is better for me. We can believe in Jesus, believe that he is the son of God. But according to the definition we just read, action is not necessary in order to hold a belief. On the other hand, to be a disciple, action is most definitely required.
Let me emphasize as well that Jesus didn’t tell his disciples to make believers, or converts. He said to make disciples. And in order for someone to become a disciple of Christ there must be a translation from belief to behavior, there must be action. It cannot simply be head knowledge. If all that were necessary to be a disciple was knowledge, then Jesus could have stayed with his disciples in a room and told them what they needed to know.
Instead Jesus took his disciples into a 3 year apprenticeship. They had three years of on the job training. They walked and talked with Jesus as he ministered to the people, as he taught and as he healed.
The Greek root word for disciple means to learn by use and practice. In order for them to become Disciples of Christ, they had to imitate the things that he did, they had to put into practice his teachings. And so we too must put into practice the teachings of Jesus in order to be his disciple. We can’t just believe his teaching; we must put it into action.
But why should we be concerned with becoming a disciple? That is a very good question, I’m glad that you mentioned it. And since we are imitating Jesus, I will answer your question with another question. How can we teach someone that which we do not know? How can we teach someone that which we do not know? If you will recall the story I told you about my disastrous round of golf, I did not look that day like I had any right to help anyone with their golf game. Although I didn’t play well, I was able to help my dad the evening before because I understood the golf swing. It would be silly for me to teach someone how to play the piano because I don’t know how to play the piano. So let’s take this line of thinking and apply it to our scripture today. We cannot teach someone to be a disciple if we are not first a disciple.
This is where I have really been blessed this week and I learned something as I prepared this message. As I studied the Greek for this passage, I learned that the word we see as make disciples also means “be a disciple.” So the passage could be read two ways from the original text. It could say, Go and be disciples of all nations. Or it could say, Go and make disciples of all nations. But since the original listeners were already disciples, it is translated make disciples. We must first be disciples before we can make disciples!!!!!!!!
Point number 1, write it down, commit it to memory…Each of us, everyone who believes that Jesus Christ is Lord, must also become his disciple.
Jesus is still looking for disciples today. Why? Because the disciple carries on the work of the master. Jesus made disciples and now he tells us to do the same thing, to reproduce ourselves. It is a command that we find today in our passage, not a suggestion. A command to imitate what Jesus did with the twelve. Jesus didn’t say if you have time, or only those of you who are outgoing should make disciples. Every disciple is charged to create other disciples, so how do we go about doing that?
We must be intentional. Jesus intentionally chose twelve men to invest himself in. Even the savior of the world didn’t try to reach everyone at once. But if we just wait and cross our fingers, hoping that we will make someone else into a disciple, it isn’t going to happen. We must intentionally focus our time and energy in the life of one or more persons.
We must be dedicated. We must be intentional, and we must be dedicated. How many times did the disciples not understand what Jesus was trying to teach them? The majority of the time they were confused. And Jesus spent most of the day with them for three years, and some of them didn’t catch on until after his death, so we must be patient and dedicated.
What would happen if we all committed to make one disciple over the next year? And each year we would renew our commitment, with those who we worked with also then choosing someone to disciple. If we began with two hundred people, each discipling one other person for one year, the following year we would have four hundred people discipling four hundred more, and then 800 with 800 more receiving instruction and guidance. By year five we would have 3200 individuals leading 3200 more in the ways of Christ. At year number 10, we would 102,400 disciples leading 102,400 others in the ways of Christ.
Ask yourself these two questions this morning…What do you possess, spiritually, that you can pass on? Que tiene usted, espiritualmente, que podría enseñar a alguien más?
Although you are not perfect, would you commit to multiplying at least one spiritual discipline or quality in someone else?
¿Aunque usted no es perfecto, te comprometerías a multiplicar al menos una disciplina espiritual o una cualidad en alguien mas?
Jesus modeled for us a lifestyle of spiritual reproduction. We have to become disciples ourselves first, but then we can follow the IDEA that Jesus showed us.
I. Instruction/Instrucción in a real life context. Jesus took his disciples into the real world. They didn’t just sit in the synagogue; they got into the real world where real life happens.
D. Demonstration/Demostración in a real life context. Jesus was always teaching his disciples, whether he was speaking or not. Do you remember the time the disciples came and asked Jesus to teach them how to pray? They asked him because they saw him praying, and they saw amazing things happen after his times of prayer, and they wanted to learn.
E. Exposure/Experimentación in a real lift context. Have you see the commercial where a little boy is offered drugs by an older teen. The dealer says, I’m gonna get you high, just smoke some of this. And the little boy says, “I smoke fools like you on the basketball court.” Well it turns out to just be his older brother, and they are rehearsing because they know sooner or later someone will offer him drugs, and he needs to know what to do. Jesus did the same thing with the disciples, they had a chance to try things in real life.
A. Accountability or Assessment/Apreciación o evaluación in a real life context. After they tried things, they discussed, the assessed how it went.
The church used to be much better at this than it is today. For the first 300 years after the death of Christ the church grew because disciples created other disciples. But in 313 AD, the Emperor Constantine declared Christianity as the state religion. He officially ordered everyone in the Roman Empire to become Christian. All of a sudden the church went from a vibrant group of disciples who were consistently creating other disciples, to a room mostly filled with people who were only there because they were supposed to be. People stopped becoming disciples, and became attendees.
We don’t have a state religion anymore. But I believe churches are partially filled with those who think going to church on Sunday morning is what they are supposed to do. We have churches that are filled with attendees. What we lack is a vibrant group of disciples who are in the business of creating other disciples. What we lack is an understanding that we must be Christ’s disciples in our world today.
So what? So what do I want you to take home with you today? I want you to know that you can and need to become a disciple of Christ. That is the very first step. Logically we see it in the verse; we can’t make anyone else into a disciple if we aren’t disciples. And the original Greek tells us we must first be disciples, and then make disciples.
Secondly, Jesus was clear that making disciples was his priority, and it should be our priority as well. This is not a suggestion or a recommendation, it is a command that we make disciples of all nations.
So let’s put some action to what we have talked about this morning. Gentlemen, if you would please pass out the cards and pencils. Everyone needs a card. (Wait for people to start getting cards, then explain).
This card is a commitment from you, and will hopefully serve as a reminder to you of that commitment. It says the exact same thing on the top and bottom of the card because you are going to keep half, and the other half you will turn in.
I know it is easy at 12:15 to forget completely about the sermon. And I think this is so important for our lives as Christians that I am asking/suggesting that the half you keep be placed in a location where you will see it each day. That might be your refrigerator, your bathroom mirror, your computer screen. Some place where you can be reminded each day of your commitment to be a disciple of Christ, and to make other disciples.
As you finish filling out your card, I would invite you during this closing song to come forward and just place it symbolically on top of the altar. It is a commitment you are making to God and to yourself this morning.
