Somebody out there has a plan for your life. Somebody has a plan for the world you live in. Time and again I see evidence that there are those who believe that with enough planning, enough energy, and enough work, they will get you into their orbit. They have a plan for your life and for your world.
Some of these folks are the merchants who bombard the airwaves with advertisements. My radio keeps on blaring, on behalf of a tire manufacturer, "Sooner or later, you’ll own Generals" Sounds more like a threat than an ad, doesn’t it? "Sooner or later, you’ll own General Tires". This manufacturer seems to have sane sort of global plan to gobble up all the tire business.
Others are the ones with projections of the future, the ones who have figured out that by the year 2000 everyone will have to be computer literate, or have calculated that by the year 2020 the Social Security fund will be bankrupt; the folks who will tell you that in a few short years there will be no ozone layer, no whales, and no gasoline. I don’t know whether any of those things are true; but I do know that we are surrounded by people who have plans for our lives and for our world.
Even worse, there are those with grand ideas, grand plans to sell you and me and the whole world their ideas. Every now and again, some person comes along and announces an intention to conquer the world. It seems pretty frightening, this kind of person with a plan. Do you remember Hitler and his thousand-year-Reich? He had a plan for permanent world domination. Or the intention of imperial Japan to spread its empire across the Pacific? Or Communist Nikita Khrushchev banging his shoe on the table at the United Nations and shouting, "We will bury you?" There is nothing more frightening than people with plans for you and me and for our world, ideas that are designed to take us over. We don’t relish the thought of being taken over.
On this Independence Day weekend, you and I as Americans are reminded that we have fought and died against totalitarian systems; we have shed blood so that there could be individual, personal freedom; and we have created on this continent a land whose ideal it is that each person be free to live out his own sense of destiny. We as Americans fear people who have plans, big visions, for our lives and for our world.
And so, given all of this, what do you say to the command of Jesus to "Go and make disciples of all nations"? If we believe in personal freedom; if we foster the "live and let live" philosophy, then what do we do with Jesus’ insistence, "Go and make disciples of all nations"?
Is it really worth it to disciple everybody? Is it worth the cost, the effort, and the frustration to work at sharing the Christian faith with all persons everywhere? If you cannot stomach the Communists’ saying that they are out to dominate the world, what’s the difference when our Baptist Foreign Mission Board says that it wants to give every person in the world a chance to hear the Gospel by the year 2000? What’s going on here?
This is a fundamental part of the Christian message. This is a fundamental aspect of the mission of Christians and of the Christian church. So I want to make a preliminary statement about it, and then I want to break down Jesus’ word, "Make disciples of all nations". I’ll want to talk about making disciples; about making disciples of all; and then about making disciples of all nations.
I
Now first, I want you to notice that the essential reason why we as Christians are about the business of discipling all nations is simply that Christ commanded it. Is it worth it to disciple everybody? The Lord Christ commanded it, and that in and of itself ought to demand our attention and our obedience.
Notice how the Great Commission is introduced by Jesus. The scene comes at the very end of the story of Jesus’ life and ministry. By the time we get to the end of Matthew’s account, Jesus has gone to the cross to suffer and bleed and die; he has been raised from the dead; and he has appeared, more than once, to his followers. Now he is about ready to leave; he is preparing to turn over the redemptive task which he started. What do you hear Him say: "It would be nice if you would win some other people to this way of thinking?" "If you feel like it, and if it’s not inconvenient, and if you can work it in between bridge club and the tennis matches, how about telling somebody else what it’s like to be a Christian"?
Well, no, that’s not what you hear. He says, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples …" All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples …
I want you to understand this morning that disciple-making is the first priority for Christians and for the church simply because Christ commanded it. We do not seek to make new Christians just because we want to get richer. We do not go after new believers just because ambitious ministers want bigger churches. We do not seek to share the good news of Christ with every person, whether they be Moslem or Jew, pagan or Hindu, secular humanist or just the everyday decent guy on the street …we do not share the good news because we are prejudiced or imperialist or ambitious or any such thing. We share the good news because Christ has commanded it, and all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him.
That ought to be enough. We don’t need any other motivation. We scarcely need any other reason. Christ, in whom all authority now resides, has said, "Go, make disciples" And like little children who may not always understand their parents’ instructions, but who know only that when Mom says "jump” they should jump, we Christians ought to fulfill the Great Commission for no other reason than this: the authoritative Christ has commanded it.
Is it worth the cost, the effort, the frustration to disciple everybody? The command of Christ says Yes.
. II
But you’ll want to look at the command itself more closely. I think l can help you to see how important, how crucial it is to obey the Great Commission, however grandiose it may seem. I want to break it down into its parts: make disciples; make disciples of all; make disciples of all nations, all people.
Jesus says, "Make disciples". Make disciples. Make followers, make learners, make growing people. Make people who will make a difference in the world. Make people who know the faith, who can carry out the faith, who can use the faith. Make disciples.
The issue I’m raising is that there is too much superficial religion going around. Too much surface religion, too much easy superstition. And superficial religion is not the same thing as discipleship. We’re good at making superficial believers, but that’s not what Christ commanded. He told us to make disciples.
He didn’t tell us to make statistics. It’s not good enough just to get our names on the church rolls and to go through the baptismal waters. It’s not good enough to come to church as long as it’s entertaining. It’s not even good enough to pitch in a few dollars along the way. We insist on discipleship. We call for depth. We are to make disciples.
I am appalled, as any sane person would be, by the crime and violence in our nation. All around us blood is flowing, with random shootings taking human lives as if they were worth no more than the ants I stamp on when one gets on my kitchen floor. This nation, this city, are consumed with violence.
But the puzzle is that this nation and this city are also swarming with churches and with Christians. More than 300 Baptist churches in the city of Washington alone, not to mention hundreds of churches of other denominations, not to mention the suburbs. This city is swarming with churches and with Christians at the same time that it is swarming with crime. What am I to conclude? That the Christian faith is ineffective? No, I conclude that we are not making disciples. We’re having church, but we’re not making disciples. We’re taking in members, but we’re not making disciples. We’re having exciting, emotional times, praising the Lord, but we’re not making disciples.
But I tell you, if we make disciples, we will change the world. If we work at making authentic, growing Christians, we will make an impact. It was disciples, not superficial Christians, who won our national independence. It was disciples, committed believers, not just surface folks, who ended the slave system. It was disciples, not just church members having a good time thinking they had their one-way ticket to heaven, who fought the battle for civil rights.
Is it worth it to disciple everybody? Is it worth the cost, the effort, and the frustration? The condition of the world, lost and hopelessly bound in sin, says Yes. Yes, it is worth it to make disciples.
III
Next, I want you to notice that Jesus’ command is that we go and make disciples of all. All people, all persons, not just some, but all people have the right to hear the gospel.
There it is again -- this insistence on a global plan. All people, all nations. Why all? Why not just enough to keep the church going? Why not just deal with the problems we have here and now? Why can’t we just be happy with the folks we have?
Our Lord told a parable about a lost coin. He said that the Kingdom of God is like a woman who lost one coin, one tiny penny, out of all her resources, and she swept the house until she found it. Because every coin was important to her. And then he reinforced it by telling another parable about the shepherd who has ninety-nine sheep, safely in the fold, but there is one out there lost and lonely; and the shepherd goes to find that one lost sheep. Just one, but he goes to find that one. Why? Because every one of his sheep is important. You cannot tell the good shepherd that ninety-nine is enough. His goal is to reach them all.
We are commanded to go and make disciples of all because every human soul is of infinite value. We don’t want to lose anyone. To live and to die without Christ is to die without hope. I’m going to say it more strongly, knowing that some of you will find it uncomfortable. To live and to die without Christ is to face the tragedy of hell.
I know we don’t talk about hell very much. I know we don’t like the idea of a merciful God punishing the disobedient. I know we are uncomfortable with a God who exercises judgment. But there it is. There it is. It is a part of the economy of God. It is a reality. And the reason we must make disciples of all is that it is a tragedy, an unnecessary tragedy, if even one person is lost.
My friends, the reason we are to go and disciple all is that Christ died for all. We’re going to remember His death at the Table today. It was not some symbolic suffering; it was not the sad story of some sort of human misunderstanding. It was the sacrificial death of the Son of God for the sins of all humanity, and the issue here is eternity. The issue here is how and where every person will spend eternity.
We go and make disciples of all not because we want a bigger church, not because we want to be nice and successful. Had we five thousand, ten thousand, a hundred thousand members, we would not dare be satisfied as long as there was somebody somewhere who had not yet been reached. For there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we may be saved but the name of Jesus.
Is it worth it, then, to go and disciple everybody? Is it worth the cost, the effort, and the frustration? The death of our Christ says Yes. Yes, it is worth it to make disciples of all.
IV
Finally, I want you to discover with me that the Great Commission cannot be fulfilled until we have determined that we will make disciples of all nations. We make disciples; we make disciples of all; and we make disciples of all nations, all people. Whatever their background, their race, their style, their class, whatever it is, we are to make disciples of all nations.
Now I know that’s not easy. That is a tall order. And you wonder, is it really worth it? Is it worth it to go halfway around the world to establish churches and teach the Bible, when those folks already have their own faith? Is it worth it to penetrate every nation on earth? Is it worth it when we have so many problems here at home?
Is it worth it for people to go to the tough places, where they will spend years and years with hardly any converts at all? Is it worth it for us to spend the money and, I pray God, send our sons and daughters to remote, uncomfortable, primitive places, just to preach Christ?
Closer to home, is it worth it for us to struggle at reaching across race barriers and class lines and social strata? Do we really have to reach all nations, all people? Couldn’t we just be satisfied with nice, middle-class, university educated folks? Couldn’t we just keep our church comfortable for us? Do we really have to reach all kinds of people?
Oh, but I tell you, there is one who has broken down the middle wall of partition, making peace by the blood of the cross. There is one who will be, some day, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. There is one whose name is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, and he shall reign forever and ever. There is one who, when He is lifted up, will draw all nations unto Himself.
Is it worth it to disciple everybody? Is it worth the countless cost, the millions of dollars it will take? Is it worth the effort for young men and women to give their lives for this magnificent obsession? Is it worth the frustration, is it worth it to go through life knowing that you can never reach them all, you can never teach them all they need to know, you can never complete the Great Commission?
I say Yes. It is worth it. A thousand times yes. For I have only to remember the empty tomb, I have only to see the risen Christ, who will be, some day, Lord of all, and He says Yes.. Yes, it is worth it to disciple all nations, all people.
"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Somebody out there does have a plan for your life and for your world. That somebody is the risen Christ. We gather at His Table to begin responding to His command.
