Let’s get to our passage. Turn over to Matthew 28. This passage might be pretty familiar to you, but that’s ok. When you get to Matthew 28, we’ll read verses 19-20. Pay attention to this passage…as it lays the foundation for what we’re studying today. Let’s read our passage for today…again, it’s Matthew 28:19-20.
It says: 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
I know that we started with this same passage a couple of weeks ago…but as we go through this series on making disciples, we’re going to be constantly referencing Jesus’ words here…his Great Commission. The reason why we’ve started with Jesus’ instructions to his disciples this morning…is because we’re going to look at what disciple-making was like then…and what it tends to look like now.
Because…the reality is…we’ve come a long way from what disciple-making was back for Jesus and his disciples as they started the early church. And not necessarily in a good way. Why do we think that is? Well…maybe it’s because…for the disciples…they saw their master… the one who they’d followed die on a cross…then three days later saw him with their very eyes alive and well. So they were pretty motivated to do whatever he instructed them to do…including his last command before he was taken up into heaven.
So again…why the difference? Well…as we said…that was 2000 years ago. And we haven’t seen Jesus the way they did. We believe in him. We have faith. But…well…maybe we think there’s not as much at risk or that our disciple-making time has come and gone or we already think we’re doing plenty as a “Christian” and that’s good enough for us.
*But as we’ve said the last two weeks…and I’m saying again…you cannot…you absolutely cannot separate being a Christian and being a disciple. The two are one in the same. So if you’re one then you’re going to be the other…but if you’re not one…then you’re not the other.
**That’s why this morning we’re going to look at some of the “then and now” scenarios as they relate to making disciples. In all honesty…there shouldn’t be any difference. How we make disciples and following Jesus in that way should…at its core…be gone about the same way.
Some of the methods might be different because we live in a very different world. But the foundations of disciple-making transcend time. They apply from generation to generation. Or…they should. So what is our first “Then and now”? Then: Go; Now; Excuses.
Then, when Jesus said “Go”, that’s what they did. Now, when we read or are reminded of how Jesus said to “Go”? We come up with all sorts of excuses.
Consider the disciples…who in the book of Acts started being referred to as “apostles.” After Jesus went to Heaven, did what he said. They went. They went to Jerusalem and waited for the one who had been promised to them…the Holy Spirit. Then, when they received it in an upper room on the day of Pentecost and spoke all kinds of different languages…they didn’t invite the crowds in Jerusalem into their little upper room. They went again! Even when persecution of the early church ramped up…they used that as an opportunity to “Go” again!
One example is a man named Philip, who we read about in Acts 8, so let’s turn that way. What did he do then? Let’s start reading in verse 26. It says: “Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, ‘Go south to the road – the desert road – that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.’ So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet. The Spirit told Philip, ‘Go to that chariot and stay near it.’ Then Philip… ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet.”
Twice when commanded to “Go”…Philip did just that. He went. He even ran. He didn’t want to waste any time. And what happened? He was able to teach the Ethiopian about Jesus…and he baptized him. He made a disciple. …
*Today? We sound a whole lot like the folks from Luke 9:57-62. Turn over there. There, it says: “As they were talking along the road, a man said to him, ‘I will follow you wherever you go.’ Jesus replied, ‘Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.’ He said to another man, ‘Follow me.’ But the man replied, ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.’ Still another said, ‘I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.’ Jesus replied, ‘No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.’”
Then? The disciples of Jesus would Go because he told them to. Now? He says go, and we reply with excuses. We say, “Well, let me take care of my personal business first.” “Umm…I’m a little old for disciple-making.” “I know you said, ‘Go,’ but isn’t me just inviting people to come to church good enough?” “Haven’t I made enough disciples?” We use these excuses and many more now…in our lives.
*But guess what. When Jesus says “Go” he doesn’t want our excuses. He wants us to…as they did then…to GO. And he doesn’t just want us to go one time. We’re expected to Go and make disciples and baptize them and teach them. We’re never done making disciples as long as God gives us breath. That’s what they knew and did then. That’s what we need to know and do now. Go. Make disciples. No excuses.
**Let’s move on to our next Then and Now. This one has more to do with what we’re supposed to be. This is something that Jesus spent three years doing with his own disciples. And it’s something that the disciples did for others in the early church. But it’s not something that we do as often today. What is it? Then: Equipped; Now: Inept.
Then, the disciples were equipped to go and make disciples and baptize them and teach them. Now? Most people who consider themselves Christians are inept. Maybe that seems like too harsh of a word. But ill-equipped, unprepared…being either of those things will make us inept…incompetent…useless…in making disciples.
Again, consider what Jesus did. He gathered twelve men together…and for three years he prepared them for going about continuing the work that he started. He equipped them in every way they needed. He provided them a helper as they went about growing their Messiah’s church…the Holy Spirit.
Then…when it was the disciples’ turn…that’s what they did as well. They equipped those who were added to their number daily. Because the disciples followed Jesus’ command to go, baptize, and teach…people were ready to step up and lead and make disciples.
One example we find comes from Acts 6. Let’s read starting at the beginning of the chapter: “In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, ‘It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.’ This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them. So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.”
When there was a need in the church, seven people were chosen to fill it. If they hadn’t been properly equipped, then they wouldn’t have been able to work in the way that was needed. But because they were equipped…it all went smoothly.
*Now? Now, we think that just baptizing people is enough. As a result…there are a whole lot of people who consider themselves Christians in American churches today that aren’t equipped for making disciples as they’ve been commanded to do as a follower of Jesus.
Maybe that includes you today. You’ve been a Christian for years because of your baptism…but you haven’t gone about making disciples, so you’re inept. … Jesus says that if we aren’t producing fruit for him… then we deserve to be cut off from him and thrown into the fire.
Paul addresses this issue in Ephesians 4:11-16. He says: “It was he (Jesus) who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up… (skipping down to verse 15)…we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
*He says there that it’s the work of the pastors to prepare God’s people…to equip them…along with making disciples themselves. If you aren’t equipped…I take responsibility for that…just as all of us should take responsibility for making disciples as we’ve been commanded. We all need to be equipped as they were then…so we’re not inept now. …
**With that, let’s look at one more “Then and Now.” If we will “Go” when we’re “Equipped”…then that’ll help us when it comes to this last one. Then: hated; Now: hated. That’s right…the words are the same. What’s different now from then, though…is how we respond to it.
The church…Christians…being hated is something Jesus talked about in John 15:18-20. Speaking to his disciples, he said: “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.”
Then…the world hated them just as they hated Jesus. The early church was persecuted. People were put to death. But that didn’t stop them, did it? If it did…you and I might not be here today. Then…the disciples and the others in the early church faced that hate head on and made more disciples.
Now? The world still hates the church, doesn’t it? All you have to do is look at the news or read a paper to see the anger and hate that is spewed at the church…at Christians today. But…how do we respond now? We come to church. We go home. Aaaaaaandd…..
We go about our lives not wanting people to hate us. But Jesus said they’re going to! So why do we try so hard for people to like us? We’re not part of this world. We shouldn’t live trying to appeal to it. There are too many so-called “churches” that have compromised enough that they don’t resemble the church anymore. They resemble the world! All in an effort to not be hated.
And people flock to those “churches”…but they aren’t made into true disciples. They’re taught lies, not the teachings of God’s word. They aren’t baptized. It’s all a farce! But if we aren’t still going out and making disciples as now as they did back then…then we’re not much better than those other “churches”!
*And we shouldn’t try to convince ourselves otherwise! The world hated Jesus…the world will hate us. It was true then…it should still be true now. If the world doesn’t hate us…then that means we aren’t standing up to be the real church. Then…the early church knew all of this…and they went and did it anyway. … So what are we doing now?
****We are to go and make disciples and baptize and teach. Taking a look at what they did then should help us know what to do now. Again…the methods might not be the same. But the instructions Jesus gave are still the foundation. Is that what we’re doing now? If not…then it needs to be.
So what do you need to do now that they did then? That’s the question we need to answer today.
Invitation
