What In the World Do We Do Now?

According to Matthew 28:19 the earliest Disciples were to make more disciples. How? By relentlessly proclaiming the Truth concerning Jesus. Jesus. Not God as some ‘cultural concept’ which may or may not be relevant to any aspect of our experience, but Jesus the Anointed One— His Son, our Savior. The Apostles were to proclaim the reality which they themselves had seen and heard, the Reality which John said “was from the Beginning, which we have heard” with our own ears, “seen with our own eyes,” inspected with our hearts and touched with our hands: “this we proclaim!” {1 Jn. 1:1}.

The problem with our proclamation is: We know what Jesus is, we just don’t know who Jesus is! You can believe all the right things, but when you have almost no practical, tangible knowledge of Him as Lover of your life, Healer of your heart, Restorer of your soul, no intimate experience of His power, His presence, His passion which you could pass on to another in a given moment of Time, you have no real Message to proclaim. Either by Life or by lips. Cause that’s how you apprentice people to Jesus.

The situation the Church finds itself in today is that we’re equipped with authority, we’re just not interested in exercising it! “Don’t bother us with your Plan, Commissioner, or your Book of guidelines and guardrails. We’ve got plans of our own. We’ve got ladders to climb, businesses to build, money to make, families to tend to, buildings to maintain, programs to engage and people to persuade. We’re doing what You asked. We’re just doing it the way we want to do it.” I’d like to suggest just maybe, consider this remote possibility, we’re not doing what He laid down when He left us here. At all.

There’s a reason this is called the Great Commission and not the Great Suggestion. What I’d like to call it is ‘The King’s Commission’ because it’s backed, as He promised, by every ounce of His awesome authority! The King’s Commission involves one command, one, “make Disciples.” This command is accompanied by three participles in the Greek: “going, baptizing,” and “teaching.” Anytime you have an imperative surrounded by participles, the participles give us the means to executing the command. ‘Going, baptizing, and teaching’ is the ‘how-to’ for ‘making disciples.’ You with me?

When Jesus speaks of “apprenticing all nations” He’s saying the presence of a Follower of His ought to have national and international implications. Nobody should have to wonder what Side you’re on. It ought to be clear by the color of your jersey: Offense, not defense; the Victors, not the vanquished! Do you find the people around you in the social spheres you inhabit, not really sure of where your allegiance lies, whether your allegiance belongs to the Kingdom of Christ or the kingdom of culture? This would imply you’re doing it wrong. So, whatever it is you’re doing, don’t. Is there enough evidence from the gracious Life you live, from the generous love you give, to convict you of being a Disciple— a vocal, visible, visceral Reflection of the King of Kings? Or are you just another pompous, pretentious adherent of denominational religiosity ...a post-modern Pharisee of whatever persuasion strikes your fancy this year?

You can be a believer in the Gospel Message, you can be a Follower of the Mighty King, or you can be a Maker of Apprentices. Which one is it going to be? The challenge stands… and you and I are accountable to it. As Dallas Willard once wrote, “You are becoming right now who you will be— forever.”

Ric Webb, Shepherd
Heart's Journey Community
hjcommunity.org