Pastor Pat Edwards 1/22/2006
Grace Baptist Church in Bountiful, Utah

In the past few weeks we’ve looked at where the church in America has been and where it is. Let me summarize what we looked at. First, political or secular power is not the way to make disciples or to create a Christian society. In 1 Corinthians 1.23-31, we are reminded ...we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength. Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things-and the things that are not-to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God-that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."

It sure looks like the Lord works from the bottom up and not the top down. Rather than trying to create a Christian nation or culture by passing laws and insisting on our rights as citizens we often have the wrong emphasis in the wrong place - to non-Christians it must look like we want to become masters rather than servants. So Jesus’ words in Mark 9.34-35 should be a wake up call to our methodology; But they (the apostles) kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest. Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all." Second, we need to be in the world but not of it. Last week’s scripture described how Paul submitted his desires, his actions, his choices to serve others so they would be drawn to Jesus and share in the blessings of the gospel. 1 Corinthians 9.19-23, Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

Jesus himself prays, I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified. John 17.14-19

We are to be holy representatives of Jesus and to do that we need to walk the fine line that he did between being with people who need the Lord and living like people who need the Lord. That balancing act is tough and frankly we need to spend a lot more time letting Jesus tell us how to do it rather than just assuming we know where the lines are drawn. Today I want to begin looking at where we’re going. One recent poll done by a Christian company says things don’t look good. And most surveys indicate that’s true. One editorial writer commenting on pollster George Barna’s latest book wrote, "George Barna predicts commitment to the local congregation will sink lower than ever." Or it might be accurate to say, "George Barna is not overly concerned about declining commitment to the traditional local congregation, given that the traditional local congregation has not effectively produced mature disciples." At the pastor’s retreat this past fall, the guest speaker was Dallas Willard, a highly respected Christian philosopher and professor at the University of Southern California. He shared that it’s his observation the non-traditional local congregation isn’t doing any better at making disciples than the traditional church. Further he thinks the mega-church is a blip on the screen of church history and not likely to last. So we ask ourselves, what’s happening to the American church if so few of the present forms are effectively making disciples?

These bleak observations may cause us to wonder if the church will die in North America. Some of us may console ourselves with the verse I quoted a few weeks ago assuring us the gates of hell won’t stand against the church. But good exegesis and a knowledge of church history makes it clear Jesus isn’t talking about a particular church; he’s talking about the church on earth. I’ve read that only one of the churches addressed in Revelation still exists. And of course that’s true of the church throughout much of the Middle East where the Muslim faith gained control. For all intents and purposes the church has almost disappeared in Europe where less than 5% of the population is active. So we can’t apply the statement of Jesus to mean we can relax, we don’t have to worry - even if we don’t get the job done the church will still be around for our kids and grandkids.

So what’s the solution? No one except God knows where the church is going but the solution to our problem is simple and obvious; we need to be growing as disciples and we need to be making new disciples. In Matthew 28.18-20, we read, 18Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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."

One commentator calls verse 18 the "Great Claim" that comes before the Great Commission. The Great Claim gives teeth to the Great Commission. Jesus tells the apostles all authority and therefore all power is now his. He has taken up the divine attributes he laid aside when he was born of Mary and once again functions as the all-powerful, all-knowing, all- present God. Nothing in heaven or on earth can stand in his way or keep him from accomplishing whatever he desires. He then commands these disciples to make more disciples. Two things are evident here. First, they’d better obey him since he has all authority. Even if they wanted to it would be foolish to disobey him since nobody can protect them from his displeasure at being disobeyed. So he tells them what to do but he also tells them that as his representatives they have the tools they need to do the job. We go because of his authority and in his authority. Probably all of us remember the pleasure we took in delivering a message from our parents to our brothers and sisters. And it was even better when it was good news, "Dad said to come right now. If you don’t Dairy Queen will close before we get there."

With that awareness they are to go and make disciples. But of course this isn’t a commission given to eleven men, it’s a commission given to the church, to all who claim to be disciples of Jesus. It’s the job description of everyone who becomes a disciple of Jesus. And it starts with an assumption Jesus makes. Most of our English versions read like the NIV translation I’m using this morning, "Therefore, Go and make disciples..." but go is not a verb in the original Greek; it’s a participle. A participle is a part of speech that acts like a combination verb and adjective so it’s a descriptive action. In the Greek Jesus says something to the effect, "Therefore, as you are going" or "Therefore, on your way, make disciples." Do you see the difference? Jesus doesn’t tell us to go, he assumes we’re already going, already on our way. Craig Keener, in his commentary on Matthew writes that it sounds like we need - not a special call to go but instead a special call to "stay." Jesus assumes most of his disciples are already on the move so it takes a special call of God to not go.

His emphasis isn’t on "go" but on "make disciples." We are to make disciples as we are out and about in life. But it’s going to require more than sharing our faith in the daily activities of life. We need to be reaching all nations but not nations in the sense of our modern definition. Jesus is talking about language groups, cultures, ethnic divisions - any identifiable and unique group of people. In some cases it will be a natural part of our life and travels. Business or family or leisure may take us to a new culture and as we have the opportunity we are to share the importance of Jesus and the blessing of his gospel. And it’s done most powerfully when the message comes naturally out of our own experiences. But there will also be times when our going is solely because of the gospel, when we become aware others will not hear unless a deliberate effort is made to reach out to them with the story of Jesus. But regardless of whether we’re on the job in downtown Salt Lake City or on vacation in Europe or a missionary in Argentina the way we make disciples is by baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything Jesus has commanded us. Clearly which comes first isn’t significant since teaching precedes and follows baptism. But it’s obvious real disciples will demonstrate an outward change as a result of a new heart and mind. Baptism is that deliberate act to identify with Jesus while obedience is evidence of a new belief about how to live life. The evidence of discipleship is obedience but it’s obedience that comes from loving the Lord and not fear of punishment or an effort to earn rewards. Finally Jesus assures his disciples that he will be with us in spirit until he returns to be with us physically at the end of the age. We have his power and his presence to obey his commands which keeps us close to him.

We’ve got the tools to do the job he asks of us so why is the American church declining, why is it so impotent and what can we do about it? As I’ve shared the answer is not in overpowering the culture or in becoming so much like it it’s hard to tell the difference. We can’t do things the way they’ve been done for generations, we can’t sit with our signs posted and hope people show up interested in what we offer. As we saw today Jesus assumes his people are out there, living godly lives in his power and making a difference, making disciples. Next week I want to talk about how we can do that. But the questions we each need to be asking this week are: are we willing to get going again? Are we willing to change some priorities? Are we willing to adjust our schedules and activities? Are we willing to do whatever Jesus asks in order that many others can share in the blessings of the gospel?