Make Disciples
Matthew 28:18-20
Then Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and in earth. 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, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
This passage of scripture is so dense with subtext. We really could spend a whole week just unpacking these three verses. (Maybe we will. Let’s see how the week goes. LOL). So let’s dig in.
The Context
The disciples to whom Jesus drew near had just witnessed His most gruesome death (Even the context has subtext). Can you imagine coming to believe something, giving up everything for that belief, and then watching it be torn down all in the span of three years? Maybe you can. I can.
The Vulnerability
I’d built quite a safe life, but it was a life that cost me. I’d given up friends and career progress in order to completely sell out to something I believed would last forever. It did not. I watched it be torn apart brick by brick. It was mangled and disfigured, gone forever with no hope of recovery.
The Difference
What the disciples experienced was similar. The difference was there was still hope. Verse 16 tells us that even though the disciples had witnessed the total destruction of the object of their faith (Jesus), they still followed the instructions Jesus gave them to meet him on the mountain. Their willingness to still believe paid off. Jesus met them there and gave them instruction for how to proceed. Had they failed to proceed you nor I would be believers.
We have all faced moments when everything we believed in seemed to totally fall apart. However, we cannot allow the calamity we’re witnessing to derail progress. If we do, we not only fail ourselves, but those attached to our success.
Let’s Talk
Can you think of a time when circumstances challenged everything you believed? Are you facing a time like that now?
What instructions did you receive from God prior to things falling apart? This instructions could be direct instructions you received from God in prayer or indirect instructions you received through the preached/declared Word of God.
Are you following those instructions? Have you identified the mountain you need to climb? Have you started the ascent?
Did He meet you there? What was the exchange like?
What instructions did you receive?