Witness
to the World thoughts from Matthew
28:17-20
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The commissioning of our witness
And when they saw Him, they
worshiped Him; but some were
doubtful. And Jesus came up and
spoke to them saying, "All
authority has been given to Me
in heaven and on earth.
"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I
commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to
the end of the age."
What we call the "Great
Commission" is the mandate to "make disciples of all nations"
given by Christ to his disciples following his death and resurrection (Matt
28:16-20; Mark 16:15-18; Luke 24:46-49; John 20:21-23; Acts 1:8). Because
Christ has been given all authority in heaven and on earth (Matt 28:19), the
Great Commission is to be taken
with the utmost seriousness by all of his disciples, "to the very end of
the age" (Matt
28:20). The Great
Commission is linked to God's
words to Abraham: that "all peoples on earth will be blessed through
you" (Gen 12:3).
The
impetus for the Great Commission springs from the heart of God. He loved us and
gave his Son or us (John 3:16). The disciples, and all who follow, are sent out to accomplish
what God had started in the sending of his Son (John 20:21). The Great
Commission is thus linked to God's words to Abraham: that "all peoples on
earth will be blessed through you" (Gen 12:3).
The
Great Commission is accomplished through witnessing (Acts 1:8), preaching (Mark
16:15), baptizing, and teaching (Matt 28:20). I want to look in this study as
to whether these are to be considered discrete activities or all aspects of the
same mandate.
Jesus'
disciples are to replicate themselves in the lives of those who respond to the
Good News. The Holy Spirit is the empowering agent for those who witness (Acts
1:8), as well as the one who convicts sinners of their need for Jesus (John
16:8-11). The disciples will
have success because Jesus, the Lord of heaven and earth, will be with them as
they undertake their assignment (Matt 28:20).
The
conviction of our witness
To
overcome the fear a person experiences when approaching someone with the
gospel, we need to have a conviction that God has given us something to say
that our audience desperately needs to hear. Such conviction frees one from
fear.
Consider
a person walking down a street who notices a meeting of a large group of people inside a building. When he sees a fire in the upper part of
the building, he would immediately run in and tell the people to get out. There
would rarely be any though t of fear or hesitation. Why? Simply because he
realized the urgent need for them to hear what he had to say. But how convinced
are we that people need to hear a word from God? Keep that thought in mind as
we begin to look at some reasons for having deep convictions about this.
Note
that in the Great Commission, the idea of ALL appears four times- All authority
over to go to all the world to teach all His commands as He is in all ways and at all times with
us. Paul reiterates this in 2
Corinthians 9:8:
God
is able to make all grace abound, that in all ways and at all times, having all
that you need, you will abound in every (all) good work(s).
In
Acts 1:8 we see that Jesus tells us to be his witnesses both near and far-
these two passages need to not be read in isolation one from the other. A
critical aspect of our witness must be the witness to the commands of Christ as
well as to the works of Christ. (Remember Christ's mandate to the disciples to
"go and tell John what they see and hear?" they were to bear witness
to both). This is a vital part of the Good News- the resurrection gives this
witness authority.
Do
we fathom the meaning of this authority?
All
of heaven does the bidding of Jesus. In heaven His authority over ALL things is
recognized- and I say to you that the fact that his authority is not recognized
on earth in many ways, that in no way means that he does not HAVE that
authority. He is Lord whether men recognize it or not. Jesus refused the
authority Satan offered Him in the wilderness over the kingdoms of the world.
Doing it God's way, all authority
was conferred upon Him by the virtue of the finished work of the cross and the
seal of the resurrection.
So
not only should we have the conviction to be witnesses based on His great grace
to us, we must recognize that this is the maker of Heaven and Earth, the
resurrected Lord of Life who COMMANDS us to do so.Conviction comes from a deep
understanding of the power that raised Christ from the dead and now empowers us
to have God's heart for the lost.
The
context of our witness
So
we have the authority given us by Christ to go with the good news. Jesus came
to seek and save the lost in a primary sense. As Christian disciples, this
necessarily becomes one of the main issues we remain on earth to accomplish.
There is a real sense in which as the Greek text of Matthew 28 puts it "as
you are going, disciple all nations…teaching them to observe and keep all
the things I have commanded you to do".This is not a simple call to go
haphazardly NOR is it cause to wait reservedly until one is fully equipped.. It
implies that the one who is going has the wherewithal to be involved in the
discipling enterprise-and should be being equipped to teach the whole counsel
of God. As with most things in the Christian life, witness is an aspect that is
perfected in the knowing AND the doing. One informs the other.
So
how do we go about making disciples as we are going? What does this mean? Mark
said "go ye and preach the gospel to every creature." This is in
contrast to Matthew 10:5-6 where Jesus said to go only to the lost sheep of Israel.
And indeed they were the first to hear it from His own lips. Most (perhaps all)
of the people Jesus appeared to after the resurrection were Israelites. The
preaching of the gospel is certainly prerequisite to the hearing of it and
therefore prior to discipleship. But the same end is in view- to change lives
by the power of the Spirit. Whether the view be near or far, Christians need to
get out of a backyard mentality and learn to understand that the Body of Christ
is a universal entity- transcending comforts, cultures and continents…
yet it is very near as well. We are missionaries to our places of vocation,
commerce and social life as surely as someone on foreign soil is.
So
we don't have to have a committee meeting to know what to do. We have the King's
orders and the mission he wants to involve every one of us in. Notice in verse
19-20 a special promise. There is apparently a very special way that Jesus is
WITH us as we are going that is not evidently the case when we are not going. I
wonder if you can really have the "Lo" of verse 20 unless you are
doing the "go" of verse 19? Active involvement in the will of God
brings an understanding of His presence in a special way- it is akin to tasting
and seeing that He is good- the tasting appropriates the blessing of the
reality of what was an abstract concept. How can you describe the taste of
banana cream pie in words? In the same way, we know that we know that we know
that He is with us when we are in
the midst of appropriating the power and presence He avails to us when we are
actively engaged in his work in the world.
This
is therefore a vital aspect of Christian discipleship. As our Masterlife course
states
"Christian
discipleship is developing a personal, lifelong, obedient relationship with
Jesus Christ in which He transforms your character into Christlikeness, changes
your values into Kingdom values and involves you in His mission in the home,
the Church and the world."
This
is, in effect, becoming in our condition what we already are by position
pertaining to godliness. It is
another aspect of bearing fruit.
As we are being brought into alignment with Christ's nature, we are to
be about Kingdom prerogatives- involved in Christ's bringing of the world we
are in into alignment by the power of the Spirit in us as His Kingdom comes one
soul at a time.
Our
witness to the world must , by scriptural mandate include the act of discipling
people and nurturing them, not just telling them the news and abandoning them.
The work of the church is to teach them to observe all His commands.
The
context of teaching is a personal relationship between the one who is the
learner and the one in the position of teaching. Wisdom can be imparted by
lecture, discussion, storytelling or working together, as well as by testimony,
witness, church ordinances and preaching. But primarily the task of the teacher
is to model that which is worth learning. We are therefore to realize that the
biblical purpose of teaching is to Change Lives! The student is encouraged to
EMBODY Truth- as the WORD was made flesh, we are to be seeing the Word
incarnated in our lives. This is empowered by our helper, the paraclete, the
Holy Spirit. Teaching is God's way of multiplication.
The
concern of our witness
Jesus
assures the disciples of His power. This is the one who has conquered death
giving them this mandate. Jesus gave them a commission: to teach all His
commands to all the world. And he promised His presence: they were being sent
forth to conquer the world by His power and authority. (Note that in doing this
Jesus affirms the nature of the Trinity: The NAME (singular) of the Father, Son
and Holy Spirit…just a side note). The act of Baptism is a part of this
teaching as it teaches us about the union we have with Christ's death to sin and
the resurrection life.
There
is a difference between making converts and making disciples. First of all both
are the work of the Holy Spirit. But the process to bearing witness does not
end at the conversion of a new saint. The body of Christ is responsible to
continually witness to the whole counsel of God. More about that below.
Note
that in the Bible, discipleship is always twofold, and stands in superiority to
the teaching methodologies the world has to offer. Modern educational systems
focus on learning by doing, which in and of itself is not unbiblical. But it
falls short by the fact that it stops there. This kind of teaching by itself
teaches in the abstract . Only what is already done is actually learned and
this is limited to the context it was learned in. It is taught as true only in
a relative sense. So the world ends up saying absolute truth is unknowable. The
Christian model adds another dimension,
in fact it is the more real dimension of learning FOR doing. Truth is
not truth just for truth's sake. It is always taught so that it might be used
in life, applied in whatever situation as the standard and absolute rule of
life.
Now
I am not saying that teaching is a
synonym for preaching or witnessing or baptizing. But in all aspects, the Kingdom
prerogative is the conformation of the human to Christ Jesus. There is
obviously a progression with their application to the redemptive process. But
preaching, witness and baptism are themselves forms of teaching which God uses
to awaken spiritual understanding.
Certainly we will relate differently to these based on what our
spiritual state is at the time we apprehend them.
The
content of our witness
You
have heard it said that the content of our witness is to be the simple Gospel.
I agree that is where it begins. But in the context of the great commission, I
think the demands go beyond that as discipleship occurs. The process of
learning about Jesus is a continual process. Each occasion of insight builds on
what the Spirit has done in the life of the believer on earlier occasions. As
one increases in knowledge, a greater depth of understanding is to be achieved.
This is another difference in the teaching we do. By the empowerment of the
Holy Spirit, spiritual understanding and wisdom is achieved. The church is to
be teaching all nations to "observe whatsoever things I have commanded you
to do". What does that include? I believe that includes the unfolding of
God's plan from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21. The breadth and depth of the
Christian life the Bible addresses the whole person and demands personal
application. So the scope of our witness to the truth ranges from foundational
truths and basic skills for spiritual growth and ministry to applying the whole
of scripture to the whole of life. I believe this is the explanation of the
"As you are going"
imperative in Matthew 28:19. We learn and witness, learn and witness (by
word and deed) as we are transformed in character to the likeness of Christ.
So
we are to apply what Christ has done to the private, personal, cultural and
social aspects of life. We are to do no less in the final analysis than to be
about the business of witness to the world with a view toward discipling humans
to think and act out the mind of Christ on earth!
The
conclusion of our witness.
Matthew
28 tells us to teach them to keep or obey His commands. The Greek
transliteration here would be terein. : To observe, keep, obey in practice, fulfill. So this is more than
simple facts or head knowledge. There is to be a commitment to the TRUTH as a
result of our witness. Then end of the commission is to see lives changed! The
Holy Spirit is more interested in what is done with Truth than what Truth does.
Let's repeat that : "The Holy Spirit is more interested in what is done with
Truth than what Truth does". Godly living and obedient observance of
Christ's commands are the Kingdom prerogatives of our witness to the world.
The
word of the Lord will not return void. We can therefore witness with great
expectation that the Holy Spirit will cause people to learn. We should be about
teaching others to obey the scriptures. Our teaching should enable remembering
and surface real need in the lives of those who are being taught. The net
result is a Body that is equipped for service and is experiencing the Living,
resurrection Life of Jesus in real terms!
The
Holy Spirit is the paraclete that will lead us into ALL truth, Jesus told us.
So all truth- even that which is true about the mundane thiongs of life, be it
animals, business, commerce, (or any other concept) ought to be related in such
a way that one is more godly because he learned it. In fact, this view sees
that every moment is a teachable moment, invested with the possibilities of
grace. In other words, do all to
God's glory! Every fact we deal with should be oriented properly into a
Christian worldview- we should be helping believers form the spiritual grid
work necessary to make sense of "whatsoever Christ has commanded" and
how it relates in practical terms to our everyday lives. And to reiterate, this
should be learning FOR doing- it should be turned into practical ministry. We
are to take every thought captive
in the final analysis to the cause of Christ.