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Bible Study
The Gift of Eternal Life Berean Bible Study Course
Part IV--The Family Of God / The Body Of Christ
D. Lesson 22--The Mission of Christ's Body
4. READ: MATTHEW 28:16-20
b. What did Jesus instruct His followers to do?
Answer: Jesus instructed His followers to "go and
make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in (or
"into") the Name of the Father and of the Son and of
the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have
commanded you," (verses 19 and 20).
MORE INFORMATION AND/OR OTHER SCRIPTURE REFERENCES:
The words
"make disciples" is literally to "make
learners." As one commentator said, "This is
evangelism in the fullest sense and not merely revival
meetings." There are
two different verbs for the action of teaching as stated by
Jesus here in verses 19 and 20.
The verb in verse 19, translated "make
disciples" and translated "teach" in the KJV is
NOT the Greek verb didasko, which means "to
teach." The verb used, and translated correctly in the
NIV and the NASB Versions of the Bible, is matheteuo.
It means "make disciples."
The meaning of matheteuo, "make
disciples," is not just to teach someone. Coming from
the Greek noun mathetes, meaning "disciple," the
verb carries with it the meaning that we, who are disciples, are to
MAKE disciples of other people from, or in, every nation.
There are NO limits to this command of our Savior. It
is our purpose to serve our Master as bearers of the Good News, in
our teaching, in our conduct, in our good deeds that glorify the
Father.
To "make disciples" presupposes that we, who are
already disciples, are "apt to teach"--constantly
in the process of being learners ourselves, and endeavoring to
"make disciples" of others. That means that we
are constantly studying and growing in the grace and knowledge of
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Peter
3:18). We, as
disciples, are learners (from manthano, meaning "to
learn"). This is NOT just the act of being taught some
piece of knowledge that will be shuttled to the back of our mind
and soon forgotten. This is THOUGHT ACCOMPANIED BY
ENDEAVOR! A disciple is one who LISTENS TO, HAS FAITH IN
(BELIEVES), FOLLOWS--who OBEYS--the teachings of the One
we "disciple" ourselves to!! A disciple is not
only a pupil, but is an adherent.
To adhere to a teaching (and the Teacher) is to
"stick fast, to stay attached, to give allegiance or support
to, to remain in, to hold to, to cling to, and thus to obey the
teacher and the teaching one adheres to."
To be an adherent is "to support or follow,"
as in supporting or following a cause. We then cast aside our
own beliefs or preferences, denying self, and we become
imitators of our Teacher.
And our Teacher adhered to the FATHER'S commands in
all things, even unto death, and remained in the Father's
love. He left us His example to follow--He left us His
teachings and example to "disciple ourselves to:"
John 8:31: "To the Jews who had
believed Him, Jesus said, 'IF you hold to My teaching, you
are REALLY My disciples. Then you will know the Truth,
and the Truth will set you free.'"
John 15:5-10: [Jesus said,] "I am the
Vine; you are the branches. IF a man remains in Me
and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you
can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in Me, he is
like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are
picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. IF you remain
in Me and My Words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it
will be given you. This is to My Father's glory, that
you bear much fruit, SHOWING yourselves to be my
disciples. As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved
you. Now remain in My love. IF you obey My
commands, you will remain in My love, just as I have obeyed My
Father's commands and remain in His love." Something
EVERY disciple should keep in mind is expressed in the words of
Paul. Paul (Saul of Tarsus) was "made a
disciple," and he himself "made disciples"
throughout his life as a disciple of Christ. Paul lived and
died by the Words (teachings/doctrine/instruction) and example of
His Master: [Jesus said,] "Whoever serves Me must
follow Me; and where I am, My servant also will be. My Father will
honor the one who serves Me," (John
12:26).
And then Paul told others, "Do not cause anyone to
stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God--even as I
try to please everybody in every way. For I am not seeking my own
good but the good of many, so that they may be saved. Follow
my example, as I follow the example of Christ," (1
Corinthians 10:32-33 through 1 Corinthians
11:1).
THIS is the kind of disciples we are to be, and the kind of
disciples we are to make in every nation! "Therefore go and make disciples of all
nations...":
Isaiah 49:6: [God said,] "I will
also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring My
salvation to the ends of the earth."
Daniel 12:3: [God said,] "Those who
are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those
who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and
ever."
Mark 16:15-16: "He [Jesus] said to
them, 'Go into all the world and preach the Good News to all
creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but
whoever does not believe will be condemned.'"
Luke 24:46-47: "He [Jesus] told
them, 'This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and
rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness
of sins will be preached in His Name to all nations, beginning at
Jerusalem.'"
Acts 1:8: [Jesus said,] "But you
will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will
be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to
the ends of the earth."
Acts 2:5-12: [Of those hearing the first
Gospel sermon on the day of Pentecost following the resurrection
and ascension of Jesus:] "Now there were staying in Jerusalem
God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they
heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because
each one heard them speaking in his own language. Utterly
amazed, they asked: 'Are not all these men who are speaking
Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in his
own native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents
of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and
Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from
Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and
Arabs--we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own
tongues!' Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another,
'What does this mean?'"
Acts 14:21-22: "They [Paul and
Barnabas] preached the Good News in that city [Derbe] and won a
large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium
and Antioch, strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to
remain true to the faith. 'We must go through many hardships
to enter the kingdom of God,' they said."
Revelation 7:9-10: "After this I
[John] looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one
could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language,
standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were
wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.
And they cried out in a loud voice: 'Salvation belongs
to our God, Who sits on the throne, and to the
Lamb.'"
"baptizing them in [into] the Name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit...":
John 20:30-31: "Jesus did many
other miraculous signs in the presence of His disciples, which are
not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may
believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by
believing you may have life in His Name."
Acts 2:38: "Peter replied,
'Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the Name of
Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive
the gift of the Holy Spirit.'"
Acts 10:43, 48: "All the prophets
testify about Him that everyone who believes in Him receives
forgiveness of sins through His Name...So he ordered that they
be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ."
Romans 6:3-4: "Or don't you
know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were
baptized into His death? We were therefore buried with Him
through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised
from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a
new life."
1 Corinthians 6:9-11: "Do you not
know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be
deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers
nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the
greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the
kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you
were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the Name of
the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God."
Galatians 3:26-28: "You are all
sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were
baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female,
for you are all one in Christ Jesus."
Colossians 2:9-12: "For in Christ
all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have
been given fullness in Christ, Who is the head over every power and
authority. In Him you were also circumcised, in the putting
off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands
of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried
with Him in baptism and raised with Him through your faith in the
power of God, Who raised Him from the dead."
1 John 3:21-24: "Dear friends, if
our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and
receive from Him anything we ask, because we obey His commands and
do what pleases Him. And this is His command: to believe in
the Name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as He
commanded us. Those who obey His commands live in Him, and He
in them. And this is how we know that He lives in us: We know it by
the Spirit He gave us." "and
teaching them to obey everything I have commanded
you:"
In verse 20, the Greek verb for
"teaching them to obey everything I have commanded
you," IS didasko, and it DOES mean to literally
"teach." Thus, the command of Jesus given to all
of His disciples is inclusive of all of the following: first,
"GO"; second, "MAKE DISCIPLES OF ALL
NATIONS" (teaching the Good News to bring the lost to
obedience); third, "BAPTIZING THEM IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER
AND OF THE SON AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT" (the LORD adds these
disciples to HIS church); and then fourth, "TEACHING THEM
(the newly converted disciples) TO OBEY EVERYTHING I (Jesus) HAVE
COMMANDED YOU."
This is what makes strong Christians. This
"teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you"
is NOT just for "someone else" accomplish to and for
newly converted disciples. This "teaching them to obey
everything I have commanded you" is ALSO for EACH
disciple to undertake to do for himself/herself on a daily
basis! We MUST be steeped in the Word of our Savior so that
we, ourselves, obey everything Jesus has commanded us AND so that
we can teach those disciples made from all nations. We cannot
make disciples nor teach continuing obedience to Christ's
commands if we, ourselves, are weak and struggling infants in the
Lord's church. God wants His children to be brought to
maturity! An example
of the wrong kind of teaching among the Jews, who knew the
law of God (the Old Law of Moses), but who dishonored God by
breaking His laws, and who caused God's Name to be blasphemed
among the Gentiles because of their lack of discipleship and their
hypocrisy:
Romans 2:17-14: "Now you, if you
call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and brag about your
relationship to God; if you know His Will and approve of what is
superior because you are instructed by the law; if you are
convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who
are in the dark, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of
infants, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge
and Truth--you, then, who teach others, do you not teach
yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? You
who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit
adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who
brag about the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law?
As it is written: 'God's Name is blasphemed among the
Gentiles because of you.'" An example
of failure on the part of disciples of Christ to
mature in the knowledge of God, so much so that they could not
be addressed as spiritual, but were still worldly--mere
infants--unable to "make disciples" and then to
teach them what Christ commanded, because they, themselves, were
not adhering to the commands of Christ:
1 Corinthians 3:1-9: "Brothers, I
could not address you as spiritual but as worldly--mere
infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you
were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready.
You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling
among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere
men? For when one says, 'I follow Paul,' and
another, 'I follow Apollos,' are you not mere
men? What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only
servants, through whom you came to believe--as the Lord has
assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos
watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he
who waters is anything, but only God, Who makes things grow.
The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and
each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are
God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's
building." How to be
able to be teachers of all that Christ has commanded:
Ephesians 4:9-24: "(What does 'He
ascended' mean except that He also descended to the lower,
earthly regions? He Who descended is the Very One Who
ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole
universe.) It was He 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 until we all reach unity in
the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature,
attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of
Christ.
"Then WE WILL NO LONGER BE INFANTS, tossed back and
forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of
teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their
deceitful scheming. Instead, SPEAKING THE TRUTH IN LOVE,
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.
"So I tell you this, and insist on it in the
Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the
futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their
understanding and separated from the life of God because of the
ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their
hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given
themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of
impurity, with a continual lust for more.
"You, however, did not come to know Christ that
way. Surely you heard of Him AND were taught in
Him in accordance with the Truth that is in Jesus. You
were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off
your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;
to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new
self, created to be like God in true righteousness and
holiness." In
addition to the teachings of Christ are the teachings of the
apostles, which came directly from God. Therefore, these
teachings are included in "all Scripture is
God-breathed," (2 Timothy 3:16-17):
John 14:23-26: "Jesus replied,
'If anyone loves Me, he will obey My teaching. My Father will
love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.
He who does not love Me will not obey My teaching. These Words you
hear are not My Own; they belong to the Father Who sent Me.
All this I have spoken while still with you. But the
Counselor, the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My Name,
will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have
said to you.'" The
following is an actual example of the process of making disciples,
baptizing them, and then teaching them to obey all things commanded
by Christ, from Acts 2:40-42:
1) The "making of
disciples" with the teaching of the Good News that brought
about adherents to the Gospel:
"With many other words he [Peter] warned them; and he
pleaded with them, "Save yourselves from this corrupt
generation.'"
2) The fulfillment of
Christ's command to baptize those who were being made
disciples, but had not yet made a response performance--had
not yet obeyed that Good News of Jesus Christ:
"Those who accepted his message were baptized, and
about three thousand were added to their number that
day." (Acts 2:47: "And the
LORD added to their number daily those who were being
saved.")
3) And HERE is the
teaching that comes AFTER baptism (and continues until death)
to obey all things Christ commanded:
"They devoted themselves to the apostles'
teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to
prayer."
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