And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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 all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20.
Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me. Colossians 1:28.
What would you do if you had all the power to do whatever you want? That may sound like an infantile question or an overly dramatic fantasy. I am sure we could come up with a ridiculous list of things we want to do before we die. If resources were limitless we would pay off our homes, start a college fund that could sustain three kids, have world-wide experiences that might rival anyone’s bucket list. I guess for most of us the reality seems so far removed that it is hard to get our minds around such an opportunity.
The reality of the resurrection, according to Jesus, is that he was given all authority in heaven and on earth. I’m not sure what that “authority” says to you but it indicates Jesus has power, the capacity to control or effect something. What would we do with that kind of power? That discussion may be self-evident and need not to be explored here. But Jesus has all this power and He chose to launch the most necessary and strategic mission on earth – make disciples. The bizarre part is that He is going to do it through a bunch of fallen human beings that will never engage the mission the way Jesus spent three years engaging people. Nevertheless, with all the authority anyone could imagine, Jesus commissions His men to go make disciples. This is what He gives us the authority to do.
We are under authority to carry out the master plan of Christ. The key is not even the mission, but the one who commissioned us. He has all authority, so it is not like Jesus sent us out to do something that we are ill-equipped to carry out. He has called us and has the authority to guarantee the success of the mission. If God is for us, who could be against us? Well, often we live in such a way that looks like we are junior cadets trying to figure out basic training. Clearly Jesus took three years to teach His men about faith and the mission. Even after all that, they needed another resource – the Holy Spirit. That is why Jesus commanded them to not leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised through John that Jesus will baptize them with the Holy Spirit (Acts. 1:4-5). He has made every provision for us to be effective witnesses of Christ. They would be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samarian and even to the remotest parts of the earth (Acts 1:7-8).
The implication is that this is what defines our purpose. We have one clear, eternal purpose under the command of Christ – make disciples. This is what His authority is: to empower, resource and equip His people for this particular mission. If this is not the heartbeat of a church, the passion of His people, the priority of His servants, then we will fail to see that mission executed with eternal impact. We might have lots of other plans and goals and dreams in life, but the only thing that will have eternal impact (and be considered successful as far as God is concerned) is His mission to make disciples.
The best investment of our lives is to make disciples. You don’t have to be a pastor to do this. You don’t have to have the gift of evangelism. You do need to be faithful disciples. Many people and many churches will never see lives transformed because they are building something outside of the authority of Christ and not following through on the command of Christ. I think one reason churches die is because they lose sight of making disciples. I just talked with some pastors who just retired and are seeking how God can keep using them in retirement. Sometimes that is hard to figure out. But since Jesus called us to make disciples, we will always have a ministry in front of us.
In His Grace, Pastor Brad
