Bay View Baptist Church of Chula Vista is a small church which was established in 1959. It grew to a size of around 75 people. It then went into decline -- but lately new life has come. Now we have to determine if we are merely an old mission station or are we now on a new mission. What does God say? Let's look at the Bible:Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matthew 28:18-20 NIV)
This passage of scripture is called the Great Commission. It really isn't controversial. It is accepted by virtually all churches as authoritative. It is the driving force behind evangelism and world missions. Yet, it is for all practical purposes ignored by the average Christian. Let's take a little deeper work at it.
Who receives this commission? Jesus is meeting with his eleven disciples. Yes, only eleven, one of them, Judas, has betrayed him. This commission is given after the resurrection, just before Jesus ascends to heaven. This is one of the reasons that this is so important, these are the last words of Jesus uttered here on the Earth. Well, since it was only given to these early disciples, so what does it have to do with me? We will see later that, by extension, it is just as applicable to us as it was to them.
This is a pretty big assignment for the disciples! Who authorized Jesus to give this commission? Well, this is why we need to include verse 18 in the commission. Jesus starts off by stating his authority. ALL authority in HEAVEN and in EARTH has been given to Him. This authority is more than all the political, military and economic power on Earth. It is more that all of the spiritual powers and authorities in the heavens. This is why Jesus could give this command; he had the authority to do so. Having been a military officer, I know that even those of us with authority can overstep our bounds, but not Jesus. He had all authority.
Well, what is this commission? Go and make disciples! Notice it is not go and make converts. Disciples are the people that follow Jesus as Lord and Master, not merely believers. There is nothing wrong with conversion and belief -- but that in itself doesn't make a disciple. Where are we to go? Jesus said that we were to go to all the nations. The word in Greek is ta ethne from which we get ethnic. National boundaries have changed in the past and will in the future, but there are many ethnic groups. Basically Jesus is saying that we are to go to everyone whether near of far.
How do we make disciples? Well, to make a disciple, there has to be conversion first. As we go, we are to baptize people in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Baptism portrays the idea of dying to our old nature and being raised to a new life -- filled with the Spirit. There can be no discipleship without this. Jesus says that we are also to be teaching them -- this is the phase of discipleship where people are helped to grow to maturity as disciples. What are we to teach? The answer is that we are to teach everything that Jesus taught and did. This would include his major teachings such as the Sermon on the Mount. It would include his parables and little pithy statements -- and the Great Commission. It would also include the things he did; healing the sick, casting out demons and sacrificing himself for others. Discipleship is not merely a course of instruction, it is a way of life based upon the life of Jesus himself.
How can we carry out such a Great Commission? Well, we aren't alone. Jesus finishes this command by saying that he will always be with us. Paul teaches a similar thing when he tells us that we are the body of Christ and that Christ himself is our head. Of course we also have the presence of the Holy Spirit within us to lead us into all truth and to empower our ministry.
Of course the real question for Bay View Baptist Church is, "How do we carry out this commission?" One thing we need to realize is that not everyone is to go. Some disciples stayed in Jerusalem and helped send others out. Therefore we must help to send out missionaries. This involves prayer and giving of money to support the mission. But, we must also realize that we live in a mission field. We have a responsibility to our neighborhood here in Southwest Chula Vista. More importantly, each of us has an Oikos, that 8-15 people that God has placed into our lives to be our friend and relative. This is our mission field. We must go and make disciples of our Oikos baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything that Jesus taught. This means that one of the prime missions of our church must be a strong teaching ministry.
This is the basic lesson. Now we will continue with some of the specifics.
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