OCTOBER Newsletter

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Brothers and Sisters,

Just before Jesus ascended to the right hand of God the Father, he gave a charge to his disciples in a very well-known passage called the Great Commission. In Matthew 28:19-20 Jesus said: “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” (ESV).

As followers of Christ we are to go and make disciples and we are to baptize them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I think most of us get that and are well acquainted with our marching orders there. But I believe that it is at the beginning of verse 20, where Jesus said, “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you,” that we tend to be less precise in our understanding. 

It is important to note that Jesus did not say, “teaching them all that I have commanded you.” We are not called to simply pass on information that we glean from Scripture. We may often read or hear it this way, but this is not what Jesus said. He said, “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (emphasis mine). In other words, we are to teach those believers under our spiritual care to be obedient to Christ. We first teach them what he commanded and then we help them obey it. 

In this postmodern age people don’t want to be told how they should live. Most folks want to live by a moral code that they have designed themselves or that their political party has put in place for them. They look to actors, politicians and athletes to define what is right or wrong but they don’t want to look to the Bible because God’s Word often contradicts what much of the world says is acceptable.  In response to this some churches and denominations often adapt their messages and their teachings to line up with the permissive and lenient teachings of the world as opposed to what some consider the stricter and more severe teachings of the Bible (as though they are more compassionate and loving than God himself).

As I mentioned in a sermon recently, we don’t get to pick and choose which parts of the Bible we want to believe and apply to our lives. God’s plan, God’s instruction, is all or nothing. Either we submit to him as Lord and allow him to be our Lord, or we submit to the world. But Jesus never intended for us to have it both ways. In fact he made that clear earlier in Matthew when he said, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money” (Matthew 6:24, ESV). 

As disciples we need to know the Lord’s teachings. To be a disciple is to be a learner, a student or a scholar. It is one who submits themselves to a teacher or master. Our Teacher and Master is Jesus. We are not called to simply know his commands, we are called to obey them. And we are called by Christ to teach others to obey them as well.  To hold each other accountable. To help one another draw closer to God by being more faithful and more obedient to him. Those who have truly submitted to Christ will receive this instruction with joy. Those who simply desire to have their ears tickled with a weekly pep-talk or self-help message likely will not. That’s okay. Ultimately, we need to be able to stand with the Apostle Paul who said, “For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ” (Galatians 1:10, ESV). 

Be God’s,

Pastor Kevin