Matthew 28:18-20, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me (Jesus). Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them… teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”
As the One who has all authority, Jesus commissions believers to go. It’s not that Jesus is sending us to another location, but He is sending us on a mission with a purpose to people. The goal built into the word “disciple” is to make “learning followers” of Jesus Christ. And it is faith that compels the obedient Christian to share their knowledge and experience of the Lord Jesus Christ with others.
Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”
~ Mercy is the love of God that takes the things that are most valuable to Him, and He gives them to believers in Jesus Christ. In giving mercy to sinners, God is acting in grace, because we sinners do not deserve His mercy.
~ Because God has given us His mercy and comfort at the time of our great sin or pain, we are able to identify with other people who suffer as we did. Therefore, discipleship looks for others we recognise who are suffering as we have, and we go to them and offer God’s mercy and comfort through faith in Jesus Christ. In this way Christians are to echo God’s merciful comfort into others. That’s discipleship.
~ God does not want any of our past sins, past failings, or past pains to be wasted. It is His will for us to use our past for the blessing of others. Our difficult pasts equip us to be more effective at discipling others who have experienced similar things as we have. Our past life equips us to identify similar circumstances in others’ lives so we can get along side of them and introduce them to Jesus, who can bring peace from God.
It is faith in Jesus Christ that changes our attitudes towards other people. Faith gives us the desire to bring people to forgiveness and cleansing that only Jesus can offer. Faith motivates us to go, to look outside of ourselves, to become other-minded, and to be brave with taking the gospel into other people’s lives.
Jesus said to his disciples in Luke 10:2, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers (those who work with effort) are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers (those who work with effort) into his harvest. Lord, please make us your labourers. Make us your people who willingly work hard to bring in the harvest of human souls to eternal life through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Christians are to give attention in prayer to expressing their faith through making disciples who are learning followers of Jesus. Understanding the authority Jesus has in making disciples gives us courage with grace to make disciples. It is our privilege and our pleasure to represent Jesus to the world in this way.
