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The Great Commission and The Authority
The Great Commission and The Authority
GOD’S WORD Translation (GW) – 18 When Jesus came near, he spoke to them. He said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 So wherever you go, make disciples of all nations: Baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach them to do everything I have commanded you. “And remember that I am always with you until the end of time.”
The “Great Commission” as spoken by Jesus. This fundamental passage has to be at the core of all a Christian does and all any group of Christians do no matter if they are a church, a part of a church, a para-church organization or a group of Christian friends. At all levels this is your mission statement, your calling and should becomes the basic foundational drive of all you do as a believer.
The message is very basic, but can often become lost in the systems and plans of groups and individuals in a way that many individuals feel this is not for them to do because it is not their job. The fact is that the way this statement was made and how this passage reads it is clear that every individual is called by Jesus to do this by the power and the guidance of Christ Himself.
The first statement here is the fact that
Matthew 28:18 GOD’S WORD Translation (GW) – 18 When Jesus came near, he spoke to them. He said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
What is this “authority” and how is it relevant. Lets start with the word authority as defined in the dictionary:
› the power to control or demand obedience from others:
› An authority is someone with official responsibility for a particular area of activity:
Using this definition from the dictionary, Jesus has the responsibility for some area or areas of activity and has the power to control or demand obedience from some group. What areas of activity and who He is controlling or demanding obedience from will be defined by whatever He says next and the context.
In context Jesus is speaking to the eleven disciples that were to be the catalysts of what would become the church. The people to whom He is speaking directly are the fathers of every Christian church.
Matthew 28:19 GOD’S WORD Translation (GW) – 19 So wherever you go, make disciples of all nations: Baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
They are instructed to “go make disciples.” In this translation the idea is also tied to being “wherever you go.” The instruction here is for them to not only go to everywhere on the earth to make something called disciples, but to do that everywhere they go.
The area of responsibility that Jesus has been given can be seen as two distinct areas from what we have read so far: the first is obvious because the passage said it: all authority in heaven and earth” which includes the entire world. The second is clearly and more directly to those who are His disciples (in this case the ones He is speaking to).
The responsibility that He is delegating is for each of them to do their part in making more disciples. They are the instruments that He will use to exercise His authority as well as being subjects of His authority.
Then, these disciples are told to take the people that are willing to become disciples like them and have them make an outward expression of being under this authority by being baptized. These disciples will not only learn new things will be washed of the old and brought into the new way of living that is voluntarily living under Christ’s authority.
Matthew 28:20 GOD’S WORD Translation (GW) – 20 Teach them to do everything I have commanded you. “And remember that I am always with you until the end of time.”
Here we find the definition of what a disciple is and what it means to make one. A disciple is a person who is taught TO DO everything that Jesus taught the Disciples He is talking to here to do.
The big teaching being the teaching given in the context of this statement: The teaching to go and wherever you go make disciples that get baptized and do everything that Jesus has commanded those disciples because of his authority over the world and over each person in it.
For most people, there is some limiting factor to our ability to do this and for some of us this seems impossible or as if our job is to just give support to the others that do this.
While there is something to be said for that, the truth is that each person who is truly a disciple is to go and wherever you go you are to make disciples in the manner outlined here. If that seems impossible, then that is awesome. That simply means you understand the fact that you cannot do it. If you could do it on your own power then what would you need God for. It is His authority that you are exercising, not your own. It is his power that you are exercising, not your own.
This is the core component of our relationship with Jesus is living this out. This is to love Him and be a disciple of His. Sitting in a building full of people who believe in Jesus, giving money or other support to others who do this, and such things are great and are amazing expressions of your belief, but are not what you are told here to do. That is not the “go” or the “everywhere you go” that Jesus taught his disciples to teach their disciples of Him that they would teach.
There are places and people that you as an individual are the person Jesus has put in place to spread his “authority” over.
This actually is impossible for you and is outside of what you are wired to do. That is why you need Jesus. This is the point:
REMEMBER THAT JESUS IS ALWAYS WITH YOU UNTIL THE END OF TIME!
One Another/Each Other Bible Study for Small Groups Available
I just made the “One Another/Each Other Bible Study for Small Groups” available.
With Christ’s statements about what the greatest commandments are it seems immensely important to look at the details of what the Bible tells us about interacting with “one another” as that is the clear defining of what it is to love your neighbor and also the definition of what it means to not be loving your neighbor.
The studies are created to use the same discovery concepts the S.E.A. of Galilee Fellowship uses for all studies:
S = SCRIPTURE; read and discuss a passage
E = EXPLANATION; look at questions that help explore and discover what the passage is really saying (what God is saying through this particular passage to mankind, to your household and specifically to you)
A = APPLICATION; participants make a commitment to take action on what was revealed as what God wants from us through the study (the teaching them to obey from The Great Commission.
The studies are designed for leadership to be done by a person who is facilitating the study and not by a teacher etc. the facilitators main job is to get everyone involved in the discussion for each question.
The other task the facilitator has is to teach the group to lovingly ask “Where do you see that in this passage” if someone brings up something that is not related to the passage being discussed or some perceived heresy.
The actual page for this study is: https://seaofgalilee.wordpress.com/s-e-a-of-galilee-fellowship-bible-study-outlines/one-anothereach-other-bible-study-for-small-groups/
The study can be accessed directly as a PDF file by clicking https://seaofgalilee.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/one-another-verses-bible-study-study.pdf
You can print the PDF file from there or you can go back and forth to the page for reference as needed.
Be blessed an be a blessing to “one another”,
W. Lawrence Hess
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- Prayer Bible Study Outline For Small Groups (seaofgalilee.wordpress.com)
- The Discovering Church Planters and Missionaries of the New Testament Bible Study – NOW AVAILABLE (seaofgalilee.wordpress.com)
- “Church Bible Study for Small Groups” is now available (seaofgalilee.wordpress.com)
- Marriage Bible Study For Small Groups Available (seaofgalilee.wordpress.com)
The Discovering Church Planters and Missionaries of the New Testament Bible Study – NOW AVAILABLE
I just posted the Discovering Church Planters and Missionaries of the New Testament Bible Study as a free download in a PDF format.
This discovery study outline was designed for studying what the Bible actually shows us about Chruch Planting and missions work. This study goes through the churches of the New Testament for our example of what we are supposed to be doing and how we are supposed to be doing it.
This is aimed at more mature Christians who are getting ready to work in a larger capacity as a church planter, as a missionary or a minister of some sort. It is a feirly intensive study with slightly longer passages than usual and can be used in stictly small group settings or can be used as part of a class that does small group breakout sessions and discussions as well as class discussion.
This study is not designed to be just about learning however, the focus is on going from learning, to doing to living a lifestyle of a church planer or of a missionary..
The studies are created to use the same discovery concepts the S.E.A. of Galilee Fellowship uses for all studies:
S = SCRIPTURE; read and discuss a passage
E = EXPLANATION; look at questions that help explore and discover what the passage is really saying (what God is saying through this particular passage to mankind, to your household and specifically to you)
A = APPLICATION; participants make a commitment to take action on what was revealed as what God wants from us through the study (the teaching them to obey from The Great Commission.
The studies are designed for leadership to be done by a person who is facilitating the study and not by a teacher etc. the facilitators main job is to get everyone involved in the discussion for each question.
The other task the facilitator has is to teach the group to lovingly ask “Where do you see that in this passage” if someone brings up something that is not related to the passage being discussed or some perceived heresy.
The Study Guide is rather large and may take a minute to download or print. Access the page at https://seaofgalilee.wordpress.com/discovering-church-planters-and-missionaries-of-the-new-testament-bible-study/ or you can just open the file directly at Discovering Church Planters and Missionaries of the New Testament Bible Study.
Blessings…
Wade Lawrence Hess
“Church Bible Study for Small Groups” is now available
“Church Bible Study for Small Groups” is now available
In a time where statistics, magazines and the people who are experts at church information are all saying that the church as we have known it is in trouble it seems like it is important to see if the “church as we have known it” is truly the only way that God said church is to be done.
The implication is that we need to also look if God gave us instructions that might lead us to experience church some other way. The key question is not what I am comfortable with, or my denomination says church is supposed to be or even what my parents, grandparents and great-grandparents said it was to be like. What does God say and what does God want right now in this day and age?
This study is designed to help small groups explore that question by studying passages talking about the New Testament concept of church or related topics. With whatever the Holy Spirit reveals through the scriptures we have to ask ourselves if I am more focussed on my way or God’s best for the here and now. Is God my co-pilot or pilot. If God is your co-pilot, you desperately need to change seats.
These studies are designed to be done in a small group context with a facilitator and led by the Holy Spirit. That means leadership only involves facilitation by one of the participants as the group discusses the passage using the S.E.A. of Galilee Fellowship discovery methods. The facilitators main job is to get everyone involved in the discussion for each question.
- S = SCRIPTURE; read and discuss a passage
- E = EXPLANATION; look at questions that help explore and discover what the passage is really saying (what God is saying through this particular passage to mankind, to your household and specifically to you)
- A = APPLICATION; participants make a commitment to take action on what was revealed as what God wants from us through the study (the teaching them to obey from The Great Commission.
The other task the facilitator has is to teach the group to lovingly ask “Where do you see that in this passage” if someone brings up something that is not related to the passage being discussed or some perceived heresy.
The study can be accessed by clicking https://seaofgalilee.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/church-bible-study.pdf
Or by clicking the button above marked “CHURCH BIBLE STUDY FOR SMALL GROUPS”
Be blessed…
W. Lawrence Hess