Mission 02: The Heart of Mission
Orientate
You might hear many different words when it comes to our mission: evangelism, discipleship, witnessing, outreach, sharing the gospel, being a missionary. It can get a little confusing as these words can have different meanings for different people. But there was a famous moment recorded by the disciple Matthew when Jesus gave clear instructions about our mission just before he physically left this earth. It helps clear everything up. This call by Jesus is often described as, “The Great Commission.” It was like a graduation ceremony talk - summarising all that he had been training his followers to do over the previous 3 years and then sending them out to do it. I love how honestly it starts by saying that some followers still had their doubts about the risen Jesus even though he was standing there right in front of them. Check it out…
Explore: Matthew 28:16-20
16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Journal
1. What is God saying to me? Which verse is most significant?
2. What do I want to discuss/explore further?
3. What do I need to do?
4. What does a disciple of Jesus look like? How can we “make disciples”?
Reflect
There are some issues in the Bible that are not completely clear, but our mission is not one of them. Jesus plainly states in this commissioning speech that even though it is ultimately his authority and continuing presence that will make it happen, we have a major job to do in making disciples as we go about our daily lives. So what exactly is a disciple? Back in Jesus’ day the Jewish people had a master-apprentice type setup where Rabbis would enlist groups of ‘disciples’ who would follow them around, model their life after theirs, and try to put the Rabbis’ teachings into practice in their own lives.
Your job is to become Jesus’ disciple yourself and to make more disciples, seeing them baptised into God’s family and helping them learn to listen to Jesus and live his radically beautiful new way of life themselves. Notice that here we are not called to just convert people to get them into heaven, or recruit people to grow our church, or even to help people change our society to be godlier. All of these things are great and are an important part of it, but the long-term goal is more people saved and following Jesus by putting his upside-down loving ways into action.
Making and growing disciples is not our only job as God’s people. The Bible also calls us to look after God’s creation, create healthy cultures, defend the poor and oppressed, do great work, and love our enemies. But making disciples is perhaps our most important mission and will contribute to these other mandates as more people truly follow Jesus.
The scope of this mission might sound exciting to you, or maybe it sounds daunting. How on earth can we do something like this? We’ll talk about where to start in the next reading, but the good news is that Jesus promises to go with ordinary people like us. He has been doing this for two thousand years, so he has a good track record. The call is to become a disciple of Jesus yourself and bring others with you.
Pray
Lord, I am your disciple. I am your apprentice. I will do what you want. Because you want me to make more disciples like me, then I will give it my best shot, even though I don’t always know what I’m doing. Please help me to be an influence for you.
Respond
Think about someone you know who you would love to become a disciple of Jesus. Pray for them. What would be the next step in helping them become a disciple of Jesus?
