The purpose of the Palermo Christian church is to glorify God through worship, evangelism and edification. We spoke on this subject just recently.

Every year I start the year by reviewing the Great Commission.

It’s good to remember. The December 27th issue of Our Daily Bread from 1996 included this:

What People Forget

I was relieved to find out that I'm not the only one who forgets things. Everyone does at one time or another, according to Karen Bolla, A Johns Hopkins researcher. These are the things people most often forget:

1. Names 83%
2. where something is 60%
3. telephone numbers 57%
4. words 53%
5. what was said 49%
6. faces 42%
And if you can't remember whether you’ve just done something, you join 38 percent of the population.
Our Daily Bread, December 27, 1996

A commission is a command or duty that is given to a group of people.

For example, after the 9-11 attacks, the 911 Commission was formed to look into what had happened and give recommendations as to changes that might be made to stop such a horrible thing from happening again. Their findings? After long and careful study and deliberation, the 9/11 Commission concluded that we would be doing better in the war on terrorism if the U.S. Government had more intelligence.

There is the US Sentencing Commission that established sentencing guidelines for our courts. They are tasked with a specific task and need to report on it.

So we have the Great Commission. Jesus has the authority to tell us, “do this”. So we are to do what he says. That is our commission. That is our duty.

So what is the Great Commission? (Mt 28:18-20)
" 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, baptizing 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.”

Notice that Jesus has the authority to give this commission. In verse 18 he says that “all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” Part of our believing in the “Lord Jesus Christ” is a recognition of this authority. The word “Lord” highlights that. When a person becomes a Christian, they believe that Jesus died for them, was buried and rose again. But they put their faith in Jesus, trusting Him to save them and lead them into a more godly life. Jesus has authority in the life of the Christian.

Verse 19 gives a second part. The English says, “Therefore go…” But literally, this can be translated “as you go…” For the disciples were on the go. They went from Jerusalem to all parts of the then known world. Some went to India, Africa and Rome. They were on the go, as you and I are. One question we often ask is, “Where are you going?” Going is not an issue. The issue is what we do while we go and when we get there.

Jesus said that there were three things he wanted us to do was we went. The first was to make disciples. The second was to baptize those disciples. The third was to teach the disciples.

For those of you who have the King James, the text says, “Go and teach all nations.” The Greek word for teach that is used here means “make disciples.”

There is another Greek word used for teaching, “didasko”, from which we get didactic. This is moral instruction, more a picture of classroom instruction.

The word that is used here can be translated teach. But the picture is more of an apprentice. The classroom was the outside world. People listened to the instruction with an eye on application.

If I was to become a carpenter, I could study it in a book. But I could also go out and work for a real carpenter. They would tell me the same thing that was in the book, but they would show me as well. When I went out on my own, I would probably do carpentry the way I was taught it by my mentor.

Jesus wants us to make disciples. He wants us to help people follow Christ by listening to us and watching how we follow Christ. He wants them to become more like Christ based on our instruction and our own example of following Christ.

I am in part a disciple of Jesus Christ because of the model of my step-father. He was a preacher’s son who had rebelled against the faith and did not believe the gospel. It wasn’t until he was 29 I think, that he realized the truth of the gospel and received Christ in his life. He had a habit of getting up early in the morning and reading his Bible and praying. He loved listening to good preaching. He shared the gospel wherever he went.

I am in part a disciple of Jesus Christ because of the influence of Jesse Miller. Jesse was the founder and missionary for the Overseas Christian Serviceman’s Centers. He was a Christian man who survived the Bataan Death March in World War II. His stories of God’s grace and protection were riveting. For example, he had been witnessing to a fellow prisoner who couldn’t believe in God because of how bad things were for them. Jesse tried to get through to him about God’s grace, but couldn’t do it. The next day the Japanese found that one of the men had escaped. They had a plan for that. They had broken the prison camp into groups of ten men. If one of the ten escaped, the other nine were killed. That morning the remaining nine men were lined up, the rifles were pointed at them and just before the call came to pull the trigger, the commander of the firing squad was called into a meeting. The men were let go and never were called back to be killed. You learn something about faith from hanging around a person like that.

A good friend of mine, Reggie Strickland, organized a group of us young Air Force people for fellowship and ministry. We used to study the Bible together, pray together, eat together, socialize together and minister together. I remember one time Reggie and I were talking to a fellow airman about the Lord. He wanted to receive Christ and both Reggie and I were shocked. He sent me back to the barracks to get a tract with a sinners prayer. By the time I returned, he had already led the person to Christ.

This was discipleship. Each one of those people talked and showed me what the Christian life was about. Did they show Christ perfectly? No. But they headed me in the right direction. That is what God wants for each of us. To point by our words and our lives others to Jesus Christ.

When a person becomes a disciples, when they say, “I want to follow Christ,” Jesus commands us to baptize them.

Why?

First, Jesus was baptized himself. He did it because it was the right thing to do. The Bible says he did it to “fulfill all righteousness.” It was the right thing to do.

Second, Paul speaks about baptism as a burial. We are “buried with him in baptism.” What is buried? Whatever has already died. We are not saved by baptism, but baptism works as a burial of the old life. It’s a public statement that we are headed in a new direction with Jesus. Without the public statement, its easy to fall back to the old ways. What we confess we possess. When we speak openly about our plans, we are more apt to follow through on them. When we publically say, “I am going to follow Jesus,” we are more apt to find support and help in that important step.

Third, its obedience. Jesus said that we as a church are to baptize disciples. Peter said on the day of Pentecost to those who were listening, “Repent and be baptized…” When we follow in baptism, we are doing so in obedience to Jesus Christ.

Not only does the Great commission say to make disciples and baptize them, it also says that we are to teach those disciples who are baptized to obey all that Jesus commanded.

Jesus said a lot. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John give the story of his life and much of what he said. The rest of the New Testament expands the message of Jesus and applies it to the early church. There is a lot in there.

I will tell you that the basics are pretty simple. If you were to look at all that is written in the New Testament about Jesus, you could boil it down to two things.

First, Jesus wants us to love God. He is God, so Jesus wants us to love him. But he came to show us his Father, so he wants us to know his father. When he left he sent the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was given to show us Jesus who would show us the Father. Jesus prayed for us, “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”

Second, Jesus wants us to love our neighbor. Our neighbor is the person who is close to us at this time. In the parable of the Good Samaritan, a man is beaten by robbers and left to die. He has nothing and is obviously in need. A Levite, a priest and a Samaritan walk by. The Levite and priest were religious people. The Samaritan was not considered to be a believer. But he helped the person who was in need. He helped the person he walked close to.

As we go, we will be in contact with many people. We meet the person at the store, our coworkers, our family, our friends and even total strangers. Sometimes we meet people we don’t like, people we don’t care much for. Jesus wants us to be the good neighbor to all of them, to love those we come in contact with.

So you will hear the Bible talk about God’s judgment. The reason it does so is to encourage us and motivate us to be on God’s good side. It speaks of the rapture in order to get us to appreciate all that God has in store for us. In other words, to love God.

You will hear the Bible talk about the old nature, the new nature, the spirit filled life, the need to put to death the things of the flesh. Though you may not understand the terminology, underneath all of that are these two basic principles: God wants us to love Him and love our neighbor.

So we teach people to obey all that Jesus commanded. That means that I have to be careful to add to what Jesus said. I can use human logic to make a list of sins and graces that the Bible does not identify. I can hammer on what you wear, on how you spend your time, on what you do with your money. And some of this is appropriate. But when do I cross the line? When I go further than the Bible goes in its teaching.

How many of you remember the line from your parents that said, “Get your hair cut. You look like a hippie?” If I were to preach on this, what could I say Biblically? I could say, 1) children obey your parents in the Lord… But no where in the Bible does it say that we should look like we do. The Bible promotes modesty in dress. Why? Because when we are modest we help our neighbor.

So we need to know what Jesus taught so we can love God and love others better. And when we know what Jesus said, we are to do it. We are to teach people to obey. Some people don’t mean to, but they teach people to know. We are to teach people to obey.

So how did you do this past year? You heard this message a year ago. Have you responded to the command to be baptized? Have you obeyed the commands of Jesus? Is your love for him evident any more this first Sunday in 2009 than it was in 2008? Do you talk to him more? Are you conscious of him more? Have you reached out to people in His name?

And what about your neighbor, that person you run into? Have you invited him to hear about Jesus? Have you helped him or her in their time of need? Have you come alongside any Christian to help them in the spiritual battle they face?

If the answer is “yes”, and I know for some of you that is your answer, praise God. These little steps you have taken, these little ripples you have made spiritually will grow.

If the answer is “no”, then we are starting a new year. You can turn it around. We began by faith and we walk by faith. Return to the former things. Make it a matter of prayer. Whatever the Holy Spirit is showing you right now, write it down. Make the move.

This is my heart. To see a church of disciples of Jesus Christ. To see a group of people who love God and love their neighbor. To see people who are facing life in the power of the Holy Spirit and as a group are making a difference for Jesus.

“Play it again, Ed.” I am tempted every year to change the message, but it is so vital, so important to us as a congregation. We are here to make disciples, to baptize them, to teach them to obey.

As we do, we have the promise, Jesus is with us in this. “for lo I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Selah.