Who’s Your One Pt 4 - One Commission

Sermon Manuscript

Oct 8

This sermon was preached at Immanuel Fellowship Church in Ellisville Missouri as part of our "Who’s Your One?" series on the biblical vision for kingdom of God mission in the every day lives of believers. For more resources on faith and Christian living, visit our website or connect with our community.

You can email us at hello@ifcstl.com or call/text us at 636-431-4708

Good morning, church.

What a joy to be together. Amen. Let me ask you this. Would it be funnier if they were ministering to the figure skating community?

Yeah. Yeah, it would be. Or if they were just going to the skate rink. I mean, anyway, just quads, just rolling around the circle in quads. What's the, what's the sport where you're on rollerblades and you beat each other up?

You know what I'm talking about?

Roller derby. The roller derby community.

Oh, anyway, uh, anyway, Jesus. Yeah, exactly. We are continuing our Who's Your One series today. We've been spending time talking about what it means for you and for me to take ownership over our role in the kingdom work of Jesus. That's what we've been talking about.

What does it look like for us to understand that Christ is out in the world seeking and saving the lost? And if you are in Christ, you have a role in that work. It's an important thing to talk about.

On Sunday mornings, I bring Millie up here early and she preps communion for you. And so we have this little, we have this little tradition where on the way here, most Sundays we stop and we get McDonald's. And that's our little, little thing Sunday morning. We pray together. We help prep the church going together. That's really sweet.

This morning we went to McDonald's and the drive-thru line was backed up. And I don't know if you have 4 children and know a lot about McDonald's, but I do. Uh, we were there a lot, as you can imagine. And there's a system, there's a system, there's a system. And it goes like this.

There's one drive-thru line, and at the very end it splits into 2 ordering booths, and then they— it merges back into one line. To pay and get your food. It's incredibly efficient. I used to work there. They have— they paid tons of people to design this exact system to be as efficient as possible.

But when it gets backed up, people don't like it and they start breaking the rules and problems start to happen. And so today the line got backed up and I pulled through and I made my order. And the guy who made the order in the other lane, he saw me finish my order and pull up a little bit and I was waiting and I could just tell he was like, not today. And the second he's in this big old lifted truck, it was like huge, you know, roll, roll, like kind of thing. And the minute the car in front of me moved and I went to go, he like right in front of me to get in, to get in, to take my spot in line to get your board.

And here's the thing, guys, I, I'm a pastor, so obviously, obviously I'm godly and calm in that situation. No, I actually, I glared at this man the entire rest of the time we were in line. I leaned out my window. And looked at him. What else am I going to do, right?

I'm not going to get out and go talk to the guy. He's in a big, huge truck. Anyway, he pulled up to the next window, and I'm leaning out my window glaring at him because of the injustice of it all, right? And so I can hear him talking to the person at the window. And so they tell him the order, and they say, would you like to round up to donate to Ronald McDonald House?

And he says, of course. And so he gives him the money, and then he says, Does anyone say no to that? They go, oh yeah, yeah, most people don't give to it. And he goes, some people are just so self-absorbed, they only think about these subs. How could you possibly not donate to the Ronald McDonald House?

And then he pulled away. And I gotta tell you guys something, I don't know if I've ever been less a Christian than I was in those 5 seconds. I wanted to be like, excuse me, right? I want to let him know, hey, hey, You were just that guy. You just cut me off.

But here's the thing. As I thought about it, as I waited longer in line, the thing is this: it's easy to understand something intellectually and then not live it out in your life, right? It's easy to affirm something is true, to know it's true, to know what's right, to know what's good. But then when you go to live your life and the line's really long and you've been there a long time and you got an opportunity to inch forward and cut off that guy in the old red You do, right? Yeah.

Yeah. It's easy to do. It's easy to live with dissonance between our convictions and our beliefs and our life and our actions. And that's why it's so important for us to stop and consider our role in the work of the kingdom, because I guarantee you don't hang out at church as often as you do without already believing that you have a role in God's kingdom work. If you're here, if you're a part of a church like Immanuel, I am pretty confident that you already believe that God has called you to join him in his mission of seeking and saving the lost, right?

And yet, how easy is it to leave this space and go live our lives and be busy, stressed, and anxious, and just a little self-absorbed, and totally miss it when the moments and the opportunities come up? Right? That's all of us, guys. It's so easy. And because of that, we need this to be continually brought back to this truth.

We need to be challenged to remember what we actually believe so that we can actually live out what we believe, right? So, so far in this series, we've spent 3 weeks in Luke 15. We looked at 3 of Jesus's parables around lostness, and we asked essentially 3 questions. In the parable of the lost sheep, we asked the question, do you notice the loss? You notice lostness around us.

In the parable of the lost coin, we ask, do you value the lost? Do you see the way that God loves those who don't know him? In the parable of the lost sons, we ask, do you welcome sinners home? Because it's easy for us to welcome some sinners home and to hold others at arm's length. And honestly, I would say this.

I don't normally push this idea, but in a series like this, I think it's good. If you've missed the last couple of weeks, I'd really encourage you to go online and check out the podcast. Jump on YouTube or Spotify or whatever you do and go back back and listen and, and be in this challenge with us together as a church family. I, I think it'll be good for you. We have 2 more weeks of this, and in these last 2 weeks, we're going to pivot away from Luke 15, and we're going to look at 2 really famous texts from Jesus's own evangelistic ministry.

So today we're going to be in Matthew 28. If you want to go ahead and turn there in your Bible, if you don't have a Bible with you, they have, we have them around the room. Just look on the floor. They're there. We, we say this every week, but we believe in the importance of access to God's word.

If you don't own a Bible, please take one or talk to us. Let us get you a physical Bible that you can own and have and read and engage. We're going to be in Matthew 28 today. We're going to be looking at a text that is called by most Christians the Great Commission, and I think this will be familiar for many of you today, but, but I want you to consider this text in the context of this larger series we're in, in the context of this larger discussion about the mission of God and your role in that mission. In this text, we're going to see the mission of God has been given to every single church throughout all of history, but also beyond that, within that statement, to every single believer in all of church history.

It's why we are here, beloved. There's a reason when you got saved that Jesus didn't just immediately vacuum your soul up into heaven. He left you here to live life on this earth. And if you ever stop and think about it, that can feel cruel for a moment because life in this earth is hard and painful, right? There's a curse, there's suffering, there's evil, and yet when Christ saved you, he left you here for a few more decades.

Why is that? Because of this, because of what we're talking about, because of the mission of God, because of your role in the mission of God. And so my point today is simply going to be this:

Every believer is both called and qualified to join in the mission.

And those 2 words, I chose those words specifically. Every believer is both called and qualified to join with Jesus in the mission.

Beloved, we are the hands and feet of Jesus on this earth right now. He is not here in bodily form. He left you here. You are his hands, his feet, his mouth, his voice, his body. You represent him as ambassadors.

The church makes the gospel of Jesus visible to the world. We make it visible. Our lives, our gatherings, our choices, our ministries All of these things, they make Jesus visible to the world. Why do we do that? Why is that the thing we do?

The answer is simple, beloved. If you're a Christian, you're a disciple of Jesus. And disciples of Jesus make new disciples of Jesus. It's part of what it means to be a disciple. This whole discussion is about discipleship.

Like I already said, if you've spent any time in church, like any time in church, especially here at Immanuel, but if you've spent any time in church, you almost certainly have already heard this text. You can very likely quote it from memory. And because of the likely familiarity of this text, I want to encourage us right now before we read it, take a moment, let ourselves breathe, and just decide that we're actually going to engage this text today. I need you to make that decision. The familiarity is going to invite you to go, okay, I already know this one, and zone out.

I want to encourage you not to do that. Hear this message from the Lord to you fresh today. That will take a decision. That will take some effort, but there is fruit to be found for you in engaging the word of God, engaging his word with a brand new yes. With brand new eyes.

So seriously, pray with me and let's meditate together on one of these most famous passages in scripture.

Jesus, we just need you today. We need you to be our discipler. We need you to be our preacher. We need you to be our interpreter.

Spirit, I pray that you would cut through the funk of our hearts today. Whatever it is we brought with us into this space today, our distractions, our joys, our sorrows, our anxieties, our worries, our excitements, our plans, every little bit that is wound up in us and gums up the gears of our heart and our mind. I pray, Holy Spirit, that you would wash it out. You would speak to us fresh, that we would hear your voice. Even those of us who have put calluses over our hearts, who have pushed away your encouragement, your challenge, your conviction.

I pray that you would prick us afresh. Let us hear from you what we need today. Let us be encouraged, challenged, grown in you, and let us leave here today filled to the brim with you. We need you for this, Father. You're the only one who can do it, Spirit.

So we pray in your name, Jesus. Amen.

The Great Commission: Matthew 28:16–20

Okay, Matthew 28, we're picking up in verse 16, and we read this:

"Now the 11 disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them, and when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.'"

This is the word of the Lord.

Man, what a text, right? Like, that's the one, right? That's the one we hear, we talk like. Most of us have some bit of that. Wormed into our mind. We're in the closing passage of the Gospel of Matthew. And I know immediately some of you, like, longtime Immanuel people are going, we are back in Matthew? Uh, yeah, we never get away from it. We're always coming back to Matthew.

Uh, but in all seriousness, this text takes place at the end of the book, after the resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday. He rose from the dead and he called for his followers to meet him on this mountaintop. And in that setting, like, that's the setting where this takes place. Jesus gives this final admonishment, this final command to his followers, and that's it. The book is over. Like, if you read this story in Mark or Luke, you get a little more detail. Luke tells us that Jesus commands them and then ascends to heaven, right? Matthew doesn't give you that. Matthew leaves this stark image of Jesus's final command for his followers and then just closes it out.

And it's good that we know the rest of the story. We know Jesus commanded this, and then he ascended to heaven. We know all those things. But for the purpose of Matthew, Matthew leaves this hanging, and there's a reason for that. Matthew wants you to see that this command is for all of Jesus's followers. Hear this, church, you included.

It was only the apostles there on that mountain, but, but I've talked about this before. You, beloved, if you are a Christian today in 2026, you are a part of the apostolic faith. You are in the line of faith with the apostles. It moves straight from Jesus through them to you.

There's a word the early church fathers had for this. They called this the rule of faith, that those who've been handed the faith from Christ to the apostles, that they would take this sacred trust of the gospel of Jesus, and they would preserve it with, with no changes, with no corruptions, with no anything, and they would faithfully preserve and hand it to the next generation. The rule of faith, the gospel handed by Jesus to the apostles, would be faithfully preserved from generation of faith to generation of faith.

And here's what's amazing, church. We have concrete history to tell us that is exactly true. It's exactly true. Our fathers and mothers in the faith who came before us fought the good fight, and they preserved the gospel of Jesus supernaturally through the power of the Holy Spirit, and it was handed down generation from generation.

The apostles heard Jesus's command, and hear this, I know this is wild, they obeyed it. They went and made disciples, and they gave them all that Jesus had commanded, including this commandment: And those disciples, men like Polycarp, they went and they obeyed it and they made disciples. And that goes on and on and on and on and on and on for 2,000 years in a straight line from Jesus on this mountain to you.

When you're 7 sitting in VBS, or when you're in college hearing someone talk, or when you're sitting in a Celebrate Recovery, or when you're with your grandparents, they're sharing their testimony. Your story, your testimony is a continuation of the succession of the gospel from Jesus through the apostles through history. You are a part of the apostolic faith. The command on the mountain given to them was given just as much to you and to me, and you need to know something. That's a big deal. This is the last command that Jesus gives before he ascends to heaven. It's worth understanding it. Yeah, it's worth engaging it.

Let's take just a minute and talk about it. What does Jesus actually say here in this short little text?

Well, it starts with a reminder of his authority. Jesus has all the authority. He says, all authority in heaven and on earth has been granted to me. Jesus rose from the dead. He conquered death and the curse. That means he has all the authority. Nothing can speak over him. Nothing can shut him down. Nothing can tell him to be quiet and wait his turn. Christ has all the authority in heaven and on earth, and that authority is the foundation for what follows in the text.

Because verse 19 says, go therefore, right? Did you read that part? I had an old-school Baptist pastor mentor of mine. They used to say when he'd be preaching, he would say, when you see a therefore in scripture, you got to stop and back up and see what it's there for, right? Like, that's, that's what's going on. Listen, it's cheesy, but it's helpful. It's helpful. The therefore after the go, go therefore, is connected to Christ's authority. Jesus has all the authority over heaven and on earth, of which you and I are a part. So he tells us to go.

Tells us to go, and not just to go, but to go and make disciples. To make disciples. This is a phrase that would not have been the slightest bit strange, even as a command from a rabbi in this day. Rabbis were traveling teachers who had authority and their own followers and their own students who were called disciples or talmidim. And it was normal for famous or unique teachers to have their teaching, their theology, passed down through several generations of students and disciples. It was normal. It's not necessarily strange that Jesus commanded his disciples to go and make more disciples.

What's strange, or rather I would say unique, is the authority and power behind Jesus's disciple-making command. This isn't just a famous rabbi died, we should preserve his teaching by keeping his thoughts moving forward. This is, nope, Jesus rose from the dead. He claimed all authority in heaven and on earth. He's not just calling people to become a disciple, a student of him in the traditional sense. He's asking people to be reborn into his kingdom. He's asking people to live a new life. That's a big deal.

That's why they're to make disciples of all people, make disciples of all peoples, and then they're supposed to baptize them. You need to step into a new life. This is, this is deeply symbolic and understood in Jewish culture today, that baptism means I'm stepping away from what was, I'm stepping into what will be. You're to make disciples of all peoples, you're to baptize them, and you're to teach them to obey all the things Jesus commanded.

So essentially, Jesus takes this really normal idea of his days, rabbis and their disciples, and he infuses it with this depth of meaning that wouldn't have been originally or initially known. These aren't just new students of Jesus's school of thought. These are people entering into a new life. And all of this is built on the authority of Jesus.

And that's it. That's the whole commission. Sermon over. See you guys later. Right? Like, that's it. Because of Jesus's authority, all of his followers are supposed to go out and make disciples. That means teaching them to obey Jesus's teaching and baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Go. Yeah, you're done.

Wouldn't it be hilarious if I actually ended right there? Just, just went and sat down. I thought about it, but nope, I got more. Sorry.

Hold that idea in your mind because that's the whole commission. It's pretty simple. Hold that in your mind because I think we need to talk for just a minute about what we're really saying when we talk about a disciple. What is a disciple and how do we have a role in actually making one?

Disciple-Making vs. Discipling

I think the best way to do that is to kind of split this discussion and talk about 2 categories within what Jesus is teaching here. And I'm going to call them discipling and disciple-making. And this is a little bit of a nuance, but I actually think it's helpful for us. Let me talk about disciple-making first, then we'll talk about discipling within the church.

Category 1: Disciple-Making

So disciple-making, what is disciple-making? Guys, pure and simple, pure and simple. You are surrounded by people in your life who don't know Jesus. And can I, like, can I make sure we, like, bring in the concreteness of that? Like, St. Louis, the St. Louis metro region is about 3 million people, and it has one of the highest percentages on the census of people who claim Christ. And it is still significantly less than half the population. And that's just people who claim Christ on the census, right? That doesn't mean anything of, are they actually living a real faith? Right? Are they actually in Christ?

There are millions of people in our community here in St. Louis who do not know Christ. In the most generous possible estimation, which doesn't reflect reality, but for the sake of our discussion, in the most generous possible estimation, 1 out of every 2 people you interact with in our community does not know Christ.

Can we sit with that for a second? You are surrounded by people in your life who don't know Jesus. That's what we've been talking about this entire series. Do you notice them? Do you value them? Do you want them to be welcomed home?

People who are dead in their transgressions, people who need to find life in Jesus, who— people who, if they're to have any hope for anything outside of eternal separation from their Creator, must have the intervention of God. This is what we've been driving at these weeks. Do you notice them? Do you, do you value them? Do you, do you see the stakes? Do you want them welcomed home?

Well, here's the deal, beloved. You are the tool of that intervention.

You are. You are the tool of God's intervention in their lives. You are God's plan A through Z for the kingdom of God to move forward.

You, that person you love, that person who I hope that you have written their name, their names on your card, that you've been lifting them up before the Lord, that you've been seeking him to save them. Lord, put Christians in their life. Lord, let them hear the gospel. Soften their hearts. Put people around them who will preach the gospel.

Beloved, I say this gently, but I say this with love. God has put Christians in their life.

You. You are the missionary.

And by God's grace, he'll put a dozen more. And that person will be surrounded by the beauty and power of the gospel, and it will wilt their hardened heart and replace their heart of stone with a heart of flesh. But don't miss your part in it. Don't miss your part in it.

You are the tool of God's intervention in the lives of the lost around you. He has placed you in people's lives to show them Christ, to declare the gospel. This is intentional design on God's part. This is how God designed the church to function, how God foresaw and designed his kingdom to advance on earth. You are ambassadors of Christ. You represent him. You are making him known. He is making his appeal through you to this world.

When we talk about disciple-making, we're talking about the most basic and simple application of what Jesus commanded by his authority on that mountain. You go out, you find someone who doesn't know Jesus, who's not received Christ for salvation, and you invite them into life in Christ. That's, that's disciple-making. Here's a person who doesn't know Christ. You do. So you go out and find him and say, hey, I know Christ. You should know him also.

That's it. That's the basic form of what we're talking about.

The Parable of the Great Banquet: Luke 14:16–24

Open your Bibles or turn over to Luke 14, right back in Luke, and just one chapter up. We almost got away. I want to read one of my favorite parables from Jesus to you guys. You know, Jesus, he literally commanded us, like commanded us to go and make disciples. And you would think that if we actually see Jesus as our King, that that would kind of end the discussion for us. But I think the reality is, if we're, if you're willing to be honest, like, I'll, I'll, I'll be in this with you, right? Like, in general, we as humans don't do super well with commands, right? We fight against clear commands in our life often, but luckily God gives us more about disciple-making than simply his last command. He, he speaks to us a lot about it.

Luke 14. I'm going to read this to you guys. Starting in verse 16, it says this:

"But he said to them, 'A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. And at the time for the banquet, he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, "Come, for everything is now ready." But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, "I bought a field. I must go out and see it. Please have me excused." And another said, "Oh, I bought 5 yoke of oxen. I must go examine them. Please have me excused." And another said, "I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come." So the servant came and reported these things to the master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, "Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city and bring in the poor and the crippled and the blind and the lame." And the servant said, "Lord, what you have commanded has been done, but still there is room." And so the master said to the servant, "Then go out into the highways and hedges and compel people to come in that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet."'”

I love that story. You heard that one before?

This connects directly to our responsibility to make disciples. I could exegete the whole text, but I won't. For our purposes, I want to look at one idea. Our Lord has made a banquet. He has invited us to a party that we couldn't get into on our own. That's your eternity. That's heaven. God has set up a party and invited you to it, one that you couldn't make on your own, one that you couldn't afford the ticket if you knew about it, one that you couldn't get there. He has got you a seat. Praise God. That's the gift of the Lord. He's guaranteed your spot. You're included.

But when you look out at the party, what you see is that there is still tons of room.

Growing up, my pastor, every time he baptized someone, he'd go through the whole— it was very similar to how we do baptisms, except it was an old-school Baptist church. There was like robes involved, right? He would go through the whole thing. It was very similar, like what was said out loud. To what we did. But at the end, the very end, when he was done baptizing, he would stand up every single time and he would just say, "But still there is room. But still there is room."

When you look out over the wedding feast of the Lamb, when you imagine heaven and Christ exalted and earth perfected and all suffering and all sin and all death and all curse gone, and all that is left is good and holy and right and joyful, when you imagine heaven, do you see countless, endless empty seats? Because that is the image Christ gives us here. There's more room. There's more seats.

Our Lord has generosity to spare. And so he says, rather than wasting all this amazing hospitality, go find people. In fact, I don't care where you have to go. Let's fill this party up. Go everywhere. Go find the poor people. Find the beggars. Find those who weren't even originally invited. Go find anyone. And then he says, compel them. Bring them here. Let's fill up this party. Let none of this be wasted.

I love that image. Beloved of Jesus, there is still room. There's still room. And the Lord tells us to compel people to come and experience his generosity and hospitality, that the banquet may be full. How can we delay in going out and making disciples?

I want to let that reality sit with us for a moment. Like, think of that prayer card. Hopefully you have it with you. You can pull it out and look at it. Look at those names. Think of those faces that you have added to your prayers these last few weeks.

You need to know something. There's an empty seat at the table for that name. There's an empty seat at the table for that soul. Christ has room for them. They need to be told. They need to be invited.

How Do We "Compel" People?

But using a parable and using imagery is easy. It's easy to say, compel them to come to the banquet. That's beautiful. And we can say that in this kind of setting. What does that actually mean? How do you leave here and go to work tomorrow or go hang out at your next family gathering or go to your next pickleball tournament? How do you, how do you actually live this out in a way that means something? How do you actually compel someone to come experience the generosity of Christ?

And so this is a discussion with a lot of nuance. Anything I would say up here would honestly probably be too broad a brush because your specific context is so unique to you and to that relationship. But I hope, I hope that you choose to discuss this out loud with believers. Bring this to your gospel community, process this. Let them know who you're praying for, who's on your card, who's burdening you, and pray and discuss and consider together how the church of Christ may actually compel that person to come and know Jesus.

Let me give us one specific thought before we move past this. Colossians 4 has this amazing verse that says:

"Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person."

Beloved of Jesus, we have been saved from death unto life in our sweet Jesus. He lived a perfect life, died an unjust death in accordance with the curse of sin, rose from the dead by the power of God, ascended into heaven, and promised that he would return and make all things new. We have the best news on planet Earth. The best news.

And so we must choose to live and speak in a way that makes the good news of the kingdom known for what it is—good news. Hear this, church: if your good news, when you share, when you engage in relationship, feels more like condemnation or judgment than, I don't know, good news, it will be hard for the person to hear it as good news.

Beloved, the gospel of Jesus is good news for all. And at the same time, we live in an age that so loves sin that the freedom of the gospel often sounds like oppression to the ears of those we love, right? The tension we live in. How do I stand on the truth but actually still let this person experience me as loving?

That is complex. You must walk in wisdom. You must speak with grace. Paul uses this phrase, season your words with salt. That's a Bible-y way of saying, make your words sound good to people. This takes intentionality. It takes humility. It takes a ton of prayer. You need to hear this. It takes support. It takes coming around with brothers and sisters and asking them to pray with you for this person, to bring up opportunities and processing the conversations you have, so that you can actually walk and navigate the nuance here. This is difficult.

Four Practical Steps for Disciple-Making

I'm going to give you just really quick 4 practical thoughts on what it means to actually, like, season your words with salt and live on this. And I would encourage you to write these down. This is the kind of thing I think would be healthy to process in your community groups. I want to give you these, and I think they're pretty practical. It's just hard. It's hard for me to say something that will actually be super helpful because every relationship you engage in is so unique. But I think these are universally applicable to us.

1. Pray, pray, pray, pray, pray, pray, pray, pray, pray, pray

Like, that could be it. This is the absolute core of this whole sermon series we're doing. Your prayers for the lost have power. If you have someone on your card who you fear will be openly hostile to a gospel invitation, pray for them. And hear this. Pray for them 7 days a week.

Christian writer Oswald Chambers, he famously penned these words. He said: "Prayer does not fit us or prepare us for the greater work. Prayer is the greater work." Prayer is the greater work.

There is nothing more powerful you can do than bring your loved one before God and seek his intervention in their lives, period. There's nothing you can do for them that is more impactful than bringing them before the Lord. And besides that, besides the fact that you're beseeching the one who actually can save them, besides that, praying for folk puts them in the front of our minds. When you have daily rhythms of praying for people you care about, you're thinking about those people every day. It gets them in the front of our minds, which will leave us more ready and open when opportunities actually arise to share Christ with them, because it's already in our mind, because we're already thinking about them. I think number one, pray.

2. Remember that the mission of God is about years, not weeks

Years, not weeks. God sees that person that you love to the scale of their lifetime. If there is breath in their lungs, then God is not done with them. You don't have to have an altar call conversation every single time you're with every single lost person in your life. Like, that's, that's intense. And most of us just can't do that. And if we did, we probably wouldn't have many friends who aren't believers, right? Like, it would be kind of annoying after a while.

But you can intentionally build the trajectory of your relationship. You can aim your friendships, your connections, your familiar relationships. You can aim them toward Christ. Do they know you're a believer? Have they heard your story in the midst of hanging out? Have you ever just told them about yourself? In telling them about yourself and sharing your interests in your life, have you ever actually shared your salvation testimony? Have they ever seen you weather a trial or a difficulty or pain in life through the power of prayer?

As your relationship progresses, if you are intentionally honest and transparent about who you are and how you've built your life, striking the balance where you're not continually preachy, but you're open to the role faith plays in your own life, you need to know something like that's, that's a skill to learn. It's kind of a balance beam to walk on. But I gotta tell you something, God can and will bring about opportunities for you to have clear and beautiful conversations with them about Christ.

You need to know this, unless like that person is on hospice or you actively know there's a really good chance you may never see them again, it's okay. It's God-honoring. Play the long game in people's life. Build intentional relationship that has trajectory toward Christ. Years, not weeks. It's the right way to think about most of the people in your life. Not all. There is an appropriate space for urgency, right?

3. Don't forget the power of your testimony

You don't need to be a trained or eloquent preacher or apologist to share the gospel. You don't need a master's degree in theology to share the gospel. The whole point of the Great Commission is that it is for all of us believers, whether you've known Jesus for 5 minutes or 50 years, whether you have a master's degree in theology or a GED, you are called and you are qualified to share the gospel.

And you know, the most simple and effective way of actually sharing the gospel? Is simply sharing your own story, your own testimony, because it's the gospel lived out in real life. Like, if you sat down and actually worked through the gospel story of your life, sat there with a notebook and a pen and thought through, like, man, do I, do I remember, do I remember the time in my life where I sought the things of this world? Do I remember the times and the people who, who showed up to show Christ to me? Do I remember the fast and the slow ways Christ changed me from the inside out? Do I see even now the ways I continually turn back to sin and need Christ to draw me back to fresh repentance?

Beloved, that, that's your testimony. To think through the story of how the gospel has worked out in your own life. That's the power of God working in you. Simplest, clearest way for you to share the gospel. Listen, there's all sorts of other things you can learn. The Romans Road, you can memorize scripture. You should do all those things. But one of the most natural, non-intrusive, simple ways that you can actually share the gospel is just being honest about your own story and your friendships.

For you parents and grandparents in the room, I would encourage you with this, and I'm so serious. Your kids and your grandkids should know your life story. They just should. They just should. They should because you're great and they love you and they should know your story. They should. But beyond that, and more important than that, your story is a story of gospel redemption if you're in Christ. And so when they get to know you and hear the good and bad of your life, not just the polished version that's easy to share at Thanksgiving, but like the actual real story about you, it will preach Christ to them. There's power in that.

4. Suffering often softens hearts

One of the most important things about being gracious and wise and long-term minded in our mission is that in our context, people often just aren't open to the gospel until their life is hard enough for them to realize they actually need God. When you're in a wealthy first-world context that's very gospel saturated, like the United States, where the majority of people have heard of Jesus and have chosen not to pursue him because their life is good enough without him, I mean, for real, when you're in that kind of context, oftentimes it just takes life getting painful for a person to even have an openness to understanding the gospel when they need it.

And when you play the long game, when you think of those relationships in terms of years, not weeks, and you actually learn how to share your real self, and you actually invite them into seeing how you navigate failures and pain and suffering and trials in your life, when it comes up in their life, it's very natural, very beautiful. It's a very real, organic, gospel-centric way to actually point them to Christ.

And by the way, this isn't to say that sometimes you just need to be bold and share an invitation of Jesus plainly and clearly. Sometimes we need to be kicked in the butt. We need to be brave. We need not worry about whether or not the person will be offended and end the relationship. Sometimes we need to just go, I've got to tell you about Jesus. Sometimes you need to do that. I would never tell you not to do that.

But I would say often in our cultural context, evangelism really looks like being a good and consistent friend where you share your life and share your story over months and years, and where you step into opportunities to share the hope when folk are hurting and in need. And here's the deal. I believe this. I just don't think that's all that intimidating.

That's being honest and intentional in your relationships. In your family and outside of your family. And all of us can do that. All of us can do that. Disciple-making is within reach for us.

Category 2: Discipling within the Church

And then I'll land with this. I'll land with this because I think the Great Commission isn't just about disciple-making. I think it's about discipleship.

The command to make disciples doesn't stop at making a disciple. And that reason is because the disciples are students of their master, Jesus' disciples. Are more so students of their master. Our lives, according to Jesus, begin anew when we become disciples. And so we're to learn how to walk like him, talk like him, live like him, know and understand and obey his command. He says, teach them to obey everything I've commanded. That's a lot.

That doesn't magically happen at an altar call Thursday night at summer camp in 7th grade. It may begin there, but it doesn't just happen there. The reality is that being a disciple of our sweet Jesus is a lifelong commitment. And for those who are not in Christ, we must make disciples. We must invite them to, to come to life in Jesus. We're inviting them through the power of Jesus to cross over the gulf from death to life, from sin to forgiveness, right?

But once you are in Christ, we must never stop discipling each other. Jesus tells his followers, you and I, teach disciples to obey all that I've commanded. So let me ask you this. I mean this honestly. You don't have to answer, but you can think this right now.

Do you have that list on immediate recall? Do you know everything Jesus commanded you?

Me neither. Yeah, sorry. I got a master's degree. I don't have that either. I know that seems like a silly question because I doubt any of us could just spout off that list. But there's a lesson in that. We're talking about something that takes a lifetime to absorb the teaching of our sweet Savior. It doesn't happen by magic.

I'm going to read this to you really briefly in Ephesians 4. Jesus, or Paul, says this. He says that he, being Jesus:

"He gave the church the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and the teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of faith, the knowledge of the Son, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness and deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow. So that it builds itself up in love. Now I say this, this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do in the futility of their mind."

I love that text. Again, could do a whole sermon there, but for the purposes of today, as we land out, what we see in this text is there are leaders who can equip and lead the church. That's beautiful. That's a gift. But what do they equip the church to do? Look at this.

Leaders equip the saints—that's you and me—to do the work of ministry. And what's the work of ministry? Building up the body of Christ, pushing the people of God to mature in faith, to, to live more like Jesus, because we no longer live like those who are outside Christ. We live and act like Jesus himself.

Beloved, to be in Christ is to be in a constant state of growing in spiritual maturity and faith. There is no point—hear this—there is no point where you have simply achieved Christian status. You have a lifetime of sanctification. John Piper used the image of an escalator. He said the Christian life is walking up a down escalator. There's no option for stagnation. You are either actively engaged in ascending or you are passively descending. There is no other option.

That's why we disciple one another. Because there's depths of riches to be found in the life of the kingdom, but it takes work for them to grow. It takes time and effort and commitment. You must actually dedicate yourself to the Christian life, to, to do the work of ministry. We must disciple each other, and that means calling each other into increased holiness and maturity. It means confessing together, praying together, studying scripture together, admonishing together, rebuking together, worshiping together. In all these things, we help each other to grow as disciples.

And beloved, that's a wonderful life. When you jump into one of the summer groups, even though you're busy and the material feels really familiar, it feels really basic, you're doing the work of discipling one another. When you sign up for GC and you show up, even though you're busy and stressed and you share your life and you pray for one another, you're doing the work of discipling. I'm telling you something, you will find that every time, every time, God uses it to increase your holiness.

I think we often over-intellectualize discipleship. And for us as Christians, discipleship becomes about Bible facts. Oh, we're doing a discipleship group this summer. Eh, I don't know. I had one last summer and I already knew all those Bible facts. Oh geez, Caesar's setting it up again? I don't know. Last year, all my group really did was pray and discuss the sermon, and I already heard the sermon. I already got those Bible facts.

Anybody? Easy to fall into that trap. You're like, I'm not going to raise my hand right now. Easy to fall into that trap. We all fall into that trap.

But guys, Christian maturity isn't just Bible facts. It's definitely part Bible facts. You should learn all the Bible facts. They're really good. Like, you should do that. But it's more about growing in love and affection for Christ. It's more about growing in holiness. And that happens when we show up and we engage, when we serve, one another.

You Are Not Alone

So as we land, band, if you want to come back up, I'm going to wrap this whole thing back to Matthew 28, and we'll take a minute to land.

I think the problem why we actually struggle to make disciples, to disciple one another, is that it's just so intense. Like, I was sharing a lot of those things, and I could see in the room a lot of us were going, yeah, I get that. Yeah, I get that. But man, so much of what I shared today was: This takes dedication. This takes commitment. This takes being all in. This takes being brave. This takes investing in things for years and putting your whole life into it.

And again, that's easy to say in this room, but some of us just go, holy cow, man, I got a job and a family. I got other stuff going on. This feels so intense.

In some ways it is. Some way, it is. I think a lot of us, we look at the work of being on mission and we go, I'm just not qualified for that. How the heck am I supposed to tell my friend about Jesus? What if they're offended? What if they have questions I can't answer? How am I supposed to help my friends here at Immanuel grow in their faith? I'm not more mature than they are. Like, someone—like, they should be discipling me. Like, that's what I need, right?

Look, I get it. I get it. I get it. But you have to understand, for better or for worse, the reality is that Jesus simply doesn't leave room for that excuse.

He just doesn't. If you are in Christ, you were called to make disciples and disciple one another, and you're qualified to make disciples and disciple one another. And you're commanded to make disciples and to disciple one another.

I know that's intense, but praise be to God, the text doesn't end right there. Look back at Matthew 28. Look how Matthew actually ends. What's the last thing Jesus says?

"And behold, I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Beloved, Jesus is with you as you make disciples.

Jesus is with you as you disciple one another.

As you look at that card and you think about your kids, your grandkids, your neighbors, and your siblings, and your friends, and your coworkers, and it just feels so weighty and so heavy, and you go, I know I'm supposed to do something, but how the heck do I actually do it?

Take heart. Jesus is with you.

Jesus is with you. And he's the one who actually does the work. We simply get to walk in obedience and tell people about him. He's the one who does the work of convicting hearts. He's the one who does the work of answering hard questions. He's the one who does the work of interpreting and illuminating scripture. He's the one who does the work of rapturing hardened and dead hearts. He's the one who does the work of saving and resurrecting dead souls.

We simply get to walk in obedience. Read your Bible, pray for each other, do that stuff, do that stuff. Watch how Jesus will do the work of illuminating the text, convicting us of our sin, drawing us into maturity, opening your heart up, giving you opportunities to have conversations, to share your story. He is with you. He does the works. We simply get to walk in obedience.

Church, here is the deal.

The mission of God is a big deal. It's a big deal because Jesus thinks it's a big deal. He made us as a church for this purpose. He made us and sustained us here at Immanuel Fellowship as a church to join him in this work to glorify him through engagement in his kingdom. And when it comes down to it, he is here with us doing the work right now.

We just get to be along with him for the amazing ride.