Jefferson Vann

ACST 13. The Immeasurable One

If someone asked you to describe an automobile, it should not be too hard to do. You need merely describe it using common traits of autos, like make, model, chassis type, color, engine type, transmission type, or even the VIN number. We define things based on their similarity or dissimilarity with other things.

We define people the same way. We may say a man is tall, which means that in comparison to other people, his height is greater than the average height. Age, height, hair color, weight, race, regional accent, and general build are often traits that are used to describe or define persons in order to identify them. These categories are useful because people have these differences that make it easy to compare them with other people.

But what if there were a person who was so unique that he could not be compared with any other person on the planet? What if there were a person who could not be described by age, because he always existed, and always will? What if there were a person who had no corporeal expression, so that his height, weight, and appearance could not normally be seen or heard? Such is the case with the God of the Bible. All the normal means of expression and measurement do not apply to Him.

In fact, one of the traditional ways for theologians to describe God has been to use negative statements. In other words, God is described by pointing out who and what he is not. He is immeasurable, immutable, and immortal. Or, to put it in one word: He is infinite. Scientists sometimes speak of space as being infinite, but only because they lack the means of measuring its immensity. The evidence from scripture reveals that God is infinite by nature. Even if it were possible to measure the vastness of space, God’s measurements would still be outside and beyond it.
For explanation purposes, we theologians sometimes convert these negative statements into positive ones. In doing so, we sacrifice accuracy, but we do so in order to express our faith in the One we are trying to define. The positive definitions of God’s being that result from this conversion are that God is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent.

omnipresent

To say that God is omnipresent is to ascribe all the space in the universe to Him. It “means both that God is not a finite object in space and time besides other objects, and that no finite object, space, or time can exclude God.”1 It is, of course, not possible for human beings to verify that statement scientifically. Not only it it impossible for us to verify God’s presence in any particular space, it is also impossible for the human race to be everywhere if we could observe him. We are defined by our limits, and that prevents us from accurately describing one whose presence is unlimited.

We depend, then, on the evidence of God’s creation and the special revelation of the Bible to affirm this faith statement about God. Since God created everything that exists in all space, it is not unreasonable to assume that he also exists in all that space. One of the differences between the Christian faith and that of the animists is that our God is not limited geographically. We see Him as beyond creation, because he brought all creation into being, and providentially rules over it.

The biblical evidence for this faith statement is abundant. Psalm 139 laments that God is inescapable, but eventually concedes the fact, and seeks God’s scrutiny and guidance. In Jeremiah 23:23-24 God asks, “Am I a God at hand, … and not a God afar off? Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? … Do I not fill heaven and earth?” Here we find a helpful distinction: while some people are aware of the existence of a lot of places, even if they have never been there, God is actually present everywhere at the same time. His omnipresence is not just an extension of his omniscience.

This can be true about God because he is not limited to a corporeal nature. Jesus made this clear when he told the Samaritan woman that “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24). It is not just that God lacks a body, but that he lacks the need for a body, since his essence is not defined as ours is. Human beings have spirits, which need bodies to animate, and without which they cannot function. God’s is spirit, and his “body” is the universe.

The implications of God’s omnipresence are awesome. We can be assured of his conscious presence when we gather in his name regardless of the size of the gathering – even if it’s just two or three people (Matt. 18:20; Luke 24:36). Even if we do not feel that presence, it is there. Even if we do not worship as others expect us to, we have not prevented God’s presence. We cannot. There is no place in the universe that is truly God-forsaken, thus we can be assured that he is always with us (Josh. 1:5; Isaiah 41:10; Matt. 28:20). God listens to the prayers of his people no matter where they are. His “calling zone” is not limited (Jer. 29:12-14; Matt. 6:6) because his presence is not limited.

omniscient

God’s awareness is just as extensive as his presence. He knows all things, even the future, just as well as the past. When Christians, Jews and Muslims affirm that God is omniscient, we are saying that he does not have limits to his capacity and consciousness that his creatures have. The attribute of omniscience “describes God’s infinite mind in terms of the intuitive, simultaneous and perfect knowledge of all that can ever be the object of knowledge. It relates to the eternal cognizance of the actual and to the possible and the contingent.”2

Human beings, for example, are capable of learning and growing in awareness, but are limited by factors such as brain capacity, availability of data, and functionality. God has no such limits. He has a complete grasp of everything that is happening now, and an equally complete memory of everything that happened last year on this date, and next year, and next millennium.

Once again theologians are left with the necessity of using approximate and negative language to describe this attribute of God, because there is no other being equal to God when it comes to knowledge. We do not say that God is omniscient because there is a pool of omniscient beings with which he can be compared. It is just as much a statement of our own limits as it is of God’s lack of limits. So we are forced to prove this assertion the same way we proved the assertion of God’s omnipresence. We appeal to God’s revelation of himself in his word.

The Bible reveals that “the LORD is a God of knowledge” (1 Sam. 2:3). He is “perfect in knowledge” (Job 37:16). “He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names. … his understanding is beyond measure.” (Psalm 147:4-5). He announces the hidden things that we have not known (Isaiah 48:6). He “knows what is in the darkness” (Daniel 2:22).

God challenges his rivals to prove their omniscience by revealing the future or explaining the past (Isaiah 41:21-23). He laughs at the absurdity of putting one’s trust in a mute idol who cannot prove that it is even conscious, while God can prove that he is aware of all things. He challenges his people to remember that he has predicted the things that are now, showing that he alone deserves allegiance (Isaiah 48:3-5).

The concept of omniscience is baffling to human beings, and always has been. As the psalmist says, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it” (Psalm 139:6). It is far easier to deal with a lesser deity, who does not know all things, so can be tricked into complying to my will by a well-placed insincere prayer, or a charm or ritual to which he must comply, so that I get what I want. But that is not the way God works. He sees both the deed and the motive. He hears both the words and the thoughts behind them.

Since God’s awareness is unlimited, our approach to him must be an open one. we dare not hide who we are with flowery words, or empty praise, like the Pharisee did in Jesus’ story:

“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 18:10-14 ESV)

Jesus used this story to teach the kind of attitude we should have as God’s creatures. As we humble ourselves, we assess correctly our position in God’s universe, but when we exalt ourselves (even when we do it with left-handed complements to God as the Pharisee did) we are being dishonest. This dishonesty about ourselves tilts the scale so badly that it reflects upon our view of God. We end up telling God “what a lucky God you are to have me on your side.”

The God of the Bible sees through that hypocrisy and self-delusion. He knows the real score because he knows all things. It is his nature to know the whole truth, while his creatures know only in part (1 Cor. 13:9,12).

omnipotent

Believers are also drawn to extremes when attempting to describe God’s power. His ability is unmeasurable, infinite. He is omnipotent. Since everything that is was created by him, it stands to reason that there are no limits to his power.

‘Ah, Lord GOD! It is you who has made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you (Jeremiah 32:17 ESV).

And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy- the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God” (Luke 1:34-37 ESV).

Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:24-26 ESV).

With God there is nothing that is harder or easier. The only things he cannot do are the things he will not do, that is, things that are against his nature. His “will is never exercised except in perfect harmony with all the other attributes of (his) great and glorious being.”3 He cannot sin, lie, self-destruct, or do anything that would result in his not being who he is. He himself is a constant.

The Name of God

Perhaps this is the reason that he introduced himself to his estranged people in such a peculiar way:

“Moses said to God, “If I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is his name?’–what should I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I AM that I AM.” And he said, “You must say this to the Israelites, ‘I AM has sent me to you.'” God also said to Moses, “You must say this to the Israelites, ‘The LORD–the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob–has sent me to you. This is my name forever, and this is my memorial from generation to generation.’” (Exodus 3:13-15 NET).

With a confusing mix of Egyptian gods as a background, the Israelites who were enslaved in Egypt needed proof that the God who promised to deliver them was different. God’s covenant name – Yahveh4 – accentuates that difference. It screams “I am the One who has always existed and always will. It speaks of One who is not bound to the limits that all other beings are, One who is infinite, unmeasurable.

I believe it was this same name that Jesus referred to when he commanded his disciples to make more disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:19). The three persons of the trinity are equally infinite, each part of the same Godhead, thus they all share the same name. It is this unmeasurable nature that makes God unique. All other gods have a beginning (as spirits originally intended to serve Yahveh). All other gods have limited knowledge and power. Our God is the “I AM,” who has no limits, and no peers.

1 Owen C. Thomas, Ellen K. Woodra, Introduction To Theology. (New York: Church Publishing, Inc., 2002), 103.

2 Allan Coppedge, Portraits of God. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2001), 132.

3 Martyn Loyd-Jones, Great Doctrines of the Bible. (Wheaton, IL: Good News Publishers, 2003), 67.

4 The name Yahveh is believed by many to derive from an ancient form (hvh) of the common verb “to be,” (hyh ) although Beitzel argues that the etymological presupposition is not proven, and the name may have been used in Exodus 3 as an example of paronomasia (See Barry J. Beizel, “Exodus 3:14 and the Divine Name: a Case of Biblical Paronomasia,” Trinity Journal 1 NS (1980) 5-20).

A Call for Continuous Action

Colossians 2:1-7 ESV
“For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, 2 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. 5 For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ. 6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.”

Christ saved Paul by grace on the Damascus road also called him to a life of continuous activity.

Paul became one of those early Christians whose constant effort led to overturning the known world.

When we turn to the epistles (letters written by Paul to the churches he planted and coworkers he sent) we find Paul constantly encouraging believers to work just as hard as he did.

The casual reader of an English translation of the New Testament can often miss when Paul is emphasizing this fact. This is due to the fact that English translations do not accurately translate a particular grammatical structure that is found throughout Paul’s writings. It is called a Present Active Imperative, and translates as a call to continuous action.

Walking is a metaphor for how we live your lives. Here Paul is saying that it is not enough just to accept Jesus as our Savior. We have to live our lives according to the reality that we are now saved by Him.
This command was important for the Colossians because false teaching was beginning to spread throughout the churches. That false teaching implied that getting saved was OK, but in order to really impress God with your spirituality, to get on God’s good side, and to open the door for supernatural power, believers needed to add something else besides faith in God’s grace.

Having grown up as a legalist, Paul recognized that these prohibitions were not from God. The gospel is supposed to set us free. Paul is telling them not to get sidetracked by legalism.

The first century Colossians are not the only ones who are tempted to replace the gospel of grace with a law code. Whenever we as Christians today define our Christianity by what we do not do, we are in danger of doing the same thing. I think that the reason much of the modern world has rejected Christianity is that we have fallen into the same trap.

Paul wanted the hearts of the Colossians to be encouraged. One of the first signs of depression is that you stop doing things that you are used to doing. Paul wanted to spur the Colossians on to keep on living the life of children of God. It is easy to give up when you fail to see regular signs that what you are doing is accomplishing something.

Now, here is a key to this whole idea of continuous activity. Keep obeying God, and he will eventually bless what you are doing. Stop obeying God and the power flow will eventually cease. When the power flow ceases, discouragement is the result.

That is where the Colossians were at. They were discouraged because they had rested on the fact that they were saved, and failed to keep on living that salvation.

I cannot help but believe that many in our churches today are in the same place. The solution is to live our lives by faith in the same grace that saved us. People who live those kinds of lives are obedient to Christ. This may sound like a contradiction but it is not. Grace and obedience are not opposites. A life lived by grace is one of continuous activity!

I keep hearing the same complaint from many churches: “we are not united.” Paul gave this command in order that the Colossians might be “drawn together in love” (2).

This tells me that we are not going to be unified if we only try to come together doctrinally. There are always going to be differences in how we understand God’s truth – even if we all agree that that truth comes from the Bible. Unity is going to happen when we all start obeying the same truth.

Notice how Jesus prayed to the Father for the Church’s unity:

John 17:23 “I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.”

How are we going to demonstrate that God loves us in the same way as He loves Christ? We will do this when we live the life that Jesus lived. Our unity needs to be one of action, not just words.

How can we be sure that our activity is the right kind of activity?

First, everything we do must be something Christ would do. Our actions must be rooted and built up in him. A good way of insuring that we stay in him is intentionally learning his specific commands.

Second, must must not do anything that contradicts what we profess. Our actions need to be established in the faith. When the Bible talks about “the faith” it is referring to what we believe and teach. That’s why Paul adds the phrase “just as you were taught.”

Third, Paul adds that we should abound in thanksgiving. He didn’t say that we had to be successful in everything we try to do. He didn’t even say that it has to cost a lot of money. He just reminds us that it doesn’t hurt to be grateful, to thank the Lord while we keep on walking.

God has planned for Christ to live his life through us. When we do nothing, we fail to demonstrate Christ’s life.

As we keep on walking in Christ, what God has revealed about him is going to become more and more real to us. Paul likens it to a treasure storehouse. The more we walk through the storehouse, the more treasures we see.

I believe the way this process works is this: God has revealed what he wants us to do by his new covenant commands found in the New Testament. To the extent that we continuously obey those commands, God is going to keep giving us glimpses of his plan for our lives.

Obedience to the commands that we know can guard us against being deceived about those matters in which we do not know.

Satan has a number of weapons that he uses against believers, and one of them is deception. Paul said that he “disguises himself as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14). If he showed up like in the cartoons, with the red pajamas and pitchfork, we would always know it was him. But he enters into our conversations around the dinner table. He inserts himself into a television news broadcast.

How can we keep ourselves from being deceived by Satan’s “false arguments?” First, stay in the word of God. Regular Bible reading can keep you from counterfeit doctrine just like being familiar with real money can keep you from accepting counterfeit cash.

But another way of avoiding deception is staying busy doing what you know for sure is God’s will. When the believer stays continuously active, living the life of Christ, he has no time for doctrines of demons.

What we need in this world today is Christians who dare to live like Christians, and keep on living like Christians until they change their communities, counties, states, and nations.
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LORD, help us to learn how to keep on walking in you, so that you can use us to transform the places where we walk. In Jesus’ name. Amen

Not Man’s Gospel

Galatians 1:11-24 ESV

11 For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel. 12 For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. 13 For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. 14 And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers. 15 But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, 16 was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone; 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus. 18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days. 19 But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord’s brother. 20 (In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie!) 21 Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. 22 And I was still unknown in person to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. 23 They only were hearing it said, “He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” 24 And they glorified God because of me.

Paul and his team of missionaries had made it their mission to spread the message of the Gospel to the region of Galatia.
We saw that Paul had defined that message as the fact that the Lord Jesus gave himself for our sins (1:4).
We also saw that some people (whom Paul called the troublers) had come into the Galatian churches and tried to substitute a different message. That message was a distorted one, and if the Galatians followed it, they would be deserting the true faith.
This week’s section explains why the true Gospel is “not man’s gospel” and why that is so important.

Paul had already said that his missionary calling was not “from men nor through man(1:1). He had also made it clear that no man was his master, because he was not serving man, nor trying to please man (1:10).
Now he is making it clear that his message (the gospel) is not an evolved Judaism. It is not “based on human reasoning” (1:11). He did not follow “a human example” (3:15).
Instead, the message came by direct revelation (1:12). The story of how Christ first revealed himself to Paul is found several times in the book of Acts.

We get a glimpse into the nature of that revelation by studying the theology that Paul presents in his letters to the churches.
Perhaps one of the most revealing texts that show us the content of the revelation that Paul received is Eph. 1:15-23. Here Paul is praying that the Ephesians would receive a revelation as well.
There are two things that Paul prayed for the Ephesians to receive: an awareness of their future destiny (their HOPE); and an awareness of their present possession (God’s POWER available to them).
The gospel message focuses on both of these realities.

Paul also argues in today’s text that the gospel is not man’s gospel because of what motivates people to share it. Paul used himself as an example. He said that when God first revealed Christ to him, he did not immediately consult with anyone (1:16).
Instead, Paul took a break. He went to Arabia, and meditated for a while. He wanted to make sure that his experience was real, so he gave God time to explain it to him.
By the end of that three year experience Paul was confident that he had been set apart to preach Christ to the Gentiles.

He uses language similar to that used by the prophets of old. They were convinced that God exists, and that he has something to say to his people, and that he brought them into existence specifically for the purpose of saying what God wanted to say.
There were plenty of false prophets around during their time who would say what man wanted to hear. But the true prophets had to be true to their calling.
Jesus commands us to “”Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation” Mark 16:15. That is our calling.

Paul also argues in today’s text that the gospel is not man’s gospel because what it produces is different. It has a different fruit.
The false gospels of this world revolve around who you are, and how you can be different from everyone else. The true gospel says that God has accepted you just as you are.
Once Paul got over who he was and was willing to let Jesus shine through him, he was then allowed to visit the other apostles, and have true fellowship with them.

Gospel fellowship is defined well by this statement, found in Gal. 2:9.

Gospel Fellowship recognizes that God’s grace has apportioned gifts to every believer, and honors each believer’s distinctive calling.

Gospel Fellowship accepts every believer and encourages each to work together to make disciples for Christ.

The true Gospel is “not man’s gospel.” It didn’t originate with human tradition. It ignites within us a sense of separation and a holy calling. It results in a fellowship based on acceptance and encouragement.
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Heavenly Father,
Help us to escape human traditions long enough to get a clear focus on the gospel message. May our hearts beat to the tune of the good news of what Jesus did for us (that no man could do), the destiny that awaits us (that no man can imagine), and the power that is available to us (that no man can resist).

No Other Gospel

“This letter is from Paul, an apostle. I was not appointed by any
group of people or any human authority, but by Jesus Christ
himself and by God the Father, who raised Jesus from the dead.
2 All the brothers and sisters here join me in sending this letter to
the churches of Galatia 3 May God our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ give you grace and peace. 4 Jesus gave his life
for our sins, just as God our Father planned, in order to rescue
us from this evil world in which we live. 5 All glory to God
forever and ever! Amen. 6 I am shocked that you are turning
away so soon from God, who called you to himself through the
loving mercy of Christ. You are following a different way that
pretends to be the Good News 7 but is not the Good News at
all. You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth
concerning Christ. 8 Let God’s curse fall on anyone, including us
or even an angel from heaven, who preaches a different kind of
Good News than the one we preached to you. 9 I say again what
we have said before: If anyone preaches any other Good News
than the one you welcomed, let that person be cursed.
10 Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of
God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s
servant.” (NLT)

The book of Galatians presents one of the most profound expressions of the gospel message. Paul says that Jesus gave himself for our sins.

Paul had told the Corinthians that Christ died for our sins, and he wanted the Galatians to know that his death was his willing choice.

Jesus had said that he came to give his life as a ransom for many.

Paul told the Romans that Christ was delivered up because we had sinned and he was raised because his death accomplished our justification.

Galatians also points out that the death of Christ will deliver us not only from a future hell, but also from this present evil age.

He told the Ephesians that they had been delivered from “following the course of this world, the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.”

John had warned that “the whole world lies in the power of the evil one” but the good news is that “we are from God” because of what Jesus did on the cross.

Galatians also reminds us that Paul was not alone in the mission that God called him to. He had a team of missionaries and supporters with him. This is why he introduced the book by saying “Paul… and all the brothers who are with me.”

Apparently, sometimes those brothers even assist Paul in writing his letters, like Sosthenes in 1 Corinthians, and Timothy in 2 Corinthians.

But usually the associates are listed without naming them specifically, like here and in Philippians 4, where Paul just says “the brother who are with me greet you.”
The list of men and women who were associates of Paul is quite extensive.

Their goal was to spread the kingdom of God by preaching the gospel and establishing churches throughout the lands of the Gentiles, which included the region of Galatia.
Paul was the leading apostle. This explains why his authority was accepted by the Galatian churches when he directed them to establish an offering to benefit the believers in Jerusalem.

Paul had to endure a great deal of suffering, mistreatment and hardships , but he said it was all worth it for the mission’s sake.

But Galatians reveals a major malfunction that threatened to undo all of the work of Paul and his mission team: some “wolves in sheep’s clothing” (Paul called the troublers) had come into the Galatian churches, and were teaching a distorted gospel.
In 2 Corinthians, Paul had called them false apostles, and said that they disguise themselves as apostle of Christ. They taught that Christians needed to identify themselves the same way the Jews did: circumcision, diet, separation from the Gentiles.

The troublers had come from the Jerusalem Church, but not with the approval of the apostles or elders.

Jesus had warned that there would be false prophets, and he had said that we shall know them by their fruit. The fruit of the troublers was that many were deserting the church.

This is how it took place:

First, the troublers were trying to please men. That is, they were trying to accommodate the Jews. The Jews normally respected Gentiles who respected them, but NOT those who followed Christ. People who followed the teaching of the troublers would clash with the Jewish community.

Second, Paul pronounced a curse upon the troublers. Those who followed their teachings would be effected by the same curse.

Eventually, all those who had accepted the false gospel would desert the faith.

You have probably never thought to yourself, “man, I wish I could be circumcised.” So you might be wondering if the message of Galatians is as important today as it was when Paul and the brothers wrote it.

The problem with the troublers was not that they were trying to make the Christians more Jewish. They were trying to make the Christians non-Christians. They sought to accommodate the church to the world around them.

The message of Galatians is that believers should find our distinctiveness in Christ and the gospel of forgiveness through his sacrifice.

Making Disciples

Matthew 28:19-20 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Revelation 7:9-10 “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

Making Disciples
This message is part of a series of “how-to” messages built around the three most important commands of scripture: the commands that I call the foundations of life and ministry.

The first command is what Jesus called the greatest commandment: that we should love God with all of who we are: our heart and soul and might. This command is found in Deuteronomy 6:5, and is repeated by Jesus in Matthew 22:37-38. This command motivates our relationship with the LORD, and our ministry to Him, including personal and corporate Bible study, prayer, and worship.

The second command is what Jesus called the second greatest commandment, that we should love our neighbors in the same way as we love ourselves. This command motivates our relationship with our neighbors. Neighbors as the Bible defines them include everyone on the planet, especially those that need our love, and those whose path we cross so that we have opportunity to express God’s love to them. This command is found in Leviticus 19:18, and is repeated by Jesus in Matthew 22:39.

The third most important command is what we usually call the Great Commission. It is one of the texts that we read for today’s message:

Matthew 28:19 “… make disciples of all nations,…

The reasons this command is important enough to “make the top three” are as follows:

1.God has always desired to bring all the nations back to himself, and this is the means by which he has chosen to do it.

Bear in mind that the original Greek word for nations signifies an ethnic, cultural or linguistic people group, not simply a political entity. Our churches should look more like soccer teams, which are usually multi-ethnic.

2.Jesus showed us how to obey all three of the greatest commands: he showed us how to love God, how to love our neighbor, and he was the first to make disciples like this.

3.One of the reasons that Jesus promised the Holy Spirit for all believers is that he can empower us to fulfill this commandment.

Luke 24:47-49 “… repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

The book of Acts records how the gospel spread throughout the known world during the first century A.D. The book is called the Acts of the Apostles. It has also been called the Acts of the Holy Spirit. I call it Obedience in Action because it is a record of the early Church’s obedience to this foundational command.

It’s not hard to explain why Jesus’ disciples – who had seen him ascend to heaven – would be so motivated to make disciples among all nations. After all, they didn’t know that the task would still be undone after two millenniums. They probably thought that if they worked as hard as they could to reach the world with the gospel – they would get to see Jesus again in their lifetime.
Nowadays we know better. We know that – chances are – we could spend our last dime, and our last breath on world missions, and still not be any closer to the second coming.

God’s timing is just that way. Peter says that a thousand years is like one day with God (2 Pet. 3:8). That means that if I’m really strong and live to be 100 years old, my entire lifetime is like less than the time we will spend in church today. So, even if we are “waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God” (2 Peter 3:12) it still will probably not come in our lifetime.

So, why should we bother reaching the world for Christ today? Why should we bother reaching our neighborhood or our nation? Why should we care about those strangers so far away?

Here are four reasons why 21st century believers should keep on making disciples for Christ.

First, Love Motivates us to Reach the Nations for Christ.

Anyone who sincerely seeks to love God, and to love his neighbor, will naturally proceed to put the two together. After all if I really love God, I will want to share him with those who do not know him. And if I really love my neighbor in the same way that I love myself, I will want that neighbor to enjoy all the good things I enjoy, especially my relationship with God which is the source of all those good things.

Also, it is ridiculous to say that we love someone, while we are ignoring their greatest need. Love seeks someone’s welfare. The Good Samaritan expressed love for a Jew, who was a foreigner to him. Jesus told that story because someone wanted to know who was their neighbor. The point of the story was that love does not limit itself geographically, politically, or racially. Love looks for a need and seeks to fill that need. The greatest need that the nations have today is not terrorism or global warming. The greatest need the world has is that billions are living without the hope of eternal life.

Now, just how much do we love the people with the greatest need? A study recently published in Mission Frontiers magazine divides the world’s population into people groups. It found that “Only an estimated 10,000 of the global foreign mission force are working within the 10,000 unreached groups, while 41 times that number of foreign missionaries continue to work within people groups already reached.”1 This tells me that even though we are sending and supporting missionaries, we are still not expressing our love to the neighbors who are so different from us. Like the Levite and the priest in the Good Samaritan story we have our own little communities that we choose to express love to.

But when we choose to only love those who are close at hand, we are not expressing God’s kind of love. Remember that God loved us when we were separated from Him by the curse!

Romans 5:7-8 “For one will scarcely die for a righteous person – though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die – 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

God’s love is unconditional. If he had decided to only love those who deserve it – those who are like Him – we would all still be lost. True love is like that. It gets out of its comfort zone and invests itself in the beloved. When Jesus gave the Great Commission to his Church, he assumed that we would invest ourselves in the nations. That is messy, because it involves going to strange places, and learning to live in strange cultures, adapting to strange cultures, and loving strange people incarnationally, the way Jesus did.

One of the best complements that I received when I was leaving the Philippines came from one of my former students, who is now a pastor. He simply said, “thank you for your investment.” That meant a lot to me, because I know he is sincere in thanking me for caring enough to spend the last thirteen years preparing him and others like him to serve the Lord. He recognized that he was a different person because of the investment of the faculty of Oro Bible College.

True love dares to believe that time, efforts, and resources invested in the lives of others is worth it. World evangelism and discipleship are manifestations of God’s love for the nations. God gives us the opportunity to love the nations that he loves. He allows us to love the world in the same way that he did. He loved the world and sent his Son to prove it. In the same way, we can go, or send, or support missionaries through prayer and money to manifest his love to the nations.

Secondly, Obedience Demands that we Evangelize and Instruct the Nations.

There is only one command in the Great Commission: MAKE DISCIPLES. But there are two specific means by which we carry out that command. In other words, obeying the Great Commission requires that we accomplish two specific tasks. If we accomplish neither of those tasks, we will not make disciples. We will have not been obedient at all. If we only accomplish one of the tasks, we have not made disciples. We will have not yet been completely obedient.

Matthew 28:19 “Go therefore and of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,”

Circle the words “make disciples.” That is the command, the imperative case in Greek. Now underline the word “baptizing” in verse 19. That is what is called an adverbial participle of means in Greek. In other words, that is one of the means by which the persons commanded (that’s us) can obey the command.

But what does it mean to baptize? There was only one person in the New Testament called the Baptizer. His name was John. He led the people of Israel into a new and authentic relationship with God. The sign of that new relationship was baptism. The Israelites repented and turned to God, and testified to that new relationship with God by being baptized in water.

John was doing the work of an evangelist. The role of baptizing in obedience to the Great Commission to MAKE DISCIPLES is winning people to Christ – making converts. Therefore obedience demands that we evangelize the lost in every nation. God accomplished that for the Israelites by sending John to lead his own people back to himself. Likewise, we can be obedient to the Great Commission by sending people – not just books, or money to specifically target the lost with the gospel of salvation.

But that is not all there is to obeying the Great Commission.

Matthew 28:20 “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Underline the word “teaching.” That is another adverbial participle of means. It is the second stage in the disciple-making process. If we do not teach people to obey the commands of Christ, we have not discipled them. It is not enough to make converts -people who want to do God’s will. We must teach them how, because being a disciple is doing God’s will.

A few years ago, I did a Bible study on all the commands of Christ. I found hundreds of commands, and all of them are just as relevant today as they were when Jesus first commanded them. I also found that many of those very things that Jesus commanded are seldom even mentioned in our pulpits today. I was challenged to focus my teaching on the things that Jesus focused on. You see, it is not just teaching in general that Jesus commanded. He did not say “teach them anything you want,” or “teach them whatever you think they need.” He commanded us to keep teaching the things that he had taught his disciples.

So, obeying the Great Commission is not over when we have planted churches and established church conferences in the nations of the world. We must ensure that those new converts and churches are firmly grounded in God’s word, and equipped to continue the disciple-making process themselves. That is where Bible colleges, like OBC, and other training programs come in. They can be tools by which we finish the task, and train the next generation to be obedient to the whole Great Commission.

Thirdly, Victory is Assured because Missions is God’s Will.

I draw your attention now to today’s second passage, from Revelation 7.

The apostle John sees a vision of the end result of the Great Commission. This great multitude which no one can number is all believers of all time. If you are a disciple of Christ, you are in the picture. But it is not just you, it’s your children and grandchildren, if they are in the Lord.

It is important to know why Jesus revealed this picture to John. It is like the answers in the back of the textbook. It’s good to know that there are answers in the back of the book, otherwise we might get overwhelmed with the problem. If we get stumped, we can always check the answer key in the back.

Here was the problem for John. Earlier in the vision he had seen 144,000 Jews. I believe these were the Jews who came to Christ at Pentecost and the generations that followed them in obeying the Great Commission up until the time when John received the vision. Many of them gave their lives for the gospel. That was the problem. John’s vision was encouragement for those still struggling to obey Christ’s Great Commission. It let them know that God’s plan was being, and was going to be fulfilled.

If you want to be on the winning team, get on the Great Commission team, because victory is certain. When we invest ourselves in doing God’s will, his victory is ours.

Finally, Every Christian should be Involved in the Task of World Missions.

Jesus gave the Great Commission to the eleven, who at that time represented every disciple he had. I believe he did it that way so we could not rely on the professional clergy to do the task of discipling for us. Don’t get me wrong: I believe in professional clergy. In fact, I am one. But a more biblical term for us would be equipping ministry.

Ephesians 4:11-12 “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry”

The reason for the professional clergy is to train all the saints for the work of ministry. Ministry is the work of all the saints. To put it in Great Commission terms, the equipping ministry trains the evangelists and the teachers. The church is the venue for that training. The goal is to make disciples of all nations.

We can divide the work of ministry into the three categories as well. There are ministries which are primarily ministries of love to the Lord: devotions, bible study, praise and thanksgiving prayer, meditation on the word, memorizing the bible, and personal and corporate worship. There are ministries which are primarily ministries to our neighbors: helping the needy, intercessory and supplication prayer, visiting and assisting the sick and shut-in, giving to various needs, emergency relief work, and some kinds of missions work, for example. There are ministries which are primarily discipling ministries: Bible studies, evangelistic events, outreaches to specific groups, and short and long term missions, to name a few.

Remember the three great commandments: love God, love your neighbor, and make disciples. God blesses those whose foundations are sure: who put the first things first.