We’re going to kind of pick up where we left off on our previous Little Lesson, as we were talking about the erroneous idea that there are two categories of Christians: those who are believers in Jesus, then the higher class of Christians, the real committed Christians, those who are disciples of Christ.
I began to expose the error in that type of thinking, because it’s just completely unbiblical. Any honest person who studies the Bible is going to come to that conclusion. This is not some difficult thing to figure out from Scripture. It’s just amazing though that more people aren’t talking about this.
The Goal of Every Single Minister in the Entire World
But I’m asking the question on this lesson, what should be the goal of every single minister in the entire world? I think the goal should be whatever Jesus’ goal is, right?
He is the Head of the church, and all of us who are ministers are under-shepherds, under the great Shepherd (see 1 Peter 5:4). We’re supposed to be imitating Him, we’re supposed to be obeying Him, we’re supposed to be pleasing Him.
Surely, our goals should be aligned with whatever His goals are. His goals aren’t difficult to find, and it has relation to this topic that I’ve been talking about previously and now today: the whole idea of being a disciple.
Jesus’ Goal
Listen to what Jesus said and what is so commonly known in the 28th Chapter of the gospel of Matthew. Here’s Jesus’ goal, and this ought to be the goal of every single minister who professes to be a Christian minister in the entire world:
And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” – vv. 18-20
What is Jesus saying? He’s saying “I’m the lord, I’m the King of kings, and the Lord of lords. God, the Father, has given me all the authority.”
We know all authority is from God. Paul wrote in Romans 13 that the authorities that exist, exist because they’re established by God. He’s talking about governmental leaders, and that we ought to submit to them for that reason, because they are put in place by God, and they represent authority that God has given to them.
As long as they’re not calling on us to disobey God, we ought to be submitted to the earthly authorities. Because all authority is from God.
The Highest Authority
Did you hear what Jesus just said? “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.” “I’m above everybody.” The clear message is everybody ought to be submitted to Him, because He’s the highest authority. He has all authority.
Should you submit to a policeman? Yeah. Should you submit to a judge? Yeah. Should you submit to the President? Yes. All those government leaders, because God is the one who has given them their authority. He can take it away anytime He wants. He gave it to Jesus.
We’re not surprised by the next thing that Christ says in Matthew 28, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you.”
Did you get the gist of that? “I have all the authority. Let Me start off here by giving a commandment. Go, get out there. Where do I want you to go? All the ethnic groups.” That’s literally what it says if you dig in the Greek just a little bit, “All the ethnic groups of the entire world. Go and make disciples of those people. Make disciples.”
Make Disciples
He begins then to help us understand what a disciple is. No, He didn’t say “Go make believers, go get people to pray the sinner’s prayer. Go get people to say they believe in Me, go get people to sign a statement to join the church.” No, “Go make disciples, baptize them.”
That’s huge in itself. “You baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” As you baptize, you’re confessing over the baptismal, the candidate there, who it is that is the Lord of their lives.
You’re supposed to be submitted. We’re doing this, not in the name of Zeus, not in the name of some organization, some human institution, we’re baptizing you in the name of the Trinity, God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
We’re putting you down under the water. That has a little bit of symbolism, you’re dying. We’re bringing you out of the water. You’re coming back to life as a new person, because now you’re in Christ. You’ve been washed, cleaned, because the water washed some of that filth off of you, and now you’re resurrected in Christ.
The Goal of Every Minister Should Be to Make Disciples
“Teaching them—teaching those people you baptized—to obey everything I’ve commanded you.” What should be the goal of every minister? The goal of every minister should be to make disciples, wherever you are amongst the nations. Of course, you have to figure out where God sends you.
If God sent you to Winnemucca, Nevada, then you need to be making disciples.
“Well, I’m not a pastor.” Okay, so what are you? “I’m an evangelist.” Then, do your part in making disciples.
You see, if the goal is to make disciples—people who recognize that Jesus is Lord and are endeavoring to obey Him—naturally, evangelism then is very simple. Evangelism is calling people to repent and follow Jesus, because they believe in Jesus.
You’re getting them set off on the right journey. Maybe a pastor and a teacher can pick up after you’ve left town.
But if you’re just calling people to pray little sinner’s prayers, or calling them to believe that Jesus died for their sins…
The Way the Apostles Preached the Gospel
I recommend that you read through the Book of Acts and look for how many times you find the apostles, when they’re preaching the gospel, mention the fact that Jesus died for the sins of the audience.
You’ll be shocked to find there’s not a single example. They were endeavoring to get people to repent and believe in the King, the Lord, the Messiah, the One who was raised from the dead. The One who was the Judge of the living and the dead.
They were trying to make disciples. That was reflected in the initial message of the evangelists and the apostles.
All right? Your goal, if you’re a minister, should be to make disciples, that is people who obey all that Christ commanded. Well, you can’t make a disciple unless you are one. I’m going to close on that thought! Hope to see you next time. God bless.
