Disciples of Christ for Christ - January 11th, 2026

I will be reading Matthew chapter 28, verses 18 to 20. So if you can stand back up on your feet if you are able, and let's read this together. 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 of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to keep all that I had commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Let's pray together. Father, we're so thankful to be gathered together, and Lord, I pray that wherever we are, just in our walks with Christ, would you feed our hearts and remind us that there never was, nor will be will there be anything good in us outside of Christ?

There's nothing that we can bring truly of any worth except our need of you. And so as we avail ourselves, and as we empty whatever it is that is in our hearts that have not satisfied us, I pray that you would fill it. And Lord, would you fill our hearts with joy and with gratitude? And as your word goes forth, just teach your people, feed your sheep, and help us, Lord God, to truly walk with joy and newness of life. So we thank you, Lord, for our time together. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Go ahead and be seated. One of the first purchases that Becky and I made together early in our marriage was a very fancy vacuum cleaner. So single people, if you guys get married, that's what you delight in when you buy things like that.

Okay.

It boasted a high-end hygienic dust disposal system with advanced filtration. I looked it all up. Okay. It had three levels of carpet height control. It had nine attachable accessories for crevices and dusting brush. It came with a special stair and upholstery nozzle for advanced floor cleaning. And it was a low wattage, high suction model. And it was also very pretty.

So Becky researched it.

And so on the first Saturday morning, I took it out of the box and got ready to vacuum with it for the first time. And then when I plugged it in, it didn't work. The machine turned on. There was vibration and noise. But the vacuum cleaner did not suck in any dirt. So it turned out we bought a faulty product. So our top of the line accessory-laden vacuum cleaner with tons of bells and whistles didn't vacuum anything. We had purchased it for one purpose and one purpose only, to vacuum the carpet, and it could not and did not do its job. It didn't matter that it had a good dusting brush and upholstery nozzle, or that it was pretty to look at.

So here are a few very important questions for this morning as we think through this little illustration. What is the church's function? For what purpose does a church exist? For what purpose was a church purchased with the precious blood of Christ? What makes a church one that you would want to be a part of? What is a church that you would gladly invest in building up? And are bells and whistles, accessories important for your church. So question is what is the primary purpose of the church? What is the function of the church? And those are questions of actually supreme importance. So in the New Testament, there are many, many instructions of how God's church is to be built. And this morning we're going to primarily be focusing on the words of the Lord Jesus Himself.

And the Bible gives us two complementary accounts of Jesus' final words to his disciples. And in those complementary accounts, I believe that we can discern the purpose for every church that bears Christ's name. So the first of these passages is the one up on the screen that I read for you in the beginning. I'm going to read it again. Jesus came up and spoke to them, 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 of the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to keep all that I commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. And these are Jesus' final words for his disciples according to Matthew.

All things have been created by him and for him to love him and to serve him. All authority has been given to him. All things belong to him, therefore. So this is Christ's commission to the church and his expectations for the church. And the second account of Jesus' final earthly exhortations is found in the opening chapter of the book of Acts. And these passages are not contradictory, but they're complementary. And so we're going to start at Acts 1, verse 2, and it reads, until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after he had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom he had chosen. And verse 4, gathering them together, he commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which he said, you heard of from me.

For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Minister only in and through the power of the Holy Spirit. And I'll repeat this. Minister only in and through the power of the Holy Spirit. The disciples, their inclination and their default setting would have been to minister in the flesh through all kinds of human effort. I have no doubt that they loved Jesus and that they would set their minds to working hard for him. But Jesus commands them, wait.

But they were still told to wait for the Holy Spirit. They would be commissioned to minister only in and through the power of the Holy Spirit. Why? Because they could not minister effectively or fruitfully in the flesh. So in the gospel account of John, Jesus made it very clear that apart from the empowering of the Holy Spirit, absolutely no real ministry ever could be done. Religious people could be busy. Well-meaning people could spend and exhaust themselves for the sake of Christ. The apostles of Christ could organize people, feed the poor, teach doctrine, and they could do this all in the flesh, but if all of those things are not empowered first and foremost by the Holy Spirit of Christ, all of those efforts would amount to nothing.

So it's likewise very important and helpful for us to be reminded that the church's purpose can only be fulfilled in and through the power of the Holy Spirit. So minister only in and through the power of the Holy Spirit. And so please keep that in mind as we focus on the other complimentary passage, Matthew 28. And that's going to be our main passage for this morning. And this is, we're returning back to what this uh is called the Great Commission. And in this Great Commission, we're going to see that the primary charge to the disciples of Christ was to make disciples, to reproduce themselves, to reproduce their faith. The command was not go and take pictures or Instagram videos of all the nations, but rather go and make disciples.

It's not as obvious in the English, but there's only one command in the entirety of this Great Commission, and that command is mate to sate, and it's to make disciples. So there's one command, and there's three attended participles, and a participle is a verbal noun. A participle can never in and of itself be a command, right? Running. That's not a command, right? A participle can never stand alone, it's always attached to a verb. And there are three of those in the passage. So one command, three participles, describing to us how to fulfill that one command. So I'm gonna make it easier for your eyes and for your minds to track in the English. And here's Matthew 28, 19 to 20 again. So there's one command, Mate Tusate, and that command is to make disciples.

And there are three participles, which you can kind of discern by the ending of the word, how they're conjugated in the Greek. You guys notice the difference? So the participles to the command to making disciples are go, baptize, teach. Or because they're ing words, let me rephrase it, by going, by baptizing, and by teaching. So make disciples by going, by baptizing by teaching. And that's the great commission. This is the overarching command. And just like a vacuum cleaner's main job is to vacuum, the primary purpose in the existence for every church that bears the name of Jesus Christ is to make disciples. Okay. What's the purpose of a television screen? It's not entertainment. It's to display whatever you want it to display.

What's the purpose of a comb? My wife used to hit me on the head with the during COVID when she was trying to cut my hair, and she just I was complaining. That's not the purpose of a comb. The purpose of a comb is to fix the hair, right? What's the purpose of a nail clipper? Clip nails. Purpose of vacuum cleaner is to suck up dust. So the purpose of every church that bears the name of Jesus is to make disciples. Bells and whistles and accessories and extracurriculars are nice. They are not bad things. Nice people, really good logistical organization, a sports ministry, a very pleasing website, great music, beautiful sanctuary. Those are all good things, and I would love for us to have all of those things.

But if a church is not reproducing little Christs through the process of making and equipping disciples, it will have utterly failed in its purpose. Okay, so every church, wherever it is situated and wherever it is going, is to make disciples in and through the power of the Holy Spirit by baptizing and by teaching those baptized people about everything that our Trinitarian God has commanded. And so these three participles will serve as our sermon outline for this morning. And hopefully, a study of this text, we're going to be reminded and fueled for our great purpose toward which every single one of us, members of his body, have been commissioned. Okay, so first, before we get into all of that, it's very important to clarify what make disciples means.

Make disciples means to produce little Christs. It means to make replicas of Jesus. Now, of course, a replica, it's not the actual thing or the person, it's just a copy. And to make disciples means to reproduce copies of the person of Christ. We are to become more like Christ. We are to lead others to becoming more like Christ. And this is a task that we were predestined for from all eternity. Why were you saved? To make replicas. Okay? So Romans 8 29, because those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers. So the elect of God were chosen, and we were predestined specifically to become replicas of Christ.

Jesus was to be the preeminent one among all the brothers. He would be the original image of the invisible God, the preeminent copy, and with the just the increase of his copies, God the Father would be glorified. So to make disciples means to produce little Christs. Okay. It does not primarily mean get people out of hell, although that is the result. It also does not mean that we help people become better, more moral, or more upright people. Though obviously that should happen too. Make disciples does not mean we equip people with secret strategies and fasting and prayer tricks to access God in his material or circumstantial blessings. It does not mean that we make people feel loved and included and happy and fulfilled.

Now, all of those things may and often do happen. Because after all, our God is good.

But that is not what make disciples means. Making disciples means we produce little Christs.

So we, his replicas, have compassion. Because Jesus did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many, Mark 10 45. His disciples seek not to be served, but to serve and to lay their lives down, even if it comes at a cost. Because he who called us is holy. 1 Peter 1 15. We his replicas as little Christs are likewise to be holy. So make disciples means we reproduce little Jesus Christ. And that's the central verb to the central command to every person who claims Jesus as Savior and as Lord. So that's you. And again, this is a supernatural work, not done by human effort or through the power of the Holy Spirit. So let's wait before we make an application. People don't become more Christ-like through New Year's resolutions.

Amen.

People don't become more Christ-like through motivational speeches. So my job is not to pep you up.

Or clever programs. It's the Holy Spirit who causes a person to become saved. And then continues to work to conform somebody to the image of Christ. Amen.

And abiding in obedience and love don't earn salvation. Those are evidences that someone is saved. So let's look at John 8.31. It says, So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed him. If you remain, abide in my word, then you are truly my disciples. Again, this is not a command to do this. This is evidence of having been his disciples. John 13, 35, by this all will know that you are my disciples if you love one another. So the Spirit-filled word of God does this to a Christian. Love is the fruit of the Spirit. So our collective purpose is in producing little Christs who abide in his word, who obey his commands, and who love God and love people. So then how do churches submit to this make disciples command?

First, we do so by going. Matthew 28 is often preached in churches during the summer when a lot of churches send out missions teams. And sometimes this is preached during like a church's missions month. And I am preaching this on the Sunday before the three of us from the church are headed out to the Philippines. So of course, this passage has an outreach element. There is a global element to this where people cross through international borders to preach the gospel. Howard, Alex, and I are going on a short-term one-week trip. We leave on Wednesday, and then we come back the following Tuesday. Three of us are physically going, but my hope is that there are actually 30 some odd of us all going to the Philippines together in spirit.

And that's why I'm asking you, write a card, pray for the people, send gifts. And why are we going? Ultimately, to do what we can to assist the Filipino church in producing little Christs.

It is not to give medical assistance to people who can't afford good health care. The goal is not to go to distribute for you all your excess teddy bears or to send stuffed animals to abuse girls or to carry Trader Joe's gifts and highlighters to the Philippines. Those are all good things. Those are all byproducts. They're all the means, but they're not the goal. The goal is to make little Christs of people in the Philippines. Are we the best people to do that? No. We are not the best people to do that. We are limited by distance. We are limited by language. I mean, it'd be harder if Philippines didn't speak English, but we're limited. We're limited by cultural understanding. But there are things that we can do that our Filipino brothers and sisters cannot.

There are Filipino people we can access and connect to their local church that their people cannot without our help. There are financial and material resources that we have that those in that region of the Philippines do not. The per capita income in the Philippines per head is $3,000 a year. So we are a lot wealthier. And there are partnerships to be made with our brothers and sisters there through prayer and encouragement. So the fulfillment of the Great Commission is a united effort for the whole universal church. Amen. All throughout the New Testament, you're going to see the universal church partnering together for Great Commission work. So we are going to see how in the long term we can come alongside and strengthen their efforts to making little Christs of the Filipino people.

But the bulk of the disciple making obviously will be done by the Solidale Gloria church people in Davao, not by us. And they are already doing regular ministry into their community. So we're not going there to create work. We are seeking to partner in work that the Holy Spirit has already created. So we're the three of us are going to be physically there. I'm also going to ask that you go with us, join us on this trip. We're taking your letters and your gifts, but we're hoping that you blanket us in prayer as well. We're going to be safe. We're going to be fine. Hopefully. Watch something happen. But we want to see God moving, and we want to do what we can to steward it. Okay. The Apostle Paul was physically not present with the believers at Colossae, but he requested their prayers.

None of the three of us are anywhere near Apostle Paul. So we might need more prayers, right? But he requested their spiritual partnership. Colossians 4, 2 to 3, devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving, praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been bound. So we too are going to be physically apart for a week. So join us and go with the three of us by praying for clarity of vision and a fruitful time. Amen. Now, the word going can be understood literally as wherever you physically are. Make sense? Wherever you physically are. Realistically, 99% of all of our going as Christians will be into our personal and local contexts.

For most of our lives, for most of our ministries, we will not go physically very far. Right? Acts chapter 1, verse 8. You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be my witnesses in your homes in Jerusalem, in Judea, your home province, Samaria, your next door neighbor, and even to the end of the earth. The original apostles, these 12, 11 guys, spent most of the entirety of all of their years in Jerusalem, the city, and Judea, the province. And these are the men who were with Jesus. But where did they spend? Most, all of the rest of their lives. Jerusalem and Judea. They spent the majority of their years establishing communities and making disciples in their regions of origin.

Because they were the most effective there. There were no barriers in terms of culture, relatability, or language. And then for a small part of their ministry, they went into the neighboring Samaria. Not too far removed geographically, socially, or culturally. A few of them made it to farther away places, usually not past the Mediterranean area. Nobody of them made it to the ends of the earth. Paul traveled the most through extensive parts around the Mediterranean, but he too did not physically get to the end of the earth. The gospel will go in a mysterious and awesome baton pass to the end of the earth. The individual disciple will not.

But wherever they were, they preached the gospel. So the account of the Great Commission found in Mark's gospel reads the following. Okay. Mark 16, 20. Then they went out and preached everywhere. And while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word by the signs that followed, and then as a result, Acts 8, 3 to 4, but Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house, dragging off men and women. He was delivering them into prison. Therefore, those who have been scattered, they went about proclaiming the good news of the word. Do you know why Christianity spread in the early church? They were running away. But as they're running away, the Lamb of God said for the payment of your sins.

You crucified. Believe in him and be saved. They were preaching as they were going. So the first thought that enters our mind when we hear go should not be, hmm, is God calling me to the overseas mission work? The first thought that enters our minds should be in the mission field that I already am in. Am I being faithful to the task? In the mission field that I'm already in, that God has already divinely placed me in. Am I being faithful to the task? We may not win converts in our field, but is my life lived in front of all the people in the situations I currently go to day after day, consistent what God has expected of me. We have non-Christian coworkers, neighbors, family members, and strangers all around us.

True or false.

Right. But if you're daily faithful into the field into which God has already called you in the family and the situation which he has already placed you, he always will enlarge your field. That's kingdom economics for you. So the call for your life and for mine is not to do something crazy abroad, it's to daily faithfulness and not for some kind of glorious legacy that we will be celebrated for all time by all Christians. That's not the purpose. The call is to build his church, one spiritual brick at a time, and to have that be our primary obsession. Again, not by human effort or by clever gospel presentation, but empowered by whom? The Holy Spirit. The second attendant participle of the command is to make disciples.

And the Greek word there is baptizantes to baptize. It reads, go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son of the Holy Spirit. So simply put, this means getting people saved, bringing them into a Christian community, helping them grow in their relationship with Christ. So it's basically adding a brick to an existing building. Does that make sense? The participle to baptize is the call to grow the local church. Water baptism is simply the outward visual representation of the change that has taken person uh place internally in a person. It's the symbolic of a person's being united with Christ first into his death and then and then being united with him in his resurrection into a newness of life.

So this is what Bobby Jaminson defines baptism as. He says, it's a church's public act symbolizing a believer's union with Christ, serving as the visible entry into the local church, making, marking them as a Christian. It's a covenant signing, it's an oath sign, uniting the individual with the community and separating him, marking him off from the world. So baptism is an entrance into a family. It's a public marking off from the world. And it's a public marking off to the church. So baptism into Christ is baptism into his body. Right? And so what is the body of Christ? What is the body of Christ? It's the church. So what is meant by baptism is the commitment to building up the members of the body of Christ, the church.

How did the apostles apply Jesus' early destructions? Instructions.

And week after week, we are doing our part to fulfilling the great commission here in the mission field of Los Angeles through our local church. So no ministry work can truly be considered great commission work if it is not connected to the local church. So how do we make disciples? First, we go, second, we get them saved through the gospel into the church. And that is what is meant by baptizing. Okay. So the work of ministry is not finished when someone comes out of the water. Baptism is actually the gateway, it's the entry point. Baptism is not where the work ends. That's actually where the work begins. Amen. And that's why when we consider what kind of work to engage in overseas, I had to see, and I have to see that the local church there is healthy and committed to making little Christs for the long term.

Brings me to the third principle or the participle. Go therefore, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to keep all that I commanded you, and behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. The third participle in this command is to make disciples by teaching those in the church. And it's to teach the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help us God. And the primary vehicle and platform of teaching this whole truth is the church. So in giving extensive instructions to Timothy, the apostle Paul defined the church. It's the household of God, it's the pillar and the support of the truth.

The church was to be the stand, the platform, the display of the truth. The church was to be a lighthouse. The church was to be the beacon of truth. And the church's main job was always toim the truth, to display the truth, to preserve the truth, because as the Holy Spirit works through the truth, disciples are made. So 1 Timothy 3, it reads, I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you soon. But in case I am delayed, I write this letter so that you will know how a person ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth. So here we see how Paul desires to see the third participle of teaching be applied in the church at Ephesus.

He wanted people to know that they had to conduct themselves appropriately as members of the household of God. So there are expectations and standards that are given here. It's not just to teach. So my job is not just.

Amen. Now, it's messy, and it's often a very difficult endeavor. But what is the goal? To make little Christs. That's the command. My job primarily is to feed the sheep by dispensing the truth. I can't make you change. And I don't have that burden on me to make you change. The word does it. The Holy Spirit does it. If I get involved, I'm going to be a cult leader. If I get involved, you're going to do it not because you love God, but because you're scared of me. So my job is to dispense truth, to pray for and exhort you to application with your heart. My job is not to pressure us or to manipulate us through guilt to get you to conform only in your practice.

External conformity is a byproduct, it is not a goal. My job is to dispense truth in such a way that the truth would stir your hearts, Godward. God wants our hearts, not just our appearances. Amen.

So he wants our hearts. And the only means for sinfully just corrupted hearts that have been regenerated to be offered up to God is his word has to cleanse, sanctify, purge, strengthen, encourage, nurture, and build up through the power of the Holy Spirit. So again, my job is not to change your heart, to put to present to you the truth, so that the Holy Spirit will use a sword of the word to change your heart. And my primary goal is to not get in the way of that. That's the pastor. The word does the work. Amen. The word will always do all the work. Our efforts now, okay, we have to be diligent is to simply not resist what the word does. Hebrews 3 7 says, Therefore, today, if he, if you hear the Holy Spirit's voice, do not harden your hearts.

So simply put, when God speaks and there is a stirring, we go home, and the temptation is Satan is gonna try to pluck that away. Our job is to feed off of it, digest it, and then try our best not to resist the voice of our shepherd. That's our response. So that's where we need to be diligent. So Hebrews 4, 11 to 13 reads, therefore, let us be diligent to enter that rest. Interesting. Lest anyone fall into the same example of disobedience. You know what that means? Obedience leads to rest. Living in the will of God leads to the rest of your soul. We think, oh, if I go on a vacation, if I go on a trip, oh, if I just took a week off to just watch Netflix, then I will get rest. No, you're gonna come back more tired.

But let me use my free time to just delight in the Lord. No matter what the circumstances, you're gonna feel rested. And there's a connection to that with verse 12. Let's be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall into the same example of disobedience. Why? For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword and piercing as far as a division of soul and spirit, joints and marrow, it is able to judge the thoughts and the intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from his sight, no thought hidden from his sight. All things are uncovered and laid bare to the eyes of him to whom we have to give an account to. So the primary application is to teach all that he has commanded, to receive all that he has commanded, and try to submit to all that he has commanded.

And as an overflow, it will go to other people who go, wow, making disciples is the point. And we are made disciples by the word of the Lord through the power of the Holy Spirit and not by effort. So if a church moves away from the word, it moves away and drifts away from the source of power, and then eventually a church will drift into disobedience. And so we're going to commit to the centrality of the application of the word for our church. And we have to commit to do this wherever we are going with whomever is being baptized. Bells and whistles are nice. If you were to ask me, hey, can I add more applications and bells and whistles to your car? I would say, sure. They're nice. You don't need to reject them.

Accessories are nice. Looks and aesthetics help the mood and are appealing to the eye. But like everything else, if the church is not doing the one thing it was redeemed and purchased to do, it merits a.

You guys know this, right? May our church be committed and obsessed with the great commission by making disciples of Christ for Christ. For most of our time, it's going to be in LA. And if he moves us, do that there too. Amen.

And he's going to continue to work. So I'm going to close with one more reading of this passage and with a promise. We're going to see something that God is committed to. Even if we quit on this, he's committing to something here. All right. Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore, make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to keep all that I commanded you. And here's the promise.

And so our job is to kind of face in the direction that he's moving and just fill our sails with wherever the wind is blowing. Amen. So let me pray for us. Father, we ask that you would make clear to us how we are to move forward and doing great commission work. And the things that you've already made clear to us, I pray that you would help us just to be faithful people. Help us not to benchmark our church with what other churches around us are doing. Help us simply to benchmark our church with the standard of your holy word. Give us wisdom not to rely on our abilities or our creativity or our talent. Give us wisdom to always remember that any work done apart from the Holy Spirit is not real ministry.

Help us to be a church that is not just godly in appearance. Help us to be a genuinely godly church, useful for your services and for your purposes, and ultimately for your kingdom building. We pray all this in Jesus' name.