Great Commission and Life Together

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Since I couldn’t complete my blog from last week, I’ll combine the last couple of weeks of information. I want to discuss disciple-making and our Life Together Conference.

Disciple-Making and Evangelism

Many things stand out when you look at New Testament disciple-making, but one obvious thing is the relationships built. Think of Jesus and his 12 disciples. But think of the intimacy of Jesus and Peter, James, and John. They were of the 12, but they seemed to be at key moments with Jesus. Another relationship you see is between Paul and Timothy. We could also toss Titus into this, but Paul and Timothy have a famous discipleship relationship.

Now, I bring this up because this disciple-making is the goal of the Great Commission. And disciple-making is distinctly relational. The other reason I bring this up is that evangelism gets the headlines when we think of the Great Commission. Interestingly, in Matthew 28:16-20, preaching the gospel is not even mentioned. We know that this is because it’s probably implied, but I think it’s more than that. Evangelism is one part of disciple-making. This would tell me that if disciple-making is distinctly relational and evangelism is one part of disciple-making, this would mean evangelism is also relational.

Does this mean that people come to Jesus ONLY through relationships? Obviously not. Think of folks who heard the gospel through Billy Graham or in another big event. Or think of people you know who listened to the gospel from a stranger and believed in Jesus. Those things certainly happen, and this is why we should appreciate many methods of evangelism and believe that God can bring people to Jesus in many different ways. But the normal, or in theological terms, the normative way people hear the gospel is through relationships with people they already know. Why? Because disciple-making is distinctly relational.

Every Person in the Great Commission

As you read the New Testament, you’ll notice how Paul writes about Christians having spiritual gifts. You’ll notice the discussion about the body of Christ…the Church, with each part playing its role. And you’ll see that every Christian has been called out of darkness so that we can proclaim the excellencies of Christ. This is important to the Great Commission.

If we think of the Great Commission being accomplished by the body of Christ, we should learn to appreciate the different gifts, roles, and places. Further, we should learn to appreciate all manner of ways that people use their gifts, and we should respect all areas where people operate. What concerns me about some of the current trends in teaching about the Great Commission is that we’re too narrow in how it’s accomplished. We pressure people to do things a certain way or with certain activities.

But what if faithful disciple-making is right in your backyard? What if it’s at the cubicle at work? What if the gift of giving has as much impact as the gift of evangelism? See, here’s what happens when we see the Great Commission like this: every Christian believes their gifts, their home, their work, their families, etc., have been providentially given to them by God to serve His mission. One person sows, one person waters…but God brings the increase.

Demonstrating and Declaring

One thing that cannot be diminished from the Great Commission is that demonstrating and declaring the gospel are both very important. There is an enormous amount of emphasis in our day on proclaiming the gospel. This is, no doubt, important (see Romans 10:14-17). People need to hear the gospel. It is the power of God for salvation.

However, several Scripture passages speak about living Christ-like lives, and that gospel demonstration causes people to ask us about our hope in Christ. We very rarely talk about this. Here are a few to look at: 1 Peter 3:15-16; Acts 2:42-47; Colossians 4:5-6. Knowing how to answer someone means they have asked us. In multiple moments in Acts, non-Christians saw how Christians lived, treated one another, and joined the church (implying that they became Christians). Not to mention, how we treat others who disagree with us shows the power of Christ at work in us.

Here’s my point: there should be a declaration and a demonstration of the gospel.

Life Together Conference and Extra-Local Connections

One of the main reasons we needed to host the Life Together Conference was to introduce you to key leaders in our denomination, Sovereign Grace Churches. One of those is Bob Kauflin. Bob has led Sovereign Grace Music since 1997, and estimating Bob’s enormous impact and influence across many mainline denominations is challenging. And you would think, with all of that influence and impact, that Bob would be a proud and cocky man. But he’s not. Bob is so far the opposite that it’s hard to explain. But honestly, this is how every pastor I’ve ever met in SGC is—humble, gracious, deferring, respectful, and kind. Bob brought his son, Devon, and grandson, Korey, and David Zimmer, to Roseburg. These men were a wonderful blessing to our church this past weekend.

We’ve often talked about how difficult it was to explain what the Life Together Conference was about. We’ve tried to explain that this conference was about ‘why’ the church gathers and what should ‘drive’ our gatherings. So, as you can expect, we learned about our gatherings being God-initiated and exalted, Scripture governed and fueled, Gospel-grounded and driven, and Spirit-enabled and empowered.

I was reminded not to go through the motions and that God is evaluating our worship gatherings and my heart. I was struck by the fact that Colossians 3:16 shows people singing to one another, where we remind one another of God’s faithfulness and our hope in the gospel. I was encouraged to intentionally engage with the people of God in our gatherings by reminding them that they are part of the congregation, just like the worship team is part of the congregation.

Having men from our denomination come to our church reminds us of the significant extra-local dimension of the Great Commission. These men came to our church to use their gifts to edify and equip us in the gospel ministry. It reminds us that God is doing work beyond us, and a denominational connection like this helps us benefit from gospel partnerships.

If you want to keep up with what God is doing in SGC, here are a few links that will allow you to receive monthly email updates:

For Sovereign Grace Music: https://sovereigngracemusic.org
For Sovereign Grace Churches: https://sovereigngrace.us1.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=2ffe5c21a7c50ac85a2cac499&id=e7ffab6ce5
For Sovereign Grace Missions: https://sovereigngracechurches.us19.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=b0114799f139a4f99b7a7be3f&id=8c5a7f7c43

This Coming Sunday

This Sunday, October 8th, we will start a new series called “Shaping Virtues of the Christian Life.” This Sunday, we will begin with humility. We will study Philippians 2:3-4 and examine other important texts regarding this virtue. This series aims to help us see the types of virtues that Christ is working in us and the types of ‘corporate’ virtues that our church has and is striving for.