The Great Commission| Colin D

This message was preached  by Colin D'cruz at Word of Grace Church on March 20th, 2016. To listen/download the audio please click here. To listen to the Sunday's worship and prophetic contributions please click here

Last week we looked at the great commission- Matt 28:18-20. The risen Jesus, defeating death comes alive and meets his friends in Galilee saying “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Commentators have said this was the commission to all disciples. To go into all the world and make disciples of nations, baptising them and teaching them to obey everything he has commanded.

We have had the privilege of obeying the first part, baptising the 4 people last week in the name of the father, the son and the Holy Spirit. What about going into nations and making disciples? This Sunday we are doing that. We can’t all go to the nations. But some will go and we will play our part in sending them to the nations.

It is for us to realise what this is all about. This is the last chapter of Matthew. We have amazing teachings of Jesus recorded in Matthew. We come to the climax of the whole gospel- Jesus says, all that I’ve done, my death and resurrection- the end result I want to outwork in your lives is this- go and make disciples of all nations. We are privileged to be a part of sending Abdullah and Namrata to nations. But it does not end there- we have Kutzi, Dema, Chris and Jennifer, Van... we have nations coming to us as well.

If you look amongst us, we are from different parts of India. God’s goal is one new man in Christ. In our country there is such division. But in Christ, when we realise we have a saviour who has died for us, it doesn’t matter where you are from, we are one in Christ.

Jesus is giving the Great Commission to us as well.

Q. Why does the church exist?

Some people say, for fellowship. We heard testimonies that people come here and are touched by our love. That is great! Some say, it is teaching, and that is important. Some say, it is worship. Word of Grace is blessed where worship is concerned, with great worship leaders and musicians and God’s presence is here. That’s the central activity in heaven.

Although these are all important, the key thing is to go and make disciples. I want each one of us to get hold of this. Is your life aligned with that great purpose of Jesus? Are you involved in that?

The son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. He came to seek and save the lost. We have Abdullah and Namrata today as live examples. Stop and think about it. Abdullah was well paid in an excellent job being sent all over the world. Why would you give that up; to do what? They have chosen to give that up to proclaim the gospel. If they are ready to do that, making disciples must be very important. It is supremely important.

Now, each one of us need not give up our job. In your present situation, you can make disciples. One day at the end of time we are all going to die and stand before the judge Jesus. This is the truth. Revelation 20: 11- 15 “Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.”   

At this judgement, you can’t fake it because everything is recorded. This is very serious. Each person was judged according to what they had thought, said and done. If your name is written in the book of life, you will be spared. God the father wants us to proclaim this to all the people. In Genesis 3 after Adam and Eve sinned, they ran. God sought out man. Today, if your name is not in the book of life, God is calling you- where are you?

We have people all around us who do not know this good news and it is our responsibility to tell them. We cannot force them, but we have to let them know. We need to find someone to share the gospel with. We want to help our friends cross the line of faith from eternal death to eternal life.

Word of Grace is an Evangelical (Born Again),  Spirit filled (Charismatic), Reformed, English speaking church in Pune that upholds the Bible as God's inspired Word for life. We are a church community that have people from every part of India and parts of the world. We are here to put the Great Command and the Great Commission into practice by equipping and releasing every member into works of service. To know more about us please log onto www.wordofgracechurch.org.