Matthew Chapter 28
Last Friday, Pr Chin AQ spoke about preaching the Gospel and he quoted from Matthew 28:19-20 (words which we are very familiar with):
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 observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
We know this command well and often call it the Great Commission.
However, why is it that even knowing these verses so well and knowing that this was the final commission given by Jesus to us before He ascended to heaven, there are so few who will continue to do this work.
Frankly, there is much for me to reflect and improve here.
And as I read these words again, I kept on thinking why we do not preach when we should speak.
You know how it is when you are embarrassed when you do not know much about a specific subject that your colleagues or friends are talking about?
For example, although I like to eat, I am not much of a cook. I like to watch Masterchef but I have very little knowledge of how to prepare a good dish.
So when you hang out with people who are knowledgeable in cooking (an area you are not), one can easily get embarrassed. And this fear of embarrassment prevents us from diving deeper into the subject. We pretend that we are not interested or non-plus about the subject instead of admitting that we have very little actual knowledge of the subject matter.
We are shy to admit we are not trained or that we actually do not know much.
Now that we are at the end of reading this book of Matthew, there was one thing that struck me. When Jesus was in the world, He had a great impact on thousands of lives directly. He preached, taught, healed, fed and walked with many people.
And yet, there were only 12 men who were chosen specifically to be discipled by Him. There is a big difference between discipling someone and teaching someone.
There are teachers and there are teachers – those who invest in time and effort to teach by example, lead and mentor those that they teach so that the disciples lives are transformed.
Hebrews 5:12-14 reminds us of this:
For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
Many of us have believed in Jesus for some time. The question is are we still someone who needs milk or those who have matured – having our senses exercised to discern both good and evil?
It is not enough of us to just attend church services regularly and assume that we are doing okay spiritually (ok … for past few months we have been attending virtually buy yay! from Sep, we can start going back to church for services).
God wants us to grow. He wants to disciple us through Bible Study, Prayer and fellowship with His people.
And in turn, the expectation is for us to influence the lives of others so that they grow – just as we had grown.
And speaking from experience and also seeing this in others – as we lead others to grow, we too will grow into spiritual maturity.
Before Jesus ascended to Heaven, He promised to send the Helper – the Holy Spirit – so that His believers will never be alone. He will always be there for them.
He will continue to teach & guide us. He will continue to disciple us through the Holy Spirit and His Word.
Just as He discipled the disciples more than 2000 years ago, He is also still here to disciple us.
And that is why we can go into all the world and make disciples everywhere.
And if we feel embarrassed about not knowing what to do… isn’t it time to start putting in the time and effort to learn. And pray and ask the Holy Spirit to guide us.
May we all be ready to say, “Amen!”
