3/12 Joint LG
Matthew 28:19-20 | Genesis 1:28 | Acts 6:7; 9:31; 12:24
The heart and purpose behind discipleship comes from the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20.
But the Great Commission is not a new command. Rather, I hope you come away from tonight knowing that discipleship is God’s way of intimately including us in His grand storyline, which He began in the Garden of Eden.
Eden was a garden-temple for God — where He chose to dwell. A tabernacle.
As the church, we are now the temple of God as described in 1 Corinthians 3:16 — living stones as 1 Peter 2:5 says. The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead now lives in us from Romans 8:11. We are essentially mobile tabernacles of God.
The Great Commission is a renewal of the original commission to Adam to extend the garden-temple to the ends of the earth from Genesis 1:28 to “Be fruitful and multiply.”
This commission was so important that God repeated it to Noah and Jacob.
- Adam failed through the Fall.
- Noah’s descendants failed at Babel.
- Israel failed by turning to idolatry.
Jesus, in giving the Great Commission, is essentially picking up what Adam, Noah, and Israel failed to do — and handing it off to the Church. And we see that the Apostles successfully obeyed the Great Commission in the book of Acts. They were fulfilling God’s ancient decree to “be fruitful and multiply.” Luke hints at it in the language he uses to describe the booming onset of the church.
“And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem.” — Acts 6:7
“So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.” — Acts 9:31
“But the word of God increased and multiplied.” — Acts 12:24
If discipleship is all about growing numbers or moral policing, we’ve missed the heart of discipleship.
The Story of God comes full circle in discipleship. We are fulfilling God’s ancient decree to “be fruitful and multiply.”
Discipleship is so precious to the heart of God. Do you know what word most often accompanies disciple in Scripture? “His.” We are HIS disciples. God is pursuing the lost so they can be His. This is the Great Commission we are called to answer.
Discussion Questions
- What is an example in your life when God used someone to disciple you?
- What did that person who discipled you in the past do well?
- What are some things that often stop you from discipling or receiving discipleship?
- What can we learn from the ways Jesus discipled the 12?