Living As If God Exists (Because He Does)预览

BEING AND MAKING DISCIPLES

2 Chronicles ends with a proclamation made by Cyrus king of Persia: “The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you all his people, may the Lord his God be with him. Let him go up” (36:23). This passage, which is the final passage of the Jewish Old Testament, commissions the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem. The Jewish canon recognizes that God’s story will not end in Persia. It will end with the worship of God.

In Matthew 28:18-20, using words reminiscent of Cyrus’s commission to rebuild the temple, Jesus gives his disciples the Great Commission. However, whereas Cyrus claims authority over “all the kingdoms of the earth” (2 Chron 36:23), Jesus claims “all authority in heaven and on earth” (Matt 28:18). Whereas Cyrus prays that God will go with those who will rebuild the temple, Jesus tells his disciples that he will be “with you always, to the end of the age” (Matt 28:20). Whereas Cyrus tells the people to “go up” to rebuild the Jerusalem temple, Jesus calls on his followers to “go and make disciples of all nations” (28:19).

Making disciples involves burying new believers with Christ through baptism and teaching them to walk in newness of life by observing all of God’s commands (Matt 28:19-20; Rom 6:4). Yet, to make disciples, we must also be disciples. To welcome others into the body of Christ requires that we be members ourselves. To teach others to obey requires that we learn obedience. We must reject the stories that deny God because, in making disciples, we also look ahead to a time when all nations will worship the Lord.

Today, as you respond faithfully to Christ’s call to make disciples, take small steps of obedience. In doing so, you will begin to understand what it means to follow Jesus and to reflect God’s glory within a dark and broken world. Our small steps of obedience…our discipleship…build the church so that we may bear witness to Christ as one body and worship God with one voice. Discipleship is the way we resist the world’s stories and learn to tell God’s story with the whole of our lives.