1/11/23
I spent nearly three hours in the doctor’s office to learn what I already knew: it’s not Covid, and I need to keep doing what I’m doing. But, I’m glad to know it’s not Covid. . . just the “crud that’s going around” (or so said my doctor, in between coughs. He had it, too). It’s been hard to shake, but in between lots of fluids, vitamin C, Mucinex, Zinc, Robutussin, and rest, I’m still trying to get stuff (like this Pastor’s Note) done.
We’ll be spending 2023 in the Gospel of Matthew where we find the two “Great C’s” of our Christian faith, the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. By now, we should know the Great Commandment: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength” and “you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (22:37-40) Which, of course, we’ve embraced as “Loving God . . . Loving Others,” and everything we are and everything we do flows out of that.
The second of the “Great C’s” is the Great Commission, which comes to us at the end of Matthew’s gospel:
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore 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 that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
What can we learn from the Great Commission? First, we learn the foundation of Christian discipleship is that Jesus is King. That is the meaning of Messiah - the Anointed King. Jesus begins the Great Commision by stating, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” All authority. In heaven and on earth. All.
Second, those who follow Jesus must be baptized into him. I preached on that last week. Baptism is a way we publicly declare we belong to God – the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Through baptism we have a new identity: “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ” (Galatians 3:27).
Third, disciples are learners. We must never stop growing in knowledge of Jesus’ teachings.
Fourth, disciples will become disciple-makers.
But before we can make disciples, we have to be disciples. Jesus calls his disciples early in Matthew’s gospel, and they spend the next three years as his apprentices. And that is what a disciple is: a learner, or an apprentice of a Master Teacher. Disciples are to be like their teacher and become teachers themselves, transmitting the message of Jesus to future generations. They first create a community and then communities where they put into flesh the teachings of Jesus, so that it’s not just teaching – it’s living a life shaped by the teaching.
Recently I said we’ve all probably known people who spend a lot of time in the Bible, but the Bible doesn’t seem to get into them. The point of all this is to produce a body of people who live differently because they are different.
How do we do this? One of the main ways is through spending time with our Master Teacher in the Bible. We are to be constantly engaged with scripture by being immersed in scripture, submitted to scripture, absorbing scripture, and living scripture. We are to be people the psalmist describes in Psalm 1: “. . . their delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law they meditate day and night,” and as the Lord instructs Joshua in 1:8, “This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth; you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to act in accordance with all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall be successful.”
The result? We’ll be able to approach our 21st century world with a “Jesus-soaked” imagination. We’ll view the issues of life through the lens of Jesus’ life and teachings. We won’t be so easily swayed by the media, pop cult, or even our own personal desires and preferences but will respond to life as Jesus would, because we’ve spent time with the Master Teacher.
I’m looking forward to taking this journey of discipleship with you!
Blessings,
Pastor Terry