2015.01. 04_Make Disciples of All the Nations

The Requirements Necessary to Fulfill the Great Commission

Before ascending into Heaven after His resurrection, Jesus said, “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” (Matt 28:19-20). Now we are working in accordance to this command as we await Jesus to return.

“Make disciples of all the nations” does not mean that every members of the church has to go overseas and teach foreigners. The Lord had said this in the sense that His church would spread the Gospel throughout the earth. Ever since it was first established in Jerusalem, the church has gradually been growing and spreading beyond Judea and Samaria.

“Teach them to observe all things” does not mean to merely pass on spiritual knowledge but to actually help people to have eternal life through Jesus Christ, that is, help them to live in eternal liberty, freedom and happiness.

In order to fulfill this great commission, there must be a balance of four necessary conditions just like the four wheels of a motor vehicle. Two conditions which can be compared to the front two wheels are the grace, truth and power of Jesus Christ, and the life of obedience and sacrifice He demonstrated. The other two which correspond to the two rear wheels are our faith in the word of Truth, and the life of obedience and sacrifice we must have as members of the body of Jesus Christ.

The Jews of the Old Testament only disciplined their flesh, being sinners who do not know Jesus Christ. On the contrary, we Christians discipline ourselves after we have been made righteous through our encounter with Jesus Christ and receiving His grace. Why do we need discipline and cultivation of ourselves having already received salvation? It is because we need to carry out the great commission given by Jesus Christ. We must remember however, that this discipline and cultivation is of our holistic selves. And in order to properly understand this, we need to first understand what man is.

Soul as an Entity of the Holistic Self

As a personality with a flesh (body), man is inherently different to the personality of spiritual beings that do not have flesh like God and angels. If we consider the language in which the Bible was originally written, man can be referred to as soul, which is in Hebrew nephesh, and psūchê in Greek. Man’s soul is existent by virtue of the flesh unlike the case with God or the angels. Thus man’s soul cannot be considered as separate from the flesh. The soul is an entity of man’s being, a concept which incorporates the flesh also.

Apart from the soul, man has a spirit which God poured into Adam (Gen 2:7). However the spirit has already died as a result of Adam’s disobedience and thus cannot perform its original function. Although the spirit hasn’t disappeared, man’s communication with God has been severed. Since then, man is living according to his carnal desires, having lost his former complete self. In other words, he is living by bread alone. This is the reality of man’s life, being led by the selfish and greedy flesh without any awareness of his spirit’s existence.

When we are referring to our own selves, we usually say “I” or “my soul” (as in spirit-soul). In the Bible, the expression “my soul” frequently appears. For example, Psalm 119:175 says, “Let my soul live, and it shall praise You.” In this verse, the Hebrew word nephesh has been translated as “my soul”. But in Psalm 120:6 (RSV), the same word is translated as “I”. Hence “my soul” and “I” are being used interchangeably. Then again, Psalm 119:25 translates the same word as “my soul”. So “I” am “my soul” and vice versa. That is why Psalm 130:5 equates “I” and “my soul” saying, “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits.” Likewise the word nephesh refers to man holistic self including the flesh.

The same is the case for psūchê which is the Greek equivalent of nephesh. It says in 1 Peter 3:20, “While the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.” The word souls in “eight souls” here is psūchê. This Greek word also refers the man’s holistic self just like nephesh. In summary, the soul is a notion that refers to the holistic self including the flesh.

Then why do we often just say ‘my soul’ or even ‘my spirit’? That is because we want to face up to our reality as those standing before God. First of all, we are confessing that we have become spiritual beings since God gave us a spirit. Second, we are trying to be conscious of the eternal life God gave us through Jesus Christ. Third, we want to be on guard against our flesh, putting our flesh beneath our spirit.

 The Loss and Recovery of the Holistic Self

In connection to all of this is something that wrings our heart, which is the fact that we were dead in the past. Ephesians 2:1-5 says, and you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).”

With regards to how we who were dead have been made alive, it was already spoken of in Psalm 124:7, “Our soul has escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we have escaped.” We have surely escaped the Devil’s snare just as a bird escapes from a hunter’s snare. Then Hosea 6:2 prophesied, “After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, that we may live in His sight.” We were all dead since the spirit of man died. I, namely “my soul”, was committing countless sins and waiting for the eternal punishment and death. We had to return to God. However there was a problem. The flesh had taken over the place of the spirit which was dead, and consequently, we were slaves to the Devil. Our dead spirit first had to be made alive for us to return to God. This was something impossible with our own abilities. For this reason, God sent His Son and delivered us from the fowler’s snare. Thus we who were dead were finally made alive.

This certainly did not happen so easily. God and man are of different identity and existential form. It is not possible for God who is spirit and us who are the flesh to even meet. In such circumstances, God saved us. And that was only possible because God is spirit. As spirit, God is not restrained by anything that is of the physical world.

God reveals Himself through the Word. However, man inside the physical world cannot hear the voice of God who is spirit, and thus he would eventually perish through disobedience. Yet because God is spirit, He transcended His own attributes and spoke so that man could hear. It was not man who overcame his limitations to hear God’s word, but God who came down to man’s level in order for him to hear God’s word. In other words, though man is full of weaknesses, he became able to hear God’s word as he is in his holistic self.

It does not stop there. When the time came, God’s word became flesh and came to the world. Thus man was able to see Him with eyes, hear Him with his ears, and touch Him with his hands. Jesus Christ is the height of God’s transcendence. It was because of such transcendence as this that we, who were slaves to the devil, came to meet God in Jesus Christ.

By meeting God we came to know the truth about God’s love poured out for us. Jesus Christ who is the Word which became flesh, tore His own flesh and shed His blood to pay the price of our sins. In result, we have been freed from eternal punishment and are now heading for the Kingdom of Heaven.

That is not the only joyful news. We have received a significant benefit through what Jesus has done, and that is we are now able to hear the word of God. The function of our spirit which died has been replaced by the words of Jesus, and His words have filled up the empty space left by the death of our spirit. Thus our soul has been fully restored for the first time after thousands of years.

Jesus said, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (Jn 6:63). Because Christ’s spirit is within us, we are no longer of the flesh but of the spirit. We would not belong to Christ if the Spirit of Christ is not within us. However Christ does abide in us so that, though our bodies die because of sin, our spirits are made alive through righteousness (Rom 8:9-10). Since we have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer we who live but Christ living in us. Even though we are still living in the flesh, we live by faith in the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself for us (Gal 2:20).

The Church that Overcomes the Flesh’s Nature

Since Jesus said to make disciples of all the nations and teach them, this has become our duty. There are two things which we have gained through Jesus Christ. First we who were dead have been made alive, and second, we became His disciples who abide in His words. Jesus said, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed” (Jn 8:31). “To abide” refers to residing in a particular place continuously, not simply visiting once in a while. Therefore in order to be a disciple as well as make disciples, we must not only pass on spiritual knowledge but a continuous and permanent transformation of our personality must follow also.

Having become born again in Jesus Christ, our holistic self now needs to live by the word. The Holy Spirit comes to us who have been made complete through the Spirit of Christ, and guides us through the path of eternal life. First Peter 1:14-15 says, “as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.” In the past we were governed by our flesh, however now we must be governed by the Spirit of Christ. We need to regard the Lord’s word as our home. We must get out of our emotions and the realm that is ruled by the Devil. Even now Jesus Christ carries our sins and weaknesses and is at work for us, and hence we ought to do our share also.

The members of the church need to struggle to overcome the attributes of their flesh. People are all in a fierce struggle for existence and competing for the riches of this world. And in that struggle, hostility and injury to others has become all too commonplace. People are becoming more and more selfish and bitter. There is hardly any care or concern for others in people’s hearts, even saying things like, “Don’t ask me!” “What are you looking at!” “Do you even know me?” This is the very nature of the flesh. Now if this disposition of the flesh is prevalent even among the members of the church, where else can people go to find happiness if they have come to the church away from the world?

Unbelievers may come to the church out of curiosity. However they would not have any reason to stay if they cannot find anything that is different from the world. As those who have received eternal life and could speak of God’s blessed happiness, we must let ourselves become a testimony of the living God to them.

How strained and exhausted are people from their work life, stressed about their children, and how sensitive and tense are people made from their fierce competition for survival? As a way to reward and console themselves from their tired flesh and anxiety, they turn to the culture. Our role is not to criticize or slander them for that, but approach them by humbling ourselves as did Jesus Christ and let them know about God’s happiness. The Lord anticipates us to do so, and is preparing a reward for those that do.

There are some among church members who are groaning because they are unable to cope with fierce pressure from the world. Though they are shunned by the world, they must not be despised in the church. The church is supposed to be full of people with weaknesses. Those wearied and sickened by the world should be able to find hope and encouragement in the church. For that, the blood of the One who gave Himself for us has to permeate through our hearts and actions. From our changed selves must flow out the grace of Jesus Christ who has been merciful to us.

Need for a Holistic Discipline

We need to teach others in accordance with the Lord’s command. But in this day and age, who wants to become a disciple of somebody else? And nobody can be taught forcefully either. Even if a person actively attends the church, he cannot lead others to church unless he evangelizes. Even if people do come to church, they cannot become disciples if they cannot settle in the church. To make disciples, we must first help them to settle in the church. Yet when they do come, those who want to call themselves teachers are only stiff-necked and trying to teach people, without showing any real love and kindness, care and consideration. Aren’t we intentionally keeping distant from others so as not to be hassled, when we should actually be embracing the members who are facing problems around us? Who would come to us to learn and what would they learn from us if there is such widespread apathy and lack of concern in the church?

The church is the Lord’s which He purchased by His own blood. Some people bring in their egocentric tendency into the church from the world so that they are always hostile to others and always on edge trying to guard themselves against others. Such people cannot be called the Lord’s disciples. Though we speak in tongues and the words of angels, without love, they are nothing but sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. Though we have the gift of prophecy and understand all spiritual knowledge and even have faith to move mountains, without love they are meaningless. Though we give all that we have to help the needy and give ourselves to the flames, without love and compassion, they will not profit us in any way (1 Cor 13:1-3).

The Bible reveals that God demonstrated His love by coming to the created world in the flesh and sacrificing Himself. It is in this Gospel that God’s truth is found. Not only did God say with words, He demonstrated His truthfulness in action. Jesus Christ did not hesitate at the impossibility that was before Him but surely fulfilled God’s will (Num 23:19). Whoever wants to obey God’s word needs to take after the example of Jesus who remembered and obeyed the Father’s words like so.

If we simply understand the Lord’s command “to teach” as merely the transmission of spiritual knowledge and continue doing so, we would lose all the opportunity to save souls in this world. We must not only pass on to others spiritual knowledge, we also need to be cultivated and disciplined to have a transformation in our holistic selves. Romans 8:13-14 says, “For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”

When Peter was fellowshipping with some Gentiles in Antioch, saints from Jerusalem came to them. At that moment, Peter quickly left the place in order not to be found eating with the Gentiles. Seeing this, Paul sternly criticized Peter saying, “If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews?” (Gal 2:14). We need to discipline ourselves in order to do everything taught us and done by Jesus Himself. Then we will be able to make disciples and bear fruit.

The members of the church need to be understanding and kind to one another and embrace any weaknesses they have. It might be hard at first, but we still have to do it. Everyone will be blessed and happy through the Holy Spirit when all the members are liberated from the flesh and live by the Spirit of Christ. When that happens, unbelievers will also be able to experience God’s happiness and blessing when they come to church.

Since we have cleansed our souls by obeying the truth, we have come to love our brothers sincerely without deceit. Thus we must love one another fervently with all of our heart (1 Pet 1:22). This is so that the exceeding riches of God’s grace toward us in Christ Jesus may be shown in the ages to come (Eph 2:7). According to the will of God who desires us to be perfectly holy, our spirit, soul and body be ought to be preserved blameless until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thess 5:23). Our souls must prosper and likewise we in all things we must prosper and be in health (3 Jn 1:2).

We must discipline and train ourselves through the Holy Spirit and be considerate and understanding towards the saints. And in so doing we ought to be joyful and blessed through God’s happiness and blessing. The way to happiness is by putting the words of Jesus into action. To sit and wait for blessings to fall out of Heaven will gain nothing. We must let the words of Jesus become the foundation of our character and lead our lives. Then we would be able to make disciples of all nations according the commission given us by Christ.