Lawton Church of God

Lawton Church of God We are a SMALL church with a BIG HEART--there is room for you in it!

06/14/2026

IF YOU LOVE ME

John 14:15, If you love Me, keep My commandments.

Modern Christianity is a religion of professed love for Jesus. Both liberal and evangelistic churches emphasize how much God loves all people. To some, that love alone is salvation—people are saved and accepted by God without any action on their part—nothing is required; God just loves people into salvation. Some will teach that repentance and faith is needed to receive God’s gift of salvation. Much of modern Christianity teaches that it is virtually impossible to fall away from the love of God or to lose a saving relationship with God. It is a strong belief among evangelicals that if one has been born again and is a son of God he can never be unborn—once a son, always a son. Furthermore, even among the more conservative churches, people are led to believe, either through direct teaching or by example, that once they have been born again, Jesus requires nothing of them other than to perhaps to do their best. This is not true Christianity, and it is unlike what the early church taught, believed, and practiced.

In many of his writings, Oswald Chambers suggests that Jesus is a stern lord and master. One synonym of the word stern is uncompromising, and Jesus is just that: he does not compromise with what he saves people from. Jesus certainly is compassionate; he cares for the people he created. He is our savoir; he became a man, lived a holy life in human flesh, and made atonement for our sin through his death on the cross. Furthermore, he rose from the dead, ascended to the right hand of the Father where he constantly makes intercession for us, and he sent the Holy Spirit to live in us so that he can live his life through our lives.

2 Peter 1:10–11. “Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

Peter shares with us some insight into the thinking of the early church—the generation in which Jesus actually lived. Be MORE DILIGENT so that you will NEVER STUMBLE. This is a significant part of the door to the kingdom of God. Notice that Peter calls Jesus not only our savior but our LORD. Greek for lord is kurios: supremacy: the supreme authority; the one who controls.

2 Peter 3:17–18. “You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

Again, Peter is concerned about the potential of people falling from their steadfastness and being drawn into error. To do this he says we must GROW in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is not sufficient to acknowledge Jesus as your savior, you must acknowledge him as you lord as well. Is Jesus the lord of your life? Is he the supreme authority in your life? Is he the one that actually controls your life—or are you in control and only paying pious lip service to Jesus?

It is true that many Christians sincerely think that Jesus is the lord of their lives but yet they are the ones in control of their lives. How can this be? They haven’t been taught what it means for Christ to be the lord of their lives. They have not been taught how to recognize the difference between the lordship of Jesus and their own sincerity. It is sad to say that among the church of God and holiness churches in general that this distinction has not been clearly taught. It is not giving blind obedience to the pastor; neither is it adhering to a set of outward standards. It is something that can only be learned and lived in the deepest recesses of our spirit and our will.

Jesus, himself, put it this way: “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” Most Christians look at holiness people and criticize us for our belief in holy living as if we are trying to earn our salvation. Perhaps there are those among us that are doing just that; but the truth is that we understand that holy living is the natural and logical outcome of the experience of salvation. If we have been saved and cleansed from sin, we should not sin. If we have consecrated our self and our will to Christ, then we should be following his will in all things and not our own will. Yes, we are liable to failure, just as any person is, but our failures should be few and far between. If we are consecrated to Christ, the consistent practice of our lives will be to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ—that is the practical definition of entire sanctification.

What else did Jesus say about this? John 14:21, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” It is not enough to know the commandments of Christ; we have to keep them. To love Christ is to keep his commandments. Not to keep his commandments is not to love Christ. It is this key, our love and obedience to the commands of Christ, that makes God’s love for us real and effectual in our lives. There is no substitute!

John 15:9–10. “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.”

Jesus uses his own love and obedience as the STANDARD for our love and obedience. Someone might object saying that it is not fair—after all, he is Jesus, how can we be expected to be like him in these things? You will have to ask him because he is the one who gave us this standard. If you want to abide in the love of Christ, you must keep his commandments—if you do not keep his commandments, you are not living in the love of Christ.

So, Jesus tells us that he views our love in terms of our obedience to his commandments. We can then understand that if we do not keep his commandments, we do not love Christ. What is the consequence of this? 1 Corinthians 16:22, “If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed.” How many will reach Judgment professing to love Christ but have disregarded His commandments? What will eternity be for them?

I was challenged by something I heard on the radio a few months ago: a pastor had attended a conference at which the presenter asked the attendees if they know and teach the commands of Christ. Only one pastor raised his hand. My mind was set to thinking on the question of what are the commands of Christ? It seemed to me not an unreasonable thing for a shepherd over God’s flock to teach them the commands of Christ. You can see by what we have just studied that these commandments are very important. We cannot love Christ unless we keep his commandments.

How many commandments must we keep and how many can we break or disregard and still love Christ? He said, “Keep my commandments.” That seems to say keep them all, don’t pick and choose what is convenient or what you like. How many commandments did Christ give us? 142! I read all four gospels making a record of the commandments I found. I did not duplicate commandments: if a command is recorded in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, I counted that as one command. I did not count commands that appear in parables as those were parts of stories; those commands are repeated in other commands of Jesus. Some commands contain more than one commandment that are related or dependent on each other—I counted those as one command. Some commands have more than one part that I felt should be treated as separate commands. So, some people could come up with different number of commands, but the actual number is irrelevant, what is relevant is do you know these commands and are you keeping them?

I cannot be a good pastor to you and ignore the commandments of Christ. Over time we will work our way through these 142 commands of Christ and find out if we actually love him as we say we do. I will confess that this will not be easy preaching as some of it gets very close—you will find out that Jesus is, in fact, stern! Pray for me as I will have to stress issues you will not like. I assure you it will not be me abusing pastoral authority—it will be the commands of Christ, and you will have to deal with him, not me.

I do ask that, if you are challenged or convicted by any of these commands, that you commit yourself to obeying them. If it takes your coming to the prayer bench consecrating yourself, or repenting over disobedience or lack of obedience, please be humble and honest enough to do this. A person’s public acknowledgment of Christ’s lordship helps him to place a milestone in his life that will always be there to keep him from going back. And, your obedience can encourage others to obedience to the lordship of Jesus Christ.

We say we are a holiness church; let’s be a holiness church; let’s show our love for Christ through our obedience to his commandments.

06/10/2026

Galatians 3:23–29
We Are Sons of God

Verses 23–25. But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.

Paul is writing about people’s experience of salvation under the Old Testament before the coming of the gospel. He is saying that, spiritually, those who were accepted by God were like a minor child. Under the Old Testament, faith was like a child’s love; it was unconditional and uncomplicated with full trust in the care of the parent. The Old Testament acted like a tutor, a caregiver employed by the parent to instruct and guide the child in the basics of spiritual life. The Old Testament was not the goal for spiritual life in itself; instead it pointed to a complete spiritual maturity that would be attained with the coming of Christ into the world.

Paul writes that the spiritual maturity to which it directed God’s people is defined by the word justified. The immaturity of the Old Testament relationship with God the Father was that the presence of sin remained in a person’s life. The Old Testament was clear on its teaching about sin as the Old Testament provided for sacrifices that brought about forgiveness for committed sins. However, the Old Testament gave no one the solution to sin; sin was inevitable in the human life no matter how much one loved God. Habitual sin was the evidence and the bane of spiritual immaturity.

The Old Testament taught the necessity of a redeemer who could fully atone for sin and take it out of our lives. Christ made that effective atonement for sin on the cross and it is through this atonement we can be justified. Justification indicates the end of sin and its being put away by virtue of the atonement so that the record of our past sins is extinguished and no longer exists.

In experiencing the atonement in Christ, faith has become reality and we no longer need the caregiver to teach us spiritual things because we now have the reality of an experience with God that is not hindered by sin.

Verses 26–29. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Paul now speaks of a mature spiritual experience. Through faith in Christ we have become mature sons of God. The word sons stands for our common-gender relationship with God in salvation. Paul says there is neither male nor female. Modern Progressiveness wants to remove gender from the English language, which is nothing more than the attempt to de-humanize people in order to reduce them to objects of the state. This does not produce unity, it promotes confusion and a confused culture ultimately reaches out to the state for stability.

Spiritual adulthood in Christ is the only means by which unity among humans can really be attained. In salvation through Christ, or as Paul puts it, being baptized into Christ, we all realize the same experience of receiving the righteousness of Christ, or putting on of Christ as Paul says.

There is a unity that can be found only in Christ that neutralizes our unique distinctions. We remain the personality we are, but all other distinctions become meaningless in our relationships. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; why? For you are all one in Christ Jesus.

The spiritual maturity of being a son of God brings all people to the unity of God’s promise given to the world through Abraham. Through redemption from sin we become the people of God. God promised Abraham that his descendants would be as numerous as the sands of all the beaches across the world. Wherever people are around the world have become sons of God, we have the unity of a common experience with God wherein we are justified from sin and are one in Christ.

06/07/2026

I DESIRE MERCY
Matthew 9:9–13, 18–26

Verses 9–13. As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him. Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

Verses 18–26. While He spoke these things to them, behold, a ruler came and worshiped Him, saying, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay Your hand on her and she will live.” So Jesus arose and followed him, and so did His disciples. And suddenly, a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years came from behind and touched the hem of His garment. For she said to herself, “If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well.” But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He said, “Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And the woman was made well from that hour. When Jesus came into the ruler’s house, and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd wailing, He said to them, “Make room, for the girl is not dead, but sleeping.” And they ridiculed Him. But when the crowd was put outside, He went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose. And the report of this went out into all that land.

Our lesson for today looks into the heart of Jesus to reveal the mercy that is there. We find three quite different incidents in which Jesus expresses mercy in exactly the way the people involved needed it.

Jesus quotes Hosea 6:6 in response to the sanctimonious Pharisees in verse 13 which reads in total, “For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.” The word mercy in both the Hebrew and Greek means kindness, especially kindness as shown by doing good deeds for others. Through Hosea’s words God contrasts mere religion against the outward expression of God’s love in a human heart. John captures the meaning in 1 John 4:20, “If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?”

Religious profession is of no value unless it communicates God’s love to others by means of some kind of practical expression. The Pharisees were experts in their religious expression; they knew all about the Law of Moses and they were diligent to observe its rituals and sacrifices. But, their religious activity served only to magnify their piety and did nothing to help anyone else that might be in need of spiritual or material comfort. Their religion was inward with no positive outward impact for the good of others.

We find Jesus first expressing his mercy towards those whose greatest need in life is the spiritual and moral need to be changed from a life of sin to a life of righteousness. He finds a man named Matthew who is a collector of taxes for the Roman government. He is a Jew but, as an official for the Roman government, his fellow Jews considered him to be a traitor and the worst of sinners. Jesus tells Matthew to follow him, which shows us that even the worst of sinners, even the most despicable of wicked people, are shown mercy by Christ’s call to repentance. If a Matthew can be saved, anyone can be saved—including you. Yes, a Charles Manson or Ted Bundy could have experienced Christ’s mercy but more importantly, you can experience the saving mercy of Christ.

We know that Matthew experienced Christ’s mercy and even became one of the original Apostles of Jesus. In responding to the call of Jesus, Matthew invited Jesus to his home and invited many other tax collectors and sinners—and perhaps even a few Pharisees. There is no record of what Jesus said to these people but whatever he said seemed to offend the Pharisees. They believed these people had no value in the presence of God. Jesus brings the issue to a real human level saying in verse 12, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.” This is a criticism of the religion of the Pharisees; they would take a sick person to a doctor, but they would not reach out to help anyone with a deep spiritual need. Jesus makes the point that in the mercy of God, he has come into the world to call sinners back to God.

To illustrate his point, Jesus next shows mercy on physical sickness. The text begins with a man coming to Jesus asking him to heal his daughter, but the incident is interrupted by what seems to be a more urgent need. A woman who had been ill for 12 years approaches Jesus from the back and suddenly reaches out to touch him. Perhaps she did not want to interrupt Jesus going to help the man’s daughter; she just thought, “If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well.”

Here we find a common attitude among people that are not acquainted with the gospel. They are acutely aware of their need and know that somehow Jesus is able to help them. However, they are reluctant to be open about their need and oftentimes put off doing anything about it until a more convenient time.

The example of Jesus’ mercy on this woman shows that you do not have to wait for a better time to get help from Jesus. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 11:28, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Jesus’ invitation is to come—he does not set a time limit or a certain date; he just said to come—come now and do not wait for what you think might be a better time. Second, the invitation is to ALL—all that are aware of their need of his mercy. And third, he gives you the assurance of I WILL—I will do for you what I know you really need. No other conditions are laid down other than to COME.

In the woman’s case her need was physical. There are some devout people that believe divine healing is an absolute part of salvation and resorting to medical help violates the mercy of God. They like to cite that this woman had this problem for 12 years and, as Mark records, she had wasted a lot of money going to doctors. But notice that Jesus does not criticize her using doctors; in mercy he tells her that her real problem had been the lack of faith. Lack of faith is not a sin; it is a complication. Her sneaking up behind Jesus to be unnoticed was actually an act of faith and connected with the mercy in Jesus’ heart.

We exist in physical life because of God’s creative work; God knows how our bodies are supposed to work and when they do not work properly, he certainly knows how to repair the problem. Certainly we can look to God for healing and it is best to first approach God in prayer about our physical needs. God has moved through medical science to show his mercy by bringing about needed healings for which we can be thankful.

As Jesus shows us through this woman’s experience, our part is to have faith to reach out to Jesus in these times and allow him to show his mercy as he chooses, whether it is his divine touch or through appropriate medical help. Can God heal a broken leg without help of a doctor? Most certainly! However, unless you have the immediate moving of God, it is wise to go to the hospital and have the leg set and casted until God’s natural healing process heals the leg.

The third act of Jesus’ mercy is seen in the tragic situation that was interrupted by the sick woman. A man had come to Jesus asking him to restore his daughter to life. Death is a fact of life; we grieve over the loss of loved ones and the loss of a young child is almost more than one can bear.

The man told Jesus, “My daughter has just died.” It is possible that the girl was mortally sick and about to die when the man left home to find Jesus and he assumed by the time he got to Jesus she would in fact be dead. It is notable that the incident with the sick woman delays Jesus going to the man’s house reinforcing the probability of her being dead when they arrived at the house. Yet, there was faith in the man’s heart that attached itself to the mercy of Jesus.

Notice that when Jesus gets to the house he tells the onlookers that “the girl is not dead, but sleeping.” What did Jesus mean here? It is obvious that the onlookers were there when she died and they knew she was in fact dead. Jesus knew she was dead but in his mercy he looked upon her through the faith of the father. He came to awaken her from death as if to wake her out of sleep.

Death is the final reality and in this act of mercy it is not implied that Jesus will raise people from death just because we ask him. Yes, there are incidents in the gospels where Jesus brought some people back to life. And, yes, in history there have been times when some people have been brought back to life through prayer. Here we see an act of mercy in honoring faith in this most tragic incident in life. We also see that Jesus’ mercy is present to help us in those most tragic times of life. How can it be so if the one we love dies? Will Jesus bring him/her back to life for us? That is for him to decide. The comfort we can take from this incident is that our loved-one has not ceased to exist; while the body may be dead the spirit still lives and our loved-one sleeps in the hope of the resurrection.

The heart of Jesus desires mercy. When he returns at the end of time he will come as judge but while we are living today he is present with mercy. Jesus desires the salvation from sin for all people. That is why he came to earth. That is why we have the gospel. And that is why Jesus has his church to preach the gospel so that people can be made ready for that final moment in time.

We see that Jesus despises the false and sanctimonious religion that is set on self-promotion. In mercy, Jesus invites sinners of all kinds to come to him; in mercy he invites the sick and infirm to reach out to him; and in mercy he draws the grieving to come to him for assurance and comfort. I do not know what your need might be today, but I do know, because I have experienced it, that Jesus reaches out in mercy, in kindness to meet the very real need you are experiencing right now.

06/03/2026

Galatians 2:15–21
Don’t Make Yourself a Transgressor

Verses 15–21. We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified. But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not! For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.

Some might think Paul’s statement in verse 15 is racist. “We Jews are different and superior to you non-Jews, Gentiles.” Undoubtedly there were Jews of this time that were indeed racists, but that has nothing to do with what Paul says.

Racism is a symptom of the depraved nature; God created only one race, which is the human race. Genetics is responsible for the physical distinctions that make people look different. No superiority or lack of value is passed through genetics. All people possess common genes passed on to us by our first parents, Adam and Eve. Over the generations, as people migrated geographically, gene pools became concentrated and certain genes became more prominent in different gene pools causing the physical distinctions we see today. If you are a racist, you are not denigrating me because some of my features may be different from yours, you are denigrating yourself because we are of the same race—the human race.

The point Paul makes is that the Jews knew the true God and the Gentiles were pagans, not knowing God. His statement is a spiritual distinction that is very real. In using the word Jews, Paul refers, not to Jewish people, but to people that know God in a real conversion experience. We know that people are not justified by following a moral code or a legalistic set of rules. We know that people can be and are justified only by faith in Jesus Christ. By the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.

There are people that believe if they just do good things—even keep the ten commandments—they are right with God. Luke 18:18–27 records the story of a young man that asked Jesus what he had to do to inherit eternal life. The man testified that he had kept the ten commandments but felt like he lacked something. Jesus told him to sell all he had and follow him—the point of which is that eternal life can be obtained only through faith, not by doing things.

In verse 17 of our text, Paul issues a solemn warning for those that have been justified by faith. Faith is the starting point, but after that, things we do can and will have a bearing on our eternal life. Verse 17, “But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not!” While there are several applications for what is taught here, the key to understanding this is the two words justified and sinners. The word justified means that your record of past sins has been cancelled and is not being held against you. If you have been justified, how can you still be committing sin and building up a record of sins? This is a conundrum that cannot exist. Paul says, “Certainly not!” Paul says, “If I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.” If I continue to commit sin, I make myself a sinner and I cannot be justified from sin while still sinning.

So, once we are justified there are some things we must do to keep in that justified state. Verse 20 is a powerful and valuable truth that we must adopt in our lives. Let’s briefly analyze this verse: “I am crucified with Christ.” As Jesus died to forgive my sins I must likewise die to sinning, otherwise his death was useless for me. “Christ lives in me.” Jesus actually lives in me, he is in me to assist me through his holy nature to face and resist temptation as he did while he was in the flesh. “The life which I now live in the flesh.” This is my day-to-day living in my circumstances with my job, family, responsibilities, problems and whatever . . . Justification has to be lived in the flesh; it is not just a spiritual thing. Of what use is justification if it has no impact on the life I now live in the flesh? “I live by faith in the Son of God.” I have to know what Jesus taught; I have to know how Jesus lived; I have to know what Jesus will do for me in my life; and then I have to daily act on what I know. I must trust that his promises are available for me and that he will do in my life what he promises. And what is this faith based on? Hope, wishful thinking? No: “Who loved me and gave Himself for me.” You must comprehend the fact that Jesus has invested himself in you—personally. He loves you and has committed himself to your salvation so that you can indeed live for him and make it to heaven.

Paul was aware of the grace of God in his life. He said, “I do not set aside the grace of God.” Paul was determined to obey Jesus and not be turned aside to sin again. He was determined not to make himself a transgressor. Have you been justified through the atonement in Christ? Then do not make yourself a transgressor; keep obeying God and the grace of God will be there to keep you.

05/31/2026

MAKE DISCIPLES
Matthew 28:16–20

Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 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.

Trinity Sunday is the first Sunday after Pentecost. Now, Pentecost is a significant day in history of the church as Jesus built it. Most notably, Pentecost is the day the Holy Spirit was poured out on the disciples as recorded in the second chapter of Acts. The first significance of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit is that it marks the beginning of the Gospel Dispensation. Also of significance is the coming of the Holy Spirit into the lives of human beings, which marks the change in salvation from the Old Testament to the New Testament; what we would call gospel salvation. The coming of the Holy Spirit into the lives of God’s people restores practical holiness to the lives of the redeemed; something that was not possible under the Old Testament. And also of great importance, the Day of Pentecost is the birthday of the church as Jesus builds it. 1 Corinthians 12:13, “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body,” meaning the body of Christ, the church.

One might ask the question, Why have a Trinity Sunday; what purpose can it serve? It is a celebration that honors the unity of the Godhead: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is one thing to honor God doctrinally, and it is another thing to reflect on the meaning of the Trinity in your life as a born again Christian.

How is this significant? Jesus promised the Holy Spirit to believers in John 14:15–16, “If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever.” Then in verse 23 he said, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.” The significance of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is that, according to Jesus, the Trinity is included in his presence. Those that love Jesus and keep his commandments are mysteriously indwelt by the presence of the Trinity. Today, as Trinity Sunday, is a day to reflect on the miracle of salvation and the very presence of God in our lives.

An obligation has been entrusted to you if the Father and the Son have made their home with you through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Jesus identifies that obligation with four responsibilities:
i. Go;
ii. Make disciples;
iii. Baptize; and
iv. Teach.

To ensure that we can do this, he gives us his promise that he will be with us to the end of the age. In other words, we have access to the authority of the Godhead to accomplish our God-given responsibilities in the kingdom of God.

Our first responsibility is to go. The statement in verse 19 is “Go therefore.” A rule for understanding the Bible is that whenever you see a therefore, look back a few words and find the whyfore. The whyfore behind Jesus’ command to go is that all authority in heaven and earth has been given to him. He has the authority to tell you what to do and he has the authority to make possible what he tells you to do.

Why does Jesus have such vast authority and how was it given to him? The answer is the atonement. Jesus accomplished the Godhead’s plan of redemption for the human race on the cross. Martin Luther captured this in his sermon on the 24th Sunday after Trinity:

“But because an eternal, unchangeable sentence of condemnation has passed upon sin—for God cannot and will not regard sin with favor, but his wrath abides upon it eternally and irrevocably—redemption was not possible without a ransom of such precious worth as to atone for sin, to assume the guilt, pay the price of wrath and thus abolish sin. This no creature was able to do. There was no remedy except for God’s only Son to step into our distress and himself become man, to take upon himself the load of awful and eternal wrath and make his own body and blood a sacrifice for the sin. And so he did, out of his immeasurably great mercy and love toward us, giving himself up and bearing the sentence of unending wrath and death. So infinitely precious to God is this sacrifice and atonement of his only beloved Son who is one with him in divinity and majesty, that God is reconciled thereby and receives into grace and forgiveness of sins all who believe in this Son. Only by believing may we enjoy the precious atonement of Christ, the forgiveness obtained for us and given us out of profound, inexpressible love. We have nothing to boast of for ourselves, but must ever joyfully thank and praise him who at such priceless cost redeemed us condemned and lost sinners.”

Whereas all have sinned, Jesus did not. As the one and only sinless man, he offered himself as the one and only sacrifice that could ever satisfy the justice of God on human sin. He was guilty of no sin but he went to the cross to die a death for sin that represented all the sins of the human race in the justice of God.

Jesus did his part to make salvation from sin possible for all people. He now turns to those who receive salvation and tells us to go. From this we learn that the Christian experience is not passive; Jesus intends for it to be quite active. He is not asking us to earn our salvation by doing things; he is instructing us to put our salvation into action.

If your sins have been forgiven and the Spirit of God lives in you, you are extremely blessed among people. But Jesus does not intend for you to be selfish with this blessing; he intends to use your life as visible proof of the gospel. He wants your life to show other people that Christianity is not a religion, a set of doctrines, or even membership in a church; he wants your life to prove that people can have genuine and real success over sin and temptation in this life by giving their sins to Jesus and letting him make the necessary change in their moral lives.

Going produces the next step, which is to make disciples of all the nations. Practically speaking, all the nations for you and me means the environment in which we live; the city where we live, the places where we work, the people we know, and the people that see us in our everyday situations. Notice that our purpose is not to make them church members; Jesus says to make disciples. Disciples are not just people that sit in pews in a church building. Disciples are students, people that are determined to learn. How many Christians today really are disciples rather than bench warmers?

It seems that too many churches are satisfied to have people’s names in their membership books, receive their offerings, and have them show up from time to time. That statement is a generalization; there are exceptions, but it is probably more true than not. Modern worship has become more like entertainment than real instruction for people that want to learn. For this reason, many people who come to a church that concentrates on explaining the Bible and relating its teachings to real life just lose interest. Many people are satisfied with a religious profession and really do not want to be challenged by God’s word. Why? They just might find out that God would have them make some major changes in their interests and lifestyles. Is your life more than just a profession of religion? Is your life showing people around you how God intends for people to live; the attitudes they must have towards other people; the moral values that are necessary for people to live together in harmony?

Next, Jesus tells us to baptize people. Notice that he stipulates Triune baptism: the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. This represents a life truly converted by the power of the Godhead and dedicated to him. Baptism is more than just a religious ritual. It is a statement a person makes about himself to God and to the world.

The Apostle Paul tells us what baptism is about in Romans 6:3–6, “Do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.”

Baptism is much more than a religious ritual. Baptism testifies of a spiritual and moral union with Christ in what Paul calls newness of life. This means our old life as a sinner has been put to death—We no longer do the things we know are sinful, we have the desire to live for God and to learn about the things of God we did not know before, we have a strong desire and motivation to share the reality of the gospel with others that do not yet know God, and we have a strong desire to be identified as a child of God and to deliberately stand in unity with all who are truly God’s children. That newness of life is seen in that we are no longer slaves to sin––we are no longer controlled by sin even though we are tempted from time to time. We can testify to others that practical holiness is indeed possible for them because we have found it possible for ourselves by the grace of God.

Last among our obligations is to teach people to obey all the commands Christ has given us. The message of go, make disciples was originally given to the eleven remaining disciples of Jesus after the resurrection. This message was definitely applicable for the ministry into which Jesus sent each of these men after the Day of Pentecost. However, the responsibilities given by Jesus are not limited only to those first Apostles, and they are not limited to just the professional clergy of our time: they are incumbent upon all that have been born again.

Certainly our ministers must faithfully teach the commandments of Christ. How many commandments did Jesus give us? You will recall that we studied the commands of Christ in a series of 143 messages from November 2011 through August 2016. 143 commandments; that is a lot of teaching to do and how many ministers take the time to do what Jesus commanded here? Also, that is a lot of obeying! Are you obeying all 143 of Jesus’ commands? How many of the commands can you name? I think the ministry of the church in general has failed Jesus in this particular and I think this is one reason why the modern church has become so ineffective.

Someone might bring up the point, “I am not a minister so this does not apply to me.” Have you been born again? Does the Holy Spirit live in you? Do you have the presence of Christ in your life? And, do you recognize and rely on the authority given to Jesus to live your life for him? If you can answer yes, then you are under the obligation to share the commandments of Christ with others. First and most important, you must be living out these commands in your life otherwise you will be exposed as a hypocrite and your life will actually work against people coming to Christ for salvation from sin.

Making disciples is a tremendous task. Every generation has its challenges. There are seasons in history when people seem to be more spiritually inclined and there are seasons when they are not. We are living in a time characterized by humanism and materialism and people are more inclined to ignore the things of God. What we have in our culture can certainly be called unbelief. While there are those that truly have darkened hearts of unbelief, I believe the greater problem is spiritual apathy—people are just unconcerned.

The challenge for the church today is how to reach people. Far too many denominations and churches have responded by becoming more like the world. They lowered their standards and changed their doctrinal positions to fit the culture. Instead of the church changing the world, the world is changing the church. Many churches have become social agencies meeting many temporal needs but not confronting people with their spiritual needs. Many churches have changed worship activities into entertainment. Weak content is aimed at making people feel good about themselves and offers very little that can significantly change their lives. Churches that focus on teaching and encouraging deepening spiritual life appear to have little attraction in our culture. Their congregations grow smaller and every year many are closing their doors.

I am perhaps painting a discouraging picture, but there is no reason to be discouraged. Jesus closed his message with a powerful statement: “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” How is this significant for us? What did Jesus say at the beginning of his remarks? “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.” We need to understand and grasp the fact that right now in these spiritually dark days that Jesus still has all authority, not just in heaven, but on this earth and at this very moment in time. Jesus is telling us today: “Lo, I am with you. That is, by my Spirit, my providence, my attending counsel and guidance. I will strengthen, assist, and guide you.” (Barnes)

It is our responsibility to go, to make disciples, to baptize, and to teach. Let us concentrate on doing what he has called us to do. And let us trust Jesus that he will exercise his divine power and actively use us to make those disciples.

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