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Scripture Reading: Matt. 28:16-20; Acts 1:8; 13:1-3; 14:23, 26-27
In this chapter we come to the last point of the burden for this book. This point is, “Go therefore and disciple all the nations” (Matt. 28:19a). The Greek word for nations may also be rendered as “Gentiles.” As we are getting ourselves prepared to go and disciple the nations, we need certain qualifications. We need to be qualified in certain aspects.
The Lord did not charge His disciples to go and disciple the nations in the temple. He appointed them to go to Galilee. In Matthew 4 we are told that Galilee was the land of the Gentiles; it was called “Galilee of the Gentiles” (v. 15). The Lord told the disciples to get out of the so-called Holy Land and go to the land of the Gentiles.
Moreover, the Lord’s charge to His disciples took place on a mountain (28:16). This is quite meaningful. To be outside of the temple, outside of the synagogues, outside of the religious centers, and to be on the mountaintop simply means that you have to be on high ground. You have to be transcendent. You have to be on the top of the high mountain to see the nations.
Young brothers and sisters, if you have the intention to go and disciple the unbelievers, you have to be on high. You have to be on the top of the high mountain to look down at the pitiful, miserable situation. When the Lord Jesus was on this earth, no doubt, many times He was on the seashore, on the beach. But when He gave the commandment to the disciples to go and disciple others, He did not do it on the beach. He did it on the top of a high mountain. If we are going to disciple others, first, we have to be on high. If we are on the same level as the Americans, we are finished. We have to be on high to disciple others.
Next, in Matthew 28:18 the Lord Jesus said, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.” Some versions use the word power instead of authority, but the Greek word here means “authority.” Authority is higher than power. Let me illustrate in this way. On the street, there are policemen and there are cars. A big car driving on the road has the power, whereas a little policeman has the authority. No matter how powerful your car is, you have to come under the authority of the policeman. Thus, authority is above power. Jesus has not only power but also authority. Both in heaven and on earth the authority belongs to Jesus.
Jesus has the authority over the United States, over the Middle East, and over the whole earth. Jesus has the authority, not the government of the United States, nor the government of Russia, nor the government of China. Jesus is above every nation (Rev. 1:5). We have to see that Jesus has been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Then when we go, we go with the authority of the ascended, enthroned, and glorified Jesus.
Matthew 28:19 also shows us that when we go to disciple others, we need to have the realization that we are in the Triune God. We not only have the authority of Jesus but also are one with Jesus. We are in the Triune God. We are not going to teach others some religion. We are going to baptize them into the Triune God.
According to the grammatical construction of Matthew 28:19, to disciple the nations is by baptizing them. You have to baptize them into something. To baptize is to dip. If I baptize my eyeglasses, this means that I dip them into something else. Likewise, if I am going to baptize someone, this means that I am going to put him into something else. When we baptize others, we put them into the Triune God. To disciple the nations is to baptize them into God, to put them into God.
If you are going to put others into God, you surely need to be in God first. Then you can tell others that you are in the Triune God and that you want to put them into the Triune God. You could say, “I have no intention to put you into Christianity. I have no intention to put you into any denomination, any sect, or any group. My intention is to put you into the Triune God, in whom I am. I am in the Triune God, and I am going to put you into the Triune God, in whom I am.” This is different from the preaching of the gospel in a low way. You need to have the realization and the assurance that you are putting people into God, because you are in God.
We need power to preach the high gospel. In Luke 24:49 the Lord told the disciples to “stay in the city until you put on power from on high.” And in Acts 1:8 He said, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.” When the power from on high comes upon us, we will be qualified and equipped for witnessing unto the uttermost part of the earth. If you mean business with the Lord, and if today you are high on the top of a mountain, realizing that all authority is His and that you are really in the Triune God, then you already have the power. You just need to claim it. When you go to the young people, you have to tell the universe, “I have the power!” You should have this kind of faith. Do not care for your feeling or for your experiences. You have to care for the Word of God. When you go to disciple the unbelievers, you need to have the faith that you are in the power.
Another thing that I want to fellowship with you is that you need to be built with others. The Lord Jesus did not tell us as individuals to go to the nations. His charge was a corporate charge. The ones who go are the church in a corporate sense. This means that we need to be fully built together with others in a practical church. If you young brothers are not built together, that means you are fully defeated. If you are not built together, you are not on high, not on the top of a mountain. Rather, you are in the lowest place, in the valley of Jericho. As long as you are not built together with others, you are low, you are through with the authority of Christ, you are outside of the Triune God, and you do not have the faith to claim the power. Many Christians try their best to preach the gospel, yet their preaching is powerless because they are not built together with others.
Before the day of Pentecost, there were about a hundred and twenty gathered together (Acts 1:15). They were built together as one man. Then on the day of Pentecost, when Peter stood up, another eleven stood with him (2:14). They all stood together. Peter was only the mouthpiece of the Body. Suppose five of you young brothers would go to the beach to disciple the unbelievers. You have to realize that it is not only five of you going but also the whole church going with you. You should have the assurance that you are members of the moving Body, the “going” church. When you go, the whole church goes with you. This is why you need to be built together.
When the Lord Jesus was on this earth, before He went to be crucified, a contention arose among the disciples as to which of them seemed to be greatest (Luke 22:24). I am afraid that some of you have the thought that you want to be a leader, to be the greatest. If we have this thought, we cannot be built up with others. Have you really been built up together as one? Others may not know where you are, but all the demons know where you are. The devil knows, and he would tell you, “Don’t cheat me, I know where you are. You are not one. You have never been built up together. You can cheat others, but you can’t cheat me.”
You all have to realize that man is the center of the universe, and Christ is the meaning of your human life. Moreover, the church is the real expression of Christ, and this church life is the real communal life. This communal life is a life with a group of believers built together as one in Christ and with Christ. Can you tell the enemy from your pure conscience that you are really built up together as one in Christ and with Christ? If you lose this, you lose everything. When we are built up as one, we have the power and the authority.
Acts 13 says that in the church in Antioch there were prophets and teachers (v. 1). At that time there was a real building up in the church in Antioch. It was not that Paul and Barnabas were praying in their home, and in their morning watch they received guidance and inspiration from the Lord. Acts 13 tells us, first of all, that Paul and Barnabas were in the church. People may talk about the church, but their talk is something in the air. Paul and Barnabas were in a church in a definite locality, in Antioch. If you are going to do a prevailing work for the preaching of the gospel, you have to be built up in a local church, in a church which is practical and definite.
In the church which was in Antioch, there were five prophets and teachers who were built into the church. The guidance from the Holy Spirit came to them as representatives of the church (v. 2). Verse 3 says that three of them sent out Barnabas and Saul, but verse 4 says that Barnabas and Saul were sent out by the Holy Spirit. This proves that the three were one with the Spirit in the Lord’s move, and the Spirit honored their sending as His. They were one with the Spirit and had the Spirit’s leading because they were built into the church.
You all need to be built together in the church. Then in the church you will get the guidance, and from the church you will go out, not to do some mere preaching work but to produce and establish the local churches. The two sent ones, Paul and Barnabas, went out to preach the gospel, but their preaching was for the producing and establishing of the local churches. Wherever they went, they preached. Wherever they preached, a local church was established in that locality. So the Bible tells us that Paul and Barnabas, on their return journey, appointed elders in every church (14:23). They went out from the church, the work they did was for the church, and eventually they came back to the church in Antioch (v. 26). Remember that their work was “from the church, for the church, and back to the church.” With them everything was for the church. Their work was not separate, independent, or isolated from the church. In Acts 13 and 14 church always means the local church. Acts 13:1 says that the prophets and teachers were “in Antioch, in the local church,” and 14:23 speaks of “every church,” that is, every local church.
Today’s Christian preachers may talk a lot about the church, yet they do not have a local church. Do not just talk about the church in theory. You need to be in a practical, definite church. There may be much discussion about the church, the Body life, the Body ministry, and the New Testament church, but where is it? We need to pray, “O Lord, help us to have the proper church life and to be so definite and practical in the church life.”
Without the church life we are finished. As long as the members of our physical body remain in our body, they are beautiful and useful. But when they are isolated, they become terrifying and useless. My two eyes are beautiful as long as they remain in my body. But if they were isolated from my body, they would become ugly and terrifying. When you shake hands with me, you feel so good about my hand. But suppose my hand is isolated from my body and is presented to you. Regardless of how bold you are, you would be terrified. Even a little nose which is useful for breathing becomes useless and frightening if it is separated from the body. Many dear Christians today could be really useful members, but they have become “terrifying” because they are isolated from the Body. Many dear Christians consider themselves so wonderful and marvelous, yet they do not realize that they are terrifying due to their isolation.
Throughout the past years I heard numerous testimonies from different people saying that the most inspiring thing they saw and the deepest impression they received of the church in Los Angeles was the oneness. Only the oneness can convince people that the church is real. How we thank the Lord for so many young people who have been caught by the Lord in this evil age. You have a heart toward the Lord and have the intention to be used by the Lord. This is really good. But before you go and disciple others, you need to be built up together.
Forget about trying to be a leader. Paul said that he was “less than the least of all saints” (Eph. 3:8). He considered himself smaller than the smallest. We need to be like him. Some Christians are struggling for power, for leadership, in the church. This is shameful. To want to be a leader is not a glory or a boast; it is a shame. In the Gentile world, to be in power is a remarkable thing. But in the church to struggle to be in power is shameful.
I know the story. I am as human as you are. Furthermore, I have passed through your age. Today young people like to have the leadership. You should not have this attitude: “If I am a leader in this, I am for it. If not, I am not for it.” If any one of you is like this, you are through. Do not try to be a leader. Instead, by His mercy and grace, just be a member built with others in the church. You all need to be built up together.
Today the worldly people say that union is power. But we say that the building up is power. If you are built up with others, whatever you do will be for the producing of the church life. If not, whatever you do will be for the separating, the dividing, of the Body. What the Lord needs today is a built-up church. He needs a group of members who are built up together so that they can go not only to preach the gospel but also to produce the built-up church life.
The real communal life is a built-up life, a life in which you are built up as one. This is where we have the power. This power is not just to convince others or just to bring others to Christ, but to produce the local churches. In our work there should be nothing personal or individualistic. All the time our work is from the church, for the church, and back to the church.
Do not try to do a quick work. The more you try to be quick, the more you will be slowed down. By His grace and mercy, just be built up together with others. We need to pray, “O Lord, I do not need anything but the building. Grant me to be built up with others, Lord. O Lord, I need the building. I need the oneness.” We need to have the realization that we are one and take action to go and disciple the nations.
We have seen that man is the center of the universe, that Christ is the meaning of the human life, that the church is the expression of Christ, and that the real communal life is the church life. When we have the communal life in reality, the building up of the church, we are qualified to go. You need to be built up and then you can go. Wherever you go, there will be a church produced and established. Go from the church, and come back to the church. Throughout all the places where you travel, churches will be established. This is the Lord’s purpose.
The following hymn (Hymns, #1293) embodies the burden of this book:
