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Day 5: Mission
Readings: Matthew 28:18-20 (The Voice)
18 Jesus came forward and addressed His
beloved disciples.
Jesus: I am here speaking with all the
authority of God, who has commanded Me to give you this
commission:
19 Go out and make disciples in all the
nations. Ceremonially wash them through baptism in the name of
the triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
20 Then disciple them. Form them in the
practices and postures that I have taught you, and show them
how to follow the commands I have laid down for you. And I
will be with you, day after day, to the end of the age.
The third vow of Infinitum is mission.
And the most famous expression of our mission in
Scripture is known as the Great Commission that we’ve quoted
here. Jesus is
sending His disciples out with a mission.
Those of us who are His disciples today receive the
same commission: make disciples of all nations.
That’s overwhelming for most of us.
I mean, ‘all nations’!
Come on.
So, let’s simplify.
We’ll drop the last half of that statement for a few
moments…
Make disciples.
Does that sound more feasible?
Sure. Do
you know what’s even more manageable?
Make disciple.
Singular.
Start with one.
If you are a parent, you might want to start with your
child. See –
that’s not unrealistic!
If you’re not, ask the Lord, and look around for
someone who isn’t quite as far advanced in following Jesus,
and consider that person.
Two things:
First, you want to be a disciple
yourself. It comes
from a Greek word that means ‘learner’ and in practice in the
Biblical world it connoted a committed follower.
Today you might think of an apprentice, who is
vocationally devoted to learning from an expert to become like
the expert. We
apprentice with Jesus to become like Him.
And there is also an assimilation process happening, as
we assimilate Jesus (we take Him in and fully understand Him)
and we are assimilated into His life.
Second, how does it look?
There are lots of ways it can look.
The framework we’ve used at Infinitum is Infinitum: One
vision – follow Jesus; Two virtues – loving God, loving
others; Three vows – surrender, generosity, and mission.
And we don’t do this thing solo – we engage in this way
of life with someone else or a few others in what we call a
hub. Our rhythm
goes with three Cs:
Connect daily – with God;
Converse weekly – with your hubmates
(typically an hour meeting);
Challenge monthly – with Infinitum
participants globally (optional).
And once you make one disciple, your
disciple will make one, and you can make another, and so on.
Then you are making disciples, plural.
The ‘all nations’ part?
Well, if you live in a large urban area, it could be
that you can disciple people from lots of nations from the
comfort of your own home.
And then go from there…
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