The Great Commission
Our view of what the Church is for is summed up in Jesus’ commands to His disciples in Matthew 28:18-20, commonly known as The Great Commission.
And Jesus came and said to them, “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, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
In this bible passage:
This is the great business of the Church. This is how we glorify God. If we are not devoting our main energies and efforts to this business of making disciples of Jesus, then what are we doing? If we do not see people growing in loving one another - in other words, if we do not see relational transformation - then we are wasting our time. If the leaders of the church does not prioritise this task, then they are fatally distracted.
Cornerstone seeks to be a church with the business of making disciples front and central. It is our priority because it is God’s. We are seeking to be obedient to Him. We are excited by the vision of a growing company of those who are living in ever-increasingly intimate communion with the Triune God and who are learning to love one another and love their neighbours. This is what church is designed to be - a community of people who demonstrate to the world the character of God Himself through the quality of the love they show to one another and their neighbours.
Cornerstone St Andrews, therefore, exists to build up and equip a community of people to live wholeheartedly as disciples of Christ in every sphere of life, demonstrating God’s character in the way we love one other and our neighbours. We live to speak and demonstrate the Good News of Jesus.
And Jesus came and said to them, “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, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
In this bible passage:
- This is the resurrected Jesus with “all authority” given to Him. What does He do with that authority? He commissions His followers to go and make disciples. In other words, this business of the church - to help people become and be followers of Jesus - is carried out with the authority of the resurrected Jesus Himself.
- Our task is to "make disciples": it has often been noted that the command here is not just to make converts (that is, people who have made a one-time decision only), but to make disciples. A disciple is a learner, someone who follows Jesus and learns from Him through the whole of their life. The idea is of a life with Jesus in charge, lived for Him, growing and learning to become more like their Lord and Teacher.
- The fact that disciples have to be made implies that people are not by default disciples of Jesus. Therefore, we believe in the necessity of conversion - that people need to hear the Good News of Jesus and respond to it, placing their trust and confidence in Jesus and surrendering to His Lordship over their lives.
- "All nations" is not a geographically limited commission. It is to the entire planet. No-one is excluded from the scope of this Great Commission. In St Andrews we have the whole world (more or less!) coming here to study. What an opportunity!
- "Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" - it is not only that people are to be taught to follow Jesus, but also that they come into the full enjoyment of intimate relationship with the Triune God - this is what baptism symbolises. Baptism signifies a person being united with God as we become part of His people, enjoying fellowship with Father, Son and Spirit. To make disciples has to be helping people to enter and grow in this relationship with God; it is never just the teaching of things to do.
- "Teaching them to observe" - to be a disciple is to be in relationship with the Triune God and it is also to do what Jesus reveals of the will of God; i.e. it is to do what He said. It is significant to note what Jesus Himself states to be the chief commandments - to love God and to love our neighbour as ourself (Matthew 22:37-39). Similarly, in John 13:33-35, after Jesus has washed His disciples’ feet as an example to them, He states, “A new commandment I give you, love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know you are my disciples, if you love one another.” To teach people to be disciples of Jesus is to teach people to love one another. This is the main outward sign of real Christianity - love for one another. How do we learn this? Not just by listening to verbal teaching in the narrowest sense! Rather, we learn to love by example and precept - we need to see and hear. To make disciples of Jesus is therefore a fundamentally relational process involving the sharing of lives with the goal that we may grow in the ways that we love one another.
- The Great Commission concludes with Jesus’ promise of His presence “always, to the end of the age”. This process of making disciples for Jesus is one that carries with it His promised empowering presence. The Commission starts with Jesus’ statement of His own authority and concludes with the promise of Jesus’ authoritative presence with us as we carry out His Commission.
This is the great business of the Church. This is how we glorify God. If we are not devoting our main energies and efforts to this business of making disciples of Jesus, then what are we doing? If we do not see people growing in loving one another - in other words, if we do not see relational transformation - then we are wasting our time. If the leaders of the church does not prioritise this task, then they are fatally distracted.
Cornerstone seeks to be a church with the business of making disciples front and central. It is our priority because it is God’s. We are seeking to be obedient to Him. We are excited by the vision of a growing company of those who are living in ever-increasingly intimate communion with the Triune God and who are learning to love one another and love their neighbours. This is what church is designed to be - a community of people who demonstrate to the world the character of God Himself through the quality of the love they show to one another and their neighbours.
Cornerstone St Andrews, therefore, exists to build up and equip a community of people to live wholeheartedly as disciples of Christ in every sphere of life, demonstrating God’s character in the way we love one other and our neighbours. We live to speak and demonstrate the Good News of Jesus.