Rumination #8: Is there a "Great Commission" - something that all disciples of Messiah are sent to do? How might the “Great Commission” connect to “legalism”?

Traditionally, Matthew 28:18-20 has been called the "Great Commission." Evangelical Christianity has been highly successful at promoting this as the ultimate mission for disciples of Messiah. It is ironic that some of the same people who are most out-spoken against "works-based" acceptance by the Almighty, are the ones that promote this passage as the mission statement for all believers (after all, there are no "I believes" or creeds in this passage - just commands and actions). Having said that, this passage really does give us "marching orders," but in ways that some may be missing.

And Yeshua 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, immersing 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."
Matthew 28:18-20

Because all authority is with Messiah, He gives these commands to His disciples:

Go make disciples of all nations
Immerse them
Teach them to observe the commandments
Of course, the first command has been seen by some as simply "go" - which diminishes the actual command: make disciples of all nations. He does not say, "Get people to accept Jesus;" or "Get them saved;" or "Compel them to raise their hands;" or "Get them to join your congregation." He says, "make disciples." Knowing the First Century practice of discipleship quickly dispels the notion that many even know what this is, much less practice it.

Much the same with the second command: immerse them. This is not "baptizing" as our brothers and sisters accept as ritual (while denying almost all other ritual). Not new in the First Century, this practice can only be valid when practiced in the context and understanding of Tabernacle/Temple purity and the change of status from tamei to tahor. Words unknown to most pastors - and even misunderstood by some so-called "Messianic" leaders.

And the third command, to teach them to observe the commandments? Some teach that Messiah taught new commandments, which annulled the commandments of the "Old Covenant." Speaking of them that teach such nonsense, Yeshua says,

Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own authority, but the Father Who dwells in Me does His works.
John 14:10

Twisting Scripture to their own theological demise, they act as if the Son and the Father gave opposing commandments. How foolish, and shortsighted!

Of the three commands of Matthew 28:19-20, only in the manufactured command "go" has normative Christianity excelled.

"I did not send the prophets, yet they ran; I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied."
Jeremiah 23:21

Beloved, let us repent of our former ways. Let us not see the "Great Commission" as a mandate to evangelize the world by "winning souls" – which simply fills pews with people who only attend, without attending to righteous lives. Instead let us obey Him and follow His explicit instructions. They are remarkably different from what we have been taught:

Make disciples
Immerse them
Teach them to observe the commandments
When we obey our Master in this, then will we know what being "sent" truly means.

Rick Spurlock
Bereans Online

Obedience is not the root of our salvation, but it is the fruit. CJ

~From my friend Wren