Wednesday Bible Blurb Disciple- Go Forth 3 13 2024
The faraway look of his sunken eyes haunts me to this day. Gaunt cheeks without flesh and no muscle left on his body, he was unshaven and in pain. The cancer had overtaken him and he knew his time was short. The smell of death was in the room as he sat me down for one last father to son talk. Over my 17 years I was instructed by my father, I followed him and I learned how to teach from him. At the very end of his life, he said to me, “Son, I have taught you all that I can before I die, now go do the right thing.”
2,000 years ago, Jesus hung on the cross. He was so beaten and mauled Isaiah says, “His visage was marred more than any man.” (Isa. 52:14 b [NKJV]). His cheeks were ripped and his flesh would have hung in ugly strips of seeping blood. The beating and torture had taken its toll on Him and He knew His time was short. Finally at the end a soldier stuck a spear into Him to make sure He was dead. For the previous three years His disciples had learned from Him and followed Him. Now He was dying and it was His time to go.
We are the disciples of Jesus. We are to follow the lead of Jesus our master. We, as the disciples of Jesus are to learn, follow, teach and go forth to create more disciples. The preceding is a nice four-part step by step method of what a disciple is and does. After we learn and begin to follow Jesus, we teach and then we must go about His business of preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God to a dying world. “Go forth” is the fourth and final step in becoming a dedicated disciple of our master, Jesus.
Jesus led by sterling example. After His miraculous resurrection an angel told Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to “Go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead…” (Matt. 28:7a). On their hurried way to tell Peter and the disciples, Jesus met Mary and Mary on the road. He said to them, “Do not be afraid, Go and tell My brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me” (Matt. 28:10). We, as the disciples of Jesus must do what He asks of us and “Go” preach the gospel of His kingdom. It is our discipleship duty!
Before His ascension to heaven “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…’” (Matt. 28:19a). We, the modern disciples of Jesus know this verse to be the great commission given to the Church of God. We are to Go make disciples in His name and under His authority. This is the fourth and final directive of being one of His disciples. We learn from Jesus, follow Him, teach about Him and then go forth to tell the world about Him and His Kingdom.
Jesus told the disciples on the day of Pentecost they would receive power and then “you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8). Go make disciples! Soon after Pentecost, Peter and John preached in Jerusalem and were arrested and beaten for healing a lame man. It is not easy to “go” preach the gospel. Philip went to Samaria and was killed with the consent of Saul the Pharisee. It is not easy to “go” preach the gospel. Soon Jesus struck Saul with blindness and after three days healed him. In just a few short years Saul/Paul, now with Barnabas take the gospel to the Roman Empire. They are persecuted, but for the gospels sake they went. Paul was eventually beheaded by Caesar Nero. It is not easy to “go” preach the gospel. The entire historical book of Acts is about the disciples going to preach the gospel of God’s kingdom. In fact, the entire New Testament is about the disciples going to preach the gospel.
We must be the disciples Jesus wants and needs us to be. He told His original disciples on multiple occasions they would have to “go” and preach about Him and His coming Kingdom all the way to the ends of the earth. They went and preached salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.
It is very difficult to sit with your father as he is about to take his last breath and have him tell you to “go do the right thing.” In His way Jesus told the disciples to “go do the right thing.” Being a disciple of Jesus is often not easy. Satan tempts us and this world hates us. Yet, we must remain faithful and go do the right thing as His disciples. On the last night of his life, I sat on his bed and cried with my father as he gave me his final life’s instructions- “go do the right thing.” His time was up, his life was over but his faith in Jesus was strong. Now, as the disciples of Jesus Christ, our Lord and our God, go do the right thing- preach the gospel of the Kingdom of God.
