Characteristics of a Geat Commission Disciple Community

Rev. Loh with his wife, Jennifer and their two sons, Nathaniel and Aidan

　　When we say HKBTS is a disciple community, it means all teachers, students, and staff members should display the qualities of a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is indeed the very core nature of our HKBTS community. In other words, we carry the attitude and life of Jesus whenever we go. Such a community will be a community full of God’s wisdom and grace, a community with the Heavenly Father’s ministry in mind.

　　We can look from different perspectives to examine this disciple community but one indispensable perspective is through the lens of Christian mission. In Matthew 28:16-20, the classic passage on mission, there are three spiritual characteristics Jesus’ disciples have which characterize them as the first “Great Commission disciple community” of the New Testament. These three spiritual characteristics are also what HKBTS can learn in terms of our mission involvements. I pray that we can all encourage one another to thrive and enable HKBTS to become a dynamic Great Commission disciple community.

1. Faith

Verse 16: “Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go.”

　　After Jesus’ resurrection, the angel appeared before Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to announce that Jesus had risen from the dead. The women were sent to tell Jesus’ disciples to go to Galilee where they would see Jesus for themselves. This was a very special invitation because Jesus knew that His disciples’ response would be positive so that they could be entrusted as the first ones to answer the call of the Great Commission to make disciples of all nations. These disciples would be given the great task of baptizing all who believed and teaching new converts all Jesus had commanded them. Theirs was the mind-boggling task of launching a mission campaign to expand the kingdom of heaven to all the world. Such a daunting mission campaign was launched by this little community of disciples who were willing to commit themselves to Christ Jesus with one heart and one mind. As the disciples began to lead this movement, they made it possible that the Great Commission could be successively passed on to other ordinary believers.

　　Certainly, the two “Marys” were afraid yet filled with joy as they ran to tell this to the disciples. On the way, they met the risen Lord Himself and heard Him say, “Peace be with you.” The two women at once clasped Jesus’ feet and worshipped Him with pure hearts. Jesus once again admonished them to tell their “brothers” to go to Galilee and to assure them emphatically that they would see Him there. Here, Jesus did not use the term “disciples,” instead He called them “brothers,” indicating that a disciple community should be a close knit community, like a family. This disciple community had to have faith to go to Galilee because they were still afraid and not yet too sure about Jesus’ resurrection. Without sufficient faith, they definitely would not have gone to Galilee and to the mountain where Jesus instructed them to meet Him. Their faith that moved them to go to the mountain in Galilee meant that they were sure of what they hoped for and certain of what they could not yet see. Such a faith enabled the disciples to have full confidence in Jesus’ resurrection, not to mention there was the testimony of the two “Marys” which was not purely fictitious. This kind of faith could only have been born out of a close relationship with Jesus; it could not become mature overnight without any direct personal experience, without rational affirmation and without taking the first step with courage. Having followed Jesus for three years, His disciples could set out to Galilee with calm, serene faith. In fact, at this point, their faith in Jesus came to its climax.

　　What is our faith to God? On our spiritual journey, to what extent is our faith ready to be put to the test? What is it that we need to make a greater effort to learn in order to make HKBTS a community of great faith?

2. Worship

Verse 17: “When they saw him, they worshiped him.”

　　With faith the disciples went up the mountain in Galilee and when they saw Jesus, they immediately worshipped Him. This is the most natural expression of their true feelings but it is also a rational response. From an affective viewpoint, the disciples did not understand how Jesus rose from the dead. Neither did they know where he had gone after the resurrection nor did they know how to face the chief priests and the elders who had Jesus crucified. The disciples only knew that there was a void of dejection and disorientation in their souls. After seeing Jesus, that void was broken so that they were filled with joy. This joy which had been lost but now restored drove them to throw themselves into a kind of ultimate worship. Although the Bible does not mention in detail how they worshiped Jesus, we can imagine that their worship must have been no less intense to their earlier worship when Jesus called them to follow Him (Lk 5:1-11).

　　From a rational point of view, the disciples would then naturally think about many of Jesus’ teaching in the past. Although they did not fully understand all of His teaching, they were now personally experiencing what He taught about His resurrection for resurrected Jesus was standing right in front of them. In the presence of the resurrected Jesus, they sincerely worshipped Him in spirit and in truth and affirmed Christ’s resurrection. If they did not worship the resurrected Jesus, the disciples could not truly call Jesus Christ their Lord. Similarly, if the disciples did not affirm Jesus as their Lord, they could not be given the Great Commission from Jesus.

　　Worship is the powerhouse of mission when we passionately show our reverence towards God and submit to His will through our worship. Only the community which emphasizes worship can take up the responsibility of mission because only when we prostrate ourselves before God with reverence can we really experience our relationship with God. Only then can we fully comprehend God’s great love and sorrow towards the lost and be able to take up God’s mission with which He has entrusted us. It is through the generated passion from the worship that the disciple community can lead others to come to Christ. Not only can they receive God’s redemptive grace but they can also become committed disciples who take Jesus as the Lord of their lives and worship Him in spirit and in truth. This principle of “becoming the Lord’s disciples→worship →mission→ leading other people to become Jesus’ disciples” is the very foundation of the Great Commission of Jesus Christ.

　　When Jesus revealed Himself after His resurrection, His disciples immediately worshipped Him. However, there were some disciples who doubted. Does it show their faith was not as strong as others? This is not necessarily so. Here we can see that the spiritual journey of each person is not the same. Our learning paths and growth in faith normally go through different stages with some moving faster and some moving slower, sometimes going deeper and sometimes remaining a bit shallower. What is most important is that we are walking on God’s narrow path and are walking together. May we be thus reminded that in a community we have to complement one another and help to sustain one another with God’s sacrificial love under the guidance of the Holy Spirit because “those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable” (I Cor 12:22). I am convinced that those strong and faithful believers can help those with doubts to grow. Jesus did not refuse to give the Great Commission to the disciples even though some of them had doubts. On the contrary, he took the initiative to go to the eleven disciples and tell them clearly about the Great Commission that they were to shoulder together.

　　Therefore, in our HKBTS’s disciple community, we have to acknowledge Jesus as our Lord and take His lordship seriously. However, individual acknowledgement is not enough as the Great Commission is the mission and responsibility of all His disciples. To shoulder the Great Commission together, we have to learn how to worship well together and to be convicted that acknowledging Jesus as our Lord is the heart of worship.

3. Obey

Verse 20: “… teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you…”

　　The main verb in the Great Commission is not “to go” to evangelize the world but to “make disciples of all nations.” “To go” or a better translation “going” is a participle that describes the main verb, pointing out when we go to a place or wherever we go. “Make disciples” is that main verb and thus the foundation of Christian missions is to make disciples rather than merely going. Of course if we do not take the initiative and actively go, we cannot create opportunities to make disciples. Therefore, “going” and “make disciples” are closely allied.

　　Therefore, we see that it is a faithful disciple community which truly worship God brings about missions or puts into practice the Great Commission. These communities not only teach and baptize but they are obedient to God’s commands. A disciple community that does not obey what God has commanded cannot develop passion for missions no matter who officiate the baptism and with whatever form. This is analogous to students being taught by good teachers and inculcating profound learning and wisdom, but then the students refuse to obey and practice what has been taught. What benefit do the students have?

　　In Greek, the root word for “disciple” and “learn” are the same. That means a disciple was originally an apprentice needing actively to put what was learned into practice. Obedience is the basic characteristic of a disciple. In fact, whether in the Old Testament or in the New Testament, obedience is a very important theme. For example, in the Old Testament, Yahweh demanded the Israelites to keep the covenant He had made with Abraham (Gen 17:9). In the New Testament, Jesus once said to the Jews who believed him, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples” (Jn 8:31). Therefore, do not merely listen to the word, do what it says (Jas 1:22).

　　So, to enable others to “obey” God’s commands more than mere teaching is required. There needs a process of teaching with great care to enhance students’ understanding, assimilation and practice. So, the Great Commission is not only to evangelize the unconverted, but it also involves a great effort to build up a disciple community that “obeys” what God has commanded. In order that a community begins to obey God’s commandments and to undergo life transformation, the gospel ambassadors must first live out the word of life with commitment.

　　However, some missionary organizations only take an interest in winning people to Christ as their goal. For example, they go to an unreached people group and present the gospel through showing the “Jesus Film.” When there are people who come to Christ, they will consider they have already done their job and move on to do the same elsewhere. When it comes to the time to issue a report of their ministry, they gladly announce having led a large amount of people to Christ. Yet, this is definitely not the desired mode for carrying out the Great Commission. Missions organizations must have a sound strategic plan for the incarnational ministry. Missionaries need to dwell among the people to proclaim and demonstrate the gospel clearly. Only then will people be transformed to be obedient followers of God.

　　Jesus says, “…teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you…” To put it bluntly, if we take away the verb “obey,” the sentence can still be fluent but we are no longer talking about Jesus’ Great Commission. It is not too hard to teach others, but to teach them to obey demands wisdom and spiritual strength. Similarly, the teachers at HKBTS not only teach various subjects but also model and disseminate knowledge with conviction. They aim to see their lives be the examples so their students’ lives can be challenged and transformed by God. And together, teachers and students build an obedient community in which members obey God’s commandment.

　　What then is a Great Commission disciple community? Disciples must have a vibrant faith to trust, a pure heart in worship, and an obedient life to practice God’s command. If we possess these characteristics, God will be pleased with our disciple community at HKBTS. Also, we will live in the likeness of Christ and devote ourselves to the ministry of the Heavenly Father.