So yeah, I had my blog written. Then I deleted it. On purpose.

It wasn't what God wanted me to say -- I think that's reason enough. So after some further prayer and seeking His heart, He has given me something else to say.

The topic of "The worst imaginable cruelty" (as I mentioned in a response to another person's blog) is evangelism without discipleship, "selling them a Jesusmobile" and then leaving them without so much as an explanation of their purchase nor any warranty, written or implied. My personal thoughts about the subject will have to wait for later (though you can certainly discern them to a small degree from the title), but the Lord brought me across a section towards the end of a well-worn book on the "working books" shelf of my desk, an old first-edition commentary on Matthew by G. Campbell Morgan. His thoughts on the Great Commission -- a portion of what led to the discussion on discipleship -- I feel are very much worth noting, and as such I'll post them here. Note especially his words regarding what His Church is supposed to be doing...they made me somewhat re-adjust my thinking regarding just what discipleship entails.

[From G.C. Morgan's commentary on Matthew 28:19+, aka "the Great Commission"]

The King was standing upon a mountain; the eleven men were round Him, and perhaps the five hundred brethren were round Him also. How He loved the mountains! It was upon a mountain that He uttered the ethic of His Kingdom; that He came to the perfecting of His Manhood in transfiguration glory; that He uttered His great prophecies, so imperfectly understood even unto this hour; that He wept over the doomed city He was to reject. Again He gathered His disciples to a mountain. There He uttered three things: His claim, His command, and His final declaration.

His claim: "All authority has been given unto Me in heaven and on earth." These were the hrases of the prayer He taught them when He uttered the Manifesto of His Kingdom, "Our Father Who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name; Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." Now He claimed that His place in the economy of God is that of all authority in heaven and on earth.

His command: "Go ye therefore; and disciple all nations." He did not say, "make disciples of," there is no substantive in the command except nations. This command includes a far larger enterprise than that of bringing individual souls to Himself. It is a command to influence all the nations toward His standards and His ideals. Disciple the nations, teach the nations. Then He spoke of the individual work. "Baptizing them"; that is the work of bringing souls into relationship with God, in hte name of the Father and of the Son and of the Spirit. "Teaching them"; that is the work of insisting on the ethic of the Kingdom. It is a great and gracious and spacious commission. Observe its relationship to His claim. He is put in the supreme place of the ecomony: "All authority hath been given unto Me". Therefore His Church is to go forth to bring the whole world into recognition of the place of authority in which God has put Him, and into agreement therewith by submission.

His final word: "I am with you always, even unto the end of the age." Many years ago I was sitting by the side of an aged saint of God, an old woman of eighty-five. I had been reading this chapter to her, and when I finished I looked at her and said, "That is a great promise." She looked up and said sharply, with the light of sanctified humour in her eyes: "That is not a promise at all; that is a fact." Oh, if the Church of God could remember that fact!

And I think if we were being faithful just to talk about who Jesus is -- as contrasted with trying to "make the sale" -- perhaps people would be more likely to want to know more about Him. Usually when people are in the place of wrestling with "If Jesus really has all authority, then how should I respond?", the pressure no longer is perceived as coming from outside, but they know it's their own pressure and their own decision -- and a very important one at that.

This thought regarding what "discipling all nations" means also makes me consider the flip side, those who already have "accepted Christ". If Morgan's definition of what being discipled is is accurate, then how many of us can say that we've truly been discipled? Have we really been brought into the real recognition that Christ has all authority, not just to bless and save but also to rebuke, chasten and reject?

You know, as much as some of the more "sensitive" teachers have said "The 'fear of God' isn't fear like you think of fear, but simply means respect and awe", I think they're wrong. I think when Jesus said "Fear not those who can only destroy your body...but rather fear Him who can destroy both body and soul" He pretty much eradicated the possibility that fear doesn't really mean fear. Are we supposed to cower in the corner, afraid that if we step out of line He's gonna whack us? Of course not...that's the response of a person who does not know Him, who does not yet have real relationship with Him.

No, recognizing that the Lord Jesus holds all authority, to save and to reject, that invokes an instinctual twinge of fear and guilt and uneasiness, which should prompt a person to seek God's remedy, to plead for His mercy, to lay down their life and say "God be merciful to me, a sinner!" And when such is done, the proverb "The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom" is fulfilled, because coming to Him as a totally unworthy, wretched sinner -- even if you've "been saved" for decades -- is still the wisest thing you can do, day by day, year by year.

May we all come back before His throne of grace today, recognizing that He holds all the authority, and that without our Redeemer, we have everything to fear. But Praise God, He comforts us, and says "In Me, you are safe."

In His service, and yours,
jason