"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." - Matthew 28:19-20 ESV
This is a great commission verse but the phrase that caught my eye this morning was 'teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you'. He does not tell them to mimic the things 'commanded'. He tells them to teach observation. The word for commanded is Entello (Strong's G1781) which is the word Telos (G5056) with the prefix En (G1722) added to the beginning. Telos is our great 'finished work' word. Telos is the end or result of something. It denotes completion or being brought to completion.
They were to make disciples, baptize them and be a spectacle in front of them of what God has done and will do in their lives.
"Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you... Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained." - Philippians 3:1, 12-16 ESV
This repetition is good for us. We need to hear and see over and over again. Not the same dry things spoken again and again but a 29 year old man winning souls who turns into a 39 year old man who wins souls. A 34 year old woman who loves people and turns into a 44 years old woman (with 29 written on her birthday cake) who loves people. God wants them to see a person who God has not abandoned who has eternal perspective stored in a clay jar that is very human.
People don't need to see perfection in us. They need to see perfect grace presented to them over and over again. That is what transforms.
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Satan emphasizes and uses the world to remind us of our failures. I am so relieved to have teaching that reminds me of who I am, I am not my sin of my past, present or future. However, look at how the world beats up families where children's past sins now are used to bring them down. But really, they are not brought down, but living in grace and love of God and it shows us that this world has nothing to offer us but God and docrine as applied in the finished work is our only hope of surviving the blows of this world.
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