All Nations

 Hello everybody, my name is Dean Davis, and this is “Multiply,” the podcast that provides a word of encouragement for Village Church Planters.

Most church planters who have been trained in the Village Church Planting ministry can recite from memory the Great Commission found in Matthew 28:19,20. “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” We pray for its fulfillment. We teach people to make disciples in obedience to these last words of Jesus before his ascension. But too often in our teaching we forget a very significant phrase, “make disciples of all nations.”

Even baby Christians understand that they are called upon to make disciples. But the vast majority of Christians who make disciples are discipling people from their own tribe, their own country, their own language, their own ethnic groups and their own religious background. Please don’t misunderstand. Each of us must disciple our family, our neighbors, our friends. We must use our mother tongue to do so. We must help them follow Christ in ways that respect our shared cultural norms. This is good, but it is not enough. We must teach our disciples to make disciples of all nations.

But what is a nation? When the Bible speaks of nations it is not describing countries like Nigeria, Gabon, Ethiopia or Egypt. It is speaking of ethnic groups like Ewe, Yoruba, Fang, Oromo, and Berbers. 

Jesus’ command to make disciples of all ethnic groups was shocking. His disciples, like most people everywhere, were ethnocentric. That means they thought their people, their tribe, their ethnic group was better, smarter, and more deserving of God’s blessing than other ethnic groups. James and John even wanted to call down fire from heaven when the Samaritans wouldn’t welcome them (Luke 9:54). When believed and obeyed, Jesus’ Great Commission slays ethnocentrism. If believe that God is calling people from every tribe and every religious background to be disciples of Jesus, and it’s your job to teach them to follow Him, racism and ethnocentrism will be destroyed in your life.

Furthermore, if you believe that to faithfully follow Jesus, you must work, pray, give, and go to make disciples of other ethnic groups, the world will be transformed.

So, let me ask you three questions. Do you believe that working to make disciples of all nations is God’s will for your life? Have you begun to share the Good News and make disciples of people from other ethnic groups? Are you training your disciples that they have a Gospel responsibility even to the tribes and peoples they have most despised? If you can answer yes to all three of these questions, you are well on your way to changing the world. If you can’t answer yes to all three questions, please pray for God to give you grace to love people from all nations and to fulfill the Great Commission.

This has been “Multiply,” and I’m Dean Davis asking, who will you share this encouraging word with today?

#EncouragementForVillageChurchPlanters #TheGreatCommission #VillageChurchPlanting