The Way of Jesus, Pt. 5: Commissioned into God’s Work
Notes in a PDF form 2025-04-06 – The Way of Jesus, Pt 5
Victory Life Church — Sunday, April 6, 2025
Introduction
A disciple is a learner, a student, an apprentice—a practitioner, even if only as a beginner.
Being a disciple meant to walk alongside your Teacher in an attitude and posture of observation, listening, learning, study, obedience, and imitation.
“As Jesus’s disciple, I am his apprentice in kingdom living. I am learning from him how to lead my life in the kingdom of the heavens as he would lead my life if he were I.” ~ Dallas Willard
Communion with God
Character Formation into Christlikeness
Community with God’s people
Commissioned into God’s work
What is God’s Work?
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- Preach the Gospel:
Mark 16:15 (NLT) And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.
Luke 10:1–3 (NLT)1 The Lord now chose seventy-two other disciples and sent them ahead in pairs to all the towns and places he planned to visit. 2 These were his instructions to them: “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields. 3 Now go, and remember that I am sending you out as lambs among wolves.
“Preach the gospel everywhere, and if necessary, use words.”
Always be mindful of unreached people. We are to bring people far from God close to Him.
Invest in people the love of God. Influence always comes before witnessing.
The rising number of “none’s” and “done’s”.
Be willing to love people enough to go into their world and show them the love of God.
John 13:34-35 (NLT) “So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”
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- Make Disciples:
Matthew 28:18-20 (NLT) Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
“Jesus told us explicitly what to do. He told us, as disciples, to make disciples. He did not tell us to arrange for people to ‘get in’ or ‘make the cut’ after they die, not to eliminate the various brutal forms of injustice, not to produce and maintain ‘successful’ churches. These are all good things, and he had something to say about all of them. They will certainly happen if—and only if—we are (his constant apprentices) and do (make constant apprentices) what he told us to do be and do. If we just do this, it will little matter what else we do or do not do.” ~ Dallas Willard
We make disciples; God doesn’t. God makes believers and changes people’s hearts. Disciples are made in a different way. Disciples are made in relationship: smaller contexts, personal and loving accountability.
Jesus gave His ministry away to His small group. It is done in a relational and systematic way. We are now responsible to do the disciple-making.
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- Be A Witness
Acts 1:8 (NLT) “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
To be an effective witness, you need the power of the Holy Spirit.
Luke 9:1–2 (NLT)1 One day Jesus called together his twelve disciples and gave them power and authority to cast out all demons and to heal all diseases. 2 Then he sent them out to tell everyone about the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick.
To be a witness, preach the gospel, and make disciples, you will need to have power.
How do we do all of this? Love and Sacrificial Service.
John 13:12–15 (ESV)12 When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.
Conclusion
1 Peter 4:8-10 (ESV) Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace:
1 John 3:18 (ESV) Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
Ephesians 4:16 (NLT) He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.
Romans 12:4-5 (NLT) Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.
Citations and notes
Dallas Willard. The Great Omission. HarperOne, 2006. p. 6
Dallas Willard. Renewing the Christian Mind: Essays, Interviews, and Talks. HarperOne, 2016. p. 280
Dallas Willard. The Great Omission. p. xii