Two Lost Words
All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.
Matthew 28:18-20.
Here is our Saviour’s prerogative: He claims all power; our Saviour’s program: discipling, baptizing, teaching; our Saviour’s promise: to be with us all the days, even to the consummation of the age.
What a set-up! All the world before us, all power behind us, the All-powerful One with us!
In the teaching phase of our Saviour’s program, we do not read, “teaching them all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” Much of our teaching today is just that, the dissemination of information. It says, “teaching them to observe…” Here are the two lost words of the Great Commission. Throughout the Word of God the accent is on doing, observing, keeping the commandments of the Lord. Today we teach them, but we do not teach people to do them. The Word is hid in the head but not in the heart. It is the Word hidden in the heart that keeps from sin. You can have a head full of Scripture and a heart full of sin.