For these last few weeks, we have been seeking to understand what it means to fulfill the great commission in its fullness. Jesus says in Matthew 28:19, that we must go into every nation and make disciples, so we have been examiningthe conditions of discipleship described in Luke 14:

First, to love Christ more than any human being on this earth. Psalm 73:25 is the confession of a true disciple: "Whom have I in heaven but Thee? There is nothing and no one I desire on earth more than You." I do not desire anyone on earth more than Christ. 

Second, to love Christ more than my own will and my own choice. "Lord, I don't desire my choice in any matter. I want Your will in every single area my life -- how I'm to spend my time, my money, my energy, my life, my ambitions. My future is all laid at the feet of Jesus." 

Third, to give up all my possessions, to hold loosely to everything on earth, because Christ means more to me than all those things. If the Lord takes away some of those things or I lose some of those things, I say like Job said in Job 1:21, "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord." That is the attitude of a true disciple. 

If a person does not fulfill these three conditions of discipleship, according to Luke 14, he is not a disciple.

When Jesus told His apostles to go into every nation and make disciples in Matthew 28:19, He meant that we must bring people to the place where they not only know Christ as the Forgiver of their sins, but also as their Lord. That means we love Him more than anyone on earth, more than our own life, more than our own will and more than all the things we possess on earth. He means more to us than all of that. 

Would you say that Christian missionaries and evangelists who preach the gospel have fulfilled that second half of the Great Commission? I would say no. Do you see why I used that illustration of 99% fulfilling Mark 16:15 and 1% fulfilling Matthew 28:19-20? Ninety-nine people holding one end of the log, and one person holding up the other end of the log? That's why I found that the Lord called me to go and help the one person who is holding up the other end of the log. I believe that's a great need today, and this is also the reason why Christianity has such a bad testimony in so many nations. 

All of us know how born-again Christians have brought such disgrace to the name of the Lord. Why? Because they've only been converted; they have not become disciples. They've not been brought to giving up their own will, or being detached from the things they possess, and therefore the end result is like Jesus said in Luke 14: they're like people who have laid a foundation, but don't have enough to complete the building. 

In the middle of this whole section on discipleship in Luke 14, Jesus speaks about a man who wants to build a tower, which is a picture of the entire Christian life. By the time he finishes the foundation, it says he doesn't have enough to complete it. The meaning — if you see it in the context of these three conditions of discipleship — is that he's not willing to complete the tower by paying the price. Maybe he has the money, but he says, "I don't want to complete it."

The foundation is — once our sins are forgiven and we have been given the Holy Spirit — we become children of God. But is that all there is to the Christian life? It must be a tower, according to what Jesus said, not just a foundation. Verse 29 says that such a person who does not complete the tower is the object of ridicule, and that the angels in heaven are amazed that Christians who only lay a foundation in their Christian life imagine that that is the full purpose of Christianity.

So that's why it's very important to emphasize and understand what it says in Matthew 28:19, that we must go into every nation and make disciples. Whichever nation you are in today, if you are preaching, you should be making disciples.

Jesus ended this second half of the Great Commission by saying, "Lo I am with you always." In essence, "If you do this, go into all nations and make disciples, I'll be with you always." We cannot lay claim to that incredible promise without fulfilling the condition. 

But if we do make disciples, what a wonderful assurance it is: if I have determined to go into all the world, to preach the gospel and to make disciples, the Lord will be with me always.