The Great Commission Study
After Jesus’ resurrection, He appeared to the people He discipled and sent them out with the mission of making disciples of all the nations. Jesus told them to teach these new disciples to obey everything He commanded. We call this “The Great Commission” (Matt. 28:18-20). The goal of this study is help you learn what these commands are so that you can then apply them to your life and become a mature disciple of Jesus who obeys all that He has commanded. This will also help equip you to be able to then go out and make more disciples and fulfill Jesus’ mission.
Step One
Positive Commands and Characteristics
I should seek the things above
Colossians 3:1 (NASB95) "1 Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.”
Set my mind on the things of God
Colossians 3:2 (NASB95) "2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.”
Negative Commands and Characteristics
I should not set my mind on the things of this earth
Colossians 3:2 (NASB95) "2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.”
Put to death the sinful ways of immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire and greed, which is idolatry.
Colossians 3:5–7 (NASB95) "5 Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. 6 For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, 7 and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them.”
Put aside all anger, wrath, malice, slander and abusive speech
Colossians 3:8 (NASB95) "8 But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth.”
I shouldn’t lie to others
Colossians 3:9 (NASB95) "9 Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices,”
Keep in mind as you do this study that Jesus said if you love Me, you will obey what I command (John 14:15). This study will help you learn His commands so that you can then obey them and show your love for Jesus in practical ways. These two documents will be an awesome resource for your spiritual growth as you will have every command in the New Testament that you can easily look over from time to time and be reminded of God’s will for your life. This is another reason why doing this on the computer is ideal, so you can keep up with it and even share it with others.
The normal plan for this study is to do it along with the Old Testament Overview Study. You will normally do 21 chapters per week in each study (three chapters each per day). You may want to start this study by doing Colossians and then compare your list for chapter 3 with the list above to make sure you are finding all of the verses. Also, make sure you pray each time before you spend time with God in His word. Ask Him to teach you the truth of His word and to help you apply these things to your life.
Step One
- Make two documents on your computer. One document will be for the positive commands and characteristics and the other for the negative commands and characteristics.
- Then you are going to read through the New Testament book by book and copy every verse that states either a command or a characteristic and put it into the appropriate document (positive or negative). In some cases, you may need to copy a whole passage to get the full meaning, but generally you should copy one verse at a time.
- You will notice that some verses may have both a positive and negative command. You should put that verse on both lists. You will also notice that some verses do not directly state a command but are clearly implying a characteristic that is good for Christians to do or to be.
- For example, in Matthew 5:3, Jesus says that the Kingdom belongs to those who are “poor in spirit” or humble. This is an important characteristic for us to have, so you should add this to the positive list.
- After you copy each verse into your document, then above the verse, write the command in your own words in Bold. The goal here is to shorten the verse to just the command and to think back over what the command is. Where applicable, try to write it in the first person. So for Matthew 5:3 I would write, “I should be humble.”
- As you write the command in your own words, if it is something you need to work on, then below the verse (without bold), make a bullet point and write how you can practically apply it to your life this week. Make sure you do this in first person (I should…).
- The goal of this third step is to help you think about how to practically apply these commands to your own life which is what will help you learn to love God with all that you are and to walk as Jesus did. You don’t have to write something for every single command, but the more you stop and think about these commands and how to practically apply them, the more this study will change your life.
- Below is an example of how to do this study for the first ten verses of Colossians 3.
Positive Commands and Characteristics
I should seek the things above
Colossians 3:1 (NASB95) "1 Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.”
- I need to seek to build God’s Kingdom and do His will each day instead of seeking after things I want in life.
Set my mind on the things of God
Colossians 3:2 (NASB95) "2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.”
- I need to think about God more during my day. I should try listening to the Bible when I drive to work.
Negative Commands and Characteristics
I should not set my mind on the things of this earth
Colossians 3:2 (NASB95) "2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.”
- I need to not set my mind on the things here on earth because then those things can consume my heart and distract me from loving God with all of my heart.
Put to death the sinful ways of immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire and greed, which is idolatry.
Colossians 3:5–7 (NASB95) "5 Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. 6 For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, 7 and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them.”
- I need to work on not being greedy. I should find some more ways to give to others and be more thankful for what I do have.
Put aside all anger, wrath, malice, slander and abusive speech
Colossians 3:8 (NASB95) "8 But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth.”
- I need to first make sure that I don’t hold anger in my heart towards anyone and that I’m quick to forgive so that anger doesn’t lead me to these other sins.
- I also need to make sure I don’t speak negatively about anyone else.
I shouldn’t lie to others
Colossians 3:9 (NASB95) "9 Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices,”
- I need to make sure I’m not lying to people at work because I’ve laid aside the ways of sin and I now represent Christ wherever I am.
Keep in mind as you do this study that Jesus said if you love Me, you will obey what I command (John 14:15). This study will help you learn His commands so that you can then obey them and show your love for Jesus in practical ways. These two documents will be an awesome resource for your spiritual growth as you will have every command in the New Testament that you can easily look over from time to time and be reminded of God’s will for your life. This is another reason why doing this on the computer is ideal, so you can keep up with it and even share it with others.
- See document “2a- How to install and Use Logos” to get a Bible software program that will allow you to do this on your computer. You could also use e-sword which is found at e-sword.net
- Note- If you cannot do this study on a computer you can do it in a notebook. It will probably be easier to skip step one and just write down the reference and then summarize the commands for each verse instead of writing the whole passage out by hand.
The normal plan for this study is to do it along with the Old Testament Overview Study. You will normally do 21 chapters per week in each study (three chapters each per day). You may want to start this study by doing Colossians and then compare your list for chapter 3 with the list above to make sure you are finding all of the verses. Also, make sure you pray each time before you spend time with God in His word. Ask Him to teach you the truth of His word and to help you apply these things to your life.
