Being a Disciple Means Making Disciples (Matthew 28)
Matthew breezes quickly from the report of the resurrection, to the attempt of the community elders to cover things up, to Jesus meeting His disciples in Galilee. It is there that we get the most quoted version of Jesus’ last instruction:
As one of the most important passages to the faith, the “Great Commission” has been read, studied, analyzed and broken down more than most. There is not a lot to say that hasen’t already been said. So, to state the (hopefully) obvious.
The command here is to make disciples. To bring more people into a relationship with the Creator God through trusting and following Jesus. This is something every follower of Jesus should be doing. It could be argued that one cannot be a disciple without making other disciples.
Secondary verbs in the command are: going, baptizing, and teaching.
Going speaks to when we carry out the command. It is not to be read in the sense of, “Go and do it!” which could imply that it is something we do occasionally. We don’t just do our Great Commission work at scheduled points in our week, month, or year. Rather it is meant in the sense of “as you are going,” meaning that we think about it and do it all the time, as we go about life. It is also not a “go” in the sense of where. The Great Commission is not something you go away from home—everyday life—to do. In fact, it is almost exclusively an “everyday life” endeavor. Even “sent out” ones, people who leave home and culture to go somewhere else to make disciples, do so in such a way that they plant their lives there and make it “everyday life.”
Baptizing is symbolic, but crucial. When a person makes the decision to be baptized, it shows that they have not just accepted a worldview where there is a God who loves them and sent His Son to die for their sins, but rather they are taking on a new way of life. They are symbolically dying to self and committing to live the rest of their life trusting Jesus and following whatever He tells them to do. And that starts, in a very real way, with surrendering to follow a symbolic ceremony that can seem pretty weird. People may try to argue that baptism is optional because it is not any work on our part that enables us to have a relationship with God. It is all thank to what Jesus has done. And, they would be right in a sense. However, when we take the stand that we are only going to be baptized if it is something that we want, or that is convenient, or only if it won’t offend someone, then we are not following Jesus in discipleship. And that is a problem due to the last verb…
Teaching is the method of discipleship that Jesus established. Unfortunately, that word has lost some of its meaning in our culture. Jesus was not talking about transmitting information. You can know everything there is to know about the Bible and not be a disciple. Jesus stated that we are to teach disciples to do (obey) everything that He commanded His followers to follow. So, starting with baptism, the life of a disciple is to hear what Jesus says and to do it. And that includes the fact that we are all trying to make more disciples of Jesus.
“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
As one of the most important passages to the faith, the “Great Commission” has been read, studied, analyzed and broken down more than most. There is not a lot to say that hasen’t already been said. So, to state the (hopefully) obvious.
The command here is to make disciples. To bring more people into a relationship with the Creator God through trusting and following Jesus. This is something every follower of Jesus should be doing. It could be argued that one cannot be a disciple without making other disciples.
Secondary verbs in the command are: going, baptizing, and teaching.
Going speaks to when we carry out the command. It is not to be read in the sense of, “Go and do it!” which could imply that it is something we do occasionally. We don’t just do our Great Commission work at scheduled points in our week, month, or year. Rather it is meant in the sense of “as you are going,” meaning that we think about it and do it all the time, as we go about life. It is also not a “go” in the sense of where. The Great Commission is not something you go away from home—everyday life—to do. In fact, it is almost exclusively an “everyday life” endeavor. Even “sent out” ones, people who leave home and culture to go somewhere else to make disciples, do so in such a way that they plant their lives there and make it “everyday life.”
Baptizing is symbolic, but crucial. When a person makes the decision to be baptized, it shows that they have not just accepted a worldview where there is a God who loves them and sent His Son to die for their sins, but rather they are taking on a new way of life. They are symbolically dying to self and committing to live the rest of their life trusting Jesus and following whatever He tells them to do. And that starts, in a very real way, with surrendering to follow a symbolic ceremony that can seem pretty weird. People may try to argue that baptism is optional because it is not any work on our part that enables us to have a relationship with God. It is all thank to what Jesus has done. And, they would be right in a sense. However, when we take the stand that we are only going to be baptized if it is something that we want, or that is convenient, or only if it won’t offend someone, then we are not following Jesus in discipleship. And that is a problem due to the last verb…
Teaching is the method of discipleship that Jesus established. Unfortunately, that word has lost some of its meaning in our culture. Jesus was not talking about transmitting information. You can know everything there is to know about the Bible and not be a disciple. Jesus stated that we are to teach disciples to do (obey) everything that He commanded His followers to follow. So, starting with baptism, the life of a disciple is to hear what Jesus says and to do it. And that includes the fact that we are all trying to make more disciples of Jesus.
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