Make Disciples of the Nations

    Many church going people can quote from memory a verse from John's gospel about God loving the world. Probably, the second most quoted verse is Matthew 28:19.

¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

This much quoted command of Christ is used by many in religious circles. It is commonly referred to as the "Great Commission." This is the marching orders for the church. It is very straightforward. However, it is often disobeyed. A look into the text may provide a little insight and possibly some passion and motivation not only to share with the lost, but to help them mature as Christians.

    A quick understanding of context and grammar may be necessary to gain a deeper understanding of this text. Jesus is speaking to eleven of his disciples after the resurrection. He establishes His authority by telling them that He had been given all authority (Matt28:18). The authority of Jesus is not debatable at this point. It is understood that Jesus has the authority to issues commands to his followers. Jesus, as Master, commands his followers about their lives from that point forward. This passage contains three particular imperatives or commands. There is one focal command with two follow-up commands to illustrate how to accomplish the first.

    The command is to make disciples. This is a process. A disciple is a pupil that learns things from a teacher. The simplistic command that Jesus gave was to make students of himself. Jesus wanted his followers to plant the same seed in others that he had implanted in them. Make time to create disciples. The first aspect of this command was to baptize. This is making the assumption that the person has accepted Christ as Lord and Savior. The act of baptism is an act of obedience to Christ. It is commanded to us because of the repentance of sin. Baptism is an outward proclamation of an inward transformation. An obvious conclusion with baptism is that the pre-requisite is certainly evangelism. The gospel is the "good news of Christ!" We should tell everyone. We should do more than tell everyone, we should follow the command of Christ and spend the necessary time to help people become an obedient disciple of Christ. We should help them become a committed disciple of Jesus Christ. We should guide them as a disciple as we go about our life.

    A second aspect to making disciples is to teach the commands of Christ. Again the verb "teach" is issued as a command. Jesus is speaking to His disciples in a way that He expects results. Teach all the words of Christ. This is often the overlooked part of make disciples. We, as the church, like to see the evangelism part work. We like to see people get baptized. We all like to extend the "right hand of Christian fellowship." We fail miserably in teaching the words of the Living God.

    Teaching involves spending time with new disciples. We have to live the words of Christ as we teach the words of Christ. This one area alone is where most Christians fail. We would rather involve ourselves in the things of the world and use the words of the Living God as platitudes for wall décor. This is a serious issue. Teaching the words of the living God involves studying the Word of God, Living the Word of God, and proclaiming the Word of God. This process continues on and on. We must invest the necessary time to help people hear, read, study, and live the Word of God. Actually, there is not a choice. Remember it is a command from Jesus. Make Disciples of all the nations.

    I believe that it is time for Christians to start acting like Christ. I think it is time for us to start submitting to and obeying the commands of Christ. We are not seeing people make life changing decisions for Christ because Christians refuse to obey the commands of Christ. It is past time for the church to wake up and make disciples of the nations before any more die and spend eternity in hell.

 

©2010 Todd A. Peebles