The Command To Make Disciples

Back to: Multiply

---

Now that Jesus had conquered even sin and death, He would certainly fix this broken world. Jesus would accomplish what everyone was longing to see. There could be no stopping Him.

Once again, He surprised everyone.

Instead of telling them that He would immediately transform the earth, Jesus gave His disciples one final command and ascended into heaven. Just like that, out of nowhere. What was the command?

Essentially, He told them it was their job to finish what He started. They were to take the message that Jesus declared and exemplified in and around Jerusalem and spread that message to the very ends of the earth:

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. [17] And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. [18] And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. [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."

Matthew 28:16-20 ESV

Discipleship and the Church.

Reading through the New Testament, it’s not surprising to read that Jesus’s followers were focused on making disciples—it makes sense in light of Jesus’s ministry and the Great Commission. The surprise comes when we look at our churches today in light of Jesus’s command to make disciples. Why is it that we see so little disciple making taking place in the church today?

…somehow we have created a church culture where the paid ministers do the “ministry,” and the rest of us show up, put some money in the plate, and leave feeling inspired or “fed.” We have moved so far away from Jesus’s command that many Christians don’t have a frame of reference for what disciple making looks like.

More Than a (Church) Program

So what does disciple making look like? We have to be careful about how we answer this question. For some of us, our church experience has been so focused on programs that we immediately think about Jesus’s command to make disciples in programmatic terms. We expect our church leaders to create some sort of disciple-maker campaign where we sign up, commit to participating for a few months, and then get to cross the Great Commission off our list.

But making disciples is far more than a program. It is the mission of our lives. It defines us. A disciple is a disciple maker.

Baptism

…in the early days of the church, baptism was huge. Baptism was an unmistakable act that marked a person as a follower of Jesus Christ. As Jesus died and was buried in the earth, so a Christian is plunged beneath the surface of the water. As Jesus emerged from the tomb in a resurrected body, so a Christian comes out of the waters of baptism as a new creation. When first-century Christians took this step of identifying themselves with the death and resurrection of Jesus, they were publicly declaring their allegiance to Christ.

This immediately marked them for martyrdom—all of the hostility that the world felt toward Jesus would now be directed at them

Scriptures: Learning

We continually devote ourselves to studying the Scriptures so that we can learn with ever-greater depth and clarity what God wants us to know, practice, and pass on.

Scriptures: Teaching

We continually invest in the people around us, teaching them and walking with them through life’s joys and trials.

Fully Equipped

The pastor is not the minister—at least not in the way we typically think of a minister. The pastor is the equipper, and every member of the church is a minister.

Paul said that your job is to do the work of ministry! Jesus commanded you to make disciples! Most Christians can give a number of reasons why they cannot or should not disciple other people:

• “I don’t feel called to minister.”
• “I just have too much on my plate right now;
• “I don’t have time to invest in other people.”
• “I don’t know enough.”
• “I have too many issues of my own. I’ll start once I get my life in order.”

First Steps.

Following Jesus means that you will be teaching other people to follow Jesus. Take some time to consider your first step toward disciple making. Whom has God placed in your life that you can teach to follow Jesus?

Partnering.

God has not called you to make disciples in isolation; He has placed you in the context of a church body so that you can be encouraged and challenged by the people around you. And you are called to encourage and challenge them in return.

---