A lifelong Mission
Before ascending to Heaven, Jesus commissions us to “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations” - Matt 28:16-20
As members of the body of Christ, God gives each of us different talents to be used for his glory (1 Cor 12:4-11, Matt 25:14-15). Some may be creatives or musicians, others teachers or prophetic. Regardless of what God reveals as our personal ministry, we all share, as one body, the ministry of making disciples.
Making a disciple isn’t a given talent specific to particular parts of the body of Christ, but a shared function of the entire body. One that seeks to strengthen and grow the body under the headship of Christ.
The body of Christ is strengthened through the discipleship of its members and grown through the making of other disciples. The discipleship of Paul and the early church followers had such astronomical impact that these believers were described to have “turned the world upside down” Acts 17:6. They would boldly proclaim The Gospel, capturing hearts over to Christ by taking people through scripture, reasoning with them and “destroying every argument raised against the knowledge of God” (2 Cor 10:5).
A few discipled believers are better tools in the hands of God than 1000 lukewarm. When many of his disciples deserted him, Jesus didn’t chase after them (Jn 6:66-67). He instead poured deeper into the 12 that remained. They ate together, traveled together, were sharpened by his teachings and given authority to cast out demons, heal the sick and proclaim the kingdom of God (Luke 9:1-2).
The term for “disciple” in Greek, “mathetes”, means to be a student, committed learner, or follower. In the Western world today, there is no excuse for a lack of personal discipleship. Through Christ, we each have access to the Holy Spirit, who is instructive (Jn 14:26), and a tremendous amount of access to the Word of God. This, coupled with the plethora of free Christian resources at our disposal, means we have more access today than ever before in human history to the knowledge of God and, subsequently, the opportunity to be more than students but highly proficient scholars of Christ.
It is only when we become disciples that we are able to truly make disciples.
Evangelizing, serving in church, hosting bible studies, and leading by example are components of making disciples but, as Jesus did, the true making of a disciple requires sitting with the person, counselling, being an object of resource and information, a process of sharpening that can only be done with sharpened iron.
Notice how the command to “Go therefore and make disciples” was a command spoken to the 11 disciples? We can’t expect to go and sharpen others in the word of God when we ourselves know little. However, we also shouldn’t be complacent in our lack of knowledge as an excuse for avoiding this great commission. God doesn’t call us to this because we are qualified, rather, he qualifies us to do as he called.
The word “therefore” in Matt 28:19 suggests the latter is only made possible by the former. In other words, because Christ has been given all authority in Heaven and on Earth, we are enabled and qualified by his authority to expand the kingdom of God here on Earth (Matt 28:18, Luke 10:19). Therefore, Go. Don’t just be hearers of the word (James 1:22). As believers we should, therefore, strive fervently to know more of Christ, undergoing discipleship so that we can make him known to others.
