If Jesus were to give you two words to direct the course of your life, what do you think they would be? Better yet, how much would you value those words? How seriously would you take them?
Thankfully, we don't have to wonder what two words Jesus would deliver to any of us. He spoke those words ages ago, and His mission for us hasn't changed: "Make disciples" (Matthew 28:19). That's what He said, and it means that whatever plans we have for our lives, we must stay focused on fulfilling those two words.
We have a sense that discipleship is important, but there seems to be little consensus as to what it actually looks like. Most of our churches offer programs to help foster discipleship. But these can be problematic.
Of course, we all know that programs aren't the real problem. Church activities can be a convenient scapegoat, but the programs aren't the culprits. We are. Most churches start programs as a means to help us accomplish ends. But the ends scare us so badly that we take a step back and turn the means into ends. Too many programs that were launched to help the church get a sense of its mission and equip it for outreach have turned into status symbols, demarcating the mature (those who have gone through the program) from the immature (those who have not).
Most of us have access through our churches to programs that remainfocused on equipping the saints to do the work of ministry. These offer helpful training and include a swift kick in the rear to get out there and do what must be done. Yet we can become desirous of more training before we're "ready" to do anything with it. Or we can get addicted to the kick itself, thinking that a feeling of conviction somehow replaces the act of obedience the conviction is meant to produce. If we're not careful, we can get so caught up in attending Bible studies and discipleship training programs that we lose touch with the real world of actual relationships.
Here's the test. If disciple-making is Jesus' mission for His people, then every church activity you're involved in must have discipleship as its ultimate goal. This could legitimize a host of different programs. Just keep in mind that it isn't about the means, it's about the end. On the flip side, any church activity we're involved in that doesn't in some way lead to making disciples should be abandoned. Disciple-making is the mission. And we're not allowed to have a mission for our lives that conflicts with God's.
Let's get practical. Jesus' last command (see Matthew 28:18-20) has been called the Great Commission. So what did He commission us to do, and how can we structure our lives to ensure that we're hitting the target?
We have to be careful about how specific we get here. Much of the glory of the Great Commission is in its ambiguity. If you think about it, many of the statements that change our lives are powerfully ambiguous. Think about Jesus' command to love our neighbors as ourselves (Mark 12:31). Even though His broader teaching fills in the picture, we're still left with our own cultural context and our own quirky neighbors as we apply that command. We can read as many commentaries on the passage as we want; we'll still have to wrestle with what it looks like to love the real people with whom we interact every day.
The command to make disciples is as ambiguous as the command to love our neighbors. Of course, we all have a sense of what it means. It would be hard not to grasp the general concept that Jesus was talking about. By the time we reach
Matthew 28, we've already read a description of Jesus calling and creating disciples. But we really don't know what that looks like. Among the questions we ask ourselves as we seek to make disciples are the standard fare: Who? When? How? How many? How often? We'll still question whether we've been successful and whether we've shared enough information with these new disciples, but let's give ourselves a break.
If we aren't careful, our search for answers to these questions can lead us to over-structure Jesus' command. Let's put it this way: If making disciples requires someone to sign up for a 12-week course or to leave their email address and phone number, then we've probably over-structured it. That's not to say that books and courses can't help us make disciples. There's a big difference between a tool that facilitates the making of disciples and the actual act of making disciples.
Let's keep it simple. Try to understand Jesus' words to learn the true mission to which the church has always been called: "Then Jesus came near and said to them, '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 of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you'" (Matthew 28:18-20).
This implies that our calling will lead us everywhere. No nation, subculture, or individual is exempt from this mission. We don't have to strategize about demographics. If the person exists, then he or she is on the list. You're called to make disciples, and the people to whom you're sent live both across the street and across the ocean.
Given the context of this passage, the heart of the command — to make disciples — isn't as tricky as we think. We have to know what a disciple is before we can make one, but if we read the gospels, we'll notice that a disciple is a person called by Jesus, who learns from Him, and who follows Him, doing the things that He does. When Jesus tells a disciple to do something, he or she does it. When Jesus sends a disciple somewhere, he or she goes. A disciple is always learning from the Master, always doing what the Master directs, always following where the Master's footsteps lead.
That's simple enough. Let's address how we make one of those: To teach a person to learn from Jesus we point him or her toward the things that Jesus said. We make ourselves available to answer the questions he or she raises. We model for him or her what it looks like to put Jesus' teachings into practice. To teach a person to do what Jesus says, we could point to a biblical command and say, "Do this." Perhaps you can demonstrate obedience and even go so far as to say, "Imitate me, as I also imitate Christ" (1 Corinthians 11:1).
Are you getting the picture? It isn't as difficult as we make it when we look to our churches to create programs that correspond to each phrase in the Great Commission. We know what it means to learn, to obey, and to follow.
The problem is that we're sketchy in doing these things ourselves. Maybe we have a vague idea of what Jesus taught but haven't read through any of the gospels in a while. We could get back on track by signing up for a well-structured Bible-reading course through our churches, but we can also move in this direction by picking up our Bible — and reading it. Sometimes we hide behind our church activities, hoping the excitement of a prepackaged experience will get us to do the things that we're neglecting.
There's also a temptation to leave disciple-making to our pastors. It's as if we believe something magical happens during their seminary training wherein they learn to perfectly obey Jesus and to teach others to do the same. Training for ministry can be huge, but it's not a prerequisite for disciple-making.
In Matthew 28 Jesus was speaking to His church. He spoke to every disciple He had. In the book of Acts, the church leaders were making disciples, but the rank-and-file church members who held no official leadership positions also made disciples. Pastors are important for equipping the church, but every member is responsible to actually do the work of ministry (see Ephesians 4:11-12).
Taking Jesus' words at face value doesn't make them easier. But if we're really honest with ourselves, the problem has never been clarity. Sure, Jesus' commands can be ambiguous, but that's not to say that they don't hit us where we live.
The ambiguity allows them to cut deeply into each of our specific lives. What appears to be a general statement proves to have a razor's edge once we allow it into the details of our relationships.
So let's go do this. Perhaps the greatest thing we overlook in the Great Commission is that the command to make disciples was given to disciples. Disciples are commanded to make disciples. A disciple who doesn't make disciples is a pseudo-disciple. He wants to call himself something without living it.
Few of us know any plumbers who don't fix pipes or contractors who don't work on buildings. Why does that seem so crazy? Yet we all know people who would call themselves followers of Jesus without ever following Jesus.
Somewhere along the line, we got uneasy about attaching any kind of job description to the role of being disciples. If we're going to call ourselves disciples, we should actually learn from Jesus, do what He tells us to do, and fulfill the one mission He left for us.
Jesus has two words for us: Make disciples. Let that shape us. Let that be our only standard of success. Let our identities as disciples soak into every fiber of our being — at home, at work, and at leisure. And then let's be disciples. Learn, obey, and make disciples.
This article is courtesy of HomeLife Magazine.