Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain
to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him
they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came
and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has
been given to me. 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 all that I have
commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the
end of the age.”

Matthew 28:16-20

These verses which conclude Matthew’s Gospel are familiar to most believers. They are commonly referred to as The Great Commission. It’s on the basis of the word go in this passage that the Church has sent missionaries to the ends of the earth. And we are right to have done so, for Jesus certainly commands us to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth in this passage. A quick glance of church history reveals that the apostles interpreted it that way for all the Twelve (except for John) ended up in foreign lands giving up their lives as martyrs.

But it would perhaps be more accurate to refer to it as The Great Omission for in our zeal to obey it, we have not bothered to read it. But, in fact, the word go is not the imperative verb in the commission, but rather the word make. The Greek phrase could be expressed, “While you are going, make disciples.” This presupposes that we are all going somewhere; going to work, going to school, going shopping etc. And it is during the normal course of life we are to make disciples.

It was during his earthly ministry that the Lord prepared them to be disciple makers by issuing four specific invitations. Each one represented a stage of spiritual development. First, he invited his disciples into a relationship with him characterized by the words “come and see” (John 1:39). I will explain this more fully in the remainder of this blog. Secondly, he invited some of the twelve to permanently leave their fishing business to “follow Him” (Mark 1:17). In this stage of spiritual development, they would learn the basics of what being a disciple is all about. In the third stage, they were invited to “come and be with Me” (Mark 3:14) This was the invitation to be part of the Twelve where they would learn important lessons regarding leadership. Finally, they were commissioned to “go and make disciples” (Matthew 28:19).

We begin with Jesus invitation to his first disciples. Only John in his Gospel tells us anything about the first year of Jesus’ ministry. The Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) all begin their accounts after the death of John the Baptist which is about a year from its start.

Two of John the Baptist’s disciples are standing with John when they see Jesus coming out of his forty days in the Judean wilderness and John points to Him and says “Behold, the Lamb of God” (John 1:35-36). The two disciples who heard John speak left him and began following Jesus. When Jesus saw them following he asked them “What are you seeking? They asked Him, “Rabbi, where are you staying?” Jesus replied, “Come and you will see” (John 1:39).

This invitation to ‘come and see’ was a typical way that first century rabbis invited would be disciples to follow them. ‘Come and see’ was an invitation to experience his presence and learn torah. They were taught by example, living closely with the rabbi they followed. So it was with Jesus of Nazareth and these first disciples he invited to ‘come and see.’ They were given a front row seat to observe the life of Jesus of Nazareth.

This is always where a life of discipleship begins—to a personal relationship with the one who calls. We are not inviting people to a Bible study or a church service (though we certainly study our Bibles and attend services), but into personal relationship. We must make disciples the way that Jesus did—by entering the lives of a few in order to have maximum impact. 

Think about this: As his earthly ministry grew, Jesus actually withdrew from the crowds and gave himself more to the training of the twelve than to anything else. Why did Jesus focus primarily on the training of twelve men? It is because he knew that the multitudes whom the crowd could emulate. Jesus did minister to the crowd, but he did so to call people out of the crowd (you weren’t a disciple because you were in the crowd)..

Yet in spite of Jesus’ clear strategy of calling people out of the crowds and focusing on a few, most leaders today continue to rely on preaching and teaching the masses to make disciples. It doesn’t work essentially because discipleship is a relational process. Preaching is effective in pointing people to the need for discipleship, but those same people must come out of the crowd and be discipled. For Jesus, discipleship wasn’t a program but a relationship. In the context of that relationship, he shaped the lives of 12 men who subsequently changed the world.

In the next blog, Jesus invites the disciples to stage two of discipleship,  “follow Me.