What does it mean to go and make disciples?

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For the past few days, the question of what does it mean to make disciples of all the nations has been at the center of my mind. We’ll call it one of those many questions that seems to enter into our minds at the end of a long semester as we wrestle with that final interpretive question for the semester.

This was my final interpretation question for one of my question. Honestly, though, it’s one I’ve wrestled with for some time. The question is centered around Jesus’ commandments to the 11 remaining disciples in Matthew after his resurrection in Matthew 28:18-20.  Jesus tells the disciples that they are to go out and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them all that he (meaning Jesus) has commanded.

Perhaps the reason why this questioned interests me so much is that I have often raised questions about how we go about bringing people to Christ in modern times. Church today seems to be more focus on altar calls and “come and get saved” messages without really telling the new believer what this decision is all about.

I hear Jesus addressing this in this passage.There is more to making disciples of all the nations than just getting people to accept Christ. Sure, that is important, but it’s not the entire product of what Jesus is seeking in discipleship. We can look at stories throughout Matthew to see that what Jesus desires is people whom are willing to lay down their lives and follow him. Following him would mean in teaching, a transformation from our old self and into the image of Christ in our lives.

So how does one make disciples of all the nations? There seems to be a multiple-step process. The first requires the disciple to go. That is important. Jesus didn’t call us to sit in our comfy churches, and in our padded pews and wait for the unbeliever to come to us. He calls us to be incarnational and to go out into the community and form relationships with people and share our faith with them. To often the church today is attractional and, yes, there is a need and a desire for that in the church, making disciples requires to go on the road - so to speak.

But after you go and we reach to people, then we baptize them into this new life. That acceptance of the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit in their life is an important aspect to discipleship.

Some would be willing to stop the process here. The person has been saved. They are now disciples of Christ.

But are they?  Are they really disciples just because they are saved? Sure being saved is important, but is that all Jesus asks? I don’t think so. That is why Jesus adds the additional phrase after baptizing of teaching them to obey all my commandments.  Jesus is saying what we as a church have failed to realize for so long - that making disciples for Christ is a commitment. Getting them to the door of Christ is important, but just as important is praying for them along the way, talking to them, and helping them to be centered in Christ’s love. In essence, then, you could argue that making disciples of all the nations requires discipline on our parts, patience, and commitment.

Most importantly, however, it requires us to love the person whom we are reaching out to. We shouldn’t be worried about the number of people saved as if we are treating making disciples like a McDonald’s billboard quoting how many we’ve served or saved in this case. Instead, we should be concerned about lives transformed. That is what it means to make disciples for Christ.

But what about the phrase all the nations, you may ask. Contrary to what some in America or others parts of the world may believe, Jesus is not talking here about getting entire nation-states to accept him. He is more concerned about the people whom come to him and accept him and transform their lives because of him.

Imagine if we held this view of making disciples in our churches. What would it look like? Would it require us to change the way we continue to do things?

I pray that we as a church are more concerned about the lives changed and not about the numbers of people who come up for an altar call. To me, changing lives is more important and is more in line with what Christ is calling for us all - ministers and lay people - in this passage.

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