Before Jesus ascended into Heaven, He told His disciples to go and make disciples of all nations. Jesus Himself had set a perfect example of what discipling others practically looks like. But what is “discipleship” at the most basic level? My goal for this post is for you to leave with discipleship defined clearly in your mind. Discipleship is a rich Biblical concept and Christians must know what it is, and what it isn’t in order to properly obey Jesus’ command.
What does the Greek word mean?
The word “disciple” in Greek means “follower.” Simple enough. If you have heard any good teaching from the Gospels, no doubt you already know this basic definition. A “disciple” is a person who follows another person. But this following is not merely a physical walking behind another person. Rather, a disciple seeks to learn from another person.
What does a disciple want to learn? Most likely a number of things: learn about the world, learn a way of life, learn about the divine. But in the New Testament, all true disciples follow one person: Jesus. The 12 apostles physically followed Jesus during His earthly ministry and disciples throughout the history of the Church have looked to Jesus as the source of truth, grace, and eternal life among other things.
Therefore, to disciple someone else is to make them a follower. But Christian discipleship is not focused on getting people to follow you per se. Rather, the goal of Christian discipleship is to call another person to “imitate me as I imitate Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1).
If you want to disciple someone else, your goal should be helping them become a more obedient follower of the Biblical Jesus.
This is why true discipleship always points back to God’s word: it is only through studying the inspired Word of God that anyone alive today can come to know the resurrected Jesus.
What discipleship isn’t
“Helping other people better follow Christ” is a good starting definition of “discipleship”. But if we want discipleship defined, we are going to have to consider what discipleship isn’t.
First, discipleship is not focused on drawing people to yourself. Your aim in discipleship is not to amass followers for yourself or to convince people of your particular “brand” or “flavor” of Christianity. Paul critiqued this kind of discipleship when the Corinthian Church was dividing itself by people saying “I am a follower of Paul” or “I am a follower of Apollos.” Biblical discipleship, however, is primarily concerned with pointing people back to the Word of God so people can know Christ better and then obey more fully His teaching.
In a modern world full of the pursuit of fame, it is very easy to miss this point. Sin can distort your discipleship efforts so that you become more focused on the good feelings which accompany people listening to you rather than focusing on “Christ being formed” in the other person.
The only barometer of success for discipleship is the extent of which those who are listening to you are loving Christ more deeply and obeying Him more fully.
All your authority in any discipling relationship is derivative: you have no truth, no insight, no wisdom to give apart from what you can show from Scripture. This is another key point: discipleship is not focused on displaying your great insight to others. Oftentimes when people come to listen to your thoughts on Scripture or the Bible, pride can creep in and you end up using God’s truth as a way to stroke your ego rather than to display Christ. Don’t make this mistake. You have nothing to offer except what has been granted to you from God. Steward it humbly instead of using God’s good gifts as means to puff up your pride.
Finally, discipleship is not merely meeting up with other Christians. A group of Christian friends can go to coffee or watch a movie together, but this is not discipleship. It is good to have social meet ups, it is good to have friends at Church, it is good to talk about general topics like work or music or family. But for discipleship to actually occur, there must be a direct, explicit spiritual focus. That doesn’t mean that discipleship is only teaching: some of my most profitable times of discipleship have been observing other believers in action. But whether you are discipling in action or teaching explicitly, the person observing or listening to you must walk away with some greater sense of who Christ is in order for it to be “discipleship.”
Discipleship defined by way of two summary sentences
Now that I have given you the most basic definition of discipleship and gone through what discipleship is not, I want to close this post with two summary sentences defining discipleship. The first sentence is more focused on you, the discipler, while the second sentence is focused on what God is doing through you.
Discipleship is investing your time and effort into someone else’s life for their spiritual good.
The metaphor of “investing” is one of the most helpful metaphors I have found for what discipleship is. Most people in the modern world have a general understanding of what investing is. If you were to invest your money into a stock, you are giving up something in the present in hopes of gaining something in the future. This is exactly what you do on a spiritual level by discipling another person: you give up your time and energy in the present in hopes that the other person will gain a greater understanding of God’s truth.
This “investment” language makes it explicit that Biblical discipleship will almost always involve sacrifice on your part. It isn’t always easy, and just like when you give up your money to invest in a stock, you often will need to give up your time or your comfort or your schedule in order to disciple others. But the upside of this investment is tremendous; “the harvest is plentiful.” Now for the second summary definition:
Discipleship is when God uses you as a means to bring about Christlikeness in another person’s life.
Discipleship is not merely something you are doing. God is using you: in discipleship you become a tool of sanctification God uses to shape someone else. If you only focus on what you are doing in discipleship and lose sight of what God is doing, you will either become easily discouraged or worse: you will focus on drawing people to yourself rather than pointing them to Christ.
Always remember: you are the instrument, not the main goal. Worship of Christ in heart and action is the goal of discipling someone else.
As a tool, you are not important in and of yourself. But you are useful when God uses you to build up those around you.
So invest yourself in other people’s lives. Grow to love Christ more yourself and then help others to do the same. Discipleship is costly, time-consuming, exhausting, exhilarating, magnificent, joyous, astounding, humbling, and worth it.
This post is part of an ongoing series called “Becoming a Discipling Christian.” Click here if you missed a previous post. If you found this post helpful, please share on social media below and subscribe to The Average Churchman email list. Follow The Average Churchman on Instagram to get further content.
Once Jesus was resurrected, He commanded His disciples to “go and make disciples of all nations.” But what does that discipleship look like? How does one go about obeying this command practically? How would the original apostles have gone about doing this? I think the answer is clear: Jesus had spent the past several years discipling the apostles, setting an example for how discipleship is to be done. In short, the apostles would have learned their discipleship principles from Jesus. And so should you.
In this post, I want to extract practical discipleship principles from Jesus by looking at how He behaved towards His disciples. This post will look at the Gospel of Matthew in particular. There are many different ideas and methods put forward today for how to disciple someone. But the most important and foundational principles are laid down by Jesus in the Gospels. You must internalize and meditate on how Jesus interacted with His disciples in order to be effective at discipling others in obedience to the Great Commission.
1. You must initiate the discipling relationship
While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he (Jesus) saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him.
Matthew 4:18-20 ESV, emphasis added
It goes without saying, but the 12 apostles didn’t choose themselves to become Jesus disciples. Jesus initiated the relationship. Jesus called the 12 from their different areas of life and commanded them to follow Him. Furthermore, in Matthew 4 Jesus states His goal with discipling Peter and Andrew: He will make these brothers fishers of men.
“Fishers of men” is an apt metaphor for discipleship. No one goes fishing by sitting at home and waiting for the fish to swim up on land and come to them. Fishing means going out and catching the fish yourself. If you want to disciple other people, you are going to have to initiate the relationship. If you sit around waiting to be swarmed by individuals dying to glean wisdom from you, you will be waiting a long time.
Fishing for men means taking responsibility to go out and find people to disciple.
Now, unlike Jesus who has all authority, not everyone you approach with immediately follow you as Peter and Andrew did Jesus. But this discipleship principle from Jesus still holds: if you want to have a discipling relationship with someone, you are going to have to take the first steps.
2. Discipleship involves both direct teaching and setting an example with your lifestyle
The 12 apostles were around Jesus for the length of His earthly ministry. During that time, Jesus both taught the disciples directly, and set an example by His conduct. The Gospel of Matthew contains several sections recording the teaching of Jesus, including the famous section “The Sermon on the Mount.” Beyond this formal teaching, the 12 apostles received teaching not given broadly, such as Jesus interpreting parables for them.
But it would be foolish to limit Jesus’ discipleship of the apostles to His teaching ministry. The apostles also:
Witnessed Jesus’ miracles
Watched Him respond to the Pharisees
Listened as He answered questions from the crowd with wisdom
And more. Because the apostles were around Jesus constantly, they had the unique position to both hear what Jesus said and observe how Jesus acted. And this “hearing and seeing” is crucial to any discipling relationship. Certainly a good amount of time discipling others will involve teaching. But just as important is how you yourself behave and conduct yourself.
If you disciple someone, you are not only saying “listen to me.” You are also saying “imitate me as I imitate Christ.”
Just like Jesus, you need to modelin practice what you teach in precept. You oftentimes have more opportunities to display godly character in action than you do communicating godly characteristics in word.
3. Discipleship is honest about the joy of following Christ and the cost of following Christ
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30 ESV, emphasis added
Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
Matthew 16:24-25 ESV, emphasis added
Jesus did not sugarcoat the cost of following Him. Neither did He undersell the peace and joy He provides. Discipling involves teaching this tension. Following Jesus will lead to suffering and difficulty in this world, but Jesus is worth it. If you lose either part of this tension, you will end up obscuring the Bible’s teaching.
A major part of discipling others is displaying for them the worth and value of Jesus. Since the Gospel is at the heart of the Christian faith, you always return to it. You show how it is Jesus and Jesus alone who gives rest for people’s souls. And this rest was only made possible by His sacrifice.
But at the same time, you don’t ever want to make Jesus sound like a “ticket to heaven” or a means to material gain or someone who demands nothing of His followers. Just as Jesus called His disciples to self denial and dying to themselves, so to you will make it clear to all you are discipling that following Jesus requires leaving behind much of what people hold onto in their flesh.
4. You cannot disciple everyone at the same level
Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.
And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction.
And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.
Matthew 5:1, 10:1, 17:1 ESV, emphasis added
Jesus did not disciple every single person He came in contact with. Even amongst the 12 apostles, He chose three to disciple more intimately. Jesus on several occasions brought only Peter, James, and John with Him to witness key moments in His ministry. You can see these three “levels of discipleship” in the verses above:
Jesus had a large crowd of disciples following Him who He taught formally
The 12 apostles were specifically selected by Jesus to minister alongside Him
Of those 12 apostles, Jesus chose three in particular to devote the most of His time
What is point here? You cannot disciple every single person at the samelevel. If you have been given an opportunity to teach formally at Church, that is a form of discipleship. Whether a pastor or a teacher, you disciple the congregation by expounding the word to them. But you cannot possibly have the entire congregation over your house every week. You will have to select a subset of the congregation to prioritize when doing that kind of discipling.
But even within that subset that you prioritize, you cannot go deep with every single person. You cannot live out all aspects of a discipling relationship with that entire group of believers. Within the subset of the congregation you devote your time to, there might be a handful that you really disciple at a deep level. And that is okay.
Don’t feel like you have to disciple every person you meet at the same level of depth in order to fulfill Jesus’ command.
There is a breadth to discipleship to be sure, but there is also a depth of getting to really know a few Christians at the level where you feel comfortable sharing your struggles against sins, your doubts, your spiritual victories. Jesus discipled many people during His ministry, but not all at the same level. We would do well to take this lesson to heart when we strategically plan who to disciple.
5. Discipling others involves both asking questions and answering questions
Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Matthew 16:13-16 ESV, emphasis added
As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
Matthew 24:3 ESV, emphasis added
This discipleship principle from Jesus you see throughout the gospels. Jesus is an expert question-asker. His questions get right to the heart of whatever issue or whatever person He is dealing with. Questions are tools to make the other person think and to confront someone else’s thinking. Matthew 16 gives a great example: Jesus asks a general question to frame the discussion and then asks His disciples directly “what do you think?”
If you want to disciple someone else, you will have to become good at asking questions.
It is always tempting to simply tell someone else what they should think. But the goal of asking questions is to lead the other person to see the conclusion for themselves. It takes a lot of practice but no tool is more useful in discipleship, besides prayer and Scripture, than asking good questions.
Of course, the opposite is also true: you will have to answer questions if you disciple others. This leads to another key principle: discipleship is not one-sided. You don’t get to ask all the questions; sometimes you will have to answer hard questions yourself. In Matthew 24, Jesus is asked about the end of the age and ends up teaching for some time before finally answering the question directly. Since you don’t have all knowledge like Jesus, you will often have to consult Scripture yourself as you are asked tough questions from those you are discipling.
6. Discipleship requires patient perseverance
Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
Matthew 16:16-17, 22-23 ESV, emphasis added
I love the juxtaposition of these verses in Matthew 16. In verses 16-17, Jesus blesses Peter because of His confession. Soon after, Jesus rebukes Peter for adopting a satanic mindset with regards to Jesus death and resurrection. Why would Peter rebuke Jesus in the latter verse when he just confessed Jesus was the Son of God in the former verse? These verses illustrate a vital reality to keep in your mind: discipleship involves both encouraging and discouraging moments.
Think of your own life: is spiritual growth for you a never ending ascent into further and further godliness? Or is it more of a “one step forward, two steps back” kind of a process? Discipleship aims at teaching others to “observe all that Christ has commanded” but when you invest your time and life into others you will be hurt and disappointed often. One moment you will feel encouraged by the other person’s spiritual growth only to weep when you hear about a besetting sin this other person fell into.
What will you do when you get the discouraging news? Give up? Resign yourself to the fact that “it must not be working?” If you learn your discipleship principles from Jesus, you will take none of these options. Jesus persevered with Peter, despite Peter’s frequent mistakes, sins, and setbacks. Discipleship takes perseverance and patience. There is no other way. People don’t change overnight and sanctification is a life-long process. Don’t be discouraged when there are setbacks and issues to deal with. Instead, these setbacks are reminders to persevere in discipling since your work is never done “until Christ is formed” in the other person.
7. Discipleship requires involving someone in your life for a period of time
Stepping back for a moment, you realize that Jesus only had a handful of years to disciple the apostles. During that time, Jesus called them, the apostles went everywhere with Jesus, and Jesus taught them. But that time of walking with Jesus ended. It didn’t end Jesus’ death since Christ conquered death. Rather, Jesus sent out His disciples after His resurrection and then ascended into heaven.
The takeaway here is if you want to disciple other people, you are going to have to involve them in your life. Discipleship is not the occasional coffee shop meet up to catch up on life. Discipling also means inviting people to your home, being willing to talk when it is inconvenient, chatting as you do dishes, coordinating your schedules so you can frequently meet, including your family in discipling interactions, and a host of other things.
Discipleship is less about scheduled occasional meet-ups and more about constant continued closeness between believers as they live their lives week by week.
But don’t think every discipling relationship is a life-long commitment. People move away. Life-circumstances change. There is change and loss. A brother who discipled me in high school I stay in contact with, but I see him only occasionally. So he cannot be my primary means of being discipled. The brother who discipled me in college moved away a year or so ago. When he visits, we talk and go deep. But I need to be discipled by someone physically close to me, someone who can be involved in my life and I in his.
Enter each discipling relationship with a “season” mindset. What I mean by this is don’t assume you have an infinite amount of time to build up this person. You don’t. Instead, start the relationship with the mindset of “in this season of life, God wants me to invest in this person.” Then embrace the season, apply these discipleship principles from Jesus, and when that season ends, find the next person God would have you disciple.
Conclusion: Imitate Jesus, the ultimate disciple-maker
There is much more to say about discipleship and how to go about discipling others. In fact, future posts will look at what other Scripture teaches on the subject. But these 7 discipleship principles from Jesus in Matthew are a helpful and necessary starting point when thinking about how best to obey the Great Commission.
Don’t feel discouraged if you don’t live up to Jesus’ example. Remember: Jesus in giving the Great Commission also promised to be with His Church as they endeavored to obey it. Trust in Jesus, the ultimate disciple-maker, and rely on His strength as you go out and teach those around you what it means to live as a Christian.
In a previous post, I laid out the theological foundation for discipleship. Christians are commanded by the resurrected Christ to make disciples of all nations for the glory of God the Father. Jesus not only commands this: He also is with His Church as they perform this task. The question is why is discipleship not always a primary focus among Christians and in Churches? I think there are 3 common barriers to discipleship that keep believers from living in obedience to Christ’s command.
These barriers to discipleship are not legitimate excuses for disobedience. Rather, they are subtle lies you and I can allow ourselves to believe that keep us from prioritizing discipleship. In this post, I want to go through each of these common barriers to discipleship and show how Scripture addresses them. You will never become a discipling Christian if you don’t fight these three lies which pull you away from prioritizing pouring your life out for the spiritual benefit of others.
“I am too busy for discipleship”
Is any excuse more common in our modern world that “I’m too busy?” I hear the excuse almost daily and, if I’m honest, I hear the phrase come out of my mouth more often than I care to count. “I’m too busy” is our society’s magic bullet for excusing ourselves from something. It is another way of saying “I am not going to do that or make time for it.” And this “I’m too busy” excuse is used to dodge the command to make disciples both within and without the Church.
The barrier of “I’m too busy for discipleship” is insufficient for a number of reasons. The first of which I already wrote about in a previous post: the command is given by the authority of Christ.
No Christian should be too busy for obedience.
Part of becoming conformed to the image of Christ is conforming your life to Scripture. That means, among other things, you let the Bible set your life’s priorities. If you feel too busy for discipling others, then the first step is to remind yourself that Jesus sets your schedule, not you.
Secondly, I have been discipled by half a dozen men throughout the course of my life and every single one of them had a busy schedule. Every single one of them could have made the excuse “I am too busy for discipleship.” They had jobs, family responsibilities, were involved at Church, had aging parents, and a host of other things I probably didn’t know about. But the reality is you can have a lot of responsibility and still make time for discipleship. It takes effort, but God will give you grace as you seek to obey His word.
Finally, God has much to say about how His people use their time. Consider the following verses:
Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time.
..you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.
So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
Colossians 4:5, James 4:14, 17 ESV
Your time is a gift from God. Today is the time God has given you to live in obedience to His will and His commission to make disciples. If you have read this post or you have read Matthew 28, you know that discipling is the right thing to do. Therefore, to say you are too busy for discipling other Christians is sin per James 4:17. What is the solution? Ask the Lord’s forgiveness and start reworking your schedule so that you aren’t “too busy” for pouring your life into others.
“Discipleship doesn’t really work”
Rarely will you hear a Christian say “discipleship doesn’t really work” outright. Instead, it is an implicit assessment you and I can easily make each week. Discipling can be draining, time consuming, and seemingly fruitless. Why? Because you are spending time investing in sinful people. When discipling gets tough, it can become easy to think “well, this is a waste of time! There has got to be more effective and easy ways to serve Christ!”
You and I live in a “quick and easy”, “non-committal” culture. If you don’t like your job, you switch as soon as possible. Marriage problems? Get a divorce and find someone who can make you really happy. Is your food taking too long to cook? Just run out and get fast-food. This is what the culture values and if you are not careful, you can start wishing God’s plan included quick, easy, low commitment, low suffering obedience.
But discipleship is none of those things. Discipling takes endurance, patience, perseverance, love, and a host of other virtues. It involves sacrifice, suffering, and will sanctify you as much as you will help others. God’s plan for the nations involves making disciples and God’s plan will succeed. You must remind yourself that it doesn’t matter if you discipling others is “working” from your perspective or if it is “effective”. All that matters is you are being obedient to God’s plan.
When you are tempted to think God might have gotten it wrong by prioritizing discipleship, remind yourself of Isaiah 55:8-9.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Isaiah 55:8-9 ESV
Discipling takes faith: faith that God’s means by which people are brought into the Church and built up in Christ are the best means. Faith that God’s plans, God’s methods work even if you don’t fully understand them. If you find yourself doubting if discipleship “works” or wondering if it is as important as people make it out to be, the problem is most likely a lack of faith in God to accomplish what He promises in His word.
You must walk by faith not by sight if you commit to disciple others.
“I am not equipped for discipleship”
Maybe you are trying to make time for discipleship and maybe you do truly believe it is integral to God’s plan for your life. I think the most common barrier to discipleship is even simpler than these: you don’t feel equipped to disciple someone else. You don’t see yourself as the Christian who knows the most, who has the most spiritual experience, who is the wisest or as godly as other believers around you. Who are you to try to disciple a younger believer? Won’t you do more harm than good?
As I have repeated in this post, discipling others is a matter of obedience.
When you pour into others for their spiritual good, you are working in accordance with God’s plan for the world.
The question you have to ask yourself is: will God abandon you to obedience alone? Does God call you to do something that He will not equip you to do? The answer is no, of course. God, through the Holy Spirit, provides you with everything you need to disciple others.
His divine power has granted to us all thingsthat pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence
2 Peter 1:3, ESV emphasis added
You might not feel qualified or equipped. But Scripture says God has given you what you need to obey Him. More than that, if you are a Christian you have the Holy Spirit dwelling within you giving you the power to obey. If you want to become a discipling Christian, you are going to have to fight feelings of inadequacy with the truth of Scripture.
Remember also the promise of Jesus in Matthew 28: “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Don’t focus on yourself and the ways you feel ill-equipped to disciple others. Look instead to Jesus and who He is. Is Jesus equipped to disciple others? Does He have all knowledge and wisdom? Then remind yourself that this same Jesus is with you as you seek to pour into others. He will give you what you need.
Conclusion: There are no barriers to discipleship
These 3 common barriers to discipleship can keep you from the joy and satisfaction of living in obedience to Jesus’ plan for your life. Discipling others is not easy, it takes a lot of your time, and requires you to rely on the Lord moment by moment. But that is the point. God calls you to toil for other people’s spiritual good because it also sanctifies you.
When Jesus was teaching His disciples, they didn’t always understand. Reading the Gospels, sometimes it seems like Peter takes one step forward and then three steps back spiritually. But Jesus calls you to follow in His footsteps by patiently and lovingly laboring and teaching other people God’s truth. You aren’t doing it alone: God is empowering you and equipping you every step of the way. None of these barriers to discipleship should keep you from living out God’s will.
Discipleship isn’t complicated, but it can be difficult. If you ask a believer who knows the Bible and seeks to live it out, I am confident they will tell you how important discipleship is. But how, in your local Church week after week, do ordinary Church members prioritize discipleship? And how do you become a “discipling Christian?”
As I said, discipleship can be difficult. Sometimes, it is good to go back to the foundational text for discipleship: Matthew 28. It is here you can see the theological foundations of discipleship and can clarify your thinking about what discipleship is, and what it isn’t. I want to give you some brief observations on Matthew 28 before giving you three foundations of discipleship from the text.
Matthew 28
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 28:18-20, ESV emphasis added
Let me make a few brief observations before we go deeper into what this text is saying. The first is simply this: everything Jesus says in these few verses is based on Him having all authority. All authority in heaven and on earth. There is no authority He is lacking. So, this last command, to make disciples, is based on Him having all authority.
This isn’t like your close friend suggesting you change jobs or move locations. This is the risen Christ who has more power than every human ruler combined. And this Jesus is telling His disciples what they are to do next. This command based on all authority in the entire universe is vitally important and not given lightly.
This leads to the next observation: Jesus uses all His authority specifically to tell His disciples to go and make disciples. Is that strange to you? If you had “all authority in heaven and earth,” would that be your command? To make disciples? I think most people today would use such authority to say “go therefore and solve all the world’s problems” or “go therefore and bring about justice and world peace” or “go and change the world.” But Jesus doesn’t say any of that.
Jesus does not command His disciples to solve all the worlds problems. But He also doesn’t tell His disciples to merely stay together as a group. Jesus doesn’t say “stay therefore together as one group and enjoy the fellowship and forgiveness I have bought.” Instead, He sends His followers on a mission. In order to see the greatness of the great commission, you need to think through all the things Jesus could have said, but didn’t.
So what does Jesus command? He tells his disciples to make disciples. Then Jesus clarifies specifically what this looks like: baptizing them and teaching them to obey all His words. An article in this months Tabletalk magazine describes this as “bringing them in and building them up.” That’s good. Baptism brings new believers into the Church and after that begins the lifelong process of building them up in Christ-likeness. This latter “building up” is what the Church often defines as “discipleship.”
Theological Foundations of Discipleship
Now that you have seen a couple brief textual observations from Matthew 28, I want to give three big picture theological foundations of discipleship. These three truths are crucial for you to understand if you want to become a discipling Christian. Unsurprisingly, each of these truths are centered around Jesus and God’s glory. If you don’t start with Christ and God’s glory, you will fail to understand discipleship properly and will likely become “burnt out” as you try to disciple others.
Foundation 1: Jesus is raised from dead and has all authority
As I mentioned before, Jesus commands His disciples to go and make disciples based on complete and total authority. During His time of earthly ministry, Jesus was a “man of sorrows” and had “emptied Himself, taking the form of a bondservant.” But this command for the evangelism and discipleship of all nations comes after Christ has defeated death. After He has paid for the sins of His people. Jesus was the suffering servant; now He is the glorious, resurrected King.
Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name thatis above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2:9-11, ESV emphasis added
Certainly the fullness of Christ’s glory will be revealed when He returns. But now, you and I live after His resurrection. This means Jesus already has all authority; He is Lord of history and Lord of the nations. But not only does Jesus have authority after the resurrection, He also has a people, His bride: the Church.
The Church’s desire is to obey Christ, their glorious resurrected King. So, when Jesus says “go therefore and make disciples,” it is not a painful duty for the Church to perform. It should be every Christian’s delight to obey the commands of their King. Jesus has proven His love and mercy towards you by dying in your place and defeating death on your behalf.
The question is “what then should I do?” If you are saved and believe in the gospel, Matthew 28 answers that question:
No matter where you go or what you do, your mission is to make disciples of all nations.
You want to become a discipling Christian? Remember is it Jesus who has authority over your life and He commands you to make disciples.
Foundation 2: Jesus is always with His people
What is amazing about Matthew 28 is Jesus doesn’t just say “go make disciples”; He also says He will be with His Church as they go make disciples. And there isn’t an expiration date for this promise: Jesus says He will be with His disciples always, even to the end of the age.
How can Jesus say this when He is about to ascend back to heaven? If you have read through the gospels you know the answer: Jesus is not going to leave His disciples orphans. Once Jesus ascends, the Holy Spirit descends on the Church. If you read through the book of Acts, you see that the growth of the early Church was a Spirit-empowered growth.
On your own, you cannot make disciples of all nations. But Jesus never asks you to do it alone.
Don’t expect discipleship to be easy. As you seek to obey Jesus command, you will face suffering, persecution, road blocks, and every manner of difficulty. But none of these should ever hinder you as you obey Jesus commands. Why? Because unlike world rulers who issue laws from a far distance, Jesus doesn’t just issue commands. He comes alongside His people to help them accomplish His commands.
Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” 6 So we can confidently say,“The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”
Hebrews 13:5-6, ESV emphasis added
Notice the logic of Hebrews 13: Christ will never leave or forsake the believer. He is the Christian’s sovereign, all-powerful helper. So, there is nothing to fear; nothing another human can do to you will stop God’s plan. If you are going to commit your life to obeying your King’s command in Matthew 28, you are going to need to rely on Christ and His strength. You will need to daily draw comfort from the truth that even if everyone else in the world forsakes you, Christ never will.
There is no one who can ultimately harm you when Jesus is your ever-present, ever-faithful helper.
You want to become a discipling Christian? Remember that Jesus is the source of your comfort and strength. There is no obstacle to your obedience which is too great.
Foundation 3: Discipleship is part of God’s plan for the world
The final foundation of discipleship I want to point out is discipleship is a vital component to God’s overarching plan for the world. From Genesis to Revelation, God’s goal is to gloryfy Himself among all people. It is through God getting the glory that blessing comes to us who believe. This plan was not just for one people group; from the very beginning God was going to bless the nations and save true worshipers from the nations.
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Genesis 12:1-13, ESV emphasis added
All the ends of the earth shall remember
and turn to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations
shall worship before you.
Psalm 22:27, ESV emphasis added
It shall come to pass in the latter days
that the mountain of the house of the Lord
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
and shall be lifted up above the hills;
and all the nations shall flow to it,
and many peoples shall come, and say:
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths.”
Isaiah 2:2b-3b, ESV emphasis added
If you want even more verses, read them here. It is overwhelming the amount of times God clarifies in Scripture His end goal is His glory among all nations. That is where the whole story of Scripture ends:
After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes andpeoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, f“Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
Revelation 7:9-10, ESV emphasis added
If your heart is not excited by these passages, I recommend you study more deeply Biblical Theology. God’s plan is astounding, rich, and almost too good to be true. If you are not gripped by God’s plan for the world, you will not prioritize discipleship nor be effective in it. In order to do something well, you must have a clear goal in mine.
The clear goal of discipleship is God’s glory among the nations.
This makes it a joy to labor to bring people into the Church and then labor to build them up in obedience to Christ. The actual day-to-day tasks of discipleship might be wearisome. But if you keep in your mind that the goal of what you are doing is so God can get glory, worship and honor, you won’t be shaken by the ups and downs along the way. Biblical discipleship aims at God’s glory among all nations. Not moral improvement. Not “practical advice.” Your focus as you go about discipling should be on eternity, when the redeemed Church of God worships Him forever.
You want to become a discipling Christian? Spend your life not on your own plans and agenda, but labor for God’s glory among all people. Only that agenda is worth your greatest effort.
Conclusion
Discipling others may be the most important thing you ever do with your life. 100 years from now, almost no one will remember what you did in your life. Even your own great-great grandchildren likely won’t remember as much as your name. In light of death and the brevity of life, what can you do that really matters? If you are a Christian, you have the answer: go and make disciples of all nations.
Jesus has all authority and commands you to do this. He also presently empowers you to live in obedience to this command. And you know your time is not wasted, because making disciples is part of God’s plan for the universe. If you want to live for God’s glory, if you want to live in obedience to Christ, if you want your life to “count”, you are going to have to prioritize discipleship. A discipling life is a life worth living.
