Called to make disciples

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. ¹⁷ And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. ¹⁸ And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ 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, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Matthew 28:16020

The word “evangelism” never appears in the Bible. The word evangelist(s) appears a total of three times in the Bible. I was surprised at this when I actually decided to study evangelism in the Bible since it is encouraged so strongly in the evangelical church. Even the Great Commission (our text above) doesn’t mention evangelism or evangelist. Should I conclude from these facts that we are wrong to emphasize taking the gospel to people who don’t know Jesus? No. So, what exactly did Jesus commission us to do?

We are commissioned to make disciples

The approach to obedience in spreading the good news in the church has been to “evangelize” rather than to “disciple” the nations. The way evangelism has been taught is to present the gospel to people to become a convert to Christianity, i.e., praying a sinners prayer, walking the aisle, going forward at a crusade trusting Christ, etc. The goal of evangelism is for people to “decide to follow Jesus.” Once that “decision” is made, the job of evangelism is over.

That isn’t the Biblical model, nor does it obey Jesus’ command to make disciples. In my last commentary, we looked at what it means to be a disciple. A disciple is one who loves Jesus more than anything, is prepared to suffer for following Jesus, and learns from God. Finally, a disciple is also a disciple-maker.

Evangelism is part of the process

Making disciples of Jesus goes way beyond evangelism. We have examples to see how to do it in Jesus, and the best other example is Paul the Apostle. Disciple-making is a relational activity. In Jesus’ case, we see him calling twelve young men (some would characterize them as boys, not men, there is evidence that they were teenagers except for Peter) to live with him and learn from him on a day-by-day basis. Part of the process was for them to hear him teach. In America, we have largely assumed that the teaching component of disciple-making is the whole banana. It is an essential component, but only a component.

Living by example is at least as important as teaching content. By watching Jesus, his disciples learned to live with compassion as he had compassion on the multitudes and healed them. It was as they watched Jesus steal away in the night to spend time with the Father that they learned the significance of prayer and fellowship with the Father. It was watching him wash the disciple’s feet that they learned about humility and service to one another. They learned both sacrifice and living for eternity as they watched him go to the cross, even if it did take a long time for the lesson to sink in. They learned obedience as they watched Jesus live a life of perfect obedience to the Father.

The Apostle Paul followed this same process. He always had his apostolic band wherever he went – and they didn’t play rock and roll! Paul taught explicitly that his disciples were to follow him as he followed Christ.

For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us…

2 Thessalonians 3:7

Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

1 Corinthians 11:1

Making disciples entails both teaching and example. For us, if we are to be disciple-makers, we must follow Christ in a way that is worth multiplying. Those whom we are training to follow Christ must see in us an example of what it means to follow Christ. I know this is a high standard. But, it is the one Scripture gives to us.

Some years ago, I learned a valuable lesson in disciple-making. I was very worried that I was not living a life that was sufficiently perfect for others to follow. If I misbehave, I will be misleading others. That was a heavy load to carry. As I prayed about this one day, the Lord graciously set me straight. He said to me, “If your followers never see you fail, how will they learn from your example how to deal with their failures?” That was a relief. I then saw that I must live a sufficiently transparent life that others can not only see me fail, but they can also see me repent and receive forgiveness and walk on in the freedom that Christ has purchased for me. I don’t have to be perfect; I just have to follow hard after Jesus and let others watch me do it.

Disciple-making requires intentionality

When Jesus began the process of calling his disciples, it started with prayer, private time with the Father. I am sure he asked which ones of these bumbling failures he was to call to follow him. Jesus made it clear elsewhere that he only did what he saw the Father doing and only spoke what he heard the Father speaking. His choice of disciples was not arbitrary. He was calling those whom he was the Father calling. Jesus was intentional about seeking the Father about whom to call to follow him, and then he went with intentionality to call them specifically to follow him.

If we are to be disciple-makers in obedience to the Great Commission, we too must be intentional about it. We must pray for God to join us together with those people whom he has called us to walk with as they learn to follow Jesus as they follow us. If this sounds beyond you, you are right. It is beyond our human capabilities. Disciple-making is a supernatural process that requires the work of the Holy Spirit. It requires that we be filled with the Holy Spirit. Otherwise, we are walking in the flesh, and the flesh isn’t something you want to train others to walk in. They can do that just fine without your help, thank you. But to learn to walk in the Spirit, they need to watch someone else do that up close and personal.