What does it take to make a disciple?

 

Christ’s great commission was clearly given in Matthew 28.  We have often made it sound like His commission was that we should go into the entire world.  That idea is implicit in the commission but it is really not the commission.  His commission is that we are to make disciples.

That has never changed from the time that Jesus gave the command to the day we live and until the day that we enter into His presence. If that is the case then we need to be sure that we know how we are to go about making disciples.  Discipleship is not a Friday night meeting over coffee and donuts while we discuss great Biblical truths or perhaps just talk about life’s problems. 

That kind of a meeting may be incorporated into a life committed to discipleship, but it is not an end in itself and many times fails in its purpose because that concept of discipleship may be too shallow.

Discipleship is built on the promise and power of the Lord Himself.  He has declared in verse 18 that “all power is given unto me,” and then He concludes, “Lo, I am with you always.”  The impetus of the presence and power of Christ Himself should be enough to stimulate a successful discipleship ministry.  Certainly it should remind us that while we are not sufficient, we go in the power of the all sufficient Christ.

The Commission makes it clear that baptism is a first step in the life of an obedient disciple.  Obedience should be a mark of a believer evident in the life and walk of a follower of Christ.  There is a question about the commitment of a follower of Christ who does not do the first thing He says should be done.

Obviously we are not able to make disciples, but we are able to aid people in becoming disciples.  Jesus says that we should do that by teaching these disciples everything that He has commanded.  Implicit in that is that the true disciple learns what Jesus has taught and understands that all of His commands are to be obeyed. 

 

What does it take to make a disciple?

Christ’s great commission was clearly given in Matthew 28.  We have often made it sound like His commission was that we should go into the entire world.  That idea is implicit in the commission but it is really not the commission.  His commission is that we are to make disciples.

That has never changed from the time that Jesus gave the command to the day we live and until the day that we enter into His presence. Since that is the case we need to be sure that we know how we are to go about making disciples.  Discipleship is not a Friday night meeting over coffee and donuts while we discuss great Biblical truths or perhaps just talk about life’s problems. 

That kind of a meeting may be incorporated into a life committed to discipleship, but it is not an end in itself and many times fails in its purpose because that concept of discipleship may be too shallow.

Discipleship is built on the promise and power of the Lord Himself.  He has declared in verse 18 that “all power is given unto me,” and then He concludes, “Lo, I am with you always.”  The impetus of the presence and power of Christ Himself should be enough to stimulate a successful discipleship ministry.  Certainly it should remind us that while we are not sufficient, we go in the power of the all sufficient Christ.

The Commission makes it clear that baptism is a first step in the life of an obedient disciple.  Obedience should be a mark of a believer evident in the life and walk of a follower of Christ.  There is a question about the commitment of a follower of Christ who does not do the first thing He says should be done.

Obviously we are not able to do the making of disciples, but we are able to aid people in becoming disciples.  Jesus says that we should do that by teaching these disciples everything that He has commanded.  Implicit in that is that the true disciple learns what Jesus has taught and understands that all of His commands are to be obeyed. 

 That is a very simple program.  It is not hard to understand that as we go into all the world, we are to teach everything that the Lord commanded so that those whom we reach learn to obey all that He has commanded.  The great thing about this simple program is that He then promises to be with us each step of the way.   We don’t have to rely on our own smarts, but we have the presence of Christ in our lives speaking to those are in the process of becoming His disciples.

Too often we fail in seeing believers become disciples because we have set our own methods and our own standards in determining how to reach that goal.  Sometimes the failure comes because we do not model what that disciples should be.  We can’t teach new believers to trust completely if we are not trusting completely.  We can’t see new believers really loving others as they ought if we are not really loving as we ought.  We must be ready to see that the new disciple may not becoming all that he/she should be because that new believer is not seeing a model that is all that a disciple should be. 

All of this means that when we don’t see the final product that should be the result of carrying out the Great Commission, we ought to take a hard look at ourselves and be sure that we are the model that the new believer needs to see.  Trust begets trust.  Love begets love.  Disciples beget disciples.