The Great Commission--Part III

"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, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always to the end of the age."

Jesus begins with a statement about authority. It is his. He can do with it whatever he wants.

Then, the first command isn't to "Come," but to "Go."

The specific task is this--"Go make disciples!" It's not optional. It's like the 10 Commandments. The call isn't to go build churches or to baptize. The call is to make disciples.

"Making Disciples" is the direct object of The Great Commission...meaning that everything in The Great Commission is about disciple-making. We "Go" to make disciples. We baptize to make disciples. We teach to make disciples.

So here are the big questions:
-What is a disciple?
-Where do we make them?
-How do we make them?
-What inhibits discipleship?

Our staff sat in a living room a few months ago for a planning session. I wrote these questions on the top of a white board and then we went after it. Everyone was firing answers and I was writing them down.
Here's what is intersting--there were very few comments/answers that had anything to do with events that take place at the church building. It was all relational. Sure there are aspects of discipleship that take place in worship services and bible classes, but so much of it pointed to the streets, highways and byways. Now, notice where/when/how Jesus taught his disciples. Rarely was it in the synagogue or Temple. It was almost always outside "religious" space. What does this mean for the church?

A disciple was more than a student.
A disciple wasn't just interested in knowing what their rabbi knew.
A disciple was someone who wanted to live like their rabbi lived.
This was a commitment to a way of life.

Here is something that inhibits discipleship and disciple-making: conversion-driven methods of sharing the gospel VS. disciple-making methods of sharing the gospel.

Think about it:
Did you know that there are some professors in Colleges of Business who watch Billy Graham sermons to teach their students how to make a sell? He's a master at it. Graham will be preaching in huge arenas or stadiums with thousands of people and he'll give a 15-20 minute long altar call. He'll say things like:
"Those of you sitting up there, I measured it off and it will take you 11 minutes to make it down front so you need to start moving."
"Those of you in this section right over here, there are people clinging to the chair in front of you. You need to let go and come on down."
We've seen this in Gospel Meetings and Revivals, right?

Quite honestly, here's been our interpretation of the Great Commission, "Go into the world and baptize people, and if disciples come from it...great. If not, then at least we've done what we could do to secure their eternal salvation."
That's not what Jesus had in mind.

Our baptisms are supposed to mean something. They're supposed to usher us into a new life.

I have people tell me all the time that they weren't baptized because they wanted to, but because they were scared to death not too. Sound familiar?

There has got to be a place for this question, "Why do you not want to be baptized?" The Bible is very clear about the promises and gifts of baptism.

But I think we need to begin asking this question more, "Are you sure you want to be baptized? Do you know what you're signing on to? This is more than status change. This is more than a belief system. This is more than a ticket to get into heaven. This is a commitment to live differently."

To take The Great Commission seriously means that we need to be just as interested in people after their baptism as we are before their baptism.

Discipleship is a lifelong journey of transformation. We never arrive. We never make it. But it is the call of Jesus--"Become one of my followers and reproduce this way of life."

Let's live in a way that people notice a difference in us and say, "Look, there is something different about you. Something is inside of you and I want in on it."