"Go Forth and make Disciples..."

No matter how many times I try to envision the scene, I feel like my imagination and empathy always falls short in some way to bring the moment of the great commission to life. After what must have felt like days after Jesus had resurrected from the dead, Jesus departed from his disciples of three years once again. I can only imagine that this moment, right before he is about to ascent to heaven had played out in Jesus’ mind for years before it happened. I am sure that he planned the timing and emotion behind every word that he would say to his disciples before he would ascent on that faithful day. I think that is why these words must have had such a powerfully affect on the life’s and hearts of the men and women who heard them, because they is no doubt that they took every word with the utmost seriousness.

In the gospel of Matthew it this scene unfolds like this, Jesus standing with his disciples and followers realizes that the time has come, he must depart from his friends and mentorees of the past 3 years. As he walks to the prefect place he speaks, “Therefore go 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 I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age" (Matthew 28: 19-20). What the disciples of Jesus did next is assumed by the gospel, they went forth and made disciples just as Jesus told them to do. The command behind Jesus’ words must have been profound. In fact, what is interesting about the Greek in this text is that just looking at the English translation of the text one would assume that this passage in Greek would be littered with imperatives, yet it is not. The only imperative in the whole text is found in the world matheteusate, which translated means “make disciples!” Because of where this word falls within the text, the best way to imagine Jesus saying this is to think back to when you were a kid playing in your room with a toy. Just as you are about to cast your newest toy airborne across your room toward the window, your mom who has just been talking to you in a normal tone quickly raises her voice, “No, don’t do that!” The writer of Matthew wants a majority of our attention to be drawn to this word. He wants us to see that the most important thing that Jesus has just said is to go and make disciples. Jesus realized that without the process of making disciples the church could not grow, the gospel of the Kingdom of God would not be spread.

In the book of Acts, the follow up to the gospel of Luke, the scene unfolds a little differently. Jesus has risen from the dead and is about to ascend to heaven, but first he commands his disciples, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8). While there are no imperatives in this text, the emphasis is on “you will be my witness…” There is a future expectation of what Jesus’ disciples will be. There is no vagueness, or the invitation to be a witness; it is expected. In fact, the throughout the rest of Acts, the writer shows how a small band of fishermen, merchants, a tax collector or two, and others went forth and were witness of Jesus’ gospel to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. In fact, the author puts emphasis on each point where the gospel reaches toward the next epoch as Jesus followers spread across the global and share the gospel as witness to the Kingdom of God.

The question I have to ask is why this has all changed? What has lead great spiritual thinkers like Dallas Willard to conclude, “We believe in our hearts that we should be Christlike, closely following our Lord. However, few of us, if any, can see this a real possibility for ourselves or other we know well” (Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives, pg. 12). Or we think to ourselves, “Jesus could not have imposed anything that hard upon us. And beside, we’re in a period of grace—we are saved by grace, not by anything we do—so obedience to Christ is actually not necessary. And it is so hard, anyway; it cannot be expect of us, much less enjoyed by us” (Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives, pg. 2-3). How did it become like this? Why are there so many in the church in the United States that have not been discipled? Why are so many failing to be Christ’s witnesses to the ends of the Earth?

Let me first say, I do not have all of the answers to these questions, but I hope that you will join me over the next few weeks as I hope to provide some answers to why the church in the United States is failing to create a discipleship culture in youth ministry and the church and what some steps might be to change that.