Go

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" (Matt 28:18-20).

Yeah, yeah, we're all familiar with that. We're good to go. Thanks so much. Bye. But, wait! Are we as familiar with it as we think?

The command begins "Go therefore". The "therefore" references the prior statement: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me." It isn't a light command. It isn't a suggestion. It is a command from the Almighty. That ought to give it the necessary weight.

The command begins with "Go" or "As you are going". The idea is wherever you go ... do this. And now the meat. What is "this"?

The command is clear: Make disciples. There is no ambiguity. There is no question. It doesn't say "Make converts." It doesn't say, "Bring souls to Christ." Now, obviously making disciples begins with the Gospel. Evangelism would be the necessary starting point here. However, most people end at the beginning. It's as if we were commanded, "Run the marathon." We take five steps and then stop. "Whew! Did that. Now what?" No, no. You just took the first steps. This is a marathon.

Look, Christians. (I emphasize "Christians" because we consider ourselves "followers of Christ". Since this is a clear command from our Lord, there should be no question about what we ought to do.) The command is "Make disciples." Jesus is quite clear on what that entails. It includes "teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you" and "baptizing them". Now, some of you may have some concerns about whether or not any one of us can baptize, so I'll leave that up to you. Either do it yourself, or make sure it's done, but don't miss it. My main concern, however, isn't the baptizing question. My main concern is this: Are we making disciples?

Let's see what the requirements were. Hmm ... well, I'm sure there's some maturity requirement, right? Or maybe something about "You have to be an elder or a deacon or a minister or something" ... right? No. And why is that? Well, Jesus answers that question, as well. "I am with you always." You see, He's not relying on "mature Christians" or "eminent Apostles" or the like to carry out this command. He's relying on each of us to do it because He is with each of us.

Okay, so now what? There are, as it turns out, loads of resources available for discipleship. There are websites and books and study materials and programs. Since I don't see "Go, therefore, to www.discipleship.com and download their latest material" in the command, I won't go there. Feel free to find this stuff if you wish, but realize it's not commanded. What is? It is commanded that you learn (preferably from working through Scripture with someone else) all that we are taught and you pass that on to someone else. If we use Jesus's example as "make disciples", it is a kind of "walk alongside" sort of thing. We share what we know. We support. We rebuke. We live there.

This kind of thing can take place just about anywhere. Remember, it is "go" or "as you are going". Husbands, are you discipling your wives? Parents, are you discipling your kids? Employees can disciple employees. Church members can disciple church members. Neighbors can disciple neighbors. Where are you going? Wherever that is, it should include the concept of coming alongside someone and putting some of your life into theirs. It starts with the Gospel. It continues with "all that I have commanded you." It is an investment of yourself in their lives.

"Oh, my," you're likely thinking, "that's a lot of time and work." Yes, it is. That's why I started with the source of the command ...