One Sabbath morning a man went to church with his preschool-age son. Because the mother of the child was ill and could not accompany them to church that Sabbath, the little boy was restless during Sabbath school and brought that restlessness with him into the worship service. However, when the pastor started to preach, the boy became unusually attentive. The pastor opened the sermon with his key text, found in Matthew 28:19, 20, and the little boy paid close attention for the rest of the service.

The father and son had barely left the sanctuary when the boy grabbed his father’s hand and said, “Daddy, my name’s in the Bible! Please read the text to me again, Daddy!” Though unconvinced, the father opened his Bible and started to read.

The boy listened intently until his father reached the portion that reads: “teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo . . .” (verse 20).1

“There’s my name, Daddy! There’s my name!” the boy shouted. “Angelo! Angelo!”

While we may smile at the misunderstanding of this little boy, in a way he is right. Jesus had each one of us in mind when He spoke the Great Commission. In Matthew 28:19, 20 Jesus told His disciples to “go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

God has a message in this passage, not only for Angelo, but for all of us.

In his article “Biblical Foundations for Missions: Seven Clear Lessons” Thomas Schirrmacher says that the Great Commission is the apex of the book of Matthew.² But Jesus’ words are only an expression of a mission that was handed down long before His birth in Bethlehem.

God’s call to Abraham was: “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing.
. . . And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 12:1-3). This passage can be called “the Great Commission of the Old Testament.”

God called Abraham to go into the earth, and promised to grow him into a great nation so his family could bless all other nations with the knowledge of God.

Jesus had each one of us in mind when He spoke the Great Commission. . . . The essence of making disciples is impacting the lives of others.

Other Old Testament characters were also part of this mission, such as Isaiah, “I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles” (Isa. 49:6), and Jonah, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it”(Jonah 1:2). But what does the Great Commission mean to us today?

Disciples are Disciplers

In the phrase “Go . . . make disciples of all the nations” the main verb is the Greek word mathe¯teusate, “make disciples,” not the word “go.”³ The mere motion of “going about” will not fulfill the Great Commission. Disciple-making is the focus of our mission. We may be moving around like crazy, but if we are notmaking disciples, we are notfulfilling the Great Commission.

In this passage Christ’s call for us to become “disciplers” together with Him is a magnification of His earlier call to the disciples to “follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matt. 4:19). Being a discipler means that we also have disciples, or “devoted followers” (s. mathe¯te¯s, pl. mathe¯tai). The essence of making disciples is impacting the lives of others, giving them a vision, and creating an appetite for that vision. In other words, unless we are making an impact in people’s lives, unless we are leading them, we cannot be called disciplers in the truest sense of the word.

The first rule of discipleship in the Great Commission must state that discipleship and disciplership are one. Being a disciple means making disciples. Only whenwe are making disciples are we truly fulfilling the Great Commission. For Jesus, a disciple is a discipler, and to be a discipler is to be a leader. These two terms are inseparable.

A pastor is a leader who must train others to be leaders. Pastors must teach their church family to become not only good disciples but also good disciplers, good leaders themselves as well. Then new disciples in turn lead or “disciple” other potential disciples until those disciples become mature and the church continues to grow and the reach of truth expands.

Disciples are Disciplers Always

The second level of discipleship in the Great Commission is seen in Angelo’s favorite part of the passage: “And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:20). Christ’s promise to His disciples encompasses not only “always” but also to the end of the age. Jesus wanted to assure the disciples in particular, and us in general, that He will be with us every step of the way. It emphasizes that discipleship and its disciplership dimension are ongoing, lifelong processes.

Thus discipleship is not only leading others to Jesus, but also our own unending partnership with Jesus. The moment we accept Jesus, discipleship and disciplership begin, but these are not solitary pursuits. Discipleship is a lifelong process centered on devotion to God and built on an unending relationship with our friend Jesus. As we keep this unending relationship with Jesus the Master Discipler, our hearts will be open to new ways and innovative approaches that will enable us to share the gospel message with others.

This side of eternity there should never come a time when we cease, rest, or retire from that relationship. As we keep that relationship intact, we will never stop being disciples and disciplers. Our love for Jesus will continuously flow through us and touch other people, causing them to catch the vision and become disciples and disciplers too.

Good church planning will give high priority to developing the basic biblical disciplines of daily intentional Bible study (Jesus talking to us), daily prayer (us responding to Him), and daily witnessing (working together with Him), so that our church family may nurture this unending relationship with Jesus. The importance of these biblical disciplines may sometimes be overlooked in the rush to finish projects and meet expectations, but they are the bedrock on which discipleship and disciplership are anchored.

Disciples Are Disciplers Always and in All Ways

A third dimension of discipleship in the Great Commission is seen in the phrase “teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you” (verse 20). When Jesus told His disciples to pass on everything that He commanded them, He was talking about more than sharing the main truth of who He is through teaching and preaching. Jesus was telling them that the lives of disciples are to be a complete example of His teachings.

Jesus knows that everything we do is reflective of who we are and what we believe. He was telling His disciples that believing in Him affects every area of life—from how we treat people to how we make life decisions—and by living this life we show what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.

Not only our deliberate actions but also the example of our life itself should lead people to Christ.

This third aspect of discipleship is a logical outgrowth of the first two: When discipleship and disciplership are a constant, unending relationship with Jesus Christ, then our whole life and existence becomes an embodiment of the Great Commission. Jesus shared this in His sermon on the mount when He said that those who share the truth are beacons set on a hill and the salt of the earth. Not only our deliberate actions but also the example of our life itself should lead people to Christ. Everything we do must have an evangelistic dimension and an evangelistic intention. If we are disciples of Christ, it will permeate our entire existence.

I once knew a man who showed me what it means to be a disciple of Jesus, a discipler for Jesus, always, and in all ways. This man’s zeal for saving souls and unbounded enthusiasm were anchored in a vibrant unending relationship with Jesus Christ. He was a preacher, but his most moving sermons were not preached from the pulpit.

He embodied the message he preached and was so changed by it that he unknowingly changed the world around him. His motivation for ministry was his love for Jesus and his love for the truth. He taught me to disciple by example. I knew him more intimately, more closely, and more transparently than any other, because he was my father.

As he lay dying, my dad called me to his bedside and repeated Paul’s testimony and challenge to the young Timothy. I can still hear his words echoing in my mind as he repeated 2 Timothy 4:7, 8: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.”

That day my father asked me to continue in this ministry of becoming a discipler together with Jesus, always, and in all ways.

1. Scripture quotations in this article are from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
2. Thomas Schirrmacher, “Biblical Foundations for Missions: Seven Clear Lessons,” International Journal of Frontier Missions 13 (January-March 1996): 37; available online: www.ijfm.org/PDFs_IJFM/13_1_PDFs/ijfm_13_1.pdf.
3. Poreuthentes (“go”) and the other adverbial participles in these verses, baptizontes (“baptizing”) and didaskontes (“teaching”), are grammatically subordinated to their controlling verb, which is usually the main verb of the clause. “Make disciples” (mathe¯teusate) is the main verb. See Daniel B. Wallace, The Basics of New Testament Syntax: An Intermediate Greek Grammar (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000), p. 272. See also Wesley J. Perschbacher, ed., The New Analytical Greek Lexicon (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, 1990), s.v. “poreuthentes,” “baptizontes,”“didaskontes,” “mathe¯teusate.”