"And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Colossians 2:9-12,
"For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority; and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead."We’re not making disciples of God, we’re not making true disciples, if we’re fighting against Him –it’s as simple as that. And so we must not harden our heads against His command. Instead we must embrace His commands as so much of Scripture tells us, to embrace the commands, to embrace the statutes, to love His words - read Psalm 119. It’s the psalm of a man who sees commands, sees God’s commands, and loves them, and obeys them.
The words baptizing and teaching are the “how.” The “what” is make disciples. The “how” is by baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and by teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. They’re participles, if that means anything to you. And if it does not, what that means is that the context refuses to allow the words baptizing and teaching to be pulled apart into separate commands from the word go and make disciples.
The command is to make disciples, not to make converts. Disciples is a big word, much much bigger than converts. And it comes from the same word that we get discipline. And so the word ‘disciples’ is filled in with its meaning by Jesus when He gives the additional explanation of saying, “baptizing and teaching.” That’s how we make disciples, as I said before: teaching them to obey everything that He commanded.
The difference between a convert and a disciple is, a convert has the bare faith–lifeboat saving faith and that’s all they have. But a disciple has been baptized, and a disciple has been taught to obey everything that He commanded. You see the difference? A disciple is way, way bigger, way more work! Way harder.
Father, make us Your people. Make us disciples. Help Your church to fulfill the Great Commission. We ask these things in the name of Jesus Christ, who has all authority, and whose kingdom will never end, and who is victorious over death. Amen.
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