ARE YOU SURE THAT YOU’RE OBEYING THE GREAT COMMISSION?

As Southern Baptists, we pride ourselves on having a solid biblical theology and obeying the Great Commission. However, so many times when I ask our own church members what the Great Commission is, I hear “go into all the world and preach the gospel.” While this is part of our Command, it is not the whole of the Great Commission. Here is the Great Commission:

And Jesus came to them and said, “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.”

- Matthew 28:18-20

While you no doubt have heard this passage preached hundreds of time, it is the Great Imperative for those who claim to be “disciples,” or followers of Jesus, and therefore we would do well to pay great attention to it! In light of this, let’s look a little closer at this passage:

First of all, it is important to understand the grammar of verse nineteen. There are four verbs of importance here: “go,” “make disciples,” “baptizing,” & “teaching.” Because of popular marketing schemes and the structure of the verse in English, most people believe that the main verb here is “go.” This common mistake is detrimental to our understanding of the Great Commission. Let me explain why. The verbs “go,””baptizing,” and “teaching” are all participles of the main verb in this passage: “make disciples.”

If you hear the staff here at First Southern talking a lot about discipleship and making disciples, please know that there is a very good reason why we do. If you get tired of hearing it, don’t get mad at us, take it up with Jesus. He left this command as both His last words on this earth and as our job as his followers until He returns. I’m proud to be a part of a staff that is not concerned with tickling ears (II Timothy 4:3-4) and is concerned with obeying the command of Christ our Lord!

So why is it so important that we keep “make disciples” the main verb of the passage? Because the result is that we evangelize to make converts, but we don’t truly make disciples of the Lord.

Notice that the Great Commission is intrinsically self-replicating: The Command was given to disciples who were to make more disciples by “going,” “baptizing,” and “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” This is an exponential system! God’s design is the best possible.

My brother’s church has a great one-on-one discipleship ministry, and their philosophy is that you have not truly made a disciple (obeyed the Great Commission) until after your disciple has made a disciple! I believe it is time that we up the ante at First Southern and start asking ourselves tough questions and examining ourselves (II Corinthians 13:5) to see whether we are truly making disciples, whether we are obeying the Great Commission, and whether we are even disciples ourselves. Paul tells us that it is good and right to examine yourself often. Let it begin with us.