Tuesday, June 19 ~ “CALLED to Make Disciples”

Tuesday, June 19 ~ “CALLED to Make Disciples”

Matthew 28:16-20

¹⁶Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.¹⁷When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.¹⁸And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.¹⁹Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,²⁰and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
________________________________________________________________________________

In Matthew 28:16-20, Jesus gives his disciples the Great Commission, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”  This call has been the basis for Christian evangelism ever since.  We, like the Twelve, have been called to make disciples of all nations.  But what is a disciple, how are they made, and how can we accomplish this call?  These are just some of the questions that the church looks to answer daily as it attempts to achieve its mission, a mission that the United Methodist Church states as “to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.”

Before we can go about making disciples, we must figure out what makes a person a disciple.  A myriad of definitions exist for disciple most of them revolving around the disciples of Jesus in his lifetime.  However, for us, the one of the best answers we can give is that a disciple is someone who believes and follows Jesus now.

Therefore, in order to make disciples we must make sure our future disciples are told about Jesus.  As Matthew 28:20 states, we must teach them to obey all that Jesus taught his followers in his lifetime.  Another important step in making disciples is baptism.  Jesus explicitly tells his disciples to baptize people in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Therefore, to help make true disciples we must plant to seed that will lead to the desire for baptism and a life with Christ.

But how can we do that?  First, we must remember that the call Jesus gives the disciples is not a passive call.  He tells them to “Go” and make disciples, not to wait for potential disciples to come to them.  Therefore, as Christians we must be willing to go into the world and work at disciple making.  This is something that the youth and other mission trip members are doing.  While it may seem that going to build a house is not the same as going and telling someone about Jesus, it can be.  As James points out in his letter, works are a testimony of faith and without them faith is dead.  By showing God’s love through our actions we can make disciples, sometimes without even realizing it.  As a church, the best way we can make disciples is to not be afraid to tell others what God has done for us.  If we have faith and pride in our faith, we will attract others who can learn of God’s love from us. 

Thus, while the call to make disciples may seem intimidating at first, it does not have to be a frightening endeavor.  It does require courage to go into the world and tell people about our faith, but that is what we have been instructed to do and if we trust that Jesus will be with us when we do this then God through us will “transform the world.”

Blessings,

Ashley Rogers