Focused on the Mission

Matthew 28:18  And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.  19  Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:  20  Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

When Jesus spoke these words to his disciples, they were not confused.  They understood clearly that this meant they needed to go find people who were not already following Jesus and lead them to faith and obedience in him, so those people could, in turn, go find others and do the same.

But some Christians today read these same words and think Jesus meant to go find people who say they are already followers of Jesus and try to persuade them to to do it better.  And they do this in the name of "discipleship".  This mindset can be a problem and a hindrance to making disciples who make disciples.

Don't misunderstand, we do have a responsibility in the church to equip and train (and disciple) other believers to do the work of the ministry.  But sometimes believers get equipped and trained to the exclusion of fulfilling the Great Commission......not to the actual reproduction of making disciples.  Let's be clear about the the mission God has given us - it is to reach a lost a dying world who are hopeless without the Lord Jesus Christ and to continue to reproduce new disciples.  We need equipping and training very much, but if the equipping and training is not producing the fruit of disciple-making, we are missing the point.

It has been said that the true test of parenting is not in how your kids "turn out" but how your grandkids turn out.  This is so true.  This kind of reproduction is not just taught, but caught as well.  You will not reproduce what you say, but who you are.  You may have read all the best parenting books and attended all the seminars, but what is going to change your kids is not the information you gathered, but your life.  Bible truth is so important.  A disciple is a "learner" and to grow as a disciple you must grow as a student of the Word (II Pet 3:18, II Tim 2:15).  But the healthy disciple will not just learn biblical truth, they will live it.  The application of biblical truth will produce a vibrant spiritual life and that life is what will be reproduced into the lives of other people.  Contrariwise, the opposite will be reproduced too.  If a disciple is lazy in the Word, lacks biblical character and thinks that attending services each week fulfills the mission, they will reproduce this as well.  Some churches are full of church attenders instead of disciple makers.

That is why it is so imperative that we reach the lost.  We are not called to spiritual inbreeding.  A continual inward focus (only on other believers within the church) will produce a lackluster approach to the Great Commission.  If a follower of Jesus is not continually and intentionally making investments in people who are not already followers of Jesus, they will never fulfill what Jesus gave them to accomplish.  In fact, I don't believe the disciple-making process is complete until the disciple reaches someone who becomes a disciple......this is when spiritual parenting becomes spiritual grand parenting.  This is a life worth living!