Making disciples

After the resurrection, Jesus appeared to His disciples on a mountain in Galilee where He had told them He would meet them after the resurrection. There He gave them the Great Commission.

"...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." Matthew 28:18-20

The Great Commission is to make disciples. Just as Jesus made disciples, we are to make disciples. We are to make disciples who are like us.

But this is not part of our culture; western education does not seek to make disciples. We prefer to keep a distance between teacher and student; we also prefer to separate the intellect from behavior. But this is not the paradigm intended by Jesus. Disciples are to become like their teacher; teachers should be good replications of Jesus Christ.

This process is summarized in "teaching them to observe all that I commanded you"; literally this could be stated "causing them to learn to keep all that I told you to do." The teacher is responsible for building a life that can successfully do what Jesus said.

The Sermon on the Mount is what Jesus commanded us to do. The Great Commission is a directive to train people to live out the Sermon on the Mount. He taught a process that He meant to be implemented. What He taught that day, when implemented, becomes a working mechanism that results in an enduring foundation.

The Sermon on the Mount is like a software program inside a nice box. It is just a pretty box until we unwrap it and take it out of the box; when we put the disk in the drive, and let it load, we will see what it can do. It is meant to be executed; the pretty box has little to do with what it really is.

Some of us will have to muddle through this unfamiliar program, trying to learn how to use it. But those who have learned how use it can show others what it can do.

It is worth the effort to learn.