Making Disciples!

“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 things that I have commanded you....” – Matthew 28:19-20a

Every follower of Jesus is to heed this Call and Commission; as if the Lord Jesus was standing before us, with His nail-pierced hands stretched out, speaking to our heart with all of His authority! I remind you that this great commission is a personal and perpetual obligation to all of us. Friends, this is not only for the disciples of old; it is for every disciple of the Lord Jesus, who is alive today! If you have come to Jesus, as your Savior; then you have also come under Jesus, as your Lord; and also, you have come after Jesus, as your Teacher. Our “Master-Teacher” is giving every disciple specific instructions in this familiar passage. He is commanding us to invest, what has been invested in our life, into the lives of others. 

A disciple is not some higher level of the Christian experience, for the word ‘disciple’ is a synonym for an authentic Christian. In Acts 11:26 we see that “The disciples were first called Christians at Antioch”. Indeed, every person becomes a disciple of Jesus at the moment of their conversion! But dear friends, we have been transformed from rebels into disciples for a supreme purpose; and this supreme purpose is to reproduce other disciples, for the glory of our Lord and Teacher! Our Lord is declaring to us that ‘there is far more to being a disciple, than merely following Jesus alone’! Jesus is saying that ‘being a faithful disciple involves making other disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ’. Of course, this includes not only sharing our faith and seeing others converted to Christ and following the Lord in “believer’s baptism”; but it also involves passing on the Baton of Truth to those infant disciples, by planting the truths which you have learned, into their lives. Not only are we to faithfully plant truth into them; we are to be faithful to live a “Christ-centered” life before these new disciples; and to teach them through the example of our life, as we follow Jesus before them! I am so thankful that Dianne and I are both recipients of faithful disciples, who heeded this call and obeyed Jesus’ commission. 

In 1980, in New Orleans, LA, God performed a supernatural miracle in the life of an agnostic, rock and jazz drummer. The Lord Jesus saved the most unlikely of characters! This 29-year-old pagan musician had never opened a Bible in his entire life. But the minister of music, in the church that this drummer began to attend, came alongside of this ignorant and infant disciple. That minister of music (Ray Jones) began to invest the Word of God into this “new-born” believer. Bro. Ray invested his time, his life and his love into this young follower. Friends, I will be forever grateful that this precious brother in Christ willingly met with me and two other men, every Friday morning; and he poured the foundations of the faith into our lives! He taught me the basics of the Christian walk. He taught me the importance of memorizing and meditating on scripture; and he offered me great tools to implement those things. He taught me how to study the Word and seek the Lord in prayer.

 We shared our hearts and our struggles together. We went witnessing and ministered together. Our families spent time together. During this time, Ray was continually ministering to the masses; but he was also spending quality, priority and consistent time, investing the truth, as well as his life, into me. He was faithful to pass the “Baton of Truth” to this newly converted disciple of Jesus. It is now my responsibility, to be faithful to pass the baton of sound doctrine and holy living to the lives of others, who will continue to be able to pass it on.

The apostle Paul said in Philippians 4:9, “The things which you have learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace with be with you”. He is imploring them to reproduce the life that he has declared and demonstrated to them. Paul had effectively fed them, by expounding the teachings of Jesus; and he had wonderfully led them, by the example of his life, which was lived out among them and before them. Now, He is calling on them to multiply that teaching and that holy living, by passing the Baton of Truth to others, and investing their lives into others!