Matt 28:19 – Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations.

Jesus’ final charge given to his disciples was to go into the world and “make disciples”, like Jesus had made of them, in all nations. This is popularly referred to as “The Great Commision“. The Apostles were specifically chosen, given this special calling and anointing and imbued with an incredible level of power from the Holy Spirit to accomplish this task. 

Notice that Jesus did not tell them to just “make converts”, but to make disciples. The distinction is an important one. It’s much harder and takes a lot more time, effort and patience to make a disciple than it does to make a convert. Getting people to consider the “free gift” of eternal salvation, secured with just a head nod and a quick prayer is far easier than establishing someone in the faith and turning them into a disciple and faithful follower of Jesus, one that stands the test of time. But that is exactly what Jesus did of His disciples, He patiently forbeared with them for 3 years and taught them what it means to be a disciple. As a result, they were established, firmly grounded and able to teach others to: “observe ALL that he had commanded of them”. This also equipped and prepared them to endure the intense trials and testing of their faith that was to come. This is a vital and important task, because anyone who repents, comes to Christ and becomes His disciple will face great trial and temptation and the enemy will work feverishly to get them to fall and turn back from their faith, or become complacent, lukewarm and re-bound in sin. I don’t think they tried to sugar-coat what it meant to be a Christian.

We should not undersell or try to hide what people are signing up for in becoming a Christian and a disciple of Jesus, because there is a cost. Jesus never minced words with an easy-believism, cheap grace message that in any way indicated that saving faith required no ongoing commitment, but rather said this to the *great multitudes*: And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? (Luke 14:27-28). Jesus told them to “count the cost” before they committed to being a Christian, and we should do the same when presenting the Gospel to people. 

Have you ever wondered why, in Mark chapter 10, Jesus gave the rich, young ruler a list of things he must *do* to be saved, culminating in selling all he owned? Why didn’t Jesus just say “all ya gotta do is believe!” I mean here was a guy appearing eager and ready to “pray the prayer”, and yet Jesus probed his heart to see if he was really ready to commit to the lifelong cost of being a Christian and found he was not. The rich, young ruler was basically told to go away and ponder some things before making any commitment to Christ.

This is especially important now, because we can no longer trust that just getting new converts connected with a “Bible believing” Church will result in them becoming a disciple. Sadly, most Churches have adopted the easy salvation, guaranteed eternity message and have completely dropped the ball with discipling and equipping believers to stand firm in the faith and all that it means in regards to godly behavior, character and demeanor and it shows. Many professing Christians carry the same fears, worries, insecurities and sins as non-believers and lack the kind of transformation in godly character and righteousness that good discipleship would produce. Good discipleship takes Christians beyond the initial step of believing on Jesus to be saved, into “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded” (Matt 28:20) so that their faith produces the required fruit of salvation and endures to the end. This is why Jesus charged them to go make disciples and not just converts.