The Great Commission

March 8

At the end of Matthew 28, Jesus commissions His disciples for ministry: “As you go, make disciples.” For three years, the disciples have learned doctrine and practice from Jesus. They have been His disciples. This now raises the important question: What is a disciple?

Back in the day, a disciple was someone who followed a master teacher as an apprentice followed a master tradesman. By following his mentor-master, the disciple learned not only the “what” of a trade but all of its “hows” and “whys.” There were no “For Dummies” books. So, if you wanted to learn carpentry, for example, you apprenticed under a carpenter. (Jesus would have done this very thing, and most likely with his earthly father Joseph.)

Over time, an apprentice carpenter learned vital lessons of his trade, like which nails work best with which kind of wood. What kind of glue goes best with what kind of wood? How do you use a miter box to make a forty-five-degree cut? And, why is a forty-five-degree cut better than just nailing two boards together at ninety degrees?

As disciples, Peter, James, John, and the rest have already learned the art of following Jesus. But, that’s not enough, He says. He tells them to go and make disciples. Paul utters this idea so plainly as he tells his “son in the faith,” Timothy, “What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” (1 Timothy 1:2; 2:2)

Jesus never intended discipleship to last only one generation. The Bible is clear that discipleship is supposed to be multigenerational—one spiritual generation discipling the next. And, notice that the Lord didn’t tell his disciples to merely bring people to believe in Him.

So, what is involved in being a spiritual disciple and spiritual mentor? Jesus spells out His plan in Matthew 28:19. His command—the only command in the sentence—is to make disciples, and Jesus tells His disciples how to implement the command by using participles (the -ing words in the sentence). He says, make disciples by baptizing and by teaching them to obey everything He taught. That’s it.

Teaching is pretty straightforward, but much is involved in the Lord’s discipleship process. Keep reading. How does baptizing figure in? Baptizing is more than simply getting someone wet. If that were the case, we could just pour a glass of water on them. Jesus, however, uses a word with far greater meaning.

There are two Greek words for dip (that’s the basic idea behind both). One of these words, though, might best be understood with “blanching.” If you are cooking and the recipe says to blanch a vegetable, you must boil a pot of water then dip the veggie briefly into the water and pull it back out. Blanching changes the appearance and texture of the vegetable—nothing more.

The word Jesus uses, however, means more. His word can best be understood in comparison to the concept of pickling. When making pickles, you dip cucumbers (or other veggies of choice) into a pickling solution and leave them there, letting them marinate. Unlike blanching, which only changes the appearance and texture of what is dipped, pickling changes the very identity of whatever is pickled!

Jesus told his disciples to make disciples by “pickling.” The new disciples would be forever changed in their identity and behavior. He essentially says, “Don’t just get people wet; lead them through a process of life transformation.”

Through the discipleship process, the disciple learns not only the “what” of the Christian life, but the “how” of thinking biblically and “why” doing the biblical “what” matters.

Water baptism changes how someone looks on a very basic level. A pastor dips a person into water, and he/she emerges completely wet on the outside. But Jesus doesn’t want just blanched/wet people following Him. He wants to pickle us, to completely transform our lives. We’ll look into this further on May 7.

Application

Are you an “apprentice” to another disciple of Jesus? If so, what have you learned from your mentor? How has your life changed since he (or she) began pouring his knowledge and life into yours?

If you are not growing as a disciple, you should ask yourself, “Why not?” Obviously, if you have trusted Jesus as your Savior and Lord, you are His disciple. But, you also need to be a disciple of someone who is farther down the road in his spiritual walk than you are. In time, you will be able to learn on your own. However, you need to learn from someone else, especially when starting out.

If you are a growing disciple, let me ask you: Are you a multiplying disciple? By that, I mean are you pouring your knowledge and life into another believer who is not as far down the road in his spiritual walk as you? You don’t need an advanced Bible degree to be a spiritual mentor. But, you need to be actively growing in your own faith. After all, you can’t pass on what you have not received.

© Copyright 2026 Craig Beaman