Have We Even Been Making Disciples?

In the last few years, I believe that G-D has been spiritually refocusing my heart. I am just as committed to Yeshua and to serving in G-D’s Kingdom as I have ever been. I have not changed my core beliefs in Yeshua being the Messiah or in the absoluteness of G-D’s Word.

But as the world seems to spiral into greater moral chaos, and as more and more people twist G-D’s Word to fit their heart's desires instead of turning their hearts toward G-D’s desires, I have concluded that, in many ways, we, the body of believers, have been much less effective than we could have been. I believe this is the result of a misdirection of our focus, efforts, and energies.

For many years, we have viewed our primary mission as sharing the Good News with non-believers in order to grow the Kingdom of G-D and spread the message of Yeshua globally. Before you stop reading, please know that I am not rejecting the Great Commission or diminishing our directive, spoken by Yeshua, to go into all the world and preach the Good News.

What I am saying is that while we have focused strongly on this mission, and with some success, I believe that over the years we have forgotten what took place before Yeshua spoke the words of the Great Commission. It is this missing piece that many of us have lost sight of.

When we read the New Testament books that share the narrative of Yeshua’s life, we usually read them with our eyes focused on Yeshua. After all, He is the protagonist of the story. Unfortunately, sometimes we are so focused on what happened to Yeshua, especially the crucifixion, that we fail to pay attention to what He was doing throughout His ministry.

While He was healing the sick, raising the dead, opening blind eyes, debating with religious leaders, carrying His cross, and resurrecting from the dead, He was also making disciples.

We often focus on the words of Yeshua written in Mark 16:15:

“Go into all the world and proclaim the Good News to every creature.

But when Matthew recorded the words of the Great Commission, he wrote what Yeshua spoke before leaving this world. In Matthew 28:19-20 we read:

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, immersing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Ruach ha-Kodesh, teaching them to observe all I have commanded you. And remember! I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Notice that both writers are speaking about going into the world to proclaim and teach. However, the purpose of proclaiming and teaching was not simply convincing people to say a sinner’s prayer, nor was it laying hands on the sick, raising the dead, or even miraculously feeding thousands. The commission was to make disciples. And what do disciples do? They observe all that Yeshua commanded.

Yes, it is true that Yeshua worked miracles and performed signs and wonders. But His purpose and motivation for everything He did was to make disciples. Then He commissioned His disciples to make disciples. He gave them power through the Ruach to perform miracles, signs, and wonders as they made disciples, and so that those disciples would also perform miracles, signs, and wonders as they made disciples.

This is why Yeshua spoke the words we read in Mark 16:17-20:

These signs will accompany those who believe: in My name they will drive out demons; they will speak new languages; they will handle snakes; and if they drink anything deadly, it will not harm them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will get well.” Then the Lord Yeshua, after He had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and proclaimed everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word by the signs that follow.

This agrees completely with the words Yeshua spoke in Acts 1:8:

But you will receive power when the Ruach ha-Kodesh has come upon you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout all Judah and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

The power of the Ruach was not given to create crowds, platforms, or ministry notoriety. The Ruach was given so that disciples could make disciples.

Unfortunately, the body of Messiah has, for years, been sending unequipped and unprepared followers out with the goal of building our congregations or ministries and, sometimes, even changing our world rather than making disciples.

As we refocus our efforts to align with Yeshua’s words, it is important to remember that Yeshua was G-D robed in flesh, dwelling among us, and the greatest Rabbi who has ever lived. Yet it took Him three years to make His disciples.

So we are deceiving ourselves, and setting both ourselves and those we are teaching up for failure, if we think we are making disciples simply by preaching a message, giving an altar call, and then leading people in a short prayer.