These words of our Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 28:18-20 are commonly referred to as The Great Commission. We've hear a lot about the Great Commission as we have marched ever nearer the end of the 20th Century. Many evangelical mission con­ferences throughout the world have touted their banners and blown their horns, urging all Christians to get on the band-wagon, and fulfill the Great Commission by the year 2000. Some missiologists, realizing at last that this has begun to seem an unrealistic goal, are now encouraging the sheepfolds to carry the torch into the next century, when at last we shall "get the job done."

But is the Great Commis­sion a job that can ever be finished? The answer should be obvious. Every cen­tury sees an entirely new set of people on the face of the, earth who did not exist the century before. Each rising generation reveals an increasing number of churches — sometimes entire denominations — falling away into liberalism, unbelief, and rebellion against Jehovah, the Lord and Judge of all the earth. Many nations which were staunchly Christian in a former era, are blanketed today by spiritual darkness and Satanic oppression, and must be reached all over again.

This idea of "completing" the Great Commission springs from a misunderstanding of these important texts of Scripture. Many look at the text rather loosely, with the result that the command to make disciples is often inter­preted to mean, make conver­sions. In this age of mass evan­gelism, it may mean no more than make decisions.

Now, it's not wrong to encour­age our neighbors to make a decision to trust and obey Jesus Christ. But does the Lord Jesus, in Matthew 28:18-20, command us to focus all of our attention on decision-making? Is this the finished "fruit" of our Great Commission labors? I propose that a careful reader of the verses would be forced to disagree. Rather, the emphasis of the Commission is, first, upon Christ's faithful obedi­ence in the lives of true disci­ples. If you don't appreciate the conclusion, I humbly ask you to hear me out.

The first words of our Lord in the "Great Commission" are a declaration of His sovereignty over all the universe. "All authority in heaven and upon earth has been given to Me," He says. With this, He who was born King, reveals the infinite extent of His own kingdom; He rules over heaven and earth ­not in part, but in absolute dominion, for "all authority" in both realms is truly His. Christ, the second Adam, has entered into His own, He has received the inheritance promised by the Father in Psalm 2, "Ask of me and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession." The Holy Spirit makes clear that God has already placed all things beneath the feet of Jesus Christ, His Son — in passages such as 1 Cor. 15:27 and Eph. 1:22. It is because Jesus is Lord of heaven and earth that we are to make disciples of all nations, even if human government objects and stands against Jehovah, and against the King He has installed upon His Mt. Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem. The servants of Christ are com­missioned to actively go out into the world in the service of the Great King; not only to make disciples of the suffering Jesus, who forsook His sacred head for our sakes — but also of the Jesus Christ who lives again, and who now reigns supreme as Lord and Master over all of God's entire universe. It is impossible to separate Christ's Lordship from the Great Commission of disciple-mak­ing. The Commission is based on His Lordship over all — and it must begin with His Lordship over us.

It is only after this declara­tion, that He is Ruler over every earthly and heavenly kingdom, that He commands the new leaders of His church to make disciples in all the nations. This command is the main verb of the "Great Commission." The directions to "go" to "baptize," and to "teach" are not actually com­mands in and of themselves, because they are not in the imperative (that is, command) mood in the original language. In fact, they are not verbs at all, but participles. As such, they are subordinate to the main verb, and only by their use in the sentence they become part of a command because of their relation to the verb, "make dis­ciples," which is a command. All three participles serve to modify (or explain) what Jesus means when He says, "Disciple all the nations."

How is the church to disciple the nations? First, by going to them. Second, by baptizing them into the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And third, by teaching them to obey all the things which the Lord has com­manded. Going, baptizing, teaching; this is the manner in which the Commission to "make disciples" is to be ful­filled. Sounds simple enough, doesn't it? But let's look closer.

First, it is impossible to disciple the nations without going to the nations. They will not come to us. We have to be an out­going, and outreaching Church. One of my seminary professors described the requirement to "go" in terms akin to this, "Any church that stops reaching out to the world is a dead church, or is dying." We have only ourselves to blame if the flowing river of the Spirit becomes, in our church, a swamp or a marshy place.

In the New Covenant, the Spirit ever flows out to the nations from the temple construct­ed of living stones (Ez. 47).

Jesus' words in Matthew 28:20, "And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age," are one of those sayings that well-meaning peo­ple love to lift out of the Bible to label their beautiful wall posters, or add to their pocket promises books; as if it is a statement that stands all alone.

But this verse is a part of a context — that of making disciples. Furthermore, Jesus spoke these words to a select group — specifically, those who would be involved in the outgoing, baptizing, and teaching labors of discipling the world. This is more than an assurance that Christ will always be with all of His own. He is encouraging His servants that they won't ever be separated from Him as they continue this discipling work, even unto the last generation of  the church at the end of the age. In the original language, the Lord doesn't use the word, "always," in verse 20, but more precisely, "all the days until the end of the age." In other words, we will not face a single diffi­cult day alone in His harvest fields, as we are busy about the interests of our Savior — as we go forth, He goes with us.

Going into the world will hopefully result in baptisms.  For some, this is the main thing. I have heard of missionaries in India who actual­ly paid their national co-workers a flat rate for every person who was baptized, so that they could take impressive pictures and videos for their support­ers back home. Co-workers in turn paid a portion to baptismal vol­unteers, with the blasphemous result of some persons submitting to baptism as often as possible, since it provided another source of income. Surely, it is not baptism for baptism's sake that our Lord is promoting. Baptism is not the goal of all evangelism, nor does it work ex opere operato (the power of work­ing itself without faith or knowl­edge) — one of the false doctrines the Reformation stood against. Paul felt so strong about not making baptism the main thing that he insist­ed, "God did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel."

So, what then is the point of Jesus' words? Why does the Lord insist on baptism as a part of the process of discipleship? Let's not forget that there is a greater context to Jesus' words, as well as to the Great Commission. For baptism is the outward symbol of the washing away of the veil of the flesh, which God promised Abraham's family for 2000 years, and finally fulfilled through Christ. This means, of course, that there is much implied in the directive to bap­tize disciples. Let's consider the baptism of an adult convert.

First, there must be the preaching of the Word to impart knowledge. And this knowledge must be more than just the gospel, the good news. In truth, it must begin with the "bad news" that mankind is fallen, that there are none righteous, that the Law has shut up all men under sin, con­demnation, death and hell. The Law is, and ever shall be, "our schoolmaster to lead us to Christ, that we may be justified by faith." Preaching the Law, and the condemnation of all men, salts men with fear of eternal fire, and breaks up the fallow ground, plowing through the stoniness of the heart to prepare for the good news that God's own Son gave His life as the only true mediator to save us from this condemnation. But this knowledge, in and of itself, does little unless there is the work of the Spirit of God, con­victing those who listen to the Word, of the seriousness of their sins, of God's high stan­dards of perfect righteousness, and of the certain judgment that is coming upon all who have ever lived upon the earth (see John 16:7-8). In the case of the apostle Paul, most of the Gentiles he preached to were students of Moses and the Law; they were already attending synagogue. Not all them, I con­cede, but most. And they knew something of the good news from him, too — the blessed hope of grace — because of the sacrifices, intercessory priest­hood, day of atonement, and Passover lamb that were part of the Law (among other forms of grace in the Law), and which foreshadowed Christ and the New Covenant. The apostle preached where others had plowed and planted the Word before him. The harvest was ready and waiting for the final Word, the good news of salva­tion through the promised Messiah.

We don't always have that advantage today among most of the people we preach to outside of our worship buildings. When we go to the nations, we have to start at square one, explaining the creation, the fall and the condemnation of man, and the history of redemption from beginning to end. We have to plow stones with the preaching of condemnation, in order that we might plant wheat in good soil with the gospel of God's grace.

But the preaching of the gospel — and repentance, con­version and baptism — are not an end result of our work, but only the beginning of it. For the goal is making true disciples, and not only decisions or bap­tisms. And what is a true disci­ple? Jesus described "making disciples" in these words, "teaching them to obey every­thing I have commanded you." Evangelism isn't wrong. Christian missionaries must keep going into the world from true churches, and we must keep laboring to see conver­sions to Christ and His covenant ... and baptize people. But the true success of our labors cannot be calculated until much time has passed, because an inseparable part of the Commission is "teach them to obey all the things I have commanded you." This is the heart of making disciples. This kind of teaching starts before conversion, with the preaching of the gospel and teaching of the Word. And it continues after conversion for the rest of one's life. God's Word reveals to us a world that has been con­demned for its disobedience and rebellion against the cre­ator. Therefore, true preaching of the Word must always aim high, toward true obedience ­obedience to all things com­manded by the Lord, the obedi­ence which is the result of gen­uine faith. We have not reached the finish line with a disciple until his, or her, obedience to the Word of God is complete. Some pastors/missionaries are satisfied if there has been a decision to receive and follow Christ. After all, if someone is saved, then their eternal future is secure — so what more do they need? But the Great Commission will not let us stop and do head counts and pat each other on the back. No, a profession of faith signals that the gospel has just begun to bear its first fruit, and that now we must press on toward maturity — not simply move on to the next person. Jesus said, "You shall know them by their fruits," implying that such pro­duce must become evident in many ways. As in the parable of the sower and the seed, true faith stands the test of time, and bears much more fruit. How many years are needed to pro­duce an abundance of good fruit? Even when a tree is planted by streams of water, has plenty of sunshine, and is cared for by a responsible hus­bandman, fruit does not come overnight. How many years are needed to make a disciple?

Some churches today empha­size going. "All that God needs is a willing heart," the leaders emotionally proclaim. Others think that the only goal is con­versions, or decisions, and the greater the number, the more jewels in one's crown at the end. But Jesus would have us see that the Great Commission has to do with much more than merely going forth, or decision-making, or outward acts such as water baptism — it aims at faith­ful and true discipleship, obedi­ence that comes from the heart, conformity of all of one's life to the Master of all lives, the King who has been given all authori­ty in heaven and upon earth. After all, what is a disciple, but one who carefully follows all the words and teachings of his Master? And who can do this except those who have been saved and given the Spirit of holiness to live a Godly life in Christ.

How can a true church rest if it is not always engaged with this command of Christ — making disciples of all nations — by seeing to the train­ing of mature, faithful, and obe­dient leaders to go out into all the world? Jesus set the prece­dent by training 12 men, and sent them forth with the Great Commission fresh in their ears. Certainly he did not assure, for their sakes alone, that He would be with them to the end of the age, but for ours also, upon whom the end of the age draws ever nearer.

Baptizing our children within the secure walls of our church­es is right and good, but it is not enough to satisfy the command. We must also go out into the world with the gospel. And we may not stop there. With those who become disciples we must labor unto completion ­because we have not "finished the job" until they finally obey all things that their Lord has commanded. It was for this rea­son that Christ gave gifts to men in the church, as we read in Ephesians 4:11-13. He "gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evange­lists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith, and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the full­ness of Christ." Mature disci­ples — that's the aim of every spiritual gift and every office ­disciples whose faith is proven by their joy in obeying every Word of their great King in heaven. Without this goal before us, our halfway attempts to fulfill the "Great Commission" are in reality a great omission.