Go and make disciples
The Great Commission
Before he ascended, Jesus gave his followers a commission that has propelled the church into all the world ever since: go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. The inner life of the disciple is not meant to terminate in private enjoyment of God; it is meant to send us out, to make more disciples, to spread the life we have received.
Notice the scope: all nations. The formation God works in us is not for us alone; it is part of a vast purpose that reaches to the ends of the earth. We are caught up into a mission far larger than our own spiritual growth — God's purpose to fill the world with worshipers, and we are sent as part of it. The active life includes this sending-outward toward those who do not yet know Christ.
And notice the promise attached, which makes the going possible: behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. We do not go alone or in our own strength; the One who sends us goes with us. The same Christ we have come to know in the inner life accompanies us into the mission. The journey inward and the journey outward are not separate; the One we meet at the center sends us to the ends of the earth, and goes with us as we go. Into whose life is God sending you to make a disciple?
“Go, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
— Jesus, the Great Commission — Matthew 28:19 (WEB)
Let your inner life send you outward to make disciples — caught up into God's purpose for all nations, going in the company of the Christ who promises to be with you always.
“Teaching them to observe all things which I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
It is easy to let the inner life curl inward on itself, prizing the sweetness of God for its own sake until our formation has no horizon wider than our own peace. The interior work is to let the commission break that smallness open — to treat what God has worked in us as a fire meant to spread, not a warmth to guard — and to go knowing the Christ met at the center is the same Christ who walks out with us.
This week, take part in the sending: invest in making a disciple — sharing Christ with someone who does not yet know him, or helping another follow him more closely — going not in your own strength but in the company of the Christ who is with you always.
The enemy is content to shrink your faith to a private comfort, formation that warms you and stops there, so the life you received never reaches another soul. But a disciple who makes disciples, caught up in God's purpose for all nations and accompanied by the ever-present Christ, carries forward the one mission he most wants stalled at your own front door.
We can treat the inner life as if its purpose were our own private enjoyment of God — formation for our own sake, ending in personal spiritual satisfaction. Jesus' final commission shatters that smallness: go and make disciples of all nations. The life we have received is meant to be spread, and we are caught up into a purpose that reaches the ends of the earth, far larger than our own growth.
This does not mean everyone is called to cross oceans, but it does mean none of us is exempt from the sending. The formation God works in us is meant to overflow toward those who do not yet know Christ, near and far. And the commission comes with a promise that makes it possible: I am with you always. We do not go alone or in our own strength; the Christ we have come to know within accompanies us as we go. The journey inward and the journey outward are one — the One met at the center sends us out, and goes with us. Into whose life is God sending you?
- Have I treated the inner life as merely for my own enjoyment of God?
- Am I part of God's purpose that reaches all nations?
- Into whose life is God sending me to make a disciple?
Lord, I treat my inner life as private enjoyment, when you send me to make disciples of all nations. Catch me up into your purpose for the world. Send me out to spread the life I have received, and go with me, for you are with us always. Amen.