Nouns and Verbs
Going, then, disciple all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Matthew 28:19
Disciple – You probably know the translation of this verse as “make disciples of all nations.” But have you thought about the implications of adding “make” to the Greek verb matheteuo and changing the form to a noun? The addition moves the action from the subject (you) to the object (disciples). With the addition, the command appears to call you to produce a disciple. In other words, it implies that you have to do something that results in a disciple. The focus is on the result, not the process.
Now, get ready for a shock. The Greek text is not about the disciple at all. It is about the process that you undertake to disciple another. In other words, the command is about you, not the result. Jesus does not command us to go out and produce anything or anyone. He commands us to go about discipling. What matters is your obedience. The result is up to God.
This is such a fundamental shift in our thinking that it may take quite awhile to sink in. We have been trained to believe that we are to produce spiritual results – to save souls. But Jesus is Hebrew, not Greek. Hebrew derives nouns from verbs. The fundamental perspective of the language is on the action, not the person, place or thing. Greek, on the other hand, derives verbs from nouns. The emphasis is on the resulting person, place or thing. If we want to understand Jesus here, we must enter the Hebrew mind. We must see that the Great Commission is not about the results; it is about the process.
Jesus does not command you to get out there and make things happen. He does not order you to knock on doors, pass out tracts, invite pagans to church or run crusades. All of those activities are useful ways to reach the lost, but they do not fulfill the Great Commission. The Great Commission is about your commitment to discipling someone else. The focus is not outward. It is inward – looking inside to see if you are discipling. And what does discipling look like? Well, it starts with a choice. You choose someone. Then you embrace that person with the heart of God. You demonstrate compassion, mercy and grace. You instruct (yasar – discipline) and encourage. You enter into the life of another in thought, word and deed. You are present in the pain and the joy. You walk the road with the same dust on your feet. You do life together. You can’t disciple by proxy, any more than you can raise your child with a surrogate parent. If you want to disciple, you have to get into the life of the other person.
Very few contemporary visions of the Great Commission are about discipleship. Most are about marketing the gospel. But that is not Jesus’ way. Jesus is Hebrew. That means He focuses on personal obedience and corporate community. Jesus builds deep relationships. That’s what transforms life. Are you discipling?
Topical Index: Disciple
nice
“For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ,in them that are saved, and in them that perish: to the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things? For we are not as many,which corrupt the word of God: But as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.” 2 Cor. 2:15-17
It is painful to enter another’s life as a servant. To stoop low enough to ‘fit’ into their lexicon and life view. In the lives of very damaged people, this can be very ‘low’ indeed. And commit to a lifetime of it. To find a way to come into relationship no matter what it takes. Not for a day or until they ‘get saved’, but an eternal commitment. Jesus said to His disciples “I call you friends”. What does it take to be a friend to a total rebel or apostate? What does it take to be-friend someone so broken or afraid that they have built complete walls? What does it take to get into the life of someone who is determined unto the very end to have it ‘their way”? Where you look at another person and see the odds as, well, zero? And still ask “what would it take to be THEIR best friend, or, more likely, in the case of someone with such a wall, the person closest to them because no one else is willing to endure such one-sided mistreatment from a person who has no trust?
And what if you succeed in finding a way to be their servant and are able to get close enough to meet them in their devastation and allow them to ‘use’ you, because a person who has no trust can only be a user, and get them to a point where they can depend on you, and want you in their lives, and love you in their way, and even grab you like a drowning person with a straw, and admit that they can see your God delivers and heals and restores, and yet still, in all their pain and fear, choose to have it ‘their way’ until that very last breath?
We are not just called to be a savor of life unto life. Everyone deserves a fair choice of love. I believe we are called to represent that love,but also that choice. And be able to make a case in court so strong by how we live that that conviction cannot be denied, knowing all the while that the odds of any one person actually choosing the truth are going to be pretty abysmal. To agree to be that savor of life is to also agree to be used as a savor of death unto death. In this way, a Christian who is actually living out their calling stands in continual judgment in front of the world. I know our lives must be a convicting force for life or death.
I just lost the last person I have been ‘assigned’ to for the last 5 years of my life this past Friday. She insisted on the way of death to her last breath. On human terms, I just ‘wasted’ 5 years of the prime of my life. But I know that not all of us get ‘assigned’ the winners. I know that justice calls for every one to get a fair chance. How else are they to have it? And I am a slave of the Lord Jesus Christ. I know that it is not just about ‘winning’ souls. It is just as importantly about ‘losing’ them too.
My heart hurts! How does the Father stand such odds? It is hard to get beaten up. And hard to rejoice in it, too!