Book 3 of Musings Disciples, Not Converts

The Lord commanded us to make disciples, not converts.

Converts are made to a religion. Disciples are followers of Jesus Christ and they keep His commandments.

Converts to the Christian religion are characterized by their emphasis on doctrine, liturgy, the number of people in attendance, and their new parking lot. Disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ are characterized by their emphasis on the Person, will, and commandments of Jesus.

I don't suppose there is a more familiar passage in all of Christendom than the Great Commission, found in Matthew, Chapter 28. Perhaps the most frequent usage of this passage is in the Evangelical churches. We are told, one and all, that we are to fulfill the Great Commission by going forth with the Gospel to all the world.

We may go forth, but we don't always do what the Lord commanded in the Great Commission.

The Lord directed us to do three things:

Make disciples of all nations.

Baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Teach them to obey everything the Lord commanded.

I may be incorrect, but I think the Lord meant to make disciples from the people of the nations, not make the nations themselves disciples. Perhaps I am mistaken.

And they sang a new song: "You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation." Rev 5:9)

So we are to follow the Spirit as He leads us to people from every nation.

We are to baptize these people.

We are to teach them to obey the commandments the Lord gave us, and, I would assume, the commandments the Lord gave us through His Apostles.

The Lord intends to make kings and priests of these disciples.

You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth. (Rev 5:10)

Make disciples.

Baptize them in water.

Teach them to obey the New Testament commandments.

Am I correct so far?

I don't believe this is exactly what we Evangelicals do.

I think we tell people about the atonement and ask them to accept Christ as their personal Savior.

I think we baptize them in water, but I am not certain if we always explain to them that baptism signifies death to the world system and entrance into new life in the Kingdom of God. I feel certain, however, that such instruction is given in many cases; for there are countries where being baptized in water can mean death at the hand of one's relatives.

It may be true that we are not teaching them to obey the New Testament commandments. We may be presenting them with the perversion of grace preached in the United States: that is, we do not have to keep the New Testament because we are saved by grace.

Back to the first of the three parts, making disciples.

Telling people about the atonement and asking them to make a profession of faith in Christ is not the same as making a disciple-especially when we add that they do not have to keep the New Testament commandments.

The Lord Jesus told us what it means to be a disciple. We have to deny ourselves. We have to go against the wishes of our loved ones if it proves necessary. We have to carry our personal cross. And we have to follow the Lord Jesus each day.

I don't believe we make disciples, in many instances. I think we persuade people of the facts of our religion, and then build a structure so they will have a place to worship. We have made converts, just like any other religion. This is not the same as making disciples.

Historically a disciple is someone who learns at the feet of a master. Day after day he listens to his teacher, or works as an apprentice. This instruction continues for years until he can teach and work with the same knowledge and skill as his master.

Notice what the Lord said about this.

A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher. (Luke 6:40)

Now, perhaps you will agree with me when I say that sometimes believers attend church for fifty years and experience little significant change in their personality. They are pretty much the same, after all those years, as when they started. It cannot be said of them that they are like Jesus, either in knowledge or in action.

Historically an apprentice would serve for a few years, and then he would leave his master and set up his own shop. This does not happen, because we do not make disciples. We make converts to our religion. We do not explain to them what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.

I may be wrong, but I would guess that we don't tell people what it means to be a disciple because we are too anxious to gain numbers of converts. It seems to me that denominations stress numbers of converts far out of proportion to the actual Kingdom significance of large numbers of adherents to their institution.

The Catholic Church has two or three times the number of communicants that is true of the entire population of the United States. What good is this when they are worshiping the Virgin Mary instead of Christ? What good are all these people if they are not denying themselves, taking up their cross, and following the Lord Jesus? What good is it to have these hundreds of millions of people as members when many if not most of them are brought into a relationship to their Church rather than to the Lord Jesus?

The same is true of the major Protestant denominations. What good is it to have millions of members when only a handful of them are denying themselves, taking up their cross, and following the Lord Jesus every day?

We may have a successful human organization, but the will of Christ is not being done. The Great Commission is not being obeyed.

As I said, I think the reason we do not stress the demands of discipleship is we are afraid the people will leave.

Suppose one was to come to a large Protestant church in the United States and tell the worshipers that they are not Christians until they deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow Jesus each day. Suppose the teachings about grace, Heaven, and the rapture were set aside for a season. Suppose the listeners were told they must lay down their life for Christ and His Gospel.

How many would remain in the church? Let us say that the church has five thousand members. Let us imagine further that they all leave except for twenty-five people. Then the truth would, there are twenty-five Christians in that large church.

What are the rest? Churchgoers.

Are they Christians? They are not. They are true believers, but a Christian is a disciple, according to the Book of Acts.

The churchgoers are decent people, for the most part, who believe in the theological facts they have been presented with.

Do they know Jesus personally? Many of them have had a personal experience with the Lord, trust in Him, and pray to Him.

But they don't grow as they should.

Why not? Because they have been told they are saved by grace. The requirements of discipleship, of what it means to be a Christian, that they are to count their life over, that for them to live is Christ and to die is gain, are not pressed on them Sunday after Sunday.

Given the allurements of the American culture, unless the demands of discipleship are continually pressed on the church members, they simply will not grow in the Lord as they should.

Historically disciples moved forward to become journeymen, and then masters of their field, by listening to the instruction and watching the actions of those to whom they have been apprenticed.

This is how a pastor is to make disciples. He must bring the people to Jesus continually, exhorting them to keep all the commandments found in the New Testament. And he himself must be practicing what he is preaching.

He must throw off the pressure on himself to have large numbers of people in his congregation. If he responds to the pressure for numbers, he certainly will compromise the demands of discipleship.

The pressure for numbers of churchgoers is not coming from the Lord. The Lord is content with two or three. The pressure is coming from the personal ambition of people, their desire to be viewed as successful.

Let us take, for example, the commandment to take up our cross.

The cross we carry has two arms.

The first arm is the denial for a season of our most fervent desires.

The second arm is our being required to endure for a season situations we do not enjoy.

When I say for a season, I mean as long as God requires imprisonment of us. This can continue for many years-sometimes to death, if necessary.

If a pastor or other Christian leader is to make disciples his listeners must see the iron in his face, they must feel the steel of his resolve-even if he is a young man. They must know he is remaining in his prison just as he is commanding them to do. If they do not, they will not grow in the Lord.

Disciples are not made brought to maturity overnight. They must sit at the feet of the leader God has provided for them until they are ready to disciples others.

There is a place for church buildings. There is a time for collective worship and the other activities we associate with the Christian religion.

But if the center of these activities is not instruction by someone who himself is following Jesus, who can say "follow me as I follow Christ," then what we have is a religion and its converts.

Go into all the world. Make disciples. Baptize them in water. Teach them to keep my commandments.

It looks like the American people will be experiencing severe trials in the coming days. Strong Christians will be needed to assist the weaker believers and the unsaved. These must be disciples who know Jesus and are not afraid of death.

Someone said recently that the Lord spoke to him that America will be hit hard, the purpose being to clean out some of the moral filth that has accumulated.

Let us hope this takes place.

Each one of us can help during times of destruction and times of restoration. But to be of help we must be genuine disciples and not just converts made by institutional Christianity. We must know the Lord Jesus Christ and be following Him each day, patiently carrying our cross.

Then Jesus came to them and said, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, And teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. (Matthew 28:18-20)