Why the Great Commission Was Never Optional

August 18th, 2026
by The Life of a Disciple Series

Disciples Making Disciples: Why the Great Commission Was Never Optional

There is a version of the Great Commission many of us have quietly rewritten in our own hearts, even if we'd never say it out loud. The real one, in Matthew 28:18-20, is unmistakable: Jesus, with all authority in heaven and on earth, commands His followers to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing and teaching them to observe everything He commanded. The version many of us actually live by sounds more like this: go and make converts, offer them the optional discipleship package, teach them the things you'd suggest, if they're interested. We chuckle at the rewrite because we recognize ourselves in it - too many of us are content to show up on a Sunday and call that good.

This is the third and final message in the series on the life of a disciple, and it lands on the sharpest question of all: not just what a disciple is, but how disciples are made.

What a Disciple Actually Is

Webster's 1828 dictionary - written by a man who took his definitions from a culture still shaped by Scripture - defines a disciple as a follower, an adherent to the doctrines of another. The word adherent matters: it means sticking to something, glued to it. To be a disciple of Christ is to be glued to Him, not casually associated with Him. Notice, too, how the Great Commission ends: with "Amen." That word isn't a polite sign-off - it means let it be established. Jesus is declaring that His followers will go and make disciples, and will stick to Him like glue while doing it.

Jesus Set the Pattern

Look at what Jesus did with the twelve. He led, guided, and taught them, walked with them, told parables and explained what they meant. He demonstrated truth through action, loved them, was patient and encouraging - and He was also, at times, blunt. When Philip asked Jesus to simply show them the Father, Jesus didn't soften His answer: "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip?" (John 14:7-11). When the disciples woke a sleeping Jesus in a storm, panicked, He didn't comfort their feelings first - He asked why they had such little faith, then calmed the sea (Matthew 8:23-27). And when Peter rebuked Jesus for predicting His own death, Jesus turned and said, "Get behind Me, Satan" (Matthew 16:21-23). None of that came from a lack of love; it came from a refusal to let comfort stand in the way of truth. Our culture has grown so sensitive about how things are said that we're losing the truth itself under a pile of careful words. Being discipled means hearing hard things without walking away - and some who heard Jesus's hard sayings did exactly the opposite (John 6:60-69). Peter's answer to Him - "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life" - is the posture every disciple needs.

Real Discipleship Takes Time - and It Costs Something

Jesus, who is God, could have implanted every bit of knowledge and faith the disciples ever needed in a single day. Instead He walked with them for three and a half years. Almost nothing meaningful in life happens in a moment - a wedding day is the culmination of years of knowing someone, and a graduation is, in a sense, a receipt for years already invested. Discipleship works the same way: a two-way relationship where both sides give something up - time with the other person, in reading, prayer, and study, and less time for television, scrolling, or whatever hobby fills the hours. Nothing else offers what discipleship offers: a deeper knowledge of the God who loves us.

Sometimes what God's Word asks of us doesn't match what our culture has taught, and the temptation is to pull back rather than trust. A woman who lived nearly a hundred years - who as a girl crossed the plains in a covered wagon and later watched a space shuttle launch - once admitted she'd been afraid the first time she rode in a car, afraid she wouldn't be able to catch her breath. Silly to us now, since we grew up around cars. But when God's Word asks something unfamiliar of us - about money, marriage, submission, sacrifice - it's that same fear talking. God does not lie. If it's true, we can trust it, even when it feels like getting in the car for the first time.

Parents, Take Note

Your first and most important disciple-making field is your own children. Proverbs 22:6 doesn't call for an hour on Sunday morning; it calls for training - the same patient, daily investment Jesus modeled with the twelve. Children need daily discipleship, not just protection from every hard thing.

Both a Disciple and a Disciple-Maker

"Meditation is the activity of calling to mind and thinking over and dwelling on and applying to oneself the various things that one knows about the works and ways and purposes and promises of God."

- J.I. Packer

Notice the difference between thinking and dwelling. Thinking can happen in five minutes; dwelling turns something over again and again, sometimes for weeks, until it becomes something we actually apply. That's the posture behind 2 Timothy 2:1-4, where Paul, writing from prison near the end of his life, tells Timothy - his son in the faith - to be strong in grace, to endure hardship like a good soldier, and to commit what he's learned to faithful people who will teach others also. A distracted soldier is a dead one; we can't entangle ourselves so fully with this life that we lose focus on the mission.

This is why the "us four and no more" mentality has to go. We're not meant to hold what we've learned to ourselves, or to think of discipleship as something we eventually graduate out of. It's a both/and calling - even after decades with Christ, we still need mentoring, even as we mentor others.

"Ignorance of God, both of His ways and of the practice of communion with Him, lies at the root of much of the church's weakness today."

- J.I. Packer

Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33). That's where disciple-making begins - staying hungry to know Him, and willing to help someone else do the same.

Watch the full message: Disciples Making Disciples →

Scripture References (ESV)