🧑‍🏫 Matthew 28:19-20 | Hidden in Plain Sight

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📧 In today’s email…

• 🎯 Learn to teach

• 👀 Something most people don’t realize is embedded in the Great Commission

• ✏️ Writing your testimony

• 📕 Resources to dive deeper

 🧠 Memorize

_{see if you know what words go in the blanks}

Go therefore ___ ____ _________ __ ___ nations, baptizing ____ __ ___ ____ __ the Father and __ ___ ___ ___ __ ___ Holy ______,

teaching them __ observe ___ ____ I have commanded ___. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

Matthew 28:19-20

Learn to Teach 🎯

Notice the commands in Jesus’ commission in Matthew 28:19-20:

• Disciple them

• Baptize them

• Teach them

All of these actions are related to being in the community of God - what we call the Church.

• A disciple is a student or learner, but Matthew expands the idea to include adopting a whole new way of living rooted in Jesus. It involves action, not just head knowledge.

• To baptize means to immerse or dip, but in the Christian context, it refers to the initiation into the community and a new birth — it’s the symbolic representation of the old self dying as you embrace a new self.

• Teaching can include all sorts of content, but we aren’t just teaching arithmetic or geography. Jesus wants us to teach ALL that he commanded.

Hidden in Plain Sight: Multiplication 🎯

I’ve heard the Great Commission countless times since putting my faith in Jesus.

But it wasn’t until this year that I heard a mentor of mine point out something monumental.

It was as if it was hidden in plain sight this whole time…

Read it again slowly, and notice what I bolded in blue 👇️ 

Okay, let’s slow this down..

Jesus tells them to teach others to “observe all that I have commanded you.”

What’s the thing Jesus literally just commanded them to do earlier in that sentence?

To make disciples!

Which means Jesus is not just commanding us to make disciples…

He’s commanding us to make disciple-makers.

Multiplication

When I heard my mentor point this out, it was a lightbulb moment. A painful one at that, because I realized:

If I am not personally, actively making disciple-makers, I am not obeying Jesus.

The Great Commission was meant to be exponential, not linear.

Multiplication. Not addition.

It’s not enough to just make disciples. We must make disciples who make disciples.

Jesus’ vision for the Church was to multiply through this method.

So what do you do if you’re not making disciple-makers?

A good first step is to talk to those you are discipling about whether or not they making disciples. And if they’re not, find out what’s stopping them and help!

Also, here is the non-profit called 1000 Houses that my mentor started to help others multiply disciples (and here is their podcast).

Apply & Respond: Are You Excited? 😃

I’m a nerd who loves learning and telling people about what I have recently discovered.

Many of my conversations begin with “I heard on a podcast…”

Do we feel the same about the Gospel? Do we get excited about the power of Jesus? Does it compel us to tell others the Good News and what it’s done for us?

When Peter and John were told to stop talking about Jesus by the Jewish authorities, they said:

They couldn’t help it!

Write your testimony ✍️ 

One way to get excited so you can be a disciple who makes disciples is to write out your personal testimony.

Write your testimony out:

• What was life like before Jesus? What was your deepest need or struggle?

• How did Jesus find you?

• What's different now because of Jesus? What impact has He had on your life?

Next, practice the testimony with close friends and family.

Once you do, you’ll be prepared to share it at any time!

No Excuses 🚫

This week’s quote comes from John Chrysostom (AD 347–407), a prominent Church Father and Archbishop of Constantinople.

He offers a gut-punching reminder that we have no excuse to not seek and save the lost!

Nothing is more frigid than a Christian who does not care about the salvation of others.

You cannot plead poverty here; the widow who put in her two small coins will be your accuser. Peter said, 'Silver and gold I have none.' Paul was so poor that he was often hungry and went without necessary food.

You cannot plead humble birth, or low condition; they too were of humble parentage and of low estate. You cannot allege want of education and want of learning; they were unlearned men. But you cannot plead infirmity, for they were infirm as well.

Whatever excuse you may have, it is of no avail. To hide the talent will bring condemnation, not only to the slothful servant, but to him who does not lay it out to the benefit of others.

Chrysostom, Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles (Homily 20.4)

Recommended Resources 🎙️ 

Here are a few resources to help you dig deeper into this week’s passage:

• 📹️ The Bible Project on Matthew 14-28 (link here)

• 🗒️ Got Questions: What is the Great Commission? (link here)

• 🗒️ Got Questions: How do I share my Christian testimony? (link here)

• 📚️ One Thing You Can’t Do in Heaven by Mark Cahill (link here)

• 📚️ Practicing the Way by John Mark Comer (link here)

• 📚️ The King Jesus Gospel by Scot McKnight (link here)

Answer key ✅ 

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

Matthew 28:19-20