After Jesus’ death and resurrection, He gave His followers His one and only plan to reach the world for God’s glory (Matthew 28:19-20). The central command is to “make disciples” of Christ. A “disciple” is a learner or pupil of Jesus Christ. Jesus gives us three steps to make a disciple.
1. “Go.” Before we can make a disciple, we need first a believer in Jesus. Jesus commands us to “go” to “all the nations” (Matt. 28:19a), and as we go, we are to “preach the gospel” of His death and resurrection to a lost world (Mark 16:15; I Cor. 15:1-6) and invite our listeners to believe in Christ alone for His gift of salvation (John 3:16; Rom. 1:16).
2. “Baptizing them…” After a person believes the gospel, we are to baptize him or her in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (28:19b). Water baptism initiates the new believer into the discipleship process and expresses their desire to follow Jesus and never turn back.
3. “Teaching them…” Baptized believers are to be taught more than the commands of Christ. They are to be taught to “observe” or obey all of Christ’s commands (28:20a). God wants His disciples to be “doers of His word, and not hearers only” (James 1:22).
The command to “make disciples of all the nations” may seem overwhelming. However, as we go to make disciples, baptizing them and striving to teach them to obey all that Jesus commanded, we can go with confidence. We are assured of our ultimate success, because Christ now has “all authority” (28:18) and has promised to be with us in a special way (“lo, I am with you always”) to the end of the age if we obey Him (28:20b). This is referring to more than Jesus’ personal presence which is guaranteed for all believers (Heb. 13:5). Christ guarantees to back us up with everything we need to make disciples (i.e. boldness, people, protection, strength, resources, wisdom, etc.) as we learn to trust and obey Him.