The Other Part of the Great Commission

Have you ever seen one of those TV shows where people hoard things, such as newspapers they’ve stacked from the floor to the ceiling?

We can be that way with our faith. However, God hasn’t given us the blessings we experience in our lives so we can hoard them. Rather, it’s so we can share them. We’re blessed to be a blessing.

But somewhere along the line, we’ve separated evangelism from discipleship. Yet it’s all part of the Great Commission.

Not only are we to preach the gospel, but we are to make disciples. Matthew’s account of the Great Commission includes this sentence: “Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you” (28:20 NLT).

We need to help brand-new believers grow up spiritually and become mature. In short, we need to disciple them. The idea of discipling is modeling for someone what it means to be a Christian. It’s taking them through the basics of the Christian faith, getting them on their feet spiritually, and encouraging them to do the same for someone else.

When Saul of Tarsus, later known as the apostle Paul, came to faith in Christ, no one believed it. After all, he was a notorious Christian killer, hunting down followers of Jesus, torturing them, and putting them in prison.

But God directed Ananias to go and visit the newly converted Saul. So Ananias went and helped him. He introduced him to people. Later on, Barnabas came along and encouraged him as the apostle Paul. We don’t know that much about Ananias and Barnabas, but we do know a lot about Paul.

In the same way, God wants to use you to be an Ananias to a Saul. He wants to use you to be a Barnabas to a Paul. He wants to use you, perhaps behind the scenes, to help someone who needs to grow in their faith.