Page 3 - Principles for Discipling Others-Student textbook

Principles in Discipling Others
By Ben Radin, M.Admin.

Study Section 1: A Call to Discipleship

1.1 Connect.

Shortly after Jesus was publicly baptized and began His earthly public ministry, He met
Andrew, Peter, Philip and Nathanael. They left Him and went back to fishing near the Sea of
Galilee. A few months later, Jesus met them near Capernaum and asked them to follow Him
and become His disciples. Without hesitation, they left their fishing trade and began to
journey with Jesus for the next almost four years. Jesus called them to be His disciples – His
representatives to the world. During this time, Jesus poured Himself into them and prepared
them for service and sacrifice. When He left them after His resurrection, His final words were, “while
you are going, I want you to make disciples…” Just as He had made them His disciples, they were
commanded to go and select others to become Disciples of Christ. That’s what today’s lesson is all
about!

1.2 Objectives:

1. The student will learn what it means to become a disciple of Jesus Christ.

2. We will look at why the church is failing in obeying this command of Christ.

1.3 A Call to Discipleship

Matthew 28:18-20 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on
19
earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing

20
them inthe 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.”

Shortly after giving this command to His disciples, Jesus ascended to the right hand of His Father in
Heaven. It was the last thought He left for His disciples to ponder. They were commanded to go and
make disciples of all nations. In the original Greek language the phrase “make disciples” is the main verb
which is the command, as opposed to “go.” The wording is more like, “While you are going, make
disciples!” This seems to be at the heart of the Savior – to share wherever you go what He had
accomplished on the cross of Calvary and then to help guide the new believer into a deeper and mature
st
faith walk in Him. This is Christ’s final word and it not only is applicable to the disciples of the 1
century, but it applies to all of us today; we are to be about making disciples!

So how does one make disciples? The text indicates that it is by baptizing and by teaching. The baptizing
into the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit implies both evangelism and conversion. The teaching is a

2