Our God is a God of action. Go through the Bible and notice how many verbs there are throughout and how God told His people including Abraham, Noah, Moses, David to take specific actions. Jesus was no different in that He took actions the Father told Him to undertake BUT Jesus also told others actions and tasks He and the Father wanted them to undertake.

Which brings us to the last actions Jesus told the 12 disciples – and all disciple makers who would follow them – what they were to do.

We know this as The Great Commission.

It is in the book of Matthew in which we are told of the account of when Jesus appears before the disciples after His death, burial, and resurrection. In this section of Matthew Jesus is appearing to the disciples one last time before His ascension to give His final Earthly instructions to the disciples. 

Although Jesus told the disciples many things, in Matthew 28:19 Jesus shared with them The Great Commission in which He states: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit…”

Within the Great Commission, there are commands contained within that include teaching others who are baptized to look at all the other commands from the Lord. These commands include serving, teaching, preaching, fellowship, preparing, and mentoring other disciples. 

Notice the verbs. 

These three verbs – go, baptize and teach to obey – give us the three priorities of disciple-making. Our God is a God of action and so too must we be. However, the foundational verb for all of these commands is “go”.

But what exactly does Jesus mean when He says “go”?

This is where many Christians – and maybe you also – have made The Great Commission more complicated and difficult than it needs to be. And it comes down to how we define the meaning of the word go”. 

As Western Christians thousands of years after Jesus laid out The Great Commission, we look at the verse and see what the disciples did and expect we have to do the same. 

The 12 disciples left their homes, their families, their communities and spread out across many lands, churches, and people groups to go and make disciples. 

We have given ourselves the impression that we must do the same. This has been how we have interpreted the meaning of the word “go” and it is this interpretation that, I believe, has unnecessarily held people back from sharing the Gospel as Jesus had in mind.

Although the Great Commission is usually translated, “Go and make disciples,” the verb for “go” is better translated “going” or “as you go”. Or, put another way, “as you go about your daily routine”. Context is key here. Context in the definition of the word go but also of the times in which they lived then and we do now. 

The disciples lived in an era when their mode of transportation was largely by foot or, in the best-case scenario, an animal such as a donkey or a horse; their primary communication was through conversation or correspondence; and people were largely more spread out and less mobile. People didn’t move from city to city as we do today, they typically stayed in close proximity to where they we born.

Contrast that to our lives where we have smartphones, email, text, social media, and the internet – to name a few – that allow us instant communication without moving an inch; cars are but one of many forms of transportation that allow us to travel all manner of distances with ease and; we are a more mobile society – it is less common for people to stay in the areas in which they were born. 

What this means for us is that we don’t have “to go” great distances exclusively to carry out The Great Commission. We can but we don’t have to do so. 

We have convinced ourselves we have to go on missions across the country or across the world to make disciples or to baptize people or to teach people to obey the Law. We can do this but it’s not a matter of we go across the world or we don’t obey the Great Commission. That’s a false choice.

When considering the phrase “as you go” think “as you go about your daily routine”. 

Disciple making should be part of our daily routine as much as brushing our teeth, getting dressed, eating breakfast, and going to work is. If we fold disciple making activities into our daily routine, it would be much easier for us to do and would be reflex rather than convincing ourselves the disciple making is a daunting and Herculean task. 

Quick quiz: Do you do any of the following as part of your daily/weekly routine?

• Stop by the coffee shop
• Get gas
• Get groceries
• Run to the store
• Talk to co-workers
• Go out to eat
• Go to the doctor/dentist/chiropractor
• Get a haircut
• Chat with your neighbor
• Hang out with friends
• Belong to a service club (i.e. Kiwanis, Rotary, Lions)
• Belong to a social club (book club, fantasy football league, hunting)
• Go to garage sales
• Take your dog to the puppy park
• Drop your kids off at school
• Attend your kids afterschool activities/games

And that isn’t even a complete list of what goes on in our lives on a daily or weekly basis. And you know what you find at each of these activities as part of our daily routines? People. Lots of them. All our opportunities to talk to people. 

Granted, you may not always have the time to share the gospel or have “the big Jesus talk” with all those you come in contact with but there are two very important things you can do: 1) start to build relationships with people where they are in life and; 2) begin to plant seeds. 

And you do this “as you go”.

Now, here is the most extreme example you’ll hear of “as you go” disciple making.

Tony is on mission everywhere he goes. Just the other day he was on his way out for a motorcycle ride early one afternoon. Around 8 pm that evening, Tony called me and said, “I am excited to share with you all of what happened today!” 

I wasn’t surprised, because this is what Tony does… he is always on mission to share Jesus with someone. And that someone doesn’t always appear to be in need. But Tony uses everyday conversation to see where people are in their walk and their relationship with Jesus.

In this case, Tony made a connection with a man who was also on a motorcycle ride – we will call him Dan – while filling his tank at a gas station. That conversation lasted almost 3 hours and, when it was done, Tony followed Dan to his house to speak with his girlfriend – we will call her June – who has cancer. 

June immediately walked up to Tony as soon as he walked in the door, leaned her head into his chest and hugged him tightly with her frail body. She told Tony, “I’ve been praying for you. I’ve been praying that God would send somebody that would lead us to a church.” That was their first encounter.

Tony spent the next two hours talking with June about Jesus and ways for she and Dan to plug into our church. 

Both these conversations led to Dan and June both making the decision to follow Jesus with their whole hearts and to be baptized. 

The point is that wherever we go people tend to be there, providing us with the opportunity to talk with people, and to come alongside in relationship with them. Wherever we go “as we go” makes the Great Commission actually easier than it was for the 12 who Jesus sent out on the first generation of disciple-making following His ascension.

Now, our loving challenge for you this week is, as you go about your daily/weekly routine, be mindful of all the opportunities you have to talk to people. Then take the next step and talk to them. The more you do this as you go, the more you’ll find disciple-making does become reflex rather than something you have to consciously think about doing.

Now, go!