Go and Make Disciples: It’s Imperative (Matthew 28:19).

Class Outline:

Sunday may 10, 2026

 

Intro:

 

God condemned the bad shepherds in Israel. They were supposed to lead the people, but instead they fed themselves. 

 

EZE 34:2

“Woe, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flock?”

 

Christ gave the world new guides. He commissioned these guides to go beyond Israel and make disciples of all nations.

 

Jesus has all authority and is standing on a mountain. He is the better Moses and His sending His people on a higher mission. Being in Galilee, He is where it all began. It was said, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” How about one who has all authority over heaven and earth. 

 

ISA 9:1-2

Galilee of the Gentiles. 

The people who walk in darkness

Will see a great light;

 

Main idea: The Lord Jesus, with all authority, commissions us to go and make disciples [click in] in which we must invest time, care, and consideration in the lives of others more than we do for ourselves. 

 

MAT 28:19-20

"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

 

“therefore” is the connector of His commission to His supreme authority. His authority is the basis for sending them and us to disciple the world to Him. 

 

“From now on to the end-time people of God should proclaim to all nations that they too belong to the territory of the sovereignty of the Son of Man.” [Jeremias]

 

“therefore” in vs. 19 should fill every believer with boundless confidence. We have to remember our Lord’s complete authority.

 

1. Go: A clear command. 

 

The participle supports the main verb, but since it is aorist and is followed by an imperative, you can take “Go” as an imperative.

 

Some have translated the participle: “As you are going, make disciples.” (this is the wrong translation and weakens the commission)  

 

[Daniel Wallace blog] “The exposition based on this understanding of the Greek text then attempts to salve the consciences of the congregation, permitting them to do nothing about the lost if it at all means going out of their way.”

 

Wallace goes on to convincingly point out that aorist participles followed by aorist imperatives invariably take on the force of the imperative. 

 

Mat 2.8: “Go and look carefully for the child.”

Mat 9.13: “Go and learn what this means.” (we’ll see this one in this lesson)

Mat 11.4: “Go and tell John what you hear and see.”

Mat 17.27: “Go to the lake and throw out a hook”

Mat 28.7: “Go quickly and tell his disciples”

Mat 28.19: “Go and make disciples”

 

2. Make disciples. 

 

Aorist imperative (main verb of them all in the Great Commission).

 

Definition of the verb: to bring under the teaching of, to bring to school, to make students of, to apprentice.

 

Definition in practice: It means to cause people to become disciples (learners/followers) of Jesus—bringing them into a committed relationship as pupils who learn from and obey Him, not merely securing converts or decisions.

 

Discipling falls into two categories (which we will cover in more detail in our next lessons): 1) baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (conversions in which they enter the local assembly; discipling the unbeliever) and 2) teaching (teaching the believer the whole realm of doctrine and the application of it).

 

Disciple should be considered our first name. 

 

ACT 11:26

the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch. 

 

Our goal after conversion is to motivate them to enter a local church. The other part is teaching which is the investment in the life of the convert to instruct him in the person and ways of Christ - to help them become apprentices of Christ. (This is what happened to the church at Antioch… even sending out missionaries).  

 

ACT 14:19-23

But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having won over the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. 20 But while the disciples stood around him, he got up and entered the city. The next day he went away with Barnabas to Derbe. 21 After they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, 22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying, "Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God." 23 When they had appointed elders for them in every church, having prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

 

Discipling implies working with someone over a period of time.

 

Discipling is a far more personal word than preaching. It is all that Jesus did for His own disciples and others throughout this gospel. 

 

I think it is easy to see the cost or sacrifice when you disciple someone else, but what might be harder to see, because it comes after the sacrifice, in the joy in it. When you and another partner up to grow in the grace of God, mature in love, hope, peace, and happiness in Christ; your shared joy is greater than joy experienced alone.

 

2TI 1:3-4

I constantly remember you in my prayers night and day, 4 longing to see you, even as I recall your tears, so that I may be filled with joy.

 

Even in persecution, the disciples on mission were joyful:

 

ACT 13:52

And the disciples were continually filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

 

3. Examples of discipling. 

 

Jesus spent over three years discipling His apprentices. He called them, He spent a lot of time with them, He taught them, explained His teaching to them, He sent them out, He corrected and rebuked them, affirmed them, modeled (prayer, leadership, humility, dependence on the Father), and finally trusted them in commissioning them.

 

He not only discipled the disciples, but the unbelievers: 

 

MAT 9:10-13

Then it happened that as Jesus was reclining at the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were dining with Jesus and His disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, "Why is your Teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners?" 12 But when Jesus heard this, He said, "It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick.  13 "But go and learn what this means: 'I DESIRE COMPASSION, AND NOT SACRIFICE,' for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

 

“Go and learn” (aorist participle of poreuomai followed by aorist imperative) - Jesus sent them on a mission to go and study Hosea over again. 

 

Paul discipled:

 

Paul discipled Timothy, Titus, Silas, Luke, Onesimus, John Mark, Priscilla and Aquila, and many others. The most prominently mentioned are Timothy and Titus.

 

OT examples:

In the OT, Moses discipled Joshua; Elijah discipled Elisha, and in the time of these two great prophets, there was a school of prophets in which Elijah and Elisha discipled hundreds to send out throughout Israel. 

 

Today, the local church is to be a school of students.

 

4. Conclusion:

 

Go is a command to head into the masses of people.

 

You have to get involved in people’s lives.

 

You have to consider their needs above your own (the law of love in 1Co 8). 

 

Your only legacy is disciples.

 

PSA 49:17

For when he dies he will carry nothing away;

His glory will not descend after him. 

 

Jesus’ legacy left to the world was the church.

 

Would any of you or me want to sit on the sidelines and watch?

 

Seek the need of others. Find their obstacles and help them. 

 

Pray, consider others, seek, and then go. Don’t wait until you’re comfortable. Go. 

 

Don’t let your personal life’s desires stop you. Remember Jesus raised from the dead (2TI 2:8). 

 

Remember His words daily: 

 

JOH 15:13

“Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.”

 

LUK 9:23

“If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.”

 

At the end of history, any other human legacy will be forgotten other than the people you discipled. They will be with you in heaven, along with the people they discipled - they are your crop of eternal fruit.