Bible reading for 40.Day 2025 | Matthew 28:18-20

Shalom to all of you.

For many years, I had an incomplete understanding of the Great Commission found in Matthew 28:18-20.

I had always thought that the Great Commission was about making disciples. As a full-time minister, I spent much of my time trying to make as many disciples as possible through my preaching and teaching.

My effort was to keep disciples in my local church and help them to be faithful in serving God and each other within a local faith community. My entire focus was to be the pastor who discipled my members through the preaching and teaching ministry.

I always felt that my main responsibility as a pastor was to disciple as many members as the Lord would bring into my church. It was about my ability to exegete God’s Word and ensure members grow in understanding who God was.

I sincerely thought I was fulfilling the Great Commission through my preaching and teaching ministry in my local church.

But the Holy Spirit opened my eyes to see that the Great Commission was not about keeping believers inside the church walls through my teaching and preaching. I realised I had missed an important background element in Christ’s command to His disciples.

The meaning of discipleship

When Christ gave the Great Commission, the context was to a group of people with whom He had spent three years of His life. Many of them had lived very closely with Him as His disciples.

After those three years of close life-on-life relationship with the disciples, our Lord Jesus gave them the command to go and make disciples.

When the disciples heard the command, they knew exactly what Christ meant: To go and do what Christ had done with them, that is, to be disciple-makers.

The disciples had experienced what Jesus did with them and were commanded to do what Christ had modelled for them.

My mistake was thinking that Christ wanted me to produce more disciples through my ministry.

The correct understanding of the text should be that Christ wants me to raise more disciple-makers who can raise other disciple-makers.

The context of Matthew 28:18-20 is about raising disciple-makers and not just having more disciples.

Furthermore, I realised that the Great Commission is to be fulfilled not just within the church building, but it must happen anywhere that believers are found.

In Matthew 28:19, the verse says, “Go therefore and make disciples…” The phrase can also be translated as “As you go, make disciples…”

As you go into the marketplace, as you go into your schools, as you go into your families – wherever you go, be disciple-makers.

The Great Commission is about believers actively making disciples everywhere we are placed.

If we want to see Singapore turn Godward, we must have disciple-makers in every sphere of our society doing their part to reach out to others and to help them become more like Christ.

Disciple-making is about transforming lives — one at a time, wherever you are.

Disciple-making has three major components:

• Firstly, it is about leading someone to have believing loyalty in Christ.
• Secondly, helping this person in the journey of becoming more like Christ.
• Lastly, this person should be released to live out Christ’s mission of producing other disciple-makers.

The Church of Christ must return to our roots in disciple-making. We must be All In to raise disciple-makers as Christ has commanded.

I encourage you to actively participate in the Great Commission – to produce disciple-makers in your office, schools, and homes.

Remember: Christ’s Great Commission is not an option. It is a command.

Will you join me in prayer?

Lord Jesus, thank You for the reminder that the Great Commission is not an option but a command You have given us – which is to raise disciple-makers who will produce other disciple-makers. Help us not to be distracted by the busyness of life and neglect Your very command to us. Enable us to do disciple-making wherever You have placed us in our offices, schools, and homes. Empower us to be All In and see our nation turned Godward.

We ask and pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Reflect:

1. In what sphere of influence has God placed you? Is it your home, your office, your school, your neighbourhood?

2. Who are your disciples? Are they your children? Your colleagues? Your neighbours? How will you lead them to become a disciple of Jesus?

3. The Great Commission calls us to “go into all the world and make disciples”. How will you prepare yourself spiritually, mentally and practically for this assignment?

Pray:

1. That the hearts of those God has placed in our sphere will be open to taking that first step to believe in Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.

2. That the Holy Spirit will partner us to equip the disciples God has given us to become disciple-makers themselves.

3. That as each believer goes All In to create disciple-makers that we shall see the nation turn Godward in greater measure.

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