Evangelism OR Discipleship?

In the four books of the Gospel, Jesus ended with the Great Commission in the last chapter (except the book of John):

- Matthew 28:19-20

- John 20:22-23

- Mark 16:15-18

- Luke 24:46-48

Except for Matthew, all the other three books talk about preaching the Good News. In Matthew, Jesus said this instead, "Go therefore, and MAKE DISCIPLES of all nations..." Why is that so?

Mark & Luke were mainly written to the Gentiles, while John was written to mixed and dispersed audience. Matthew, however, was mainly written to the Jewish audience.

Note: In the early church, the word 'believers' was interchangeable with 'disciple' and 'Christian' (Acts 5:14; 1 Thes 1:7; 1 Tim 4:10; Acts 6:1-2, 6:7; Acts 11:26; Acts 26:28; 1 Peter 4:16). There is no separation. Yet today, we come out with man-made teachings that try to differentiate a believer and a disciple.

In the Jewish culture in those days, the Jews understood what a disciple meant (John 9:28). Some of them thought they were the disciples of Moses. A disciple was to follow after his teacher's teachings.

Since Matthew was written to the Jews (as first readers) and again the Jews (as first hearers), when Jesus commanded them to 'make disciples', they immediately understood that they were to lead people to FOLLOW CHRIST!

For them, to preach the Good News is the same as to make disciples. There is NO separation. Yet in today's culture, we come out with the Gospel of salvation and the Gospel of the kingdom, when there is really only ONE Gospel - the Gospel of the Kingdom. We try to win people to Christ but we don't talk about surrendering and Lordship. We differentiate between evangelism and discipleship. We create two categories: Salvation AND Discipleship.

The fact of the matter is this... you can't find such separation in the Bible. In times past, people said, "Well, I am not an evangelist. So evangelism is not for me." But today, everybody knows that evangelism is for every believer. However, today, there are many who say, "Well, I do evangelism, but I am not called to do discipleship. There's not my role." I am afraid that there is no difference. Because discipleship IS for every believer, just as evangelism is.

Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to all creations IS EXACTLY the same as Go and make disciples of all nations. You can't do one without the other. It's the same package in the kingdom.

In the early church, nobody received Jesus into their lives. They gave theirs to Him. In today's culture, we lead people to salvation prayer and let them receive Jesus into their lives, creating a lukewarm Christianity - one that focuses on consumerism resulting in constipation. That is not the Gospel. The Gospel is about God so loved you and gave Himself up for you, and in response, you want to give your life to Him - that includes SURRENDERING AND LORDSHIP. It means, "FOLLOW HIM". It means, "I have been crucified with Him. And He now lives through me." 

Discipleship is not an option in the preaching of the Gospel. It is NOT either evangelism or discipleship. It is either none or ALL. There is no salvation prayer in the Bible by the way. Don't lead people to receive Jesus into their lives. Give them Jesus so that they want to give their lives to Him.

Stop clocking numbers and start focusing on the Gospel of the Kingdom.