Make Disciples, Not Converts

Matthew 28:16-20
¹⁶ But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Yeshua had designated. ¹⁷ When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful. ¹⁸ And Yeshua came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹ 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.”

God’s calling on our lives determines how we serve, not where we serve.  We choose that.  In the passage above, Yeshua tells the disciples to go make “disciples” not “converts”.  The Greek word used for disciples is “matheteuo” and it means to be a disciple of one, to follow his precepts or instructions. 

What believers are called to do is to come along side of a person they see the fruits of God’s Spirit in and guide them in His instruction.  That instruction is Torah; what Yeshua kept and taught.  If you don’t know it, you are left to making “converts” because it will be a different religious system you are bringing them into with different commandments, different feasts, and different fruit from a different tree.  One only needs a cursory glance in the NT to see that Yeshua kept all the commandments from His Father given in the Torah.

I would never tell my children what to become in life.  But I would instruct them in how they are to behave in whatever they do in life.  I am desiring a godly character for my children.  What they do with their lives is their adventure.  Funny thing is that if my children are granted the gift of a godly character, I will never have to worry about what they do in life.  Because to honor God with your life whether homeless or a dignitary is a life worth living.