"As you go..."

The actual translation of "go" in the Great Commission is "as you go." I heard this several years ago from a pastor and it has transformed my view of the work of discipleship. Think of it now in this context:

Therefore, AS YOU GO make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you..." [Matthew 28:19-20]

I have had some interesting thought and conversations on this in the last few years... In "Just Like Jesus" Max Lucado writes about how Jesus had a focused heart. He didn't try to do 90 million things, he simply lived to make disciples. I was talking with my friend Emily about this today, and we remarked about how he didn't look for people to heal or places to give speeches, but instead, as he journeyed, he healed and spoke and loved. And he didn't attempt to heal every person that he saw was sick - which I'm sure was many - or correct everyone's misconceptions of the law. He simply lived and the outpouring of his life were things trickes of miracles, though he purposefully surrounded himself with the 12 and dove into them, creating them to be apostles.

I think of this also in geographical terms. Now days it seems to be a 'badge of honor' or a 'rite of passage' for people, especially in their college/20s, to travel. We pride ourselves and market ourselves based on our vast experiences. We deem ourselves 'greater' for stepping into so many lands, sometimes for leisure, sometimes for missions, sometimes for business. However, I look at the life of Jesus and I see that he again, had a focused heart. He didn't travel to China to spread the word, though certaintly people lived there already. Or Ethiopia. Or Spain. Or anywhere else on his Rick Steeves Guidebook. Instead, he mostly stayed around the Judeah countryside. He could have taken his word and his message and tried to jot off everywhere, catchinig each camel that passed for a ride. But instead as he went, he made disciples. The outpouring was the rich lives these disciples of every nation brought back to their own countries.
Now, don't get me wrong. We need international missionaries. We need people to step out of there boxes and literally GO to other lands, cultures, regions, people groups. But perhaps some of us also must stay "home" and make disciples as we live here.

I think about this in terms of my roommate, Young Life, church, my mom, and a woman named Linda from my church. These people are teaching me what it means to make disciples as I go. In my head, I will actually care about missions once I am in Kenya or a Young Life camp or some other capacity, but to bring Jesus to RiverRun [my condo] is awkward and weird. I am so wrong.
My roommate Danielle invites friends to church, speaks about God, and is teaching me what it is like to be a suburban contemporary who bears the fruit in the circles of friendships. Young Life leaders grasp my attention as I think of them hanging out at soccer games and just chilling with people to show Jesus through their love and relationship. My mom has people over for tea or invites the neighborhood kids to play; she brings Bible games to Monday night activities and lives discipleship as she goes. Linda rides her bikes and waves to people; after several days of seeing the same person, eventually she has them over for coffee and forms relationships, sharing the gospel as she does it. As they go. I see these suburban people put me to shame.

So it doesn't mean I'm not still ready most moments to jet off on a plane and make ministry the #1 on some other country. Here, in GR, it seems I get distracted much more easily with work and life tasks and I put "ministry" in a compartment... But I am learning. I am watching and observing my friends, reading about Jesus' life, and trying to process what it means for me to make disciples as I go.

A final epilogue on this... Emily and I were talking about social justice and the use/term tossed around so frequently these days. I am passionate about social justice. I believe if Jesus were here today, he would also see these things happen. The prophet Isaiah writes about these concerns in his Chapters 57-58... But I also wonder if perhaps, as Christians, a few of us are so caught in the actual social justice matters, that we are in it more for the relief of others than the discipleship. Jesus made disciples. Knowing God was his number one. My church stresses this and I love that! Social justice and relief work should be the outpouring of our knowing God, but still second to him. Lets clothe the sick, bring the AIDS meds, sit with the elderly... but let our motivation be rooted in a relationship with the Savior.