Disciple making is the great commission and is related to the great commandment.  I have often heard, “Thou shall love your neighbor as yourself” quoted as the greatest commandment but it is not.  Jesus said it was like the greatest commandment.  The greatest commandment is “Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, mind, and strength.” The great commandment describes what a disciple is and pictures how a disciple is made.

The four key words do not describe totally different parts of loving God, but overlapping aspects of how we love God and what must be provided to disciple people.  The first key word, “heart” (kardias) describes the emotional center of our being.    For Jesus’ audience, it was the “heart” that was the sum of our response to everything around us.  It was about relationship.   To love God with our whole heart is to love Him in a relational, personal way, to interact with Him as friend. 

The second word, soul (pseuches), means life.  Growing up in church, I often thought of my soul some abstract thing that “got saved”.   I knew it was invisible but kind of thought it was also hidden inside me somewhere around the kidneys and the liver.  The significance of this word is best illustrated in Luke 12:15:

        Then He said to them, "Beware, and be on your guard against every

        form of greed, for not even when a man has much does his life

          consist of his possessions."

         My soul, that is life, does not consist in the survival and significance of this temporary life.  My life is connected to something bigger, something eternal.  If I am not connected, I am “dead” as Paul so often describes those who have not connected with God.  To love God with my soul is to love Him in a way that transcends the temporary.  I must see that my relationship with Him is bigger than the car I drive or the home I own.  I must encounter God in a way transcends my temporary world.   

The third word, mind (dianoias), is more readily understood.  We must love God in the way we think.   Christianity is not mindless sentimentalism. 

          Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be

            transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may

            prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable

            and perfect.

It is only appropriate that we use our minds to understand how to obey God as disciples.

The last word, strength (ischuos), is not included in the episode of Jesus’ teaching that Matthew quotes.  It is easy to understand why in a gospel aimed at dealing with Pharasaic legalism Matthew would choose this option.  We must love God by what we do.  Specifically, we must love God by doing his will, and that will mean actions that minister to others.

Jesus says that good discipleship loves God in all four of these areas.  Leaving any of them out will lead to imbalanced discipleship.  It is common for many Christians to obsess on one of these areas, whether it is good works/ministry, intellectual knowledge, or spiritual encounters.  It is even possible to become so focused on being friends with God that we neglect our intellectual and ministry development and become too casual to encounter God in a way that would challenges us at our point of greatest need, such as Isaiah encountered in the sixth chapter.

The four aspects of being a disciple should enlighten us on four things is needed to make disciples.   Discipleship means providing opportunities for relationships, encounters with God, knowledge, and opportunities for ministry.  This is the framework for discipleship.

People learn about friendship with God through friendships with God’s people.  As disciple makers we must provide an atmosphere that encourages people to encounter God through His Holy Spirit.  We must share information that people can use to help them obey God and we must provide them opportunities to serve God through ministry.  To leave any of these out is to risk making unbalanced and ineffective disciples.

-Pastor Phil Duncan