The 90% of the Great Commission You're Probably Ignoring
Jesus didn't command evangelism alone. He commanded something far more demanding.
Most Christians believe they’re obeying the Great Commission when they share the gospel.
In reality, they’re completing approximately 10% of what Jesus actually commanded.
The other 90% requires something most believers never attempt: making disciples who can make other disciples.
What Jesus Actually Said
Jesus didn’t say “go and get people saved.” He said “make disciples...teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”
Matthew 28:19-20 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”
That’s radically different from what most of us are doing.
Paul Understood the Multiplication Model
The Apostle Paul didn’t just preach the gospel. He made disciplemakers.
2 Timothy 2:2 “What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.”
Count the generations: Paul teaches Timothy. Timothy teaches faithful men. Faithful men teach others also.
Four generations of disciples in one command.
That’s not addition; that’s multiplication. The goal wasn’t just to reach as many as possible in Timothy’s lifetime. The goal was reproductive discipleship that continues beyond Timothy.
What’s Actually at Stake
Most Christians treat discipleship as optional. Christ saw it differently. And even Paul understood that what we do now has eternal consequences.
2 Corinthians 5:10 “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.”
This isn’t about salvation. This is the Bema Seat; the judgment of rewards that happens immediately after the Rapture and before the Millennium even begins.
Paul makes this clearer when describing our work as believers:
1 Corinthians 3:10-15 “According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation...Let each one take care how he builds upon it...Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.”
Notice carefully: “he will suffer loss.”
Not loss of salvation. Loss of rewards.
John MacArthur explains: “At the judgment seat of Christ, believers will give an account of their lives. Many will face the reality that opportunities were squandered and rewards forfeited” (The Glory of Heaven).
This is our one opportunity to build something eternal. Once we stand before Christ, the assessment is final. The rewards we didn’t earn are lost permanently.
We’ll see clearly what God provided: the people He placed in our path, the time He gave us, the opportunities for discipleship, and recognize what we built with those opportunities.
Some will have built with gold, silver, and precious stones. Others will see much of their life’s work burn away as wood, hay, and straw.
This life is our only chance to invest in what lasts forever.
The Eternal Economics of Discipleship
Think about what Paul described as lasting work: making disciples who make disciples.
When you disciple someone who disciples someone else, you’ve built with gold, silver, and precious stones. Why? Because people are eternal. The fruits of discipling lasts eternally.
If Paul disciples 10 people, and they each disciple 10 people, and those people each disciple 10 people, that’s 1,000 disciples in three generations; all thriving in God’s Bema reward judgment fire.
Compare that to the Christian who spends 40 years consuming sermons and reading books but never teaches anyone else. They gain knowledge. They experience growth. They might even gain the whole world (Mark 8:36) of Christian activity.
But they forfeit the eternal reward of reproductive discipleship. At the Bema Seat, all that consumption may not matter that much. Yet, reproduction does matter.
MacArthur states it plainly: “The sorrow at the judgment seat will be the sorrow of lost opportunity, of realizing what could have been accomplished for Christ but wasn’t” (The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, 1 Corinthians).
Why Most Christians Never Make Disciples
Many don’t make disciples for one simple reason: they don’t feel equipped.
We may share our testimony. We may invite someone to church. But actually sit down with another believer and teach them biblical truth? That feels beyond our capability.
So we consume endlessly, hoping someday we’ll feel “ready enough” to teach others. But that day never comes. Because consumption alone doesn’t create confidence.
Meanwhile, we’re building with wood, hay, and straw; activities that feel productive but won’t thrive in rewards.
The Bottom Line
Jesus commanded: “Make disciples...teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”
Paul commanded: “Entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.”
Paul warned: Only work that bears fruit survives the fire. Everything else results in loss.
You have one life. One opportunity to build something that lasts forever.
The question at the Bema Seat won’t be “Did you consume enough Christian content?” It will be “What did you faithfully build with what I gave you?”
A Change in Focus
For three years, I’ve been writing The Inevitable Truth as general Christian content. The teaching has been solid. But something’s been missing.
I’ve been helping you learn without explicitly equipping you to teach. I’ve been focused on your personal growth without emphasizing the multiplication Jesus commanded.
That changes now.
Starting in 2026, The Inevitable Truth will be laser-focused on one mission: Equipping believers to understand biblical truth clearly enough to teach it confidently to others.
Every post will help you become a disciplemaker who makes other disciplemakers. Because what reproduces survives God’s judgment fire.
To your multiplication,
Thad M Brown
I would appreciate your feedback on the new focus of this Substack. Please comment with your thoughts.
This was a great post, and I look forward to your posts in '26.
Great analysis!