SUMMARY
The “Great Commission” teaches us that, as followers of Christ, we are a commissioned people. But what does that mean?
Commission is a word that, at it’s root, expresses beautifully the Christian calling. Commission comes from ‘com’ meaning ‘together’ and ‘missio’ ‘the act of sending’. Therefore, being commissioned has to do with being gathered together and sent out. To commission is to entrust someone with a task or duty and granting certain powers or authority in order to accomplish that task. To commission is to empower someone for active service. And that is what Jesus did for His disciples. He entrusted them with a task and gave them the authority and power to accomplish it.
And what Jesus commissions His followers to do is to make disciples. That is the one imperative in the Great Commission. Our mission, as we follow Jesus, is to invite and help others to follow Jesus. But how do we do that? In Jesus’ final words to His disciples in the Gospels He tells us.
- In Matthew, Jesus tells us we are to baptize in the triune Name and teach others to obey everything He has commanded us.
- In Mark’s longer ending, we are told, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.”
- In Luke we read, “The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things” (24.45-48). Luke echoes this in the beginning of Acts: “you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
- And in John, Jesus said, “As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.”
Now when we put all this together, I believe we find that:
We are called to invite and help others follow Jesus
by preaching and teaching about who we follow
by witnessing as to why we follow
by serving and showing how we follow
and by joining them to the One we follow and with those who follow.
* We make disciples by preaching and teaching about who we follow. Preaching means to announce, make known, publicly proclaim, to tell everywhere. The picture is of a herald making an announcement. Though not everyone will deliver a sermon, per se, every Christian can, in their own way, tell someone else the story of Jesus. Likewise, not everyone is called to lead a classroom, but every Christian is called to be willing and able to teach others. We teach our children. We teach co-workers when they ask a question or come to us with a problem. We teach through example. And not only that, we can bring others to where the Good News is being proclaimed and explained (i.e. the Church).
We make disciples by proclaiming and explaining who we follow. We make the Good News of Jesus Christ known. We teach others to obey everything Jesus has commanded us. And what has Jesus commanded us? That we love God with everything we’ve got and love one another as he has loved us. Our message is love. Our activity is love. Our motivation is love. We make known the love of God. A love that calls for response.
* We make disciples by witnessing as to why we follow. Jesus said, “You will be my witnesses.” A witness is one who testifies to something out of first-hand knowledge or experience. The disciples, who had been with Jesus during His earthly ministry were witnesses of what He said and did – His teaching, miracles and character. But that’s the just disciples, we may respond, so we’re off the hook, right? Wrong. If you are a follower of Jesus, you have, in some way, experienced Him - you can, in some way, bear witness to the grace and transforming power of God in your life. And if you can’t that’s problematic. Not that you have to have some wild testimony (e.g. I was a drug-dealing, bank-robbing gang leader in prison …), but either God is real in our lives or He is not. In our witnessing to God’s work and presence in our lives, we express to others why we follow.
Now, there is one more thing about being a witness. Not everyone wants to hear the truth about God. The world doesn’t always applaud when we witness to the fact that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. In fact, the world is often hostile to such assertions. The proof of that rests in the Greek word for witness. The word is martyr. As Christians witnessed to their faith in a hostile culture, the word took on the meaning of “one who tells what he believes, even though it results in his being killed for it”. What is your witness like? Are you so confident in Jesus Christ that you would face death to bear witness to Him – to stand for His truth, His reality, His way? What about simply facing rejection or awkwardness or ridicule?
* We make disciples by serving and therefore showing how we follow. Jesus said, “As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” How did the Father send His Son? In humility, as a servant. Jesus said, “the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Jesus came to serve. And so if we are going to follow Jesus, we must likewise serve. Our attitude must be like that of Jesus. Jesus not only gave us a message to preach, He gave us a model to imitate. In serving others, we show the love and truth of Christ. In laying down our lives for others, we bear witness to the validity of the Gospel. We not only talk about it, we live it. Our method has to match our message. How can we convincingly speak to others about Christ’s love and humility, service and sacrifice if we are not willing to humble ourselves like Christ and serve those around us? (the poor, the sick, the self-satisfied, the despotic boss, the pain in the neck co-worker, the grumpy neighbor, the antagonistic colleague …) We follow Jesus by being like Him.
* Finally, we make disciples by joining them to the One we follow and with those who follow. The ultimate expression of this is baptism and profession of faith, being marked as belonging to God. But the practical expression of this is that in disciple-making, we are not simply getting people to join our group or to be like us, we are bringing them to God through Christ. The point of disciple-making is not to make 100 Presbyterians or 100 Baptists or 100 conservative evangelicals or 100 little copies of us (heaven help us!), the point is to bring them to Christ – to help them be like Christ. We join people not to a movement or perspective or denomination, but to Christ Himself. Our responsibility is to help bring people into communion with God and with God’s people. So we have a responsibility to welcome, accept, and embrace others, just as Jesus did for us. We then involve them, encourage them, and hold them accountable as we would want them to do for us.
We are a commissioned people with an overwhelming responsibility. How could we ever conceive of having any measure of success at it? Because we are not called to go alone. Jesus promised, “surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Christian mission can only take place if Jesus is present. Without Him, we can do nothing. But with Him, nothing is impossible. We can follow Jesus anywhere and do anything because He is with us. Jesus gives us a great commission, but He gives an even greater promise. The promise of His presence.
How will you respond to this? Think back to our previous messages. Will you be like Jonah and run away from it – away from the people God is calling you to reach? Or like Abraham, who even though he didn’t know exactly where God was leading Him or what would happen, stepped out in an act of radical faith and followed? Will you go with Jesus and be light for the nations?
POINTS TO REMEMBER
It’s fitting that the Great Commission begins with this scene of worship, for as John Piper says, “Missions begins and ends in worship”. Piper writes, in his book, Let the Nations Be Glad:
Our commission to make disciples of all nations begins and ends in worship. We will only go and make disciples when we have a passion for God – a fervent desire to glorify Him. Worship fuels mission.
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