Myopic Followers

What is the message of the Great Commission? So many believers and churches use it as a symbolic standard, a rallying cry for foreign missions. It commands and offers such a fuller view of the tasks of the Church than just foreign missions though.

In the Gospel of Matthew, Christ said, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

Let us compare that passage with the account recorded in the Gospel of Mark. "And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned. These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover."

There is still discussion as to whether some powers endowed by the Holy Spirit were given only to the Apostles during that era (perhaps citing Matthew 10:8). Even if we were to accept that belief and assume that the signs accompanying those who have believed apply only to those of the Apostolic era, we still have two distinct instances in Scripture where the resurrected Christ commands His followers to go and preach the gospel throughout the world and baptize those who believe. In both cases, preaching, believing and baptism are just the beginning. There is life after salvation, and Christ explained what should happen through the Church. Teach the believers to observe all that Christ commanded. When was the last time your church, or even just your pastor, took a stand to teach what Christ commanded, in total obedience? That is a difficult task, especially one to be done in love; but we cannot possibly give up on His commands or simplify them until they are no longer the challenging, radical words of the Word of God. We must stand for the faith, even if it means standing for Christ in a dangerous place.

We seldom see the discipling, the teaching when we look at these passages. We see a command to go to all nations. We see the Great Commission as the Great Go. We romanticize what it might be like as a missionary in some foreign land. We take "mission trips" to other countries, often to help construct a church building or a similar project. It's about going somewhere else to us. I am guilty of this attitude myself. Instead of seeing the broken, needy world immediately around me, I look at other parts of the world and long to work there. I long for the different customs, the different culture, the different opportunities.

And I continue to neglect the gift that is in me for these people with whom I interact every day. How is it that I feel trapped in my normal way of life, unable to extend my heart to them? How can I write so openly here and clam up at work every single day? We are nearsighted in our approach to the Great Commission. We get to the phrase "go and make disciples of all nations," and we're heading somewhere exotic. There are people who need Christ all around us, wherever we are. And if they do not have faith in Christ when they die, they will stand before God condemned of their sin and headed to hell for all eternity.

Lord, give us a renewed heart for the lost. May we see them all around us. And may Your love and mercy overflow in us to them, that they would come to faith in Jesus for their salvation. Prepare their hearts and prepare our own, oh Lord. And may Your Spirit always be our guide.