“If you were to do a little fun research to discover the sheer quantity of activities that happen each day in America, you'd be amazed. Consider, for example, the number of cups of coffee consumed, the number of babies born, the number of people who take a taxi, bury a pet, get divorced, go to the hospital, watch prime-time television, ride on an airplane, and go to school.
“So what? That's trivia, right? When you multiply all those things by 365, you get the general idea that there's a fair amount of energy, money, activity, and trauma going on in a year's time. And that's just in America - representing only a portion of the world's population. We may not be big, but we're busy. In fact, we are so busy it's easy to get selfishly swept up in the whirlwind of our own little playground sandwiched between the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans . . . blessed beyond measure and rich beyond comparison.
“Every so often it's helpful to stop the annual merry-go-round, get off, look objectively, and think clearly. It's not only helpful, it's essential for the Christian. In this circus-like American lifestyle of ours, we tend to be deafened by the blare of our own band and blinded by the lights of our own spots, shining - always shining - on the ring of our own choice.
“That needs to change. We need to hear the voice of the Ringmaster as He raises His hand to stop the band:
“‘We interrupt this program to bring all of you a reminder that the world in which you live is not the whole world . . . but only a very small part of the world for which I died.’
“The Great Commission is still ‘the Great Commission,’ not ‘The Limited Agreement for My Corner of America.’ He still looks out across a wide world and weeps over men and women and children who do not know - have never heard - His healing, life-giving Name.” (Taken from "The Big Picture")
It light of those words maybe we can understand better why this command of Christ is rightly called the GREAT COMMISSION. After all, He gave His life so that all can hear of His love...through us!
A commission is defined as “an authoritative order, charge, or direction. Authority granted for a particular action or function.”
Just an overview of our commission shows it to be great because of...its authority, its message, its scope, its promise...just to name some of the reasons.
It’s great, as well, because it is the primary mission of the church and it’s not complete until the whole world has heard the gospel of Jesus Christ!
The mission of the church is...
1. Realized fully when worshipping Christ.
- Jesus had sent the disciples on ahead to Galilee where He was going to meet them before ascending back to the Father.
- As He approached, the disciples fell down before Him in worship.
- Jesus repeatedly received worship during His ministry (Matthew 2:2, 11; 14:33; 28:9; John 9:35-38; Hebrews 1:6.)
- By accepting worship Jesus was declaring He is God (cf. Matthew 4:10).
- Some doubted: Maybe they didn’t recognize Him from a distance (He “came...to them”). Maybe this was the occasion that the 500 saw Him “at once” (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:6) and some of them “doubted” until He “ came...to them.” Maybe it was like other post-resurrection appearances where Jesus wasn’t immediately recognized because His identity was supernaturally withheld from some of them (Luke 24:13-35; John 20:11-18; 21:11-18).
- Ultimately, they all recognized Him and worshipped Him!
- It was while they were in the spirit of worship that Jesus gives them the “Great Commission.”
- On the day of Pentecost, 40 days later, what were the 120 followers of Jesus doing in the upper room? At least in part they were worshipping!
- When the church at Antioch was instructed to send out Paul and Barnabas as missionaries to the Gentile world (Acts 13:2), what was the church doing? At least in part they were worshipping!
- A worshipping church will be a world mission church! A materialistic, self-focused church will never fully appreciate or participate in the Great Commission!
The mission of the church is...
2. Grounded totally in the authority of Christ.
- By whose authority do we carry out this mission? What right do we have to disrupt other people’s lives? Who gives me permission to confront people with the Gospel?
- Jesus has absolute power and jurisdiction! There is nothing over which He does not have authority.
- There is an allusion here to the prophecy of Daniel about the “Ancient of Days” giving authority to the “Son of man” (Daniel 7:13-14; cf. Philippians 2:6-11) showing Christ’s deity and right to rule.
- For instance, He has authority to...
- Forgive sins (Luke 5:20; 7:48).
- Mediate to the Father (1 Timothy 2:5).
- Send the Holy Spirit (John 14:26; 15:26).
- Open the hearts and minds (Luke 24:45).
- Reveal the Father (Matthew 11:27; Luke 10:22).
- Give eternal life (John 10:27-28).
- Raise us up on the last day (John 6:40).
- As His authority relates to the Great Commission...He has the authority to send us as His representatives and His ambassadors operating on His behalf.
- He also gives us power for the task (Acts 1:8), but power and authority are really two different things.
Illustration:
To distinguish the difference between power and authority think about the street that some of you crossed to enter the worship center today. Suppose a large truck is coming down the street and you decide you want to stop it. So, you hold up your hand until the grill of the truck meets your hand. Would you be able to stop the truck? Of course not! But, we’ve all seen men/women stand in the middle of a busy street and stop powerful trucks barrelling down the road just by putting up their hand. What’s the difference? He/she has on a police uniform and has been vested with authority by the people to stop trucks, if deemed necessary. The officer might not have any more “power” than you do, but he has “authority.”
- Jesus has the authority to do anything He wants as the sovereign God and He gives us the authority to represent Him in the proclamation of the Gospel.
- This is the reason that the disciples didn’t submit to human authority when they were persecuted and threatened (ex. Acts 5:29). Their authority came from Someone who had greater authority than civil government!
- And, how do you experience/recognize this kind of authority in your own life? By coming under authority...to Christ (ex. The Centurion/Luke 7:1-10).
The mission of the church is...
3. Focused primarily on making disciples of Christ.
- There is one imperative (make disciples) with three subordinate participles having the force of imperatives (go, baptize, teach).
- The primary task left to the church is to “make disciples.” Does that surprise you?
- A disciple is someone that hears, understands and obeys the teachings of Jesus.
- One mistake we cannot make is to divorce evangelism from discipleship...they must work together.
- We must not think of the Gospel as a “get out of hell free” card.
- The task of preaching the Gospel involves the arduous responsibility of nurturing believers in their faith until they become fully devoted followers of Jesus.
- It’s a process that takes time, energy, prayer, guidance and accountability for the one being discipled.
- My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you... (Galatians 4:19)
- We’ve got to bring people to Christ (making disciples certainly includes evangelism-Acts 14:21) and then assist them through the process of developing spiritual maturity.
The mission of the church is...
4. Designed globally till everyone hears of Christ.
- (Panta ta ethne) This exact phrase is used four times in the book of Matthew (24:9, 14; 25:32; 28:19) referring to “all peoples [without distinction].”
- It’s interesting to me that the church of the first century was apparently successful in fulfilling their portion of the mission, but each new generation must reach the people living in their day. --cf. Colossians 1:6, 23
- Dr. J. Vernon McGee writing about this passage says...
“Dr. Marvin R. Vincent, a great expositor of the Epistle to the Colossians, as well as other expositors, believes this is hyperbole. I’ll be honest with you, I also had difficulty accepting this statement. Is Paul trying to say that at this particular time when he was in prison in Rome the gospel had reached the world? That is what he says. I have come to the position that I believe he meant what he said literally; it is not hyperbole. When I visited Asia Minor, I stood in Turkey at the city of Sardis and saw part of a Roman road that had been uncovered by excavation. That is the road that Paul traveled when he came down out of the Galatian country on the way to Ephesus. For three years he preached the gospel in Ephesus to people who were there from all over the Roman Empire. As a result, the gospel had gone ahead to Rome long before Paul was taken there as a prisoner.
“...The gospel at that time had penetrated into the farthest reaches of the Roman Empire. It may have even crossed over to Great Britain. Every part of the Roman world had heard the gospel...”
Illustration:
George Sweeting, in his book “The No-Guilt Guide for Witnessing,” tells of a man by the name of John Currier who in 1949 was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison. Later he was transferred and paroled to work on a farm near Nashville, Tennessee.
In 1968, Currier’s sentence was terminated, and a letter bearing the good news was sent to him. But John never saw the letter, nor was he told anything about it. Life on the farm was hard and without promise for the future. Yet he kept doing what he was told even after the farmer for whom he worked had died.
Ten years went by...Then a state parole officer learned about Currier’s plight, found him, and told him that his sentence had been terminated. He was a free man.
Sweeting concluded that story by asking, "Would it matter to you if someone sent you an important message -- the most important in your life -- and year after year the urgent message was never delivered?"
- Are we doing all we can to get the Gospel to those who’ve never heard?
The mission of the church is...
5. Possible only with the help of Christ.
- There are four times in verses 18 to 20 that you find a form of the word “all” (all authority-v.18; all nations-v.19; teach...all things-v.20; always with you-v.20).
- This is a spiritual work that requires the help of God’s Spirit.
- At least nine times in Acts it speaks of the boldness of those who witnessed for Christ and it came because Christ was with them through the presence of the Holy Spirit.
- Marketing may get you a crowd, but it takes God’s help to see people converted to Christ.
- That’s why we should pray everyday for God to help us recognize those we can speak to about Christ, as well as help us share the right things that will touch their lives.
- God has promised to help us in this work of the Great Commission!
Illustration:
David Livingstone was a well-known doctor/missionary by the time he returned to his native Scotland to address the students at Glasgow University. The previous sixteen years had been spent in the service of God on the continent of Africa. As he stood before those young men and women, the tremendous price exacted of Livingston was plain to see. More than 27 fevers had coursed through his veins, leaving his body emaciated and ravaged. One arm hung useless at his side, the result of being mangled by a lion.
The core of his message to those young people was: "Shall I tell you what sustained me amidst the toil, the hardship, and loneliness of my exile? It was Christ’s promise, Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end."
What Christ promised to the disciples on the mountaintop nearly two thousand years ago is still available to us today. The companionship of Jesus Christ is offered to every believer that obeys the Great Commision.
Closing:
Let me challenge you to do some things in response:
- Take a missionary out for coffee and/or a meal.
- Read a good missions book/magazine.
- Write a letter/email to some battle-weary missionary in a distant country.
- Consider an opportunity to serve Christ in a cross-cultural experience.
- Make friends with a lonely international student from our local college.
- Make a commitment to Faith-giving to help missionaries go where you cannot go!
Illustration:
On October 10, 2005, a 9-year-old boy swam the precarious waters between Alcatraz island and the San Francisco shoreline.
Johnny Wilson, who was a fourth grader at the time, called the swim in the 53-degree San Francisco Bay "tiring" but said he kept telling himself, "I’m almost there, I’m almost there." He said, "the beginning was the hardest because I was all cold."
His classmates were waiting on shore, cheering as he made it to Aquatic Park. They chanted, "Go, Johnny! Go, Johnny!" Johnny finished the 1.4-mile swim from the infamous prison island in under two hours. The reason he made the swim was more than just the challenge. In the process he raised $30,000 in donations for Hurricane Katrina victims.
That’s commitment for a cause! Would to God we were that committed to the GREAT COMMISSION cause of Christ!
