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Witnessing Without Fear Part One: The Great Commission By Massimo Lorenzini
What is Our Purpose? The Lifesaving StationAn unknown author wrote that on a dangerous seacoast where shipwrecks were frequent, there once existed a little lifesaving station. The building was just a hut, and there was only one boat, but the few devoted volunteers kept a constant watch over the sea. With no thought for their safety they went out day and night, tirelessly rescuing the lost. Many lives were saved, and the station became famous. Some of those who were saved, along with others in the surrounding area, wanted to become associated with the station. They gave time, money, and effort to support its work. They bought new boats and trained new crews, and the lifesaving station grew. Some of those who volunteered at the station soon became upset that the building was so crude and poorly equipped. They felt a more comfortable place should be provided as the first refuge of those saved from the sea. So they replaced the emergency cots and beds and put better furniture in a new, larger building. As a result, the lifesaving station became a popular gathering place for its volunteers. They decorated it exquisitely and began to use it as a club and even charged membership dues. Because fewer members were now interested in going to sea on lifesaving missions, they hired lifeboat crews to do the work. The lifesaving motif still prevailed on the club emblems and stationary, however, and there was a symbolic lifeboat in the room where club initiations were held. At about this time a large ship was wrecked off the coast, and the hired crews brought in loads of cold, wet, half-drowned people. Because these survivors were dirty and sick, they soon messed up the beautiful new club. So the property committee immediately had a shower house built outside the club where the shipwreck victims could be cleaned up before coming inside. At the next meeting there was a split in the club membership. Most of the members wanted to stop the lifesaving activities altogether because they thought it was a hindrance and unpleasant to the normal social life of the club. Other members insisted on lifesaving as their primary purpose and pointed out that, after all, the club was still a lifesaving station. But those members were finally voted down and told that if they wanted to save the lives of various people shipwrecked in those waters, they could begin their own lifesaving station down the coast, which they did. As the years went by, the new station gradually faced the same problems the other one had experienced. It, too, evolved into a club, and its lifesaving work became less and less of a priority. The few members who remained dedicated to saving lives founded yet another lifesaving station. History continued to repeat itself, and if you visit that coast today you’ll find a number of exclusive clubs along the shore. Shipwrecks are still frequent, but most of the people drown. Application to us . . . · What happened to those people who operated those lifesaving stations? What was their problem? They lost their sense of purpose! · What is the danger for us in forgetting our purpose? That we would waste our lives on worthless pursuits. What is Our Purpose as Christians?
Think about it. What should be our driving passion and purpose as followers of Christ and as His church? [glorify God, worship, teach the Word, fellowship, etc.] So in the ultimate sense, our primary purpose is to worship and glorify God. Now these words “worship” and “glorify” are a bit nebulous. What does this mean? What exactly are we supposed to do to worship and glorify God? Think about it. What does it mean to worship and glorify God? [to honor, adore, revere, praise, etc.] So does worship and glorify God mean to just give lip service and say nice things about Him? Or does it involve some type of action on our part? “But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go, work today in my vineyard.’ He answered and said, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he regretted it and went. Then he came to the second and said likewise. And he answered and said, ‘I go, sir,’ but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said to Him, “The first” (Matthew 21:28-31a).[1] So God doesn’t just want lip service, He wants us to do something. But what does He want us to do? Well, before we answer this question let’s take a step back and think about God’s ultimate purpose in history (“His-Story”). This is how we will discover our ultimate purpose as Christians. God’s Eternal PurposeGod created the universe to be the stage whereupon He would display His glory. You can think of God’s glory as “the beauty of His manifold perfections.”[2] God’s purpose in creating the universe and redeeming fallen mankind is to display His glory through the manifestation of His divine attributes. God created the human race and has so orchestrated the events of human history including the fall, the flood, the formation of the nation of Israel, the incarnation and atonement of Christ, the creation of the church, and the coming end times events of judgment and restoration of creation all for the purpose of demonstrating His attributes. Through the fall and redemption of man God has manifested His righteousness and His love. In the one act of Christ dying on the cross, God demonstrated His justice and His mercy. It was all in God’s infinite wisdom that He has orchestrated all of the events of history and it was all done to the “praise of His glory.” All of history is moving to the day when “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” (Hab 2:14; Cf. Isa 11:9).
God is so glorious and He finds so much joy in His own glory that He wants others to behold Him and rejoice in Him as well. He doesn’t need His creatures, but He created man to take part in His own perfect happiness. It was out of the overflow of the joy that the Triune God possesses in His own being that He wanted others to participate in it and rejoice in it with Him.
Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires (2 Pet 1:2-4, NIV).
The Apostle John refers to this participation in the divine nature as “eternal life” or simply “life.”
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men (John 1:1-4, NIV).
After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began (John 17:1-5, NIV). That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete (1 John 1:1-4, NIV).
But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name (John 20:31, NIV).
So God’s plan to manifest His glory and share His joy with us concentrates on what I call the Messianic program. This refers to God’s plan to send Jesus to be the substitutionary atonement for sin in order to obtain a “bride” made up of a multitude from every people group who would worship and glorify and enjoy Him forever.
And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth” (Rev 5:9-10, NASB).
This is what the Abrahamic Covenant is all about: God is calling out a people for His name. God’s Purpose Enacted with the Abrahamic CovenantThis mission has been God’s purpose in time since the Fall in the Garden of Eden up to the present and on until Christ returns. God formally enacted His plan to gather a people for His name with the covenant He made with Abraham. Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed” (Gen 12:1-3, NASB). From Abraham, God created the nation of Israel, out of which came countless descendants.
And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore (Heb. 11:12; cf. Gen. 15:5, NIV).
Out of these countless physical descendants came One through whom the nations would be blessed. Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ (Gal 3:16). All those who exercise faith in Christ are the ones who are blessed. Just as Abraham “believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness.” Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.” So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham” (Gal 3:6-9). As believers in the promised Seed of Abraham, we participate in the Abrahamic Covenant. We are not only recipients of the promised blessing, but also as ambassadors of God bringing others into the blessing. God is blessing the nations through Abraham’s Seed, Jesus Christ. And we are called to take part in this through the Great Commission! Abraham lived around 2000 B.C., so we are part of God’s program in history to gather a people for the last 4,000 years. Other New Testament references to the priority of the Great Commission are: Mark 1:17, 29-38; 16:15; Luke 24:45-49; John 20:21; Acts 1:8; Romans 10:13-15, 15:20; 1 Corinthians 9:16-23; Revelation 5:9. God’s desire to bless the nations is powerfully communicated by Jesus in the parable of the great supper.
When one of those who were reclining at the table with Him heard this, he said to Him, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” But He said to him, “A man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many; and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come; for everything is ready now.’ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it; please consider me excused.’ Another one said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please consider me excused.’ Another one said, ‘I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come.’ And the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ And the slave said, ‘Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ And the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled.’ For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner’ ” (Luke 14: 15-24, NASB).
So from the divine perspective, the Great Commission is the greatest priority in this present age. If we believe that, then we should make it our greatest priority. Now someone may object saying that the primary purpose of
the Christian is to glorify God and the Great Commission is only one way of
glorifying God. In essence, I agree. But what’s the best way to glorify God
during this life on earth? John Piper said,
Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church, worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. When people from all nations are before the throne, missions ends. Missions is a temporary necessity, but worship is eternal. So missions, or evangelism, is our main purpose in time, because worship is the main purpose in eternity. And God wants us to be involved in the harvest of souls in time who will live in eternity to worship Him forever. God’s Mission and Christ’s Mission is Our MissionGod loves this lost world and He is acting to win it to Himself for His own glory. Christ came into the world, loved the lost and sought to win them to Himself for the Father’s glory. We are sent into the world to love the lost world and to seek to win the lost world for the glory of God. Our mission is the same mission Christ had, it's the same mission God the Father had: To seek and save the lost for the glory of God. So the person who desires to glorify God, who wants to honor God's will and God's purpose and God's desire, must then love the lost world the way God loves the lost world and give his life for the sake of winning that lost world. That is the pattern. When Jesus came into the world, He wanted to glorify the Father. John 17:3-4 says, “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.” That was His mission. Christ came to glorify His Father by reconciling man back to God. “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). In John 17:18 Jesus said, “As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.” The preposition “as” conveys the intent for which He sent His disciples into the world. Why did He send us? To glorify Himself through winning lost men and women to salvation. So to paraphrase this verse, we can say, “As You Father have sent Me, the Son, into the world of lost men and women for the purpose of redeeming them to Your glory, even so have I also sent My followers into the world.” If our purpose were fellowship, teaching, or worship, all of that would be better served if we were immediately taken to heaven at the point of salvation. The main reason God leaves us here on earth is to fulfill the mission of bringing salvation to the lost. Fellowship, teaching, and worship are not the primary mission of the church. They are part of the preparation and the training for the mission. An athlete trains to compete and win. Training is not to be confused with running the race. What point would there be if the National Football League stopped having games, but they kept the teams going and all they did was practice and train? When the church meets for fellowship, teaching, and worship, all that is only preparation for the work Jesus sent us out to do—winning lost people to Christ. That’s why we’re here. The Great Commission Back to our question, what should be our driving passion and purpose as followers of Christ and as His church? We don’t have to wonder what our purpose should be—Jesus told us; it’s called the Great Commission. The dictionary defines commission as, “The act of granting certain powers or the authority to carry out a particular task or duty” (The American Heritage Dictionary, 4th ed.). The Great Commission is the job Jesus gave His followers to carry out until His return. There’s no higher authority than Jesus and there’s no greater task than the Great Commission.
If your boss at work gives you a task to do, do you think it would be okay to ignore it? Of course not. How much more seriously then should we take the Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ? And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “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 of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen (Matt 28:18-20). The Great Commission is a summary of Jesus’ own passion, purpose, and lifestyle.[3] Following Jesus means living the way Jesus lived; living by the same priorities, following the same principles, and developing the same patterns. This is the normal Christian life. How has such a clear and simple description become so unclear and complicated? Why are we so often searching for secrets to the spiritual life and missing the simplicity of the Great Commission? It is time for us to restore the Great Commission as the normal pattern for every follower of Christ. Let us think of it as the Everyday Commission. To do so, we’ll have to clear away some confusion that has developed around the Great Commission. Confusion That Has Developed Around The Great CommissionConfusing Perspective #1: The Great Commission is a special command for special Christians, or “real disciples.” Mention of “disciples” in the Great Commission causes many Christians to breath a sigh of relief, thinking that it doesn’t pertain to them. Many think of disciples as super-Christians who are more dedicated and spiritual than “normal” Christians. Most Christians acknowledge the weaknesses of their faith and inconsistencies of their lifestyles and therefore wrongly assume that they are only “normal” Christians who will never attain the level of a disciple. As a result, they believe that the Great Commission must not apply to them since they are not able to “make disciples” of others when they themselves are not true disciples. Through the logic of this confused perspective, the Great Commission has been stripped of all relevance and power. Christians who have this view have no passion for outreach because they cannot see themselves in these words. When you read the Great Commission, be sure to place yourself in it. Don’t excuse yourself by thinking, “The Great Commission is the most important job in the church for someone else to do.” Don’t exempt yourself from the Great Commission. Disciple is a term that applies to every believer. It is someone who is a learner and a follower. And just as disciple refers to every true believer, so the Great Commission is Jesus’ mandate for every believer—the pattern of the normal Christian life. One author wrote, “The word ‘disciple’ occurs 269 times in the New Testament. ‘Christian’ is found only three times and was first introduced to refer precisely to disciples . . . . The disciple of Jesus is not the deluxe or heavy-duty model of the Christian—especially padded, textured, streamlined, and empowered for the fast lane on the straight and narrow way. He stands on the pages of the New Testament as the first level of basic transportation in the Kingdom of God.”[4] Think about it. Before we go any further, evaluate
your own thinking. Have you fallen prey to this myth (special command for
special Christians)? Be honest. Do you feel any personal responsibility to
carry out the Great Commission? Is it on your ultimate personal “to do” list?
Or is it just the most important job in the church for someone else to do? Imagine that the U.S. was suddenly attacked by a coalition of rogue states who joined forces to bring America down. Imagine we were being attacked on both coasts and the Northern and Southern borders. Not only that, but guerilla fighters who had already infiltrated our nation were killing U.S. citizens by the thousands in cities across the nation. Then imagine that President Bush called upon every able-bodied man to report for military service to defend our nation. And every available woman was called upon to serve in non-combat supportive roles. Now further imagine that you decided not to report for duty because you didn’t want to be inconvenienced. Now imagine this, you suddenly receive a random phone call by the President who calls to encourage you to stay the course and he asks you where you are fighting and how it is going. Picture yourself admitting to him that you never reported for duty. How would you feel at that moment? Think about it. How do you think Jesus would feel
about a professing Christian who feels no sense of personal responsibility for
the fulfillment of the Great Commission? Where did the idea come from that one can be a Christian and
not be following Christ in reaching out to the lost? In Matthew 4:19 Jesus
said, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” Well, if we’re not
fishing, we’re not following. Confusing Perspective #2: The Great Commission describes a call to missions. The first phrase is what leads many to have this view—“Go and make disciples of all the nations.” Immediately, many think of global evangelization. Acts 1:8 expands on this by saying, “You shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” But notice that fulfilling the Great Commission begins in our Jerusalem, then Judea and Samaria, and finally to the ends of the earth. International missions is eventually a part of the Great Commission, but it doesn’t start there. This is not to diminish missions at all. Rather it calls all of us to a missions mindset for all of life. Think about it. Do you live each day as if you are on mission, that you have a purpose, a task you are to be doing while you are here on earth? Do you see the Great Commission as the main priority of your earthly life and everything else as subservient to that purpose? Do you see all the particulars of your life serving one unified purpose? This is what brings meaning to our lives. What difference would it make in your life if you saw everything you do as somehow serving the purpose of the Great Commission, or the Everyday Commission? How would this affect the way you view your time, money, home, car, family, job, entertainment, ambitions, prayer, etc.? Confusing Perspective #3: The Great Commission is a call to evangelism. Yes, it includes evangelism, but not to the exclusion of the other priorities in Jesus’ ministry. With good intentions, many have used this hallmark passage to encourage evangelism by itself. Some see any other activity in this text as a lesser priority. However, just as the lifestyle of Jesus demonstrates a balance of disciple-making priorities, so does the mandate of the Great Commission. Evangelism is certainly a key component of the Great Commission, but it is not the only one (more on this in a moment). Confusing Perspective #4: The Great Commission calls us to highly structured discipleship training. The Great Commission is not about taking Christians to a higher level of knowledge and skills for Christian living and ministry. It’s not about making “normal Christians” into “super-Christians” through a process of highly structured study and accountability. This emphasis also misses the balance of the Great Commission. Rather than creating competition among the different aspects of the Great Commission, let us examine what exactly it is we are commissioned by Christ to do. A Closer Look at The Great Commission And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “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 of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen (Matt 28:18-20). Christ’s Authority. “all authority in heaven and on earth” – “authority” in the Greek is exousia. This can also be translated “privilege,” “right,” “power,” “authority.” It can be defined as, the freedom to do whatever you wish. Jesus is free to do what He wants, when He wants, where He wants, with what He wants, to whomever He wants. Jesus has sovereign authority, absolute authority. We don’t have to look around and ask, “Who’s in charge here?” Jesus displayed authority over disease and sickness, over demons, over wind and waves, over death. He taught the people as one having authority, He had authority to commission and delegate power over demons and disease to His disciples. He had authority to forgive sin, authority to judge, authority to lay His life down and take it back up again. He has authority to take the title deed to the earth and take possession of all creation (Rev 5). “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ and he will reign for ever and ever” (Rev 11:15b). In Psalm 2 it promises that the nations will be Christ’s inheritance and the ends of the earth his possession and He will rule them with an iron scepter. All authority has been given to Jesus. Who gave it to Him? God the Father (John 5:18-30; Dan 7:13-14). Philippians 2:9-10 says, Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. It is important to begin with Jesus’ authority as we think about making disciples of all the nations. Think about it. Why would this have been important to the original disciples? Isn’t it sort of an overwhelming, almost paralyzing command for those insignificant, impotent disciples to obey? And, Why is it important to us? John Stott said, The fundamental basis of all Christian missionary enterprise is the universal authority of Jesus Christ, “in heaven and on earth.” If the authority of Jesus were circumscribed [or limited] on earth, if he were but one of many religious teachers, one of many Jewish prophets, one of many divine incarnations, we would have no mandate to present him to the nations as the Lord and Savior of the world. If the authority of Jesus were limited to heaven, if he had not decisively overthrown the principalities and powers, we might still proclaim him to the nations, but we would never be able to “turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God” (Acts 26:18). Only because all authority on earth belongs to Christ dare we go to all nations. And only because all authority in heaven as well is his have we any hope of success.[5] The heart of the Great Commission is one command explained by three participial phrases. The only command of this passage is to make disciples. The three participial phrases are: going, baptizing them, and teaching them to obey. These phrases describe the process of making disciples which includes evangelizing, edifying, and equipping. going – tells us that making disciples is a matter of lifestyle that takes place as we move about in the world and proclaim the Gospel to those we meet. This phrase describes the lifestyle of continually working to evangelize the lost for Christ. We don't baptize unbelievers, so it is implicit that we first evangelize as we are going so we would have some people to baptize and teach. “Going” doesn’t only refer to those who go to a particular place to proclaim Christ, such as missionaries who go to a particular country. This word, “going,” really describes more the idea of “as you go through life.” It’s not about going to a particular place. Rather, it tells us to be witnesses for Christ wherever we go. Some other translations translate this word as: having gone, when you go, wherever you go, as you are going. Now does this mean that we don’t go to particular places and preach Christ where He hasn’t been named? Absolutely not. In Acts 1:8 Jesus said, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” That phrase, “ends of the earth” is literally “to the last part of the earth” (eschatou). So what we learn from understanding that this word “go” means “wherever you go” doesn’t diminish international missions at all. Rather it calls us to have a missions mindset for all of life whether we are talking with a neighbor or traveling overseas to do pioneer missons. Baptizing them – is a reference to the formal act of publicly demonstrating repentance and faith in Christ through water baptism. The word “in” can also be translated “into” which signifies that the subject of baptism is brought into fellowship with and under the authority of Him in whose name he is baptized as God’s own possession. It means to be brought into union with God. For us, the phrase, compels us to help people become rooted and established in the faith after they come to salvation in Christ. It means edifying or building them up in their spiritual growth as new believers. teaching them to observe [obey] all things that I have commanded you James Montgomery Boice said, This command is particularly important in our extremely superficial age. What we observe seems to be the opposite. Instead of striving to teach all Christ commanded, many are tying to eliminate as much of his teaching as possible, concentrating instead on things that are easily comprehended and unobjectionable. But a core such as this is distorted. It is usually grace without judgment, love without justice, salvation without obedience, and triumph without suffering. The motivation of some of these reductionists may be good: They want to win as many people to Christ as possible. But the method is the world’s, and the results will be the world’s results. Robust disciples are not made by watered-down teaching.[6] Boice goes on to say that if we asked many Christians what should be done to win the world they would likely suggest literature campaigns, radio and TV, seeker-sensitive services, recruitment of workers, and raising funds. In other words, to them, methods rather than content would be their concern. By contrast, Jesus told us to teach everything He commanded us. What would such teaching include? Boice offers the following as a summary:
Teaching them to obey – is the process of equipping people to put their faith into action. A disciple is one who chooses to follow his master and desires to become like him. Equipping goes beyond teaching someone the Bible. It involves developing skills, attitudes, and actions consistent with the life of Christ. It includes equipping people to make disciples of their own peers. Are you beginning to catch the dynamics of these words? They cover the entire process of making disciples: evangelizing, edifying, equipping. This process begins when we go to where people are, explain the Gospel to them, gather those who repent and ground them in the faith, and teach them to share Christ and His truth with others. There is a profound balance in this process; nothing dominates to the exclusion of other priorities. Any approach to the Great Commission that emphasizes one aspect above the rest shortchanges the whole. Christ’s desire was to replicate His drive, His priorities, His lifestyle, and His character in the lives of His followers. Those who would follow Him would live as He did. This everyday commission calls us to reach our own peers for Christ. It calls us to follow the priorities of Jesus wherever God has placed us (jr. highers reaching jr. highers, teachers reaching teachers, engineers reaching engineers, etc.). Christ’s Presence. End of verse 20: “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Something we should lean on a lot in carrying out the Great Commission is the promise of His presence. “I” is emphatic. This One who has all authority in heaven and on earth promises to be with us as we make disciples of all the nations. How often? “Always” (lit. “all the days”). For how long? “To the very end of the age” or to the consummation of the age when everything God is orchestrating in history closes in a mighty grand finale with the return of Christ and the establishment of His physical reign on the earth. He’s coming again physically, and until then, He’s with us spiritually which is no less real. John Stott said, . . . he attached [the promise of his presence] rather to their witness than to their worship. It is not only when we meet in his name, but when we go in his name, that he promises to be with us. The emphatic “I,” who pledges his presence, is the one who has universal authority and who sends forth his people.[7] Think it over. How does the promise of Christ’s presence encourage us in carrying out the Great Commission? [We go in His name, authority, and power, not our own.] The Great Commission is Church-BasedYou may wonder about just how you are to be involved in the three priorities of the Great Commission. Christ established the church to carry out the Great Commission. The fulfillment of the Great Commission requires leadership in the church. But not every Christian is called to be a pastor or a missionary. So some of us will have more visible involvement as leaders ordained by the church to vocational ministry. Others of us will be supportive of those leaders. However, this doesn’t mean that those who are not in full-time ministry have no personal role in the Great Commission. Since the Great Commission expresses the priorities for the church as given by Jesus Christ, we all should have some role in it whether directly or indirectly as individual members of Christ’s church.
(1) You can become a cross-cultural missionary, or you can support one (evangelizing). Either way, we are still to personally bear witness to Christ to those around us. (2) You can be a Sunday school teacher or you can work in the nursery so others can be involved in Sunday School (edifying). Either way, we are still to personally encourage new believers in their growth in Christ and be seeking to grow spiritually ourselves. (3) You can serve in a training ministry such as teaching in a Bible college or teach a parenting class or invite others to such training (equipping). Either way, we are still to personally become equipped for our own ministry in and through the church. So all of us, as Christians, are to be actively contributing
to the fulfillment of the Great Commission either directly or indirectly. You
cannot do this without participation in a local church. Paul encouraged Philemon saying, “I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ” (Phlm 6). God reaches lost people through your witnessing. But a secondary benefit is that it stretches your faith and deepens your relationship with Christ. Think it over. How do your efforts to witness for Christ cause you to grow in your faith? Being an Everyday Commission Christian brings purpose to your life and glory to God as all of the particulars of your life are united in one all-encompassing passion—God’s glory displayed in the redemption of unworthy sinners. Think it over. Why do you think it’s important to understand the Great Commission as we have studied it? A Closing ThoughtIn his devotional book Quiet Talks with World Winners, S.D. Gordon recounted a story of a group of amateur climbers who planned to ascend Mount Blanc in the Swiss Alps. On the evening before the climb, the guides outlined the prerequisite for success. They said that due to the difficulty of the climb, one could reach the top by taking only the necessary equipment for climbing, leaving all unnecessary accessories behind. A young Englishman didn’t listen and proceeded up the mountain with a blanket, a small case of wine, a camera, a set of notebooks, and a pocketful of snacks. On the way to the summit the other climbers began to notice various items left along the path—first the snacks and the wine, a short while later the notebooks and camera, and finally the blanket. The young man managed to reach the peak, but, just as the guides had predicted, he did so only after discarding all his unnecessary paraphernalia. Gordon made this application to the Christian life: “Many of us, when we find we can’t make it to the top with our loads, let the top go, and pitch our tents in the plain, and settle down with our small plans and accessories. The plain seems to be quite full of tents.” Fellow Christian, where is your tent pitched? Have you settled on the plain? Or, are you following Christ in obedience to the Great Commission? What changes do you need to make to follow Christ in this area? The church is the bride of Christ. The church is of infinite value to Him because He paid an infinite price to redeem her. He willingly endured the pain and shame of the cross to redeem us. How much it must grieve Jesus when we don’t esteem the value of the church and the Great Commission. Let’s not insult our Lord by living as if our goals and plans are more important than His. Let’s follow His example by living sacrificially in order to carry out the work of disciple-making. Let’s recommit ourselves to the great task of making disciples by evangelizing, edifying, and equipping the people around us. Making It Personal Witnessing Without Fear: Worksheet #1 1. How has your view of the Great Commission changed as a result of this lesson? Has it become much more relevant and significant to you? 2. Do you have a new appreciation for the balanced ministry it describes? 3. Identify which of the following activities are: A. Evangelizing activities, B. Edifying activities, C. Equipping activities. ____ coaching a child=s soccer team ____ taking a Bible college course ____ attending an AWANA training ____ giving money to the Gideons ____ meeting with another believer ____ attending a couple=s retreat for prayer and Bible study ____ attending Sunday services ____ helping a neighbor by babysitting for them ____ giving a Gospel of John to ____ teaching a growing Christian your dry-cleaner how to study his Bible ____ sharing your testimony ____ attending a home Bible study with a co-worker 4. Maintaining a balance of Great Commission priorities is very difficult. When you look at the overall pattern of your own life, how balanced are the three priorities of evangelizing, edifying, and equipping? On a scale of 1-10, rate yourself for involvement in the three priorities of the Great Commission. It may help to list all of your current activities. ____ Evangelizing ____ Edifying ____ Equipping 5. What factors in life make balance difficult for you? 6. They say the good is the enemy of the best. Do you sense that you may need to back out of some activities that are good, though not related to the Great Commission, in order to have a balance of the best activities, those that are related to the Great Commission? 7. What specific steps can you take to begin to balance these priorities? Ask the Lord to show you how He wants you to get involved in evangelizing, edifying, and equipping. Write down on a separate sheet of paper an initial plan of action for how you can become balanced. 8. Read and reflect on Revelation 5 this week. Ask God to show you the connection between what is described in this chapter and your ministry of witnessing today. How does the truth of this chapter encourage you to witness for Christ? Write your response here. 9. Begin to identify at least 3 people who are not Christians that you can interview about their beliefs using the questions given to you. Take a copy of the questions with you to write down their responses. Interview them no later than the end of Part 2 section of this study. If you don=t know any non-Christians, just find 3 people wherever you can (neighbors, public park, college campus, etc.). It can even be done by phone if the person lives out of town. 10. Create a 3 most-wanted for Christ list of people you can begin praying for with the hope of sharing your testimony with and/or the gospel (not necessarily the same 3 for the interview). 1. ____________________________________ 2. ____________________________________ 3. ____________________________________ Pray for them at least once day until you speak to them. Make an effort to witness to them before you finish this witnessing study. 11. Using the list of suggested Scriptures provided for you in the Appendix (or you may use other appropriate Scriptures that fall under one of the five categories of God, Man, Jesus, Salvation, Response), begin to memorize at least two passages (or one long one) a week. Try to balance yourself between the five categories. The benefits of doing this are numerous, but for our purposes here, it will greatly increase your ability to use God=s Word in witnessing. Look over the Scripture Memory Tips and consider using the Scripture Memory Record to help you stay on track. 12. If you are not already a member, consider joining the Pocket Testament League. Membership is free and you can receive free Gospel of John booklets shipped to your home or office for use in witnessing. You may register online at www.pocketpower.org. [1] All Scriptures taken from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated. [2] John Piper, Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist (Sisters, Ore.: Multnomah Books, 1996), 43. [3] Some of the material here is from Dann Spader and Gary Mayes, The Everyday Commission: Discovering the Joy of Partnership with God! (Wheaton, Ill.: Harold Shaw Publishers, 1994), 19-26. [4] Dallas Willard, Spirit of the Disciplines (New York, N.Y.: Harper & Row, 1988), 258. [5] John R.W. Stott, “The Great Commission,” in One Race, One Gospel, One Task: World Congress on Evangelism, Berlin 1966, Official Reference Volumes, ed. Carl F. H. Henry and W. Stanley Mooneyham (Minneapolis, Minn.: World Wide Publications, 1966), 1:46. [6] James Montgomery Boice, The Gospel of Matthew, vol. 2, The Triumph of the King, Matthew 18-28. (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 2001), 649. [7] Ibid., 49. Witnessing Without Fear - Part Two.
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