Monday, September 18, 2017
Matthew 28:18-20 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.
GO THEREFORE ...
Often times this part of the great commission is portrayed or thought of as an imperative, or as a command. I've seen Christian clip art trying to depict this passage with a drawing of Jesus standing in front of His disciples with an arm outstretched as if He was a commanding general ordering His disciples to GO! While Jesus does send us out into the world with this and other passages of Scripture, this is not the emphasis of these words in Matthew 28. Perhaps a better way to understand the words of Jesus when He says: "Go therefore…" is more like this: "As you are going…" You see, what Jesus has in mind for His ambassadors is that we simply proclaim the Good News as we make our way through life. That's not to say that we don't make specific plans to share the Gospel from time to time, but it also means that we share the Gospel even when we haven't made specific plans to do so. Or another way to look at is that we look for opportunities to speak the truth of God's word at all times.
This too provides great comfort and encouragement for us as we do the work of evangelism. You see, effectiveness of Gospel does not depend on my great plans or evangelism projects. The power is always in the Word of God. I know that I have been discouraged at times because I've failed to "create" an evangelism opportunity. But sometimes I wonder if God's Kingdom wouldn't be better served if we spent as much time simply telling others about Jesus as we do worrying about evangelism programs and opportunities. To paraphrase this in a question: Do we spend more time talking about how to spread the Gospel than the time spent actually proclaiming the Gospel?
So, perhaps a better way to think of the great commission is this: As you are going ... make disciples of all nations, wherever and whenever the Lord opens a door of opportunity to share the Good News. Amen!
