Matthew 28:19: The Great Commandment: The Call, Part I

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…” Jesus, in Matthew 28:19

This photo is from 2012 during a visit to a Muslim African country. 

“Missions exists because worship does not,” (The first line in John Piper’s book, Let the Nations Be Glad) 

 “How much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize?  How much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them that? (Celebrity atheist Penn Jillette in a YouTube video, “Penn Jillette gets a Bible.”) 

Jesus’ final charge to his disciples, one that will carry his church until his return, is sandwiched by two glorious promises (vv. 18, 20).   Between these promises are two charges: “Go” and “make disciples.” 

In light of “all authority in heaven and on earth” (v. 18) being given to Christ, therefore (I recall one teacher saying humorously yet truthfully, “always ask, what is the ‘therefore’ there for?”) we should go all the way to the “remotest part of the earth,” (Acts 1:8, NASB).   We are his ambassadors (see 2 Corinthians 5:20).  Ambassadors do not reside in their homeland; they go to where they are appointed.  

I remember Josh McDowell telling the story of how he was counseling a college student who said, “God has not called me to go to the mission field.” Josh flipped the pages of his Bible and read, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.”   The call is there!  We need to have a specific call to stay!

As a first-hand observer to the missions movement, I believe the Christian church has made great strides in this generation in raising awareness to missions as well as in proclaiming Christ to all nations (the Greek word is ethnos, or “people group”).  But, according to John Piper at the 2013 Gospel Coalition Conference, there are 3100 “unengaged” (no plan to reach them) people groups.  This should not overwhelm us; there are after all 98,000 evangelicals worldwide for each unengaged people group.  

That said, the world is getting smaller.   We can communicate Christ to those who come to us.   For example, international students from countries closed to the gospel can be found on most university campuses.  We can use modern technology (satellite TV, the internet) to get the gospel into remote parts of the earth.   Still, there is no substitute for having “boots on the ground” in order to teach young believers, train pastors, and make disciples.   God’s call to go is as valid today as it was 2000 years ago.

The second charge given by Jesus in this passage is to “make disciples.”   Most of the missionary surge today comes from short-term missionaries: those who go for a week or a summer, even a year. Field ministries are greatly resourced, accelerated and blessed by the work of short-term missionaries.  And it is true that most long-term missionaries began and caught the vision as short-termers.

But there is a downside here: the world will not be reached through short-term missions.    We must leave behind family, friends, and all that is familiar (19:29) in order to “make disciples of all nations.”

Also, each of us should make disciples right where we are, regardless of our stage of life or our occupation.  As we do this, we should press and seek in prayer God’s direction for us to go.  He is worthy of the worship of “every nation, from all tribes people and languages,” (Revelation 7:9).   Additionally, many believe that the return of Christ is pegged to the fulfillment of the Great Commission (24:14).

Do you want an obedient life?  Do you want to look back on your life 100 years from now and see fruit that survived the grave?   Do you want the Lord to return during our lifetime?   Is Christ worthy of the worship of all nations, of all people on planet earth?  If your answer is “yes”, then there is only one response: “go…and make disciples of all nations,” (v. 19).