The Great Commisson

Matthew 28:18-20
18And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

Do you know what the word commission means? It means an authoritative order, charge, or direction. The reason why this portion of Scripture is recorded for us is because Christ Himself has given those who know Him as their Savior an order and command. We are to make disciples, meaning we are to share the Gospel with others and teach them the truths of the Bible. There are several really cool things about this passage that we must note.

First, we can be comforted by the truth that the authority lies with Christ. Christ said that He would build His church and the authority do so has been granted to Him from the Father. We don't have to be afraid to be bold in sharing His message because He is the one who saves the soul. It is truly amazing that Christ has allowed and commanded us to be a part of what He is doing. We share Christ with them and He draws them to Himself and saves them. This should comfort us in knowing that we don't have to have elegant speech or anything special because we have the message of the Gospel. That message is the only message that can save.

Secondly, we must understand that the command here is not to go. There may be some of you who feel called to go and be missionaries to another part of the world and that is totally awesome. Our world need to hear the truth of Christ in order to be saved and we should daily be praying that God will continue to send workers into the harvest(Matt. 9:36-38). Some of you might not be feeling the call to be a missionary to a foreign country or somewhere in the U.S. and that is alright because again, the command is not go. The command is to make disciples. The way it is written in Greek is really go.

It is the idea of as you go, make disciples. This means that wherever you are at, whether that be at the park or the store or in your neighborhood, you and I are commanded to make disciples of Christ. It means that as you live doing whatever role that God has given you, make disciples. If you are an computer person, make disciples. If you are a Storekeeper, make disciples. If you are someone who stays at home, make disciples. If you work in retail, make disciples. We have been placed on this earth to glorify God in all things. It is hard to think of something that brings greater glory to Him then one a sinner repents of his sin and places his hope and trust in Christ alone to save him.

If we are all honest with ourselves, this is probably something that we struggle with. It can be difficult to have this mindset, but we can take comfort that Christ has the authority and that wherever he has placed, we have the opportunity to share Christ with others. Let's pray and ask God to give us boldness in sharing Christ with others. Let's pray that He will provide us opportunities at work, home, or in our neighborhoods to share the Gospel with others. Christ is the only way to salvation and we have been commanded to share that message with others.

Romans 10:13-15
13For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
14But how are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?[a] And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!"