The Great Commission

The Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20)

¹⁶ Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. ¹⁷ And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. ¹⁸ And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Ok, so here is a question. Have you ever been to a church that takes the this passage seriously? The answer is probably yes, but I bet it is a very small number. It certainly has been the case for me. Don't get me wrong, I have been to a good number of great churches. However, they almost exclusively have not taken to the idea of discipleship within the church seriously let alone outside of it.

When churches en mass are not discipling their people, and when they are outsourcing their evangelism to foreign missionaries (not that missionaries are bad), why are we surprised that the Church is stagnant, not growing, and not unified? How can there be unity when there is no movement? No progress? No common purpose?

If we want to see the Church come alive it boils down to two simple things. Jesus happened to mention them in passing in Matthew 22:36-40.

³⁶ “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” ³⁷ And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. ³⁸ This is the great and first commandment. ³⁹ And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. ⁴⁰ On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

What is this talking about? What is a commandment? A commandment is something that you need to do. And the answer to what He was talking about was this: prioritize our relationship with G-d first above all else, and then prioritize our relationships with those around us.

This is simple, seek a deeper relationship with G-d, and seek to help those around you love G-d more. That is the great commission, that is revival. If churches actively developed that kind of culture they would grow, they would find unity with like-minded congregations, and their local area would change.