Matthew 28:16-20
(16) Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. (17) When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted. (18) And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. (19) 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, (20) 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.
I read a story about an atheist who was visiting an Indian tribe deep in the jungles. He spoke to an elderly chief and said, “ I am so sorry you have been taken in by the Christians who came to you with the foolish story of Jesus Christ. You know people don’t believe that anymore.” The chief pointed to a huge rock and said, “You see that rock? That is where we bashed in the heads of our enemies. And You see that huge oven? That is where we roasted their bodies.” If it were not for those Christians telling us about Jesus, you would be our next supper.” This speaks powerfully about the work of missionaries and the need for missions around the world.
The Biblical Basis For Missions
What is mission, and what is the principal foundation for the mission of the church? It is important to note first of all that the words: mission or missionary do not appear in the scriptures. However, the principles are taught in Scriptures. The word mission itself comes from the Latin verb missio, which means "to send." So, literally, missions has to do with sending. In the Scriptures, we see the verb to send being used over and over, in many ways. Luke 9:2 - He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.
Luke 10:1 - After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go.
John 17:18 - As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. There's a sense in which the whole life of the church and the whole experience of the Christian are rooted ultimately in sending out. The sending out is founded in the authority and the action of God Himself.
It is God who institutes, sanctifies, and mandates the mission of the church. One of the most famous passages in the Bible speaks to this mission: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Many people know this verse, but how many know the next verse? “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” (v. 17). The motive behind the divine action of redemption contained in John 3:16 lies in the action of God in sending His Son into the world. The purpose was not negative but positive; God didn't send the Son for the purpose of judgment, but rather for the purpose of redemption. Verse 34 reveals more about that mission: “For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure.” Who is the one whom God had sent? It's Jesus Christ, and He was sent speaking the words of God and giving the Holy Spirit without measure.
In his book Early Christians of the Twenty-First Century, Chad Wallace makes a powerful statement:
“Millions of Christians live in a sentimental haze of vague piety, with soft organ music trembling in the lovely light from stain-glass windows. Their religion is a pleasant thing of emotional quiver divorced from the intellect, divorced from the will, and demanding little except lip service to a few harmless platitudes. I suspect that Satan has called off his attempt to convert people to agnosticism. After all, if a man travels far away enough from Christianity, he is always in danger of seeing it in perspective and deciding that it is true. It is much safer from Satan’s point of view to vaccinate a man with a mild case of Christianity so as to protect him from the real disease."
Are you and I vaccinated with a mild case of Christianity, or do we have the real disease? Are you and I excited or embalmed by the truth? Our contemporary church is suffering from an identity crisis. It is like the severe amnesia victim crying, “Who am I?”
Professor Howard Hendricks says:
“If you read the New Testament about the character of the New Testament church, one is compelled to conclude that the relationship between the New Testament church and the contemporary church is one of contrast rather than one of comparison.”
But why? Why the tremendous difference between the church of the 1st century and the church of the 21st century? I’ll tell you why. The 1st century church never lost sight of its mission. They never forgot Jesus’ last message to them. They knew why they were still on earth and not with Jesus in heaven. Do we know why we are still here on earth and not in heaven with Jesus?
Matthew closes his Gospel with Jesus’ final message to his disciples. The final words of any person are often very important words. Let us read Matthew 28:18-20: (18) And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. (19) 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, (20) 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.
Our Ultimate Goal In Life Is To Glorify God
The first question in the Westminster Shorter Catechism asks, “What is the chief end [or goal] of man?” The answer given is, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.” The reason we exist is to bring glory to God. God created us and all things for his own glory. I love this mission statement: The mission of His church is “to bring people to Jesus Christ and membership in His church family, develop them to Christlike maturity, equip them for their ministry in the church and life mission in the world, in order to magnify God.”
Evangelism & Missions
One of the most important ways we glorify God is through our fulfilling the divine mandate given to us by God, and that is to “go into all the world” with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Evangelism and missions are ways by which the message of the saving work of God is carried and spread throughout the world. They are manifestations of the activity of God’s Word and Spirit. In both the Old and New Testaments, God calls believers to participate in advancing the message of the gospel among the nations. Although the gospel is the focal point of all evangelism, evangelism involves making and maturing disciples through the ministry of the Word of God.
Scripture sets out the God-ordained means, method, and end of evangelism and missions. Far from diminishing the need to evangelize, God’s sovereignty fuels the church’s evangelistic labors. Related to evangelism is God’s command for the church to carry the gospel to the nations. Missionaries, empowered by the Holy Spirit and sent out by Jesus (Acts 1:8 - (8) But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.), cross geographical, cultural, and language boundaries for the spread of the gospel and the salvation of the elect.
Explanation
Evangelism and missions originated in the eternal council of God and commenced upon the fall of our first parents. Having rebelled against God, Adam and Eve hid themselves from His presence (Genesis 3:8 And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden). Scripture teaches that the physical act of hiding from God was representative of the spiritual condition of all mankind after the fall. All who descend from Adam and Eve by natural generation are born spiritually dead in sins and trespasses, under the influence of the devil and under the wrath of God. (1689 Confession of Faith 6.3) (Ephesians 2:1–3 - (1) And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, (2) in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, (3) among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.)
In love and mercy, God came down to man, to seek and save sinners through the saving work of Jesus Christ—the last Adam and Savior of sinners. After calling Adam and Eve out of hiding, God proclaimed the gospel to them. Genesis 3:15 - (15) And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel. This message of God’s gracious work in Christ includes the defeat of the devil, deliverance into God’s kingdom, atonement for sin, and the destruction of death. In the first preaching of the gospel, therefore, we discover the divine initiative and gracious nature of the message of salvation.
In redemptive history, God carried on His missionary purpose by calling Abraham and forming the nation of Israel. Israel was set apart by God to be a light to the nations. If the people of Israel had lived lives consecrated to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—in the hope of the coming Redeemer—they would have been the instrument of the evangelization of the world. However, by their perpetual disobedience and idolatry, Israel forfeited its role.
By God the Father’s directive, Jesus came as the true Israel of God in order to secure the Abrahamic blessing for the nations. Look at Genesis 12:1–3: (1) Now the LORD had said to Abram: "Get out of your country, From your family And from your father's house, To a land that I will show you. (2) I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. (3) I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Paul then points out that Jesus is the fulfillment of the whole world being blessed through Abraham. Galatians 3:13–14: (13) Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE"), (14) that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. During His earthly ministry, Jesus sent His disciples to proclaim the good news throughout Israel. After His resurrection and ascension, He commissioned the Apostles to bear worldwide witness to Him in “Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
Jesus gave the Great Commission to the church for the purpose of gathering a community of worldwide worshipers. When sinners are reconciled to God through the preaching of Christ, God adds worshipers to His church. The church carries out evangelism in two major ways: ministers and congregants carry the gospel to their loved ones, neighbors, and coworkers; and parents diligently teach their children Scripture and the doc-trines and practices of the Christian faith.
Evangelism is the central aspect of outreach in local churches with respect to the unbelieving members of the surrounding community. The doctrinal and practical instruction of professing believers and their children may also properly be included in the definition of evangelism.
In missions, individual believers carry the gospel to areas of the world in which biblical local churches do not exist. Remember “missions” carries the idea of “being sent.” Jesus is the great missionary—the One sent by His Father to bring good news to this lost and perishing world. In the Apostolic age, evangelism and missions were virtually inseparable. The book of Acts focuses on the unique ministry of the Apostle Paul—the first missionary to the gentile nations. Since God is a missionary God, He calls His church to be a missionary church.
In Acts 1:8-9 we read of His ascension into Heaven after He gave them the commission to start where they were with the preaching of the Gospel and then spread out to other lands. This should be our pattern for missions. Some are called to be foreign missionaries, while some are called to be missionaries here in the USA, and ALL of us are called to be missionaries in our “world,” our circle of influence. Why should we be involved?
It Is A Command From The Lord
Jesus gave the Great Commission and has entrusted with us the privilege of carrying the Gospel of Jesus Christ into all the world. All we do is for the Glory of God. Jesus said this in His prayer to God in John 17: (4) I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do... (18) As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.... (22) And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: (23) I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.