The Great Commission

     Matthew 28:19-20 is often called "The Great Commission." What is it that we are commissioned to do? 

     I will quote to you now from the translation of the Bible that I look to the most for my inspiration. It is where I draw most of my daily living from, the “Luke-Warm Comfortable American Evangelical Bible” Matthew 28:19-20:

     “Go ye therefore to safe and convenient places for at most a couple of weeks, eliciting a meaningless emotional response, don’t bother teaching them to obey everything I have commanded onto you, just hand them a Bible and leave, and Lo I am with you always even as you return to your comfortable life and leave them in misery.”

     That is how we view it. And not just in the great commission. I am convicted today that as Solomon said in Ecclesiastes that life is meaningless. What am I doing?

Let’s break it down a bit. Matthew 28:19-20 says:

     “Therefore go” literally “As you are going, where ever you are” It does not say “Therefore go on a mission trip” it says go.

     “make disciples of all nations” Make Disciples! Not get a confession of sin, not get them to say the sinners prayer, not do a hit and run salvation mission. Make Disciples.

     “baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” This is easier to do but I think it means a lot more than just getting them wet. A baptism without true conversion is just a quick bath.

     “and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” This is disciple making. We cannot teach them all we have been taught in 30 minutes. It takes a long time. It takes a relationship. It takes us pouring ourselves into them, as Jesus was poured into us by others before us.

     “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” We do not do anything through our own power. It is the power of Jesus that gets things done. We are but weak and broken vessels, He is the power.

     This needs to start first and foremost in my home. 1 Timothy 3:4-5 "He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, he must do so in a manner worthy of full respect. (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?)

     As I go about my life I am to be a light unto the darkness. I am to be a city on a hill. As I walk the jail daily I should be Christ to the inmates and my fellow workers. I should talk to them, Show them God’s love and for my fellow workers share my belief with them. As I form a relationship with them I share my life with them. As I share my life with them I share Christ with them. As I share Christ with them I share Life with them. I am disciplining them. I am making disciples.