The
great commission: Laid out in the Gospels, played out in Acts, promised in
Revelation
Back
to this thing of Jesus wandering the earth and gathering some followers. Just
what was the God Man up too anyway? He could have done so many different
things. Heck, according to John He did so many crazy things that “Were every
one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain
the books that would be written.” Now that is crazy talk. Jesus did so many
things that the entire world could not hold all the books that would be
written. That is a lot of things. Three years of stuff that the world cannot
contain. I am getting a headache just trying to think of that much stuff.
We do know one of the crazy things He was up to was
gathering some followers and teaching them about the kingdom. He was resetting
things and decided to train up some folks in His way. But here is the cool
thing about God He is so into the details that He was not just
showing/teaching He was making. Go figure, creator God and all. In Mark 1:17 He says, “Follow
Me and I will make you become fishers of men.” Notice
here that Jesus issues a call “follow.” He then issues a promise “I will make.”
There is a transaction here that if we will do something, Jesus will then do
something. There is an essence that the act of following will result in a
transformation. He will make something (creator Jesus), not He will show how.
That is super sweet. It is not left up to our skill set, our calling. We love
to talk about our calling and skill sets as if God can’t do what He wants. He
is the creator and He makes people into new people. Jesus emphasizes this by
picking a bunch of mediocre types from different walks of life and makes them
all do the same thing. You will all be fishers of men is what he tells them.
Matthew was not Jesus’ accountant. He was his disciple. He was a fisher.
In Matthew
28:19-20 Jesus gives a command to the crew who had been following Him around.
They follow Him all over the place, but not too far away, and He teaches them
the kingdom. When this kingdom teaching is done He gives them a task. He has
made them fishers. Now He tells them to go fish. “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. Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded
you.” The order of things here is amazing: Make disciples, baptize them, teach
them what I taught. See how it works. He says get some people who will follow.
Get them baptized and teach them the kingdom. See Matthew 5-7. When the kingdom living portion is
understood or at least attempted or at least desired send them out to make more
fishers. Pretty weird how Jesus keeps forgetting to have people accept Him as
their personal savior or ask Him into their heart. He just keeps discipleing,
baptizing and teaching the kingdom.
Fast
forward. Jesus has left earth and taken His seat on the throne. He talks to the
Father about us quite a bit. The crew is left alone, told to hang out and wait
for the Spirit. So they did and that is pretty amazing right there. I hate waiting for my check at a restaurant. They waited
and waited and then stuff happened. They got all wild and went out into the
streets and started gathering a new crew. In Acts 2 Peter comes out of the room
and starts preaching. Peter
tells the masses, “repent and be baptized, everyone of you in the name of Jesus
Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the
Holy Spirit.” Peter is feeling it now that he just got this very cool gift. It
is interesting here that Peter does not promise salvation, he promises the
Spirit, which we are told in other places leads us to the wilderness, or truth
in others but always to Jesus. Salvation does not seem to be a moment but a
movement not from something but rather to something. (Later topic. Not for now.
The Spirit leads us to Jesus, not salvation. How many of us are seeking the
wrong thing? Too crazy controversial. Note to self. I should drop this idea. It
makes people uncomfortable.) Discpleing brings them to baptizing which leads to
the Spirit, which leads to teaching. In verse 42 we are told, "and they devoted themselves to the
apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the
prayers.
So
then we get back on topic and we are shown just what makes the disciples leave
town, start going to the nations. In Acts 8:3-4 it says, “Saul was ravaging the
church. Those who were scattered went about preaching the Word.” It seems the
next phase of the commission is born out of escaping death and beginning the
process of the commission wherever they ended up. This probably explains the
slowing of the commission process because we found a place where we could stop
running. In our desire to avoid all things uncomfortable we sought peace and
safety. When we found peace and safety we sat still and forgot our job.
But
here is the good news. This task of going to all nations and telling all tribes
will be accomplished. We will once again go and that means the peace and safety
net is going to wear out. It is made clear in Revelation 7:9 “And behold a
great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes
and peoples and languages standing before the throne and before the lamb,
clothed in white robes.” Stunning,
The great commission is a done deal. It is a promise. John saw it. At the end
of the age the commission has absolutely been completed. (Another note to self.
Revelation is actually in the bible. It might explain how this all turns out.
Too controversial.) We know the job will get done and we also know it will only
be done through us. So the only thing that is uncertain is when this will be
finished.
We
are told in 2 Peter 3:8-13 that we absolutely are going to make this thing
happen and it is clear that we will determine if He returns in 5 years or 5000
years. In these verses there are references to time and how the Lord will bring
about the conclusion of the age. Verse 9 speaks to God’s patience that all may
hear and come to Him. Verse 12
speaks to a hastening of the end of the age by not being sidetracked by things
of the world. Specifically mentioned is that God demands lives of Godliness and
Holiness. Our pursuit of these two
things will directly lead us away from safety and back to our job of fishing. Hastening
is done through us accomplishing our assignment. We are to make prayer and we are to fulfill the commission.
It
seems clear that we will be made to be like Jesus. We will be baptized then we
will be taught to do what He did. Wash rinse repeat. He shows us how it works
and there seems to be a motivation in the going that has to do with escaping
where you came from because we are tired of people trying to kill us So we move to a new place.. We are shown that this task is not just doable but it is
promised, that it will be done. We are reminded that the faster we get it done
the sooner He returns. SWEET. This is simple stuff for a stiff-necked people. God’s
people are always stubborn and forgetful. Going to the nations is nobody’s
calling. It is a command. As my genius friend put it, our calling is to obedience. Most people are pretty unhappy with that calling, last time I checked.
