THE GREAT OLD COMMISSION
In the book “GodStories: Explorations into the Gospel of God,” Andrew Wilson states:
The first thing God gives man is a blessing, not a ban, with profoundly exciting and fulfilling implications. In essence: Have sex, have babies, travel, explore, and take charge over all you see.
I happen to agree with him and thankfully so! In fact, he is not saying anything new. All he is doing is re-communicating God’s awesome plan found in Genesis 1:28-30:
God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.” God also said, “Look, I have given you every seed-bearing plant on the surface of the entire earth and every tree whose fruit contains seed. This food will be for you, for all the wildlife of the earth, for every bird of the sky, and for every creature that crawls on the earth-everything having the breath of life in it. [I have given] every green plant for food.” And it was so.
Amen to that! In fact, it even gets better. The only part that Andrew Wilson does not mention, was that God provided delicious food to energize humankind to do all of this. How awesome is that? Food is one of the best parts of life and thank God for it! And talk about motivation to get married. I personally am not married, but believe me – when I do get married, honoring this command will definitely not be on my complaint list.
It’s funny that people think that God is some kind of heavenly policeman who is out to take away the fun from our lives – when in fact, He is the one who actually made it possible in the first place. Humans have taken His original plan for us and totally abused it into something unrecognizable. Just to name a few examples, we live in a world today where humans have abused this plan into sex trafficking, prostitution, fornication, abortions, abandoned orphans, mass murders, polluted environments, and overpopulated cities. You might ask, “Well, does this mean that God’s plan failed?” Absolutely not. In fact, throughout history God actually sustains His plan. Nothing can stop or get in His way. Not even sin. He sustains it through an idol-worshipping pagan named Abraham in Genesis 12. Just like in Genesis 1:28-30, God basically tells Abraham to do be fruitful and multiply. The result of this would be that billions of his offspring would fill the the earth with God’s image and glory. Later on in history we see this fulfilled in Exodus 1:7:
But the Israelites were fruitful, increased rapidly, multiplied, and became extremely numerous so that the land was filled with them.
Through Abraham, God also revealed that His plan would be fulfilled through his offspring:
Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your offspring.” (Gen 12:7)
I will indeed bless you and make your offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your offspring will possess the gates of their enemies. And all the nations of the earth will be blessed by your offspring because you have obeyed My command. (Gen 22:17-18)
In Galatians 3:16, Paul helps us realize that God used Abraham’s people to ultimately fulfill it through one person.
Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say “and to seeds,” as though referring to many, but referring to one, and to your seed, who is Christ.
Paul was referring back to Genesis. So we now know that when God said, “offspring,” it was not plural, but singular. God’s plan would ultimately be fulfilled through one single person – His eternal Son, Jesus Christ. We saw in Romans 1:2-4 that Jesus is born, lives a fully human life on our behalf, dies on our behalf, and then raises on our behalf. After His resurrection, Jesus spends some more time on earth before He ascends in heaven. Before He leaves, He says one final thing in Matthew 28:18-20 that is very interesting:
All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 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 everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.
Doesn’t this sound really familiar? Matthew 28:18-20 reveals the same plan God had from the beginning. God still plans for humankind to be fruitful, to multiply, and to fill the earth with His image and glory. As Andrew Wilson puts it, “It’s just that reproducing yourself is now called discipleship, and travel is now called world mission.” I know I joked earlier about waiting to be married to follow this plan, but the truth is Isaiah 54:1-5 and 56:3-7 prophesied that we would not have to spread God’s image and glory through making babies anymore. God is not just spreading His image and glory through the physical birth of children, He is also doing it through spiritual birth (John 3:3-8). Today, we can see that God’s plan has not failed a bit. New disciples of Jesus are rapidly spreading all over the world. What a Great Commission!
ALL CHRISTIANS ARE GREAT COMMISSIONED
We have received grace and apostleship through Him to bring about the obedience of faith among all the nations, on behalf of His name, including yourselves who also belong to Jesus Christ by calling: To all who are in Rome, loved by God, called as saints. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 1:5-7)
Now when we read Romans 1:5-7, just like Andrew Wilson – we can now realize that Paul is not saying anything new. All he is doing is re-communicating God’s plan revealed in Matthew 28:18-20. Just because Paul was an apostle, this didn’t mean that he gained some kind of monopoly on the Great Commission. Paul reminds the Christians in Rome that they share in the same privilege. I wonder if we have to be reminded of the same today. I wonder if Christians forget to see the this as a privilege that we all get to share in. Sometimes I wonder if we’ve gained a mentality that only pastors, teachers, authors, or other ministry workers somehow already have a monopoly on it. Or if you’re not in the ministry – you have to become some type of “super spiritual” Christian before you can qualify. This mentality is totally wrong. It doesn’t matter if you are a student, a parent, retailer, salesman, doctor, counselor, policeman, (insert your position here), everyone is called to take part in the Great Commission.
Now that we have a better grasp on the Great Commission. Let’s dig a little deeper by looking into Romans 1:5-15:
We have received grace and apostleship through Him to bring about the obedience of faith among all the nations, on behalf of His name, including yourselves who also belong to Jesus Christ by calling: To all who are in Rome, loved by God, called as saints. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you because the news of your faith is being reported in all the world. For God, whom I serve with my spirit in [telling] the good news about His Son, is my witness that I constantly mention you, always asking in my prayers that if it is somehow in God’s will, I may now at last succeed in coming to you. For I want very much to see you, so I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you, that is, to be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. Now I want you to know, brothers, that I often planned to come to you (but was prevented until now) in order that I might have a fruitful ministry among you, just as among the rest of the Gentiles.I am obligated both to Greeks and barbarians, both to the wise and the foolish. So I am eager to preach the good news to you also who are in Rome.
There are four over-arching themes we can pull out of this passage. Here we can see that:
- God uses the Great Commission to save people who believe His Good News.
- God uses the Great Commission to strengthen people who believe His Good News.
- God uses the Great Commission to preserve people who believe His Good News.
- God uses the Great Commission to guide people who believe His Good News.
For the next few pages of this essay, we’re going to look at where these verses expose each one of these themes.
God uses the Great Commission to save people who believe His Good News. This was true for people in the Old Testament (Gal 3:8), it was true for the people in the New Testament, this is true for us today, and is true for the people who will come after us. God uses the Great Commission to save people from the past, present, and future. But wait. There is more. God wants to salvation to spread throughout all nations in the world.
We have received grace and apostleship through Him to bring about the obedience of faith among all the nations, on behalf of His name (Romans 1:5)
First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you because the news of your faith is being reported in all the world. (Romans 1:8)
Sometimes it’s dangerous to see the Great Commission as a privilege and forget that it’s a mandatory command. This is dangerous, because this mindset can make us very casual about it. Sometimes we see the Great Commission as a command, but we forget that’s it’s a privilege. This mindset is also dangerous, because we can fall into guilt. It’s important to see it as both. In fact, it’s not just an obligation to God, it’s an obligation to everyone. Romans 1:14-15 states:
I am obligated both to Greeks and barbarians, both to the wise and the foolish. So I am eager to preach the good news to you also who are in Rome.
Again, we don’t have to be Paul to fulfill the Great Commission. We don’t have to be an apostle or any other office, we just have to be a Christian. If Paul is obligated to everyone, so are we. You see, when you realize that people who haven’t heard the Good News are going to Hell, your whole perspective changes. You will actually realize that we owe a debt to every single lost person in the world. To forget that people are going to Hell is to forget that you were once going to be eternally separated from God in Hell. People who are headed for Hell deserve to know the Gospel. It’s a free gift that should not be left in greedy self-centered hands. A right view of the Great Commission will free you from your selfishness. You’ll no longer have to be controlled by guilt or laziness. Instead you’ll be controlled by God’s love, mercy, compassion and grace for yourself and others. Let that sink in and may that give you a more mature understanding of the Great Commission.
God uses the Great Commission to strengthen people who believe His Good News. We often quote Matthew 28:19, but we often forget to quote verse 20, “teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” This is how we will be able to grow from spiritual babies to spiritual men and women. I often hear people talk about how long they have been Christians. I’ve heard and seen years ranging from twenty minutes to twenty years. But what is more important than how long you’ve been a Christian, is how long you have been growing as a Christian. You could be a Christian for twenty years and still be a spiritual baby – either a spiritually malnourished one or a spiritually obese one. To prevent yourself from being malnourished, you must be taught. And if you are being taught – to prevent yourself from becoming obese, you must teach others. This is how God designed the Great Commission to keep us in spiritual shape. Romans 1:10-12 gives us a glimpse in how to do just that:
…always asking in my prayers that if it is somehow in God’s will, I may now at last succeed in coming to you. For I want very much to see you, so I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you, that is, to be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.
What kinds of spiritual gifts has God given you? To find out, read 1 Corinthians 12-14. It reveals that, whatever gift or gifts He has given you, are meant to serve, strengthen, and bring unity to all Christians. No matter what position we are in, we should always be willing to learn just as much as we are willing to teach. We should always be interacting with and investing in other Christians. God designed it this way to strengthen us as one unit under Jesus Christ.
God uses the Great Commission to preserve people who believe His Good News.
…including yourselves who also belong to Jesus Christ by calling: To all who are in Rome, loved by God, called as saints. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 1:6-7)
If you know anything about first century Rome, you’ll know that Christians at that time were heavily persecuted. Just to name a few, some Christians were used as lamps at night by being burned at the stake and some Christians were thrown into the Roman colloseum to be eaten alive by lions or to be rammed to death by a bull. You see, when you are suffering this badly for the sake of God’s glory, you need all the grace and peace you can get. For us in America, even though our lives are not threatened like this, there may be times where we are tempted to be ashamed of Jesus Christ. You might be tempted to disobey the Great Commission. You might be tempted to disassociate yourself with Jesus completely. This is why Paul reminds us that we are called as saints, loved by God. As a saint, we are set apart for a good plan and destination. For those of us who have been spiritually born again, He has promised that we will make it through trials and tribulations until Jesus returns. So when we encounter times that tempt us to be discouraged, God uses the Great Commission to provide us with other people to help us get through it. Additionally to other people, He provides us with Himself. God’s grace and peace is sufficient and is available to you at all times. God is available at all times. In Jesus’ very own words, He promises, “And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
God uses the Great Commission to guide people who believe His Good News. This is good news for the Christian because, in a world where we are constantly pondering our destiny, we are not left clueless. Whatever position you might be in, you are in that position to fulfill the Great Commission.
For God, whom I serve with my spirit in [telling] the good news about His Son, is my witness that I constantly mention you, always asking in my prayers that if it is somehow in God’s will, I may now at last succeed in coming to you. (Romans 1:9-10)
Now I want you to know, brothers, that I often planned to come to you (but was prevented until now) in order that I might have a fruitful ministry among you, just as among the rest of the Gentiles. (Romans 1:13)
I love the phrase in that verse, “..if it is somehow in God’s will.” We can live a life knowing that God has a sovereign plan, even though our own plans might fall through. When we know that God is sovereign, we gain courage. But when we forget that God is sovereign, we are paralyzed by fear that our plans might fail. It’s easy to think that God’s plan is all about us. Though humans are significant, we are only secondary, and God is primary. Remember that God’s plan is centered around Jesus. If you want to find out God’s will in your life, you must first find it in God’s will for Jesus’ life (Matt 6:33). It’s in Jesus that we finally find our destiny. It’s in Jesus that we find our true identity. It’s in Jesus that our fallen hopes, dreams, and desires are restored. If you feel like there is something missing in your life, there is hope. In Jesus you can find ultimate significance, meaning, and purpose. It’s through the Great Commission that we can live out our true purpose in any and every situation.
