Problem #1 with treating the Great Commission as the only mission Jesus left us
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 23 ส.ค. 2024
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Series: Beyond the Great Commission
Devotional: 2 of 5
After his suffering, [Jesus] presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. (Acts 1:3)
Last week, we saw that for the very first time in Church history, many Christians today have interpreted the “Great Commission” to “make disciples” as the singular mission of the Christian life.
If that’s true, then most of your work is meaningless. The product you’re building, the beauty you’re creating, the car you’re repairing-none of it matters unless you can leverage those things to the instrumental end of “sharing the gospel.”
Believer, this is an egregious lie. And a crazy dangerous one for reasons we’ll explore over the next four weeks. Here’s the first problem with treating the Great Commission as the only commission Jesus left us: Jesus himself never did!
Today’s passage tells us that Jesus spent forty days speaking “about the kingdom of God” after his resurrection. I did the math. There are 3,456,000 seconds in forty days. The Great Commission takes roughly twenty seconds to read out loud. Do we really think Jesus intended for us to interpret what he said in 0.00058% of this time as the exclusive mission of the church? I don’t think so.
But many people argue that the Great Commission should be the end-all be-all for Christ-followers because the command to “make disciples” was the last one Jesus spoke before ascending into heaven. But actually, it wasn’t. Check out the full passage:
Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. (Matthew 28:19-20)
If Christ meant for us to interpret the call to make disciples as the only commission of the Christian life, he could have said so. But he didn’t. Instead, he used his address before his ascension to reiterate the importance of obeying “everything” he commanded during his time on earth.
Believer, I pray you’ll have an opportunity to share the gospel with a co-worker today. But even if you don’t, please know that today can still matter greatly for eternity.
1 John 3:22 says that “we keep [God’s] commands and give him pleasure when he sees what we are doing.” That means when you simply “let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes’” and do what you say you’re going to do at work (Matthew 5:37), when you “do good” to your enemies and competitors “without expecting to get anything back” (Luke 6:35), and when you “pray…in secret” at your desk (Matthew 6:6)-all of that obedience contributes to God’s eternal pleasure.
May that encourage you and motivate you to “obey everything [Christ has] commanded you” to do today!
I appreciate you giving scripture to solidify what God said about our obedience at work, desk and treating our enemies.
Thank you and have a marvelous day.
true true, we need to follow the guidance of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, love our neighbors etc etc
Woah...great devotional Jordan! Specially for me in terms of being creative and at the same time on fire to bring the gospel in everything and to everyone, I''ve been facing frustrations even in serving , The Word shows exactly how the flow of His glory is more powerful and organic and full of peace than it seems. I needed to remember that! Thank you and may God keep blessing you in your endeavors.
So glad you enjoyed it!
Good job!
Great teaching from Acts 🙏🏻
You are missing the core action in the passage - to make disciples. Going. baptizing, and teaching support the making of disciples. Maybe you're confusing conversions with discipleship. Many churches are not making disciples, but simply looking for professions of faith. I made that error for many years. We need to have a great commitment to both the great commandment and the great commission. Please be like the Bereans of Acts 17:11 and search the scriptures - The great commission is the marching order of the church.
I write about how the Great Commission is indeed great, but not the ONLY commission in my newest book, The Sacredness of Secular Work.