Reconciliation

God saves a person according to His grace (and not our works) in order to fulfil His purpose/plan, which is to have Himself and mankind reconciled. The purpose and grace that was given Paul and other believers “in Christ Jesus before the world began” was not exclusive to them but also given to the rest of the world. God’s purpose of redemption and the grace involved in it is for “ALL PEOPLE.”

As unflattering as it may be to the human ego, the coming of Christ was not only to save us from our sins. According to Ephesians, our salvation is not the ultimate purpose of the coming of Christ. God’s eternal purpose is the “summing up of all things in Christ.”

All of us are called to belong to the new people of God. Wherefore this people, while remaining one and only one, is to be spread throughout the whole world and must exist in all ages, so that the decree of God's will may be fulfilled. In the beginning God made human nature one and decreed that all His children, scattered as they were, would finally be gathered together as one. It was for this purpose that God sent His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, that He might be teacher, king and priest of all, the head of the new and universal people of God. For this too God sent the Spirit of His Son as Lord and Life-giver. He it is who brings together the whole Church and each and every one of those who believe, and who is the well-spring of their unity in the teaching of the apostles and in fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in prayers.

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The Church

The “door of faith” (Acts 14:27) is always open for us, ushering us into the life of communion with God and offering entry into His Church. It is possible to cross that threshold when the word of God is proclaimed and the heart allows itself to be shaped by transforming grace. To enter through that door is to set out on a journey that lasts a lifetime. It begins with baptism (cf. Rom 6:4), through which we can address God as Father, and it ends with the passage through death to eternal life, fruit of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, whose will it was, by the gift of the Holy Spirit, to draw those who believe in Him into His own glory (cf. Jn 17:22). To profess faith in the Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – is to believe in one God who is Love (cf. 1 Jn 4:8): the Father, who in the fullness of time sent His Son for our salvation; Jesus Christ, who in the mystery of His death and resurrection redeemed the world; the Holy Spirit, who leads the Church across the centuries as we await the Lord’s glorious return.

 Let The Church Say Amen (extended) - Andrae Crouch feat. Marvin Winans 

In the Power of the Spirit

The fifth statement of the Lausanne Covenant states that:  We love God the Holy Spirit

We love the Holy Spirit within the unity of the Trinity, along with God the Father and God the Son. He is the missionary Spirit sent by the missionary Father and the missionary Son, breathing life and power into God's missionary Church. We love and pray for the presence of the Holy Spirit because without the witness of the Spirit to Christ, our own witness is futile. Without the convicting work of the Spirit, our preaching is in vain. Without the gifts, guidance and power of the Spirit, our mission is mere human effort. And without the fruit of the Spirit, our unattractive lives cannot reflect the beauty of the gospel.

In a world which works to re-invent itself at an ever-accelerated pace, some things remain the same. These great truths provide the biblical rationale for our missional engagement.

• Human beings are lost. The underlying human predicament remains as the Bible describes it: we stand under the just judgment of God in our sin and rebellion, and without Christ we are without hope.

• The gospel is good news. The gospel is not a concept that needs fresh ideas, but a story that needs fresh telling. It is the unchanged story of what God has done to save the world, supremely in the historical events of the life, death, resurrection, and reign of Jesus Christ. In Christ there is hope.

• The Church's mission goes on. The mission of God continues to the ends of the earth and to the end of the world. The day will come when the kingdoms of the world will become the kingdom of our God and of his Christ and God will dwell with his redeemed humanity in the new creation. Until that day, the Church's participation in God's mission continues, in joyful urgency, and with fresh and exciting opportunities in every generation including our own.

Power of the Holy Spirit

Christians are instructed to teach others about Jesus Christ and the entirety of His truth. We can't profess Christ as Saviour and Lord, while rejecting certain parts of His teachings. As we teach Christ's truths, we can be confident, in faith, that Jesus Christ will support us. This fact has proven trustworthy throughout the centuries as millions of believers have heard, accepted and shared the Good News of Jesus Christ. Yes, Christ has ascended back to heaven, but He is present by the power of the Holy Spirit in every believer!

The apostles, prompted by the Spirit, invited all to change their lives, to be converted and to be baptized. Immediately after the event of Pentecost, Peter spoke convincingly to the crowd: "When they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the Apostles, 'Brethren, what shall we do?' And Peter said to them, 'Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit'" (Acts 2:37-38). That very day some three thousand persons were baptized. And again, after the healing of the lame man, Peter spoke to the crowd and repeated: "Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out!" (Acts 3:19)

The Church's universal mission is born of faith in Jesus Christ, as is stated in our Trinitarian profession of faith: "I believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father.... For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man." The redemption event brings salvation to all, "for each one is included in the mystery of the redemption and with each one Christ has united himself forever through this mystery." It is only in faith that the Church's mission can be understood and only in faith that it finds its basis.

One may not separate the kingdom from the Church. It is true that the Church is not an end unto herself, since she is ordered toward the kingdom of God of which she is the seed, sign and instrument. Yet, while remaining distinct from Christ and the kingdom, the Church is indissolubly united to both. Christ endowed the Church, His body, with the fullness of the benefits and means of salvation. The Holy Spirit dwells in her, enlivens her with His gifts and charisms, sanctifies, guides and constantly renews her.  The result is a unique and special relationship which, while not excluding the action of Christ and the Spirit outside the Church's visible boundaries, confers upon her a specific and necessary role; hence the Church's special connection with the kingdom of God and of Christ, which she has "the mission of announcing and inaugurating among all peoples."

The kingdom aims at transforming human relationships; it grows gradually as people slowly learn to love, forgive and serve one another. Jesus sums up the whole Law, focusing it on the commandment of love (cf. Mt 22:34-40; Lk 10:25-28). Before leaving His disciples, He gives them a "new commandment": "Love one another; even as I have loved you" (Jn 13:34; cf. 15:12). Jesus' love for the world finds its highest expression in the gift of His life for mankind (cf. Jn 15:13), which manifests the love which the Father has for the world (cf. Jn 3:16). The kingdom's nature, therefore, is one of communion among all human beings-with one another and with God.

Two parts of the missionary task

The traditional view of missions equates the missionary task with evangelism (with winning people to faith in Christ). Missionaries tried to provide education, medicine, shelter, and food through their schools, hospitals, orphanages, and relief work. But the ultimate objective for all mission activity is to make Jesus Christ known to all people as the only Saviour, the only Mediator between sinful humanity and a holy God (Acts 4:12). The emphasis in true mission activity is placed on proclaiming the Good News that Jesus died as a Substitute for us, establishing congregations of people who accept the Gospel message, and nurturing the newly converted Christians in the disciplines of the Christian faith-so that these persons in turn can become agents for further evangelism.

"I have become all things to all people that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings" (1 Cor. 9:22-23)
 

We must be careful not to assume that any religion or religious writings that bear similarities to Judaism (like Islam) be essentially equated with Judaism. Salvation is not from any other people or religion, nor do any other religious writings have the power to save. New believers who are truly repentant and growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ will eventually and inevitably feel compelled to sever all connections with their former Christ-denying religion and way of life. (Acts 19:18-20; 2 Cor. 5:17). Therefore, we should be careful not to violate the teachings of our Lord Jesus, or the consciences of new believers, by instructing them to remain cultural/religious "insiders" (Mt. 10:21-25; Lk. 9:59-62).

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Being a Witness

The great movement of Christianity seemed to have reached its tipping point at the moment the Jewish council attempts to restrain it by arresting Peter and John.  They threaten the Apostles, and charge them not to speak at all or teach in the name of Jesus; Peter and John contemn the threat, calling upon the council to judge whether it be right to hearken unto the council rather than unto God. The members of the council could not inflict punishment upon the two Apostles, on account of the people, who glorified God on account of the great miracle of the lame beggar who sat at the gate for so many years. Peter and John, being freed from custody, return to the other Apostles. They all give glory to God and pray for boldness to speak the word of God. After the prayer the place shakes, and they are filled with the Holy Ghost.

“And it shall come to pass afterward,
that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh;
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams,
and your young men shall see visions.
Even upon the menservants and maidservants
in those days, I will pour out my spirit."  Joel 2:28-29

"Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."  Revelation 19:10

Barnabas and Paul (the letter mentions Paul in second place) are called “our dear friends” and “men who have risked their lives” for the gospel (Acts 15:26).

 

“People are drawing conclusions about your God and about your gospel and about your Saviour and about your Bible and about your way of life based on you.” 

“As a Christian, you may be the only ‘living Bible’ that some people ever read.”

 Dr. Ravi Zacharias: Being a Witness in a Multicultural City


 

 

Strategy of suffering

"If we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself."  2 Timothy 2:13 

Let suffering saints remember, and look to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of their faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despised the shame, and is now set down at the right hand of the throne of God. We must not think it strange if the best men meet with the worst treatment; but this is cheering, that the word of God is not bound. Here we see the real and true cause of the apostle's suffering trouble in, or for, the sake of the gospel. If we are dead to this world, its pleasures, profits, and honours, we shall be for ever with Christ in a better world. He is faithful to his threatenings, and faithful to his promises. This truth makes sure the unbeliever's condemnation, and the believer's salvation. Matthew Henry
 

 Down from the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus confronts the suffering caused by Satan and sin. To seek and to save the lost, who are showing their lack of faith, Jesus mercifully casts out a demon from a boy, whom his disciples could not help. Knowing the evil powers of Satan are about to be unleashed against himself as well, Jesus tells his disciples that he will be betrayed, which they do not understand, Luke 9:37-45

"A witness is what you are far more than it is something that you do.  God arranges for His servants to display what they declare.  By public testimony in the face of hostility,ordinary people accomplish fare more than merely affirming the truth of Christ.  Witnesses establish the value of following Christ.  Their persuasive power is not only because their words match their life - their words and their life match those of Christ Himself.  It is as if Christ Himself stands to testify before the world." Perspectives on the World Christian Movement
 

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Relate and Investigate

Relate Christianity to contemporary world views as much as possible without compromising doctrinal integrity. We err when we are either divorced or married to a contemporary world view. When we are divorced from it, our gospel is not heard as being relevant to modern life. When we are married to it, our gospel becomes outdated as soon as the next world view comes along. This is a very difficult balance to maintain, but we must strike that scriptural balance of being in the world without being of the world (John 15:19, 17:15-16). We must be all things to all people that we may win some (1 Cor. 9:22), yet not compromise the faith once delivered to the saints (Jude 1:3). It means we must relate intelligently to modern scientific paradigms without resorting to materialism. It means we should be concerned with practical results meeting needs in human life without making pragmatism the final judge of truth. It means we must have compassion for those driven to the underculture without affirming their values. It means we must demonstrate the rational evidence for the Christian faith rather than retreating into obscurantistic pietism, yet without making reason the final arbiter of truth. It means we must emphasize the individual's appropriation of truth without denying the objectivity of truth.

Investigate other world views continually as a part of your witness preparation.We might have made the evangelistic harvest much more manageable by arbitrarily cutting out a large part of the harvest. If you are going to make use of the opportunity to witness to someone from another world religion, and how helpful it would be to know the basic concepts of that world view. That was not an essential part of witness training a few decades ago, but it is now.  In fact, because someone has an Asian or Hispanic surname certainly did not guarantee that they were not a Christian. In fact, some of them might be better Christians than we are! But if they indeed weren't Christian, then what is witnessing about? Is it not bringing the good news of salvation to those who need to hear it? We must be prepared to witness to a much more diverse world than in the past.

Fundamentalists, faithful to the clear one-way teaching of Christ, often conclude from this that pagans, Buddhists, et cetera, cannot be saved. Liberals, who emphasize God's mercy, cannot bring themselves to believe that the mass of men are doomed to hell, and they ignore, deny, nuance, or water down Christ's own claims to uniqueness. The Church has found a third way, implied in the New Testament texts. On the one hand, no one can be saved except through Christ. On the other hand, Christ is not only the incarnate Jewish man but also the eternal, preexistent word of God, "which enlightens every man who comes into the world" (Jn 1:9). So Socrates was able to know Christ as word of God, as eternal Truth; and if the fundamental option of his deepest heart was to reach out to him as Truth, in faith and hope and love, however imperfectly known this Christ was to Socrates, Socrates could have been saved by Christ too. We are not saved by knowledge but by faith. Scripture nowhere says how explicit the intellectual content of faith has to be. But it does clearly say who the one Saviour is.

A cursory glance at ancient history shows clearly how in different parts of the world, with their different cultures, there arise at the same time the fundamental questions which pervade human life: Who am I? Where have I come from and where am I going? Why is there evil? What is there after this life? These are the questions which we find in the sacred writings of Israel, as also in the Veda and the Avesta; we find them in the writings of Confucius and Lao-Tze, and in the preaching of Tirthankara and Buddha; they appear in the poetry of Homer and in the tragedies of Euripides and Sophocles, as they do in the philosophical writings of Plato and Aristotle. They are questions which have their common source in the quest for meaning which has always compelled the human heart. In fact, the answer given to these questions decides the direction which people seek to give to their lives.

The proclamation of the apostles and evangelists rests on their association and encounter with Jesus before and after Easter and on the work of His Spirit who opened their eyes to Him. Our faith rests on their proclamation, to which the Spirit opens our heart. Our faith is based on the encounter in the Spirit with our Lord and Saviour who lives and who lived on earth. In that respect, the question of whether the factuality of all the details of the gospel story can be demonstrated with historical research is of less importance.

When we articulate our faith in Jesus Christ, we listen carefully and reverently to the Bible and as well deal with the questions which present themselves today. We listen with an eye to those questions and try to answer them from Holy Scripture. Fortunately, we have more than Scripture and the questions of our own time. We are part of a community of faith which transcends the boundaries of our own time and place, namely the church of all times and places. We are not the first and only ones who believe and confess. Many have gone down this road before us. We are conjoined with them. We are thankful for what they have transmitted to us. We recognize in their faith and their struggle our faith and our struggle. Their words inspire and hearten us, give direction to our search and serve as a touchstone for the question of whether we are still on the right path. Therefore we listen also to these fellow believers and precursors and are willing to let them have their say. We can and only want to believe in fellowship with the confession of generations who came before us.

Can one believe without subscribing to dogmas? Indeed, our faith is not in dogmas but in the living Lord. Our faith lives from the biblical message, not from parsing dogmatic concepts. For ourselves we can do without dogmas to experience and articulate the faith. However, if we want to share the faith with others, we have to define it and deal with the question of what can be said and what not. That makes rules for discourse indispensable. Therefore we make thankful use of dogmas to ascertain whether the sharing of the faith within and outside of the church is in harmony with the Bible. The church community cannot do without reflection on the faith. If we were to drop independent and critical scrutiny of what the faith is about, it would eventually evaporate into a vague and nondescript emotion. It would mean losing touch with the surrounding culture and intellectual world and we would no longer be able to articulate our faith in understandable language. The discipline of systematic theology is an exercise in talking clearly and intelligibly about the faith, inside and outside the church, without being able to mark precisely the boundary between inside and outside.

"Jesus Christ is Lord" is a foundational biblical, personal faith-confession that corrects the traditional pluralist, inclusivist, and exclusivist positions held by Christians concerning other religions and calls God's missionary people to be mobilized by the Holy Spirit to participate in Christ's mission which is culturally pluralist, ecclesiologically inclusivist, and faith particularist.

 

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Imitating Christ

"Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.”  John 20:21 RSV 

 The first form of witness is the very life of the missionary, of the Christian family, and of the ecclesial community, which reveal a new way of living. The missionary who, despite all his or her human limitations and defects, lives a simple life, taking Christ as the model, is a sign of God and of transcendent realities. But everyone in the Church, striving to imitate Jesus, can and must bear this kind of witness; in many cases it is the only possible way of being a missionary.

Sometimes even the apostolic desire for a ready passport into secular society and the determination to make oneself acceptable to people and particularly to the youth of today, prompts certain people to lay aside the principles which characterize our faith and to reject the sort of dignity which gives meaning and force to our determination to make contact with others and makes our teaching effective. Is it not, perhaps, true that some of the younger clergy and religious, in their laudable endeavor to come closer to the masses and to particular groups, aim at becoming like them rather than different from them? By this worthless imitation they forfeit the real value and effectiveness of their endeavors.

All nations

In the Great Commission Jesus instructs the disciples to "make disciples of all nations, ... teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you" (Matt. 28:19-20). This implies that Jesus' teaching will spread among the nations and will be understood and obeyed. But that means that His teaching has to become available to these nations and they speak thousands of different languages. Therefore, when Jesus gave the Great Commission it implied that His followers eventually would have to translate His teaching into many different languages. Translation of Jesus' teaching (and, by implication, the message of the whole Bible) plays a part in the total process of fulfilling the Great Commission.

The singular use of ethnos in the New Testament always refers to a people group. The plural use of ethnos sometimes must be a people group and sometimes must refer to Gentile individuals, but usually can go either way. The phrase panta ta ethne must refer to Gentile individuals only once, but must refer to people groups nine times. The remaining eight uses may refer to people groups. The combination of these results suggests that the meaning of panta ta ethne leans heavily in the direction of “all the nations (people groups).”

In Genesis12:3 and 28:14 the Hebrew phrase for “all the families” (kol mishpahot) is rendered in the Greek Old Testament by pasai hai phulai. The word phulai means “tribes” in most contexts. But mishpaha can be, and usually is, smaller than a tribe. For example when Achan sinned, Israel is examined in decreasing order of size: first by tribe, then by mishpaha (family), then by household (Josh 7:14). So the blessing of Abraham is intended by God to reach to fairly small groupings of people.

The globe has been circumnavigated by God’s messengers, but there remain untouched areas geographically. The annual discovery of previously unknown languages elongates the noble task of getting the message into all the world’s tongues. And by no means has the gospel reached all the earth’s “peoples,” regardless of how they are defined.

Missionary Mandate

All the Gospels, when they describe the risen Christ's meeting with His apostles, conclude with the "missionary mandate": "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,...and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age" (Mt 28:18-20; cf. Mk 16:15-18; Lk 24:46-49; Jn 20:21-23).

This is a sending forth in the Spirit, as is clearly apparent in the Gospel of John: Christ sends His own into the world, just as the Father has sent Him, and to this end He gives them the Spirit. Luke, for his part, closely links the witness the apostles are to give to Christ with the working of the Spirit, who will enable them to fulfill the mandate they have received.

The different versions of the "missionary mandate" contain common elements as well as characteristics proper to each. Two elements, however, are found in all the versions. First, there is the universal dimension of the task entrusted to the apostles, who are sent to "all nations" (Mt 28:19); "into all the world and...to the whole creation" (Mk 16:15); to "all nations" (Lk 24:47); "to the end of the earth" (Acts 1:8). Secondly, there is the assurance given to the apostles by the Lord that they will not be alone in the task, but will receive the strength and the means necessary to carry out their mission. The reference here is to the presence and power of the spirit and the help of Jesus himself: "And they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them" (Mk 16:20).

John is the only Evangelist to speak explicitly of a "mandate," a word equivalent to "mission." He directly links the mission which Jesus entrusts to his disciples with the mission which He himself has received from the Father: "As the Father has sent me, even so I send you" (Jn 20:21). Addressing the Father, Jesus says: "As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world" (Jn 17:18). The entire missionary sense of John's Gospel is expressed in the "priestly prayer": "This is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent" (Jn 17:3). The ultimate purpose of mission is to enable people to share in the communion which exists between the Father and the Son. The disciples are to live in unity with one another, remaining in the Father and the Son, so that the world may know and believe (cf. Jn 17:21-23). This is a very important missionary text. It makes us understand that we are missionaries above all because of what we are as a Church whose innermost life is unity in love, even before we become missionaries in word or deed.

Priorities

Our priority is seeing disciple making in every people group of the world. Evangelism is not enough. Teaching others to observe all that Jesus has commanded (Matthew 28:20) must be an ongoing process. When Ralph Winter brought this idea of unreached people groups to the attention of the first Lausanne Congress in 1974, there were an estimated 16,750 groups. There are now just 2,365 groups with populations of more than 5,000 that remain unengaged. Not all of the groups that have been engaged are reached.  

Our priority is to concentrate on where the Church is NOT. 

Every part of the world is called to go to every part of the world. No country is exempt from sending and no country is exempt from receiving. There is no room for triumphalism. Our lives should be characterized by obedience to God, servanthood to one another, and humility with grace. No sanctified business plans or entrepreneurial ventures can replace the supreme importance of His blessing.

We believe that living out our faith is an absolute imperative. Every believer should be a humble reflection of Jesus. Our message is hollow if our lives do not back up the words we speak. The Holy Spirit is still the source of our power. And, we need to be sure we are living lives that are holy and pure.

We believe that loving one another and working together should be the standard of the Church. God has given each person and organization unique gifts and callings. We should honour those callings. But all of us can give some percentage of our time and resources to work together on the priorities of the whole Body of Christ.  

Authority

Matthew 28: 18-21,

"And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Colossians 2:9-12,

"For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority; and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead."
 

We’re not making disciples of God, we’re not making true disciples, if we’re fighting against Him –it’s as simple as that. And so we must not harden our heads against His command. Instead we must embrace His commands as so much of Scripture tells us, to embrace the commands, to embrace the statutes, to love His words - read Psalm 119. It’s the psalm of a man who sees commands, sees God’s commands, and loves them, and obeys them.

The words baptizing and teaching are the “how.” The “what” is make disciples. The “how” is by baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and by teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. They’re participles, if that means anything to you. And if it does not, what that means is that the context refuses to allow the words baptizing and teaching to be pulled apart into separate commands from the word go and make disciples.

The command is to make disciples, not to make converts. Disciples is a big word, much much bigger than converts. And it comes from the same word that we get discipline. And so the word ‘disciples’ is filled in with its meaning by Jesus when He gives the additional explanation of saying, “baptizing and teaching.” That’s how we make disciples, as I said before: teaching them to obey everything that He commanded.

The difference between a convert and a disciple is, a convert has the bare faith–lifeboat saving faith and that’s all they have. But a disciple has been baptized, and a disciple has been taught to obey everything that He commanded. You see the difference? A disciple is way, way bigger, way more work! Way harder.

Father, make us Your people. Make us disciples. Help Your church to fulfill the Great Commission. We ask these things in the name of Jesus Christ, who has all authority, and whose kingdom will never end, and who is victorious over death. Amen.

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What is the Biblical mandate for missions?

Is the concept of sending forth individuals to preach the good news of Jesus Christ a biblical one (even though the word is not used in the Bible)? What is the biblical mandate or warrant for the work of missions?

Most of us will probably think of what is often called the Lord's Great Commission in response to that question, and well we should. For that Commission found in Matthew 28:18-20 is probably the key passage for establishing the mandate or duty of the church to carry the Gospel to those who have never heard.

There were many indications of God's desire and purpose for the world-wide extension of Gospel labours long before the Lord spoke His Great Commission. It did not come out of the blue -- disjointed from all of God's revelation before. It was also true that before our Lord uttered the Great Commission, the possession of the revealed Word of God, and the true worship of God were primarily limited to physical Jews and a few Gentile proselytes. Even during His ministry on earth, Jesus' labours and those of His disciples were mainly limited to Jews.

So let's take a look at the Gospels and the Book of Acts to see how this changed.

Mark 16:15-16 - "And he said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation.  He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned."

Luke 24: 46-49 - "And said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead,  and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.  You are witnesses of these things.  And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city, until you are clothed with power from on high.”

Acts 1:8 - "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samar′ia and to the end of the earth.”

Matthew 28:18-20 - "And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  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; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.”

John 20:21-23 - "Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.  If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

On what basis do we turn to such a command and view it as having application to ourselves?  

Observe two things in our texts which indicate that this command still applies to Christians today:

A. First, the fact that these eleven disciples were told to teach new disciples of Christ to observe all things that He had commanded them certainly appeared to demand that the new disciples obey the same commands given to the original eleven unless clearly indicated otherwise. And of course one of those things commanded the eleven was this very Commission.
But furthermore, there is in this Commission itself a clear indication that it was to remain binding upon the church of Christ throughout its history on earth:
 The Lord promised His presence with those carrying out this commission on earth until the present order came to an end with His return. Clearly He intended that His church on earth with her leaders continue to carry out these marching orders until the present age had ended. The Great Commission was not limited to just the Apostles, but was initially given to them as the highest leaders of the church of Christ which was to be established.
The Great Commission continues to be just as applicable to those of us who are disciples of Christ today and members of His church, as it was to the original eleven Apostles. So we had better pay attention to it. It is the will of the Lord Jesus Christ and of the Triune God for us to carry out.

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Dominion Mandate

In order to properly understand the comprehensive nature of the Great Commission one needs to consider the relationship of the Great Commission to the “cultural” or “dominion mandate” given to Adam.

When God created Adam and Eve in the garden He commanded them to have dominion over the whole earth (cf. Gen. 1:26-30). God’s intended purpose for us before the fall was to develop a world-wide godly culture, a culture that honored and glorified God. All of our activities and pursuits were to be done God’s way and for God. All the accumulated labours of people over time: music, art, science, medicine, architecture, economics, infrastructures and so on would be done obediently and would reflect man’s love of God and mankind.

If Adam had obeyed the covenant of works and his descendants had fulfilled the dominion mandate the result would have been a world-wide, obedient, God-loving civilization. This was God’s original preceptive will for us. But our sin, the eating of the forbidden fruit, necessitated the need for a Saviour. God in His kindness and mercy instituted the covenant of grace. God’s original plan for a godly civilization was not set aside. However, because of sin this plan could only be accomplished through Jesus Christ, the second Adam.

Christ’s resurrection is the new beginning, the foundation of the regeneration of the world. The total victory that Jesus accomplished on the cross is to be progressively brought to bear on all nations. “His ‘all authority’ over ‘all the nations’ demands we preach His crown rights over all people and all their institutions, cultures, societies, and nations. The saving of multitudes of individuals must eventually lead to cultural Christianization under Christ’s rule and to His glory by His providence, in conformity with God’s creational purpose. This world order was designed to have us set over it, to the glory of God. This is why at the very beginning of human history unfallen man was a cultural creature.”

Can we build God's kingdom?

If the kingdom is the dynamic reign of God, how can we as humans “build” it? Actually, it should come as a relief to realize that you and I aren’t in the business of building God’s kingdom. Almost, well, like good news!

Internal and external difficulties must not make us pessimistic or inactive. What counts, here as in every area of Christian life, is the confidence that comes from faith, from the certainty that it is not we who are the principal agents of the Church's mission, but Jesus Christ and his Spirit. We are only co-workers, and when we have done all that we can, we must say: "We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty" (Lk 17:10).

One may not separate the kingdom from the Church. It is true that the Church is not an end unto herself, since she is ordered toward the kingdom of God of which she is the seed, sign and instrument. Yet, while remaining distinct from Christ and the kingdom, the Church is indissolubly united to both. Christ endowed the Church, His body, with the fullness of the benefits and means of salvation. The Holy Spirit dwells in her, enlivens her with His gifts and charisms, sanctifies, guides and constantly renews her. The result is a unique and special relationship which, while not excluding the action of Christ and the Spirit outside the Church's visible boundaries, confers upon her a specific and necessary role; hence the Church's special connection with the kingdom of God and of Christ, which she has "the mission of announcing and inaugurating among all peoples."

Jesus offers a new element of extreme importance. The eschatological reality is not relegated to a remote "end of the world," but is already close and at work in our midst. The kingdom of God is at hand (Mk 1:15); its coming is to be prayed for ( Mt 6:10); faith can glimpse it already at work in signs such as miracles ( Mt 11:4-5) and exorcisms (Mt 12:25-28), in the choosing of the Twelve ( Mk 3:13-19), and in the proclamation of the Good News to the poor (Lk 4:18). Jesus' encounters with Gentiles make it clear that entry into the kingdom comes through faith and conversion ( Mk 1:15).

When the Church identifies or equates itself with the Kingdom, the Church is declaring that it is the saving presence of God on earth and at least implying that God is not present as a saving God anywhere else except in the Church. This is what some of the Council fathers called "triumphalism."

 In Christians in Society: Luther, the Bible, and Social Ethics (Fortress Press, 2001), William H. Lazareth makes a non-apologizing apologetic for Luther's use of scripture as a relevant norm for contemporary social ethics. Lazareth himself frames the work as a defense of Lutheran public responsibility against the charges of Luther's "social conservatism," "law-gospel quietism," "Augustinian dualism" and "cultural defeatism" (chapter 1). I also perceive a more fundamental defense running throughout Lazareth's substantive chapters on the world's two kingdoms (chapters 3 and 4) and God's two-fold rule (chapters 5-8). There, Lazareth methodically but eloquently saves Luther's divisions (between law and gospel, and between existence coram dei and existence coram hominibus) from being understood as dualisms or dichotomies. Over and against much of our romanticist cultural ethos that sees all division as fragmenting an otherwise wholesome existence, Lazareth implicitly defends critical thought, including Pauline-Augustinian-Lutheran thought, as itself a way to open "third options" between secularism and clericalism, legalism and libertinism, and a theology faithful to the Gospel and one relevant to ethical reflection.

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Background of Jesus' Mission

 

The time between the last writings of the Old Testament and the appearance of Christ is known as the “intertestamental” (or “between the testaments”) period. Because there was no prophetic word from God during this period, some refer to it as the “400 silent years.” The political, religious, and social atmosphere of Palestine changed significantly during this period. Much of what happened was predicted by the prophet Daniel. (See Daniel chapters 2, 7, 8, and 11 and compare to historical events.)

Daniel also talks about fallen angels.  Those are the same fallen angels who lost the battle in Heaven and were also cast down to the Earth, and have been here ever since waging war against Christians. To seek to prevent Gabriel’s message from getting to Daniel, the demonic prince attacked Gabriel as he embarked on his mission. This gives insight into the nature of the warfare fought in the heavenlies between God’s angels and Satan’s demons to which Paul referred (Eph. 6:12).

Temptation No. 3: Would Jesus attempt to accomplish His mission through political power? This was the kind of Messiah the people had expected and wanted. As Jesus looked out from the high mountain where He had been taken, He must have looked past the landscape to the political kingdoms of the world and envisioned them at His feet. At least this was what Satan intended for Him to do. He offered Jesus "all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them." Jesus successfully resisted the temptation by rejecting the devil's methods to accomplish His mission. He would not attempt to avoid the way of suffering for selfish and ambitious reasons, i.e., love of power and a desire to rule politically over others. He saw that surrender to Satan in this way would mean a divided loyalty, and He could not accomplish His true mission except through complete trust in God and service to Him. This could be accomplished only through suffering.

 

In the third temptation Satan was not offering Jesus a way to accomplish His true mission. He was attempting to turn Jesus away from that accomplishment through worldly ambition. Jesus could not have saved the souls of people by establishing a worldly kingdom. Satan did not take Him to that high mountain to show Him the souls of people which He had come to save, but to show Him "all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them." As Luke 4:6 shows, it was the "power" and "glory" of these worldly kingdoms that Satan offered to Jesus. From that high mountain Jesus saw beautiful lands, towns, cities, and mountains, in addition to all the peoples of these kingdoms, and the temptation was to have the authority to rule over all that was included in these "kingdoms of the world," and the "glory" that would accompany this vast political power and all the possessions that would come with it.

 

 

 

 

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