Make the Great Commission Great Again

Before His ascension, Jesus gave His disciples a commission that was rooted in His infinite desire and affections for mankind and backed by the authority that was given to Him through the finished work of the cross and resurrection. This commission would come to define, in this age, the mandate of the global Church.

The bible never uses the specific terminology, “Great Commission.” Most believe it was actually from a Dutch missionary in the 1600’s who first used the phrase. But it was J. Hudson Taylor, one of the most influential pioneering missionaries of the nineteenth century, who borrowed and popularized the phrase, using it in his mobilization effort. He led the China Inland Mission which was one of the largest missions mobilization efforts of the day.

Although the term is “extra-biblical,” Jesus' command is explicit in the Scriptures. It was recorded by all of the synoptic gospel writers. The amalgamation of these passages has become popularly understood as the “Great Commission.” Let’s read a few of these passages side by side to get a better understanding of what Christ has said.

And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations [g.k. ethnos], and then the end will come. - Matthew 24:14

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 [g.k. ethnos], 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 behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." - Matthew 28:18-20

And he said to them, "Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover." - Mark 16:15-18

and [He] 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 proclaimed in his name to all nations [g.k. ethnos], beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high." - Luke 24:46-49

Two of these passages contain a command, “Go” or “start going”. Jesus tells His disciples to “Go… and make disciples” and “Go… and proclaim the gospel.”

The passage in Mark is suggestive concerning the gospel; Jesus states it “should be proclaimed.” But the first of these passages, Matthew 24:14, is a prophetic promise: “the gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed.”  It doesn’t say might be. It doesn’t say may be, or hopefully, or could be. It says WILL BE. He created each and every individual on this planet today and supplies them with breath in order that they may glorify Him by their worship. He is the Creator of all things and has encrypted His glory into the tribes and families of the earth. Only when worship arises from every distinct sound, culture, language, and rhythm, is there a full manifestation of His beauty and glory in the earth. The Father’s great desire is for the glory and the worth of His Son to be seen and proclaimed. He will get His glory and the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea (Hab 2:14). And we, desiring for His glory to be known and to see that greater glory revealed on earth, Go.

So, the command from Jesus is a promise, an invitation, and a command. We are to start going into the whole world, to every tribe, tongue, and family (ethnos), and as we are going, we are to proclaim the gospel and make disciples of Jesus, knowing that He, the Lord of the Harvest has personally guaranteed that this task will be accomplished before He returns. How can He make such a bold prediction? Because “all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to [him].” Jesus does not look at the strongholds of Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Secular Humanism in the nations and tremble. He has all authority through the finished work of the cross. He has a divine strategy for the tearing down of strongholds and everything that lifts itself up against the knowledge of God (1 Cor 10:4). No, the resistance Jesus is dealing with is the resistance in us to go, proclaim and make disciples.

Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest." - Matthew 9:37-38

It is not the gospel that is the problem; the gospel is powerful. It is not the demonic strongholds that are the problem. Jesus stripped those of their power on the cross (Col 2:15). The greatest hindrance to the fulfillment of the Great Commission is the hesitancy and hardness of heart in the laborers. Therefore we must pray earnestly. 

The disciples heard Jesus’ command multiple times and still were looking for a way around it. On the Mount of Olives as Jesus was preparing to ascend into the heavens, they asked the question, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6) They were asking if all the promises of the prophets concerning the end of the age and the restoration of all things were at hand. Jesus, looking at them, reminded them there are no shortcuts. The gospel of the kingdom WILL BE proclaimed to every nation… and then the end will come. But, He assured them, “I am going to send help for you to do this impossible task.”

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."-  Acts 1:8

It is important to connect outpouring at Pentecost to the Great Commission. Pentecost was an empowerment for an impossible task that Jesus had just mandated the disciples with: take this gospel to the ends of the earth. The manifestation of Pentecost bore witness to this reality: “Men from every nation under heaven…were hearing them speak in his own language” (Acts 2:5-6).

This mandate to the ends of the earth still presides over the church today and is inherent in every outpouring of the Spirit throughout history. I believe God will withholding measures of revival and outpouring until we align with His plan and purposes for the nations of the earth. 

We want revival for our meetings to be better. God wants revival to anoint laborers to carry the gospel to the ends of the earth.

Why is it the Great Commission? 

It’s important to understand that the Great Commission was given to the Church not just to individuals. It is a corporate mandate for the Church. Therefore, the Great Commission is the plumb line for every other kingdom assignment. Just as every believer’s first calling is the Great Commandment, to love the Lord [their] God with all [their] heart, soul, and mind (Matt 22:37), every believer’s first assignment is the Great Commission. It is first because it is the preeminent mandate of the Jesus’ Church. As Hudson Taylor famously said, “The Great Commission is not an option to be considered; it is a command to be obeyed.”

Though all have various gifts, assignments, and desires that God has given, we are bound together in a common cause: to make the name of Jesus known and the gospel proclaimed in every nation of the earth. I am afraid that we have become so enthralled with our individual "callings" that we've lost sight of the church’s preeminent mission. American individualism and a celebrity-driven culture have given rise to this relentless pursuit of one’s personal calling to the point that we have lost sense of God’s grand plan to give His Son the worship of all nations.

Christians are not at their leisure …We are not at our leisure. Rather, we are under the mandate of the grace of God — grace that found us, restored us, redeemed us, breathed life back into our dormant lungs, and brought us back from the grave for a purpose. And that purpose is that we would, with everything in us, become an amplifier of the beauty of Jesus among all peoples. This mission is crystal clear. – Louie Giglio

We have all but forgotten the command of Jesus to His church. This is not speculative. It is the cold-hard fact that we must stare at.

In 2018, the Barna Group published a study called Translating the Great Commission in which they asked churchgoers in America a series of questions concerning the Great Commission. When asked if they had previously “heard of the Great Commission,” half of U.S. churchgoers (51%) said they do not know this term. Only one in four (25%) thought that the term sounded familiar, though they couldn’t remember exactly what it was. Six percent (6%) of churchgoers in America were not sure whether they have heard the term “the Great Commission” before. All in all, eighty-two percent (82%) of those sitting in the pews of our modern churches could not identify what the Great Commission is. Within the study, it also cataloged the responses generationally. In every question, there was a sharp decline in familiarity with anything to do with the Great Commission from Elders to Boomers to X’ers to Millennials. 

This stands in stark contrast to the Apostolic church and its posture towards the Great Commission. There is no clearer example of this than Romans chapter 15. Paul is writing to a Gentile church whom he has never met, exhorting them in the Apostolic faith.

But on some points I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit… and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else's foundation… this is the reason why I have so often been hindered from coming to you… I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain, and to be helped on my journey there by you, once I have enjoyed your company for a while. – Romans 15:15-24

There was a burden and a priority for the unreached that produced a holy ambition in Paul to give his life to see Jesus receive His inheritance. Paul saw his “calling” as preaching the gospel anywhere where Christ has not yet been named. He had received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of His name among all the nations (Rom 1:5).

And we must do the same. The church in the West is falling behind. We are full of ambition and competition, vision and strategy to build our ministries and businesses but woefully dispassionate when it comes to this holy ambition. We have leaders who can rally people around their “vision,” but where are the leaders who will lend their gifts to rally people to Jesus’ mission? 

Every believer has a divine mandate to be actively engaged in this Great Commission. The Bible often exhorts and commands communities of believers to be actively engaged in “sending out” for the sake of Christ’s name among all nations.

…You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God. For they have gone out for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth. - 3 John 1:6-8

What will be said of this generation? We have grown up with all the information necessary, all the money needed, and all the people available to finish this task. We know where the finish line is. It is in the 10-40 window. In fact, the cost of money and resources to accelerate to the finish line is fractional compared to what we spend on other ministries and projects in the American Church alone. In fact, the boat ride alone for the missionaries of past generations was longer than the vast majority of us will spend actively engaged in the nations in our lifetime. 

The numbers don’t lie. The Joshua Project estimates that there are approximately 17,440 identifiable people groups or ethno-linguistic people groups on the earth today. Out of that 17,440, about 7,414 are considered unreached (just over 42%). Right now, there are about 13,315 global missionaries working among the unreached. To put that in perspective, that is about 1 missionary for every 216,300 people. In the Muslim world, the ratio gap widens to 1:450,000. 

According to Wycliffe Bible Translators, there are at least 7,000 languages that are spoken or signed around the world. Only about 700 (10%) have a full Bible translated into their language. 2,000 languages on the earth have yet to have a Bible translation even started. Another 4,000 only have portions of Scripture available to them in their language.

Beloved of God, I urgently plead with you. Find your role in this glorious mission, re-attach your individual assignment to God’s global plan, make the Great Commission loud in your communities. Jesus may not be asking everyone to sell everything to go to the field as a missionary. But He is asking some of you to. If Matthew 24:14 is true, He is asking more of us than we think or want to admit. We are all in this together.

We must ask ourselves the hard questions.

Is the Great Commission at the top of our priority list? 

Is the Great Commission in the front of your mind when you think about your “calling” and your life vision?

Does it affect how you spend your time and your money? 

Does it affect how you raise your family? 

Does it affect the way you are living today and how you plan for tomorrow? 

Parents, is the Great Commission in the front of your mind when your child is graduating high school and you are giving them counsel about the life decisions they are making?

Singles, is the Great Commission in the front of your mind when you are thinking about who you will marry?

Husbands and Wives, is the Great Commission in the front of your mind when you are thinking about buying a house and starting a family?

Is the church community you are a part of actively and boldly calling those in your midst to align with and engage in the Great Commission?  

If the answer to these questions is “no,” then we have work to do.

Out of all the things we are passionately working to make great again, let us first diligently labor to make the name of Jesus great among the nations.

For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For My name will be great among the nations, says the LORD of hosts. - Malachi 1:11

Let’s Make the Great Commission Great Again.