December 27, 2023
It’s essential in any occupation to know what you are to do. When a company is unclear about roles and relationships, chaos ensues, and the business is ineffective. When organizational clarity is lost, the mission can’t be accomplished, whether selling hotdogs or building rockets.
PRECISE CLARITY
This is especially true for the most critical jobs … the ones upon which everything else depends. And nothing could be more critical for the great enterprise of God’s business—the advancement of the Kingdom of God upon earth.
We didn’t figure this out on our own. Some business gurus didn’t come up with this idea. It was given to us by God and modeled with stunning clarity. In His final words to those He’d trained for three years, He told us for all time what we should do in step-by-step instructions.
These words were not given by a low-level employee in the enterprise of heaven. They were spoken from the lips of the One who has all authority in every realm. To understand our task, we must ask a few questions, just like a new employee on their first day on the job. And we get to hear the questions answered by the One right at the top.
“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.” (Matthew 28:18)
WHEN?
“Go, therefore” (Vs. 19)
Our job is to happen along the way in every place. Some translations read, “And, as you are going.” There is no place that is not our field, no person we are to ignore.
WHAT?
“And make disciples” (Vs. 19)
If we are disciples of Christ, then we understand what we have become. We are followers, learners, faithful disciples. This is what we are to reproduce in others by the grace and power of God.
We know how this happened to us. We came to the end of our pitiful existence without Christ and saw our need. Then we heard the gospel, and it was quickened to our hearts, and we believed and followed. There was a fundamental change in our existence as we were born again, born from God into a new family. And now, we are forever joined to Him, and our lives are lived for His glory.
What God has done in us is what we are to share with others so they can become disciples, also.
WHERE?
“Of all the nations” (Vs. 19)
Just as Jesus modeled, every person is valuable and needs the gospel. The Kingdom is to expand to every tongue, tribe, nation, and people. Because the field is endless, we have job security. We must relentlessly pursue everyone in every place in every age.
HOW?
“Baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you.” (Vs. 19-20)
Everyone is to be immersed into the body of Christ, joined to Him. And the physical symbol of this spiritual immersion is water baptism, setting people apart to Christ, as they publicly acknowledge and testify to what Christ has done.
But our work is not done. Now, we are to teach them just as Jesus and others have taught us. We are not only to be a disciple and make disciples but to help build disciple-makers—those who walk faithfully in the things of God and teach others not only to KNOW but to DO all the things that Christ commanded. This, also, is an endless task.
WITH WHOM?
“And Lo, I am with you always” (vs. 20)
The greatest promise of this verse is that Christ will be with us. He had already promised He would come in Spirit form to indwell us. He will never leave nor forsake the true disciple. And He is most active in us when we are most active in His task of making disciples.
FOR HOW LONG?
“Even to the end of the age” (Vs. 20)
There is no retirement to this task. This is why we can be gainfully employed and energized right up to our dying breath. And with this task, Christ promises stunning rewards in this life and the life to come.
CLEAR AND COMPELLING
No follower of Christ needs to wonder at their task now. We have our commission with authority and clarity. We should rise every day to our task and, in the final hours of each day, evaluate what has been accomplished in our great mission that Christ Himself has given us.
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