He Gave Them the World
In the days after He rose, Jesus met His disciples on a mountain in Galilee. These were the men who had run on the night of His arrest: they all forsook him, and fled (Mark 14:50). Even now, Matthew says, some doubted (Matthew 28:17). And to these men He gave the world.
“And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”MATTHEW 28:18–20 · KJV
We call this the Great Commission. A commission is a charge to carry out someone else's work, with his authority. Jesus was not offering an idea to anyone who happened to be interested. The Lord who holds All power gave orders to His people, and He has never withdrawn them.
This tells the church why it exists, and it tells you why you are still here. If getting to heaven were the whole point of being saved, God could take you home the moment you believed. He leaves His people in the world for a reason.
We believe the Great Commission was given to the church, and that every believer shares it. We believe the local church is God's only institution to carry out His work today. That work can be said in four words: go, win, baptize, teach.
Christ's command to His church to take the Gospel to every person in every nation, to make disciples, to baptize them, and to teach them to obey all He commanded, in the power of the Holy Spirit, until He comes.
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For Deeper Study
- An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the HeathensAmazon William CareyThe 1792 tract that helped launch modern missions, opening with whether the Commission still binds us. Carey was a Calvinistic Baptist.
- With Christ After the LostAmazon L. R. ScarboroughA 1919 classic on winning people to Christ by the second president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
- The Great Omission: A Biblical Basis for World EvangelismAmazon Robertson McQuilkinA short, searching book on why so many still have not heard, by a missionary to Japan who became president of Columbia Bible College. Broadly evangelical.
- What Is the Mission of the Church?Amazon Kevin DeYoung and Greg GilbertArgues that the church's mission is to make disciples, while honoring good works. Both authors are Reformed, and DeYoung is a Presbyterian, so we differ on election and on baptism with him.
- DispensationalismAmazon Charles C. RyrieThe standard explanation of dispensational theology, with a chapter on ultradispensationalism.
- Foxe's Book of MartyrsAmazon John FoxeThe classic Protestant record of those who died for the faith, from the early church to the English Reformation.
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God's Heart for the Nations
From the promise to Abraham to the song around the throne, Scripture shows one God who loves the whole world, wants every person to be saved, and is gathering worshipers from every nation through His Son.
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