Five Complementary Perspectives on the Great Commission
It is important to remember that our perspective determines how we respond to truth. If we see a car as only a racing machine we will fail to utilize all of its potential in carrying goods from one place to another. In the same way, if we fail to see all of the wonderful facets of the diamond called Christ’s great commission we will fail to reflect the fullness of His glorious truth to those who need it most.
Illustration:Get the right perspective. When Goliath came against the Israelites, the soldiers all thought, "He’s so big we can never kill him." David looked at the same giant and though, "He’s so big I can’t miss."
God Can Make It Happen (Victor).
1. In Matthew 28:18-20 Christ emphasizes His authority over all things in sending us as His disciple-making representatives throughout the nearly 20,000 people groups of the world. If you think you lack the authority, confidence or the power just recall the three ways that He supplies you with the power to complete your mission. Christ assures us that His power and authority will be sufficient to overcome any oppositionary force.
A. In Matt 28:18-20. Christ says, "ALL power and authority have been given to me in heaven and earth." His power is over all heavenly as well as earthly powers of opposition.
B. In Luke 24:46-49 teaches us that His authority is available to any who will go in Christ’s name, for His sake and with complete identification with Him. Jesus said, "The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day. And repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations." He will lead us for His name’s sake. He will protect, propel and empower us for His name’s sake. His presence will go with us and give us rest, assurance and confidence for His name’s sake. We are not to worry about the results since we are called to obey and trust in His name. The name that is above every name. The name that one day everyone will bow to. We can go with authority since we will be endued with the power from the Holy Spirit. We can never expand His kingdom without the power of the Spirit. His power is at work in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure. We must wait until we are filled with His power otherwise in our haste we attempt to put the cart in front of the power driving locomotive found in the Holy Spirit who leads us, empowers and secures our stability.
C. From John 20:21 we know that we are sent by Christ just as He was sent by the Father. As the Father has sent me so send I you. We can go with all the confidence that Christ went forth to preach the gospel and to complete the Father’s will throughout the streets and lanes of the world.
Illustration:In U.S. Navel Institute Proceedings, the magazine of the Naval Institute, Frank Koch illustrates the importance of obeying the Laws of the Lighthouse. Two battleships assigned to the training squadron had been at sea on maneuvers in heavy weather for several days. I was serving on the lead battleship and was on watch on the bridge as night fell. The visibility was poor with patchy fog, so the captain remained on the bridge keeping an eye on all activities.
Shortly after dark, the lookout on the wing reported, "Light, bearing on the starboard bow."
"Is it steady or moving astern?" the captain called out.
The lookout replied, "Steady, Captain," which meant we were on a dangerous collision course with that ship.
The captain then called to the signalman, "Signal that ship: ’We are on a collision course, advise you change course twenty degrees.’"
Back came the signal, "Advisable for you to change course twenty degrees."
The captain said, "Send: "I’m a captain, change course twenty degrees.’"
"I’m a seaman second-class," came the reply. "You had better change course twenty degrees."
By that time the captain was furious. He spat out, "Send: ’I’m a battleship. Change course twenty degrees.’"
Back came the flashing light, "I’m a lighthouse."
We changed course.
Max Lucado, In the Eye of the Storm, Word Publishing, 1991, p. 153.
2. Christ’s commission gives us enablement to complete one of His priority purpose for our life. We do not have to strive with our our cunning, strength or resources since Christ’s enablement gives us the means, resources and the strength to carry out every aspect of His will.
A. In Matt. 28:18-20 Christ assures us that He will be WITH US even to the end of the age. Jesus said, "I will ask the Father and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever - the Spirit of truth." (John 14:16,17) The Spirit is our teacher, resource giver and articulator of truth. Solomon wrote, "The answer of the tongue is from the Lord." Ask God to give you greater articulative knowledge, insight and wisdom to express clearly the essence of Christ’ teaching to all nations. Do not doubt that the Lord will supply you with whatever is necessary to accomplish His great commission if you will trust Him to use you.
B. Christ gives us the church to support, complement and cooperatively balance out our weakness with the spiritual gifts of other believers. Do not think that you can accomplish the great commission without local members of the body of Christ. He gives His Holy Spirit to individuals as well as to His church.
C. In Acts 1:8 He assures that when the Holy Spirit has come we will receive power. It is discouraging to try to do a job with insufficient power. It is dangerous in many cases to try to use a power tool if the power is not working at proper levels. The Spirit’s power is perfectly set to supply each of us with what we need just in the knick of time. Do not worry about where you will get your power for tomorrow but trust that the Spirit will infuse you with the motivation, strength and energy to complete His task just when you need it.
Illustration:One New Year’s Day, in the Tournament of Roses parade, a beautiful float suddenly sputtered and quit. It was out of gas. The whole parade was held up until someone could get a can of gas. The amusing thing was this float represented the Standard Oil Company. With its vast oil resources, its truck was out of gas.
Often, Christians neglect their spiritual maintenance, and though they are "clothed with power" (Luke 24:49) find themselves out of gas.
Steve Blankenship in God Came Near by Max Lucado, Multnomah Press, 1987, p. 95.
3. Christ teaches us where we are to complete His commission in all the ta ethne (all the people groups of the earth). We are to find the best ways that each people group can discicple their own people. Some societies are individualistic as our western countries, but most developing countries are led by a group of elders. Notice Jesus did not use the word goyin (for nations). But he used the word ethne where we get ethnic or people groups from in English. There are approximately 18,800 different ethnic groups in the world’s 228 nations. We are to take the gospel to all the remaining 7000 people groups that are yet to hear a clear presentation of the gospel in terms they can understand. Approximately 2.7 billion people are yet to hear the gospel so they can respond to it. WE are to use multiple means to communicate the gospel through church planters, through radio, through TV, through Satellite transmissions and through Jesus film teams. But most importantly we are to facilitate the sending of local missionaries from within each country that can communicate the gospel in lanuage and from a cultural perspective that is most credible to the listeners. The sphere that many people listen to is their network of family and friends. Nearly 90% of the people who come to church in the USA do so at the invitation of a family member of friend. The percentage is even higher in the developing world.
Illustration:
Ten Most Used Excuses:
1. I forgot.
2. No one told me to go ahead.
3. I didn’t think it was that important.
4. Wait until the boss comes back and ask him.
5. I didn’t know you were in a hurry for it.
6. That’s the way we’ve always done it.
7. That’s not in my department.
8. How was I to know this was different?
9. I’m waiting for an O.K.
10. That’s his job--not mine.
Bits & Pieces, November, 1989, p. 18.
4. The message is to be all things that Christ has commanded us (No more or no less). Jesus said in Matt. 28:18-20, "Teaching them to obey all things that I have commanded you." It is not just enough to preach the gospel but we are to teach the essential commandments of Christ in a way that result in greater obedience. People who are carrying out Christ’s will must first be informed, then persuaded, then given examples, then given assignments, then taught how to teach others, then given opportunities to watch how to supervise as a leader and then encouraged to plant and grow new culturally contextualized churches. Let us teach for transformation not just for information’s sake. Let us trust the Spirit of God to bring about renewal, realignment and restoration with the power of God’s word. Let us be examples of Christ’s incarnation to the people so they can follow our example as we imitate Christ’s model. Jesus said, "Every pupil when he is fully trained will be like His teacher." (Luke 6:40)
B. We must teach repentance and forgiveness of sins through Christ alone. In Luke 24:46-49 Jesus said, "Repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached." Do not water down your gospel’s message. Preach the whole counsel of God. Speak the truth in love in a way that people will be able to grow up in all aspects into Christ. Be assured that repentance involves a turning away from sin and a turning toward Christ. We are seeking to gain followers of Christ not just babies who refuse to acknowledge Christ as Lord as well as Savior.
Illustration:William A. Ward has said, "The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.
Progress Magazine, December 23, 1992.
5. Christ gives clear guidance about the activities that He wants all of His followers to engage in. In Matt. 28:18-20 He says, "Teaching them, go and make disciples, baptizing them in name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. For the great commission to be accomplish we must gain skills in teaching, disciple-making, baptizing and going into all the people groups of the world. There are some people like Bob Finley, who has started ChristianAid.org that supports between 60,000 and 300,000 missionaries in the developing world through 5000 mission organizations. He works to help people find ways that they can participate in all aspects of the great commission through developing partnerships with missionaries that we may never meet personally. Yet, through our prayers, gifts and correspondence and various means of service we can cooperate with people around the globe who are eager to do God’s will if we will furnish them with the tools. Winston Churchill told FDR in WW2. Give us the tools and we will finish the job. In a similar way we can help complete the great commission today by serving as senders to those who are better positioned to complete all of the activities involved with the great commission.
B. In Mark 16:15 Jesus said, "Go into all the world and preach and publish the Good News of the gospel to every creature, every tribe, every race, every tongue and every nation." We are to be busy in preaching or heralding out the word of life to those who are dying in their sins. We are involved with the great business or ministry of all time. We are not to think this is a sidelight whenever we hold our missions conference once a year. Christ’s commission should involve more than just 1.3% of our giving as it did in 2000 in American churches. 98.7% of all monies given to churches in America stayed right in their own communities. We are to expend all resources on the kinds of activities that will best contribute to the preaching, transmission and communication of the gospel to every person on the planet, most of whom are under the age of 25 years old.
Conclusion:How Do You Look at It?
A shoe manufacturer who decided to open the Congo market sent two salesmen to the undeveloped territory. One salesman cabled back: "Prospect here nil. No one wears shoes." The other salesman reported enthusiastically, "Market potential terrific! Everyone is barefooted."
Let us realize that many are longing and waiting to hear a message that will rescue them from misery, pain, sin and judgment. What are you doing to respond to the five complementary perspectives given in Christ’s great commission?
Statistics: Vital Statistics From Operation World (6th Edition, 2001, Patrick Johnstone, and Jason Mandryk) Paternoster, Waynesboro, GA
1. 15-25% of the population of the world is yet to hear a clear presentation of the gospel so that they can personally place saving faith in Christ for salvation.
2. Only 6.3% of the world’s population lives in a culture without a witnessing church – though in large populations many would have little chance to visit one.
3. 93.7% of the population lives where they have a witnessing church, but most Christians are not sharing their faith, usually about 2% do on a regular basis.
4. 98% of the world’s population has a resident national or expatriate witness in their midst. This is to emphasize the importance of working through church planters and missionaries in the developing world and especially in the 10/40 window. (ChristianAid.org; BibleLeague.org; GFA.org)
5. 60.3% of the world’s population or 3.6 billion compromising 6000 people groups out of the 12,000 people groups on the earth with a population of over 10,000 people are more than 2% evangelical or more than 5% adherents to Christianity.
6. 39.2% of the world population or 2.3 billion with a population over 10,000 people with 1600 people groups have less than 2% evangelicals and less than 5% adherents to Christianity.
7. .5% of the world’s population (many being migrant over or cross-border minorities) with 30 million people and 4400 people groups have more than 2% evangelicals or more than 5% adherents to Christianity.
8. A church for every people group. The challenge to adopt a people group for payer and ministry gained momentum in 1990’s. Progress was logged for the 1,583 peoples listed in the October 2000 Joshua Project List with the following results:
A. By the end of 2000 there was a church planting team in 1084 of the people groups and evidence of a congregation of 100 members in 487 people groups. This does not include the possible 2000 people groups of under 10,000 population that remain inadequately researched and may need pioneer church planting. The biggest need is the inadequate mechanism for holding those committed to their promises for adoption, insufficient verification and over-simplification of the task but thank God for what was achieved. This means that there are only about 500 people groups of over 10,000 that are yet to have a church planting team. We need to train the church planters and equip them to help complete Matthew 24:14 and the whole of the five aspects of the great commission.
B. DAWN – Jim Montgomery’s strategy to reach out to the edge and then draw a matrix of the whole community and church plant the whole.
9. World A – 28.% of these countries have had exposure to the gospel – (2% with no witness; 4.3% with resident witness; 21.9% with indigenous church) (West Africa to Sudan; Horn of Africa – Somalia; North Africa and West Asia; E. turkey, Iran Afghan. NE Pakistan, Turkey, Central Asia. Siberia, China, Mongolia; Western China, Himalayas, Myanmar, India (caste distinctions) Indo-China, Thailand, South and Southwest China, North Korea, Malaysia, Israel, Central and East Africa, East Asia,
10. 90% of the all the least reached peoples on the earth live within the areas shown on the map in p. 17 of Operation world. In the all the rest of the world are about 350 people groups with 82 million individuals which are in the least reached category.
11. There are 20 million Christians among the World A people groups and probably some on going church planting ministry among the 2,500 of the 3,500 people groups represented in this group. Within these Affinity groups on p. 16 is the best key to reaching these people groups.
12. Relatively few of these 3500 people groups have no known Christians but in most cases they constitute a small minority on average 1.2% of the population. They face many pressures and even persecution.
13. Churches and individuals need to have a vision for the lost and unreached people groups of the world to complete all five aspects of the great commission.
A. Mark 16:15 – The evangelistic challenge
B. Matt 28:18-20 – The discipling/church planting challenge
C. Luke 24:44-49 – Repentance and the teaching challenge
D. John 20:21 – The missions challenge and the suffering challenge
E. Acts 1:8 – The global challenge (To the uttermost parts of the earth)
14. There must be great commission disciple-makers made of each ethnic group. (Matt 28:18-20) This gives western Christian great opportunities to equip, facilitate, train and support disciple-makers and church planters in the developing world as teachers, givers and catalysts. Leadership training programs and seminaries are greatly needed around the world. Leadership is the key.
15. Christian radio has a potential coverage of 99% of the earth population with the gospel as well as training locals for church planting and church leadership.
16. The Jesus Film has been shown to nearly 5 billion people and has recorded around 150 million decisions for Christ. It has a potential coverage of 99% of the world’s population
17. New Testaments are available to 94% of the world’s population
18. 93.7% of the world’s population has a local witness available to them.
