The classic Great Commission passage is from Matthew 28:18-20, where Jesus met with the eleven disciples after His resurrection and before His ascension:
All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.
In this passage, Jesus commanded them to do four things:
· Go.
· Make disciples of all nations.
· Baptize them.
·
Teach them to obey everything He had commanded.
My experience. There is something about being filled with the Spirit that makes one want to "go" and tell others about the love, forgiveness and wonderful saving grace of Jesus Christ. I strongly felt a desire to share Christ with my U.S. Air Force co-workers, neighbors, and also with many family members. Some were turned off, and that always happens, but our job is to share. The rest is up to God.
One uncle whom I had always greatly loved and had a close relationship with ever since I was a little kid was so turned off that he had little to do with me after that. With another uncle, not long before he died, he did tell me that he had accepted Christ. A third uncle remained a mocker, denying Christ until he died, as far as I know. A cousin told me before she died that she had become a believer and had asked Jesus into her heart.
We should always share Christ with love, wisdom, and sensitivity. But even when we do, some will turn against us. I recall the words of Jesus: "A man's enemies will be the members of his own household" (Matthew 10:36).
The experience with my mother was the most fulfilling. After I received the baptism with the Holy Spirit, I was stationed with the U.S. Air Force in Virginia and was planning on visiting her in Florida. On the telephone before I left, she warned, "Don't come down here with any of that religion stuff." I gave a vague, noncommittal reply, but smiling and thinking to myself, "Yeah, right. Just wait 'til I get there!"
The first day I was there, the Lord gave me the boldness to talk with her about spiritual things and in probing I discovered that she had some lifelong bitterness against her mother, who had cruelly berated her as a child, she related. She said, "I can never forgive her." I seized the moment and counseled her on the importance of forgiveness and what God says about it. Her heart began to soften, and in a few minutes, while holding my hand, she allowed me to lead her in a prayer of repentance, then asked Jesus into her heart. It was one of the most tender and momentous moments of my life. The next year she had a series of strokes, leaving her in a coma, and I traveled to visit her in the hospital. I baptized her while she was in the coma in her hospital bed, "sprinkling style" because immersion was not possible. God honored it. I am not ordained, but there is nothing in the Bible that says you have to be a pastor or ordained by men to baptize someone. My dear mother went to be with Jesus a few days later. At my step-father's request, I preached her funeral and gave a salvation message to my unsaved relatives. When I got back to Virginia, the Lord clearly confirmed to me that she was with Him.
About that time I was the Inspector General of my headquarters in the U.S. Air Force at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia. Shortly after my infilling "experience," I began witnessing about Christ to my two secretaries. Then we began to meet in my office for a brown-bag lunch on Wednesdays to study the Bible. Then others around the base heard about it and began coming. Soon all available chairs were filled. Then shortly thereafter, people were standing and literally lining the walls just to be there. We finally had to move to a large room in another building, the Chapel Annex. It was a beautiful situation, because the group included both officer and enlisted personnel and government civilian employees, male and female, of different races. We were all one in Christ! Sometimes we had 30-40 people in attendance. After I retired a couple of years later, the group changed leadership, then a couple of years later changed leadership again, and again, and kept on going. The last I heard it had gone on for many years, and for I all know, may still be going in some form. I know that the Military Ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ is now having a weekly meeting in that very same room! Much, much fruit has come forth. This was the work of the Holy Spirit filling one willing servant.
In addition to one-on-one encounters, after my U.S. Air Force career, I have been privileged to serve for more than 20 years in responsible positions with two of the world's largest evangelical ministries, to which God clearly called me. I made a decision that I wanted the rest of my life to be spent sharing this "good news" about God's pardon, peace, purpose, and power available through Jesus Christ.
Not everyone is called to serve in full-time Christian ministries, but everyone is called to be a witness in the surroundings where God has placed them and to serve Christ. Your calling, whether in your school, home, neighborhood, nursing home, or secular job, is every bit as important.
For example, even if you are confined to a nursing home, you can show the love of Christ to others and tell them about Jesus, and you can be a powerful prayer intercessor and warrior. Your humble prayers can help change the world, maybe touch millions, and maybe even change nations. The apostle Paul said, "When I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Corinthians 12:10). God is not through with you!
Sometimes God uses His power to anoint talented men and women to raise up huge international ministries that may touch millions or even billions of souls, and we thank God for them. But most times, that same power will rest simply on one humble person, a person who in the world's eyes may seem weak, lowly, foolish, and totally without influence. Yet with God's power operating in and through that person, he or she contains all the power of the universe! Such a humble person, without pride and ego, is qualified to receive God's power.
God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things - and the things that are not - to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him (1 Corinthians 1:27-29).
This matter of being filled with the Spirit and witnessing for Christ is serious business and not just for our goose bumps. It is a matter of life and death for the hearers and those whom they may later influence.
Obey "everything." Keep in mind that Jesus told them "to obey everything" He had commanded them. I believe the word "everything" means "everything." If so, this no doubt includes a command He gave them when He first commissioned them to "go":
Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. As you go, preach this message: "The kingdom of heaven is near." Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give (Matthew 10:5-8).
(This specific command was for the lost sheep of Israel, but after the resurrection, Jesus expanded the mandate to go to all the world.)
Jesus commanded them to do five things:
· Preach the message of the nearness of the kingdom.
· Heal the sick.
· Raise the dead.
· Cleanse lepers.
· Drive out (cast out) demons.
(See Appendix 1 for modern-day testimonies)
Declaring "the kingdom." Note the message: "The kingdom of heaven is near," and note what is supposed to happen when the kingdom of heaven invades the earth and a person’s being: healing, miracles, and deliverance!
In every kingdom, there must be a king. In the kingdom of heaven, Jesus Christ is the King. And the Bible says, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8). When the King and His kingdom are near, the supernatural is supposed to happen, and it will happen when faith is present (and sometimes even when it is not!).
In another instance, Jesus similarly told His disciples to "go" and "Heal the sick who are there and tell them, 'The kingdom of God is near you'" (Luke 10:9). Some teachers differentiate between the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God; however, in the same context with His disciples, the Lord uses the terms interchangeably. Sadly, many Christians gloss over this truth as just nice-sounding words, minus the power implicit.
On another occasion, Jesus exhorted His followers: "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness..." (Matthew 6:33). If we are seeking His kingdom, we should be seeing typical things that happen when the kingdom is near!
Jesus also said, "The kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:21). Think about that one. Let it sink in. It is more profound than we usually realize. Retired Canon Jim Glennon of the St. Andrew's Cathedral of the Anglican Church in Australia, who has had a healing ministry for over 40 years, uses that as one of his principal healing verses. He shows people that God’s kingdom (and perfection) is in them, and all they need to do is, by faith, to allow it to be manifest. He cites many miraculous healings that have come with that revelation and realization.
In his book, Lord, Increase Our Faith (Bridge Publishing, 1994), Dr. Michael Landsman gives interesting insights on what it means to seek the kingdom, and characteristics of the kingdom.
In actual fact, the word "kingdom," in the original language, means the activity of reigning. For the believer, the activity of reigning is broken down into three aspects: bringing deliverance to the captives, exerting authority over the enemy, and conferring blessings upon God's people.
Landsman says that if we are truly seeking God's kingdom, we are not just praying and reading the Bible, but actually doing these three things - doing Kingdom activities: "bringing deliverance to the captives, exerting authority over the enemy, and conferring blessings upon God’s people."
This is important to understand because to preach the kingdom and to fulfill the Great Commission, we need to be doing the things that Jesus commanded His disciples to do as they were preaching it: "Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons."
In most Western churches, such a thought is totally bizarre, even reprehensible and heretical to some. Without a biblical basis, some detractors say that the age of miracles was over when the last apostle died some 1,900 years ago and that people now have the Bible and do not need God’s manifested power. However, at that time, people had the Jewish Bible, which also speaks of healing and miracles, and letters from the apostles were circulating. There is absolutely no biblical reason to believe that God retired and is no longer doing what He did 2,000 years ago. The reason it is not seen more now is that over the centuries faith has been replaced by unbelief, tradition, and ritualism in the church. The truth is, with an exploding, biblically ignorant population, the world needs these manifestations now more than ever.
And in fact, these things are actually happening right now, not only in the U.S., but in the Third World through indigenous believers and faith-filled missionaries where the people have not been taught by traditionalists that such is not supposed to happen in modern times. The people are blessed to have an expectant, childlike faith, just like in the Bible, and their minds are not polluted by liberal theology and unbelief. (See Appendix 1, Testimonies). As mentioned, I have many wonderful evangelical friends who serve Jesus and who help fulfill part of the Great Commission who have never been taught about these things, and they are doing their best with the light that they have. God uses them greatly, but it is sad that this dimension of power is missing from their lives. So much more could be done, and so many more people could be healed and delivered from demon power. Plus, Jesus used miracles and healings to attract people to Himself and His message. This attraction is greatly needed today.
Another Great Commission passage is in Mark 16:15-18:
He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all 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 drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well."
Except for the poison part, each of these things happened in the book of Acts. For example, Paul was bitten by a snake but it did not hurt him (Acts 28:3-5). They also happen today. I have heard of attempts to poison missionaries, but they were not harmed, and many have probably escaped snake bites. (This does not refer to the cultic snake-handling sect of the Appalachians, whose adherents are wrongly tempting God.) This is another of Christ's "go" commands of the Great Commission, with signs following.
After the Lord spoke the words above, Mark tells us:
After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God. Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it (vs. 16:19-20, emphasis supplied).
The Lord "confirmed his word by the signs..." Those were the same signs He had just mentioned.
He is still confirming His word by accompanying signs today, and will do it whenever His servants preach and teach "everything He had commanded them" and have faith-filled, expectant hearts.
Someone has said that Jesus shows up and performs according to the way He is preached. If He is preached as Savior, He shows up and saves. If He is preached as the healer, He shows up and heals. That might be an oversimplification, but there is truth to it.
What does this mean to you? As a Spirit- and power-filled believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Bible says that the same signs should follow you that followed the original disciples. You do not have to follow the signs; the signs are supposed to follow you. In fact, the Lord makes an even more extreme statement:
I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father (John 14:12).
Can you believe that? Can you receive it? It is a heavy statement, especially in our materialistic and unbelieving culture, but the Lord would not have said it unless it is true. Some write off the miraculous possibilities of this statement by saying that when the Holy Spirit came, about which He was speaking, He would live in and work through hundreds, then thousands, then millions of people at the same time, but when He was on the earth He was only in one person. This is certainly true. But that does not rule out the supernatural. Also, Jesus says "anyone," and uses the word "he," not "they." It works on an individual basis.
In summary, to be obedient to the Great Commission, we must obey all the "go" commands, proclaiming the kingdom, and do as Jesus and the disciples did when they saw a human need - they stepped out in faith and believed for the supernatural and the impossible. They got what they believed for, a lesson for us today.