STEWARDSHIP OF GOSPEL AND COMMISSION #1/2
Posted by: bhfbc <bhfbc@...>
THE GREAT COMMISSIONING
April 27, 2003
(evening service)
TEXT: Matthew 28:16-20
As part of the gathering and celebration of the American Baptist Churches
at the Biennial this June, there will be a commissioning of new
missionaries for both overseas and home missions. These missionaries will
be given the authority by the denomination to move into their places of
ministry to witness, evangelize, and perform other duties for which they
have been trained. They will be our representatives to areas where we,
ourselves, are unable to go. By and large, they will "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
[Christ] commanded."
What is important - and really rather easy - to remember is that they
have already been given the authority to do this. While it is true that
their mission work will be done under the auspices of American Baptists -
their support comes from us here in the pews - their authority comes from
no one but Jesus Christ. In reality, we are merely formalizing in a human
institution what Christ has already given to Christians everywhere.
Additionally, Christ has not given this charge to just a few who step out
into a specific mission field under the support and supervision of a
denomination. Christ has given his charge to each and every one of us who
has received him as victorious Savior and who has tagged ourselves with
the name Christian. All too often we want the Great Commission to apply
to someone else somewhere else. In Christ's reality, it does not work
that way.
We know these final verses of Matthew as the Great Commission. Every
Bible that uses headings to separate some of the text will have it
printed right there, around verse sixteen, "the Great Commission." A
commission is "an authorization or command to act in a prescribed manner
or to perform prescribed acts." That is what Christ is giving us.
Maybe, though, the title given to this passage of Scripture should have
been the Great Commissioning. A commission is a noun. Even though it is
something that is bestowed upon us by Christ, we do not have to do
anything with it. It's a commission - even a great commission - but we
often do little with it.
A commissioning, on the other hand, is a verb meaning "to appoint or
assign to a task or function." Naturally, the two have synonymous
meanings. But a verb conveys action. It tells us that we have to do
something. Our new missionaries will be commissioned for their respective
fields in June, but Christ has already commissioned us all for the fields
we are presently in. "Therefore go..." Jesus tells us. Beyond a shadow of
a doubt, Christianity is a missionary religion from its inception.
Like all commissionings, this one is done by an authoritative source.
"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me," Jesus
declares plainly and simply. No preamble, no arguments; just declaration.
Of course, the preceding events of a gospel like Matthews lays the
groundwork for the authority. Writing in The Interpreter's Bible, Dr.
George A. Buttrick explains: "All authority means supreme right to
appoint to office: thence comes the great commission. It means right to
require obedience - because of love poured out unto death, and now
triumphant in the eternal kingdom. It means right to govern in both earth
and heaven. A true faith is not chosen by men: it chooses men. It is not
a garment that we can do and off, but a very life. Christ claims to be
the Lord of life" (vol. 7, p. 622).
There is no doubt that Jesus is the Christ and lays claim to our lives.
Our celebration of Easter reminds us of Christ's finished work on the
cross through which salvation has been made available for the restoration
of men and women into fellowship with God. In the very first chapter of
the gospel of Mark, Jesus said to Simon and Andrew, "Come, follow me, and
I will make you fishers of men." "At once they left their nets and
followed him." Jesus' authority impacted lives from the beginning of his
work and ministry.
Being commissioned by a proper authority indicates support from that
authority. Individual Baptist churches in America gathered together into
associations and fellowships for the express purpose of supporting
mission work. The missionaries who will be commissioned in June will be
supported with resources from us! We will not send them if we cannot
support them, because, if cannot support them, then we do not have the
authority to send them.
Jesus' authority definitely extends into the area of support. "And surely
I will be with you always, to the very end of the age." Jesus gives life
to his Church to the very end of the age. Without Jesus, we have no
Church, no mission, no life. There are too many testimonies from too many
decades for us to believe the contrary. Jesus Christ brings us life now
and forevermore; if we do not believe this, we may as well weld the
church doors shut!
In fact, Jesus supports his mission work so well that he never allows it
to come to an end. When it began to bog down in the very first century by
becoming centered and centralized in Jerusalem, Jesus knocked a rebel
named Saul off his horse and sent him out among the Gentiles. In the
1800s, English Christians bogged down in their mission endeavors because
of their reliance upon an extreme perversion that arose from some of John
Calvin's doctrines. It was called supralapsarianism - a strong belief in
predestination that led Christians in that day into believing that they
didn't need to witness among the heathens; God had already decided what
to do with them. This wasn't Calvin's teachings; instead, it was
Calvinists adding to what Calvin had written. At any rate, there arose
the Englishman William Carey who rejected this notion and moved English
Baptists to open mission fields in India and surrounding places. Two such
examples from our many years of history don't do justice to it, but we
can get the idea - Jesus supports his work and does not let it go
unattended.
Now for the fun question: to whom does Jesus' great commissioning apply?
A relative few who see their field of Christian service to be in a
foreign land or some specialized ministry in this nation? To those and
the few more who are called into the pastoral ministry of the local
church? You know what I'm going to say. This is every Christian's
commissioning! This is our commissioning! If we're going to believe John
3:16, then we're going to have to believe this one, too.
Jesus words recorded here were spoken to eleven disciples. That's all.
So how does this apply to me? The same way that the rest of the gospels
apply to me. Jesus' words were local, but their applications are
universal. Most of those who Jesus spoke to that day never ventured far
from their homeland. Yet, here we are today, with Christianity being
preached in how many lands? Into how many languages have the Scriptures
been translated? People from how many different societies and cultures
have received salvation and been baptized into new life? I can't count
them all! How did this happen? Jesus made it happen through these eleven
and on to more and more. Talk about successful networking - Jesus is a
master at it!
We are all commissioned by Jesus because he intends his message to be
spread through us. We are enabled for this. We are given spiritual gifts
and unique situations in which we can be "make disciples." We don't have
to be alike in technique, but we need to be alike in getting it done.
Tony Campolo writes: "I recently heard a television preacher say that
television is the most effective means presently available for
evangelism. He tried to encourage people to make contributions to his
ministry by claiming that there is no better means than television to
reach the lost masses of humanity with the gospel. He was not even close
to the truth. The best instrument for evangelism is the ordinary church
member bearing witness to a vital faith. It always has been; it always
will be.
Sometimes when I am trying to impress an audience with this fact, I take
a survey by calling for a show of hands in order to learn how the people
came to be Christians. In an audience of a thousand people, perhaps one
or two raise their hands when I ask how many became Christians because of
a television program. When I ask for those who became Christians by
reading a gospel tract or listening to a religious radio show, I expect
no response. When I ask how many became Christians through evangelistic
crusades, I get a limited, but respectable, response. But, when I ask how
many became Christians because of persons who loved them and brought them
to the church, the response is overwhelming.
There is a high probability that if you are a Christian, it is because a
member of the church invited you and then some of the people of the
church loved you into making a decision for Christ. Generally, people are
led into a personal relationship with Christ because there have been
church members who cared enough to talk to them and love them into the
Kingdom. It is interesting to note that while pastors and preachers are
important instruments for the proclamation of the word of God, ordinary
lay people are the primary agents for evangelizing the world... One on
one is the best way to play the Christian game" (Tony Campolo, Who
Switched the Price Tags?, Waco: Word Books, 1986, pp. 167-168).
This is why I think that Matthew 28:16-20 is the great commissioning. It
is a great commission, to be sure. But through it, we are called to
spiritual vitality, to fervent prayer, to action. We are given the
authority and the support. We are commissioned for the Lord's work. I
have seen plaques in some churches which read, "We enter to worship; we
depart to serve." This is our great commissioning. "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."
Rev. Charles A. Layne, pastor, First Baptist Church, Bunker Hill, IN
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