Letter to a Fellow Pastor on the Great Commission

This is an M.Th. assignment for my studies at Cambridge Theological Seminary. Let it be an encouragement to Clergy and Laity alike.

My Dear Pastor Friend:

Grace and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

We are all called to be fishers of men and the love that Christ poured out for His people in His death and resurrection is the motive for proclaiming the gospel. Christ, the One who has all authority in heaven and on earth, who commands His people to go and make disciples of all nations.

It is amazing that Jesus’ last words to His disciples were about evangelism. The basis of discipleship is teaching all the commands of Jesus. His commands are beacons of light that will guide us throughout the course of our lives. On the other hand, every conflict we have in life can be traced to the neglect or violation of one or more of the commands of Jesus. This is why He placed such a high priority on them, even to say in 1st John 5:3, “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments: and His commandments are not grievous”.

Christ is the great example of carrying out the commission. He went around doing good, proclaiming His message of redemption, and seeking and saving the lost. Just as He taught and preached the good news of the kingdom, so His disciples, all of us, should teach and proclaim Jesus and His resurrection.

We are Jesus’ disciples. We are the offspring of those select few disciples who spent the last three years of Christ’s life on this earth under His teaching . Those whom you disciple will be your offspring and the offspring also of Christ’s disciples. By the way, that is where the term of affection of “father” comes from in the orthodox traditions. In 1st Corinthians 4:14-16, Paul writes the church saying, “I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I became your father in the gospel. I exhort you therefore, be imitators of me.”

Getting back on subject, the great commission is the final point Jesus made to His disciples. It appears that He regards evangelism as the very reason for their being, immediately following worshiping God and enjoying Him. The call to evangelize is a command of Christ. Having accepted Jesus as Lord, we have brought ourselves under His rule and are obligated to do whatever He asks.

Christ said, “If you love me, you will obey what I command,” in St. John 14:16. He told us, “If you are my friends you will do what I command” in St. John 15:14. So if we truly love the Lord, we will carry out His call to evangelize. It is not an option in our lives. Evangelism is the way you carry yourself as you go about your daily business. And when you carry yourself in a Godly way people will begin to see Jesus in you. And then you plant the seed of salvation in conversation. You tell them that you are the way you are because of what Jesus has done for you. You also go out of your way to speak to new people in the neighborhood, at the grocery store, where you buy grass seed. You make your entire life a billboard for Christ.

The disciples were not sent out on their own strength, and neither are we. Jesus prefaced His commission in St. Matthew 28:18 with the statement: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” Having all authority, He commissioned each of us as his agent. You and I are commissioned agents of Jesus Christ. You are hereby promoted from your current job of just being a pastor! Our jobs are 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. We have the most profound, exciting and rewarding jobs anyone could want. And with great benefits!

Notice the extent of the great commission. It is all-inclusive in St. Matthew 28:19 Jesus speaks of “all nations” and in Acts 1:8 He gives specific instructions: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

This is two fold -- you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you. You cannot witness and evangelize if the power of the Spirit is not in you. You will not desire to witness to or evangelize others. The Holy Spirit’s indwelling and power are essential for the commission to be effective, for it is the Holy Spirit who convicts of sin, who is the author of regeneration and who enables people to confess Jesus as Lord.

With the help of the Holy Spirit, we will see the need to carry out all the commands of Christ in all areas. Our family, our church and other people. Before we can disciple others, we must carry out the commands of Christ in our own lives. The first place the disciples were called to evangelize is Jerusalem. This was the most difficult place for the disciples to carry out the great commission because everyone knew them. If they were getting drunk and brawling down at the Via de la Rosa Tavern, or had an unpaid bill at the Temple Street Kosher Deli that they refused to pay, nobody would listen when they talk about the risen Savior.

We see how difficult it is to carry out the commission in our own homes. The people who are closest to us are sometimes the hardest to reach and evangelize. They have seen our failures and our past. This sometimes makes it extremely difficult to carry on a conversation with the lost in your own family. This is where we truly have to act like Christ in all our actions. This is why many pastoral search committees interview the wives, children and associates of a candidate for pastor instead of taking a vote at church for their calling to the position. What would the people that I know the best say about me? What would your friends and family say about you? This is where you find the true measure of our character. We can evangelize to family members best by being a living example of Christ.

The second calling to the disciples was to witness in “all Judea.” This area was south of Jerusalem and was mainly inhabited by Jews, Judean Jews at that. This proved to be a much more positive environment for the disciples to witness and carry out the Great Commission. These were God’s chosen people like the disciples and they were like minded. Consequently, fulfillment of this part of the commission would result in the establishment of additional congregations.

I view this as our witnessing to and evangelizing our community members. We are like minded as were the people of Judea. But not quite so close as our families to grate on our nerves by knowing every nasty little detail of our lives.Within the church each of us has the obligation to carry out that part of the commission. Carry it out through discipleship, mentoring, training, encouragement, praise, love, patience, listening, coaching, spurring, and peace for the love of Jesus and His commands to us.

Establishing small groups in fellowship and Bible study, worshipping as we sing, confess and pray in unison, gradually weaning the new disciples from the milk of sweetness and light that many spiritual babes experience and getting them onto a diet of meat and potatoes (and bread and wine).

The disciples had earnest love for the people of Judea. I can say that I truly love each and every one of my congregation, as I’m sure you can. If the Spirit of God was not in us, we would not have this love. We are all children of God, and we are all worthy of nothing but serving our Lord. My love is sincere because the Spirit is in me and it leads me to encourage you.

Perhaps the most distasteful part of the commission for the disciples was the third part -- “in Samaria.” This took them to the people whom they found most difficult to love, and who would probably be least receptive to their message because of it being carried by Jews. The Jews and Samaritans had been in conflict for a long time. The friction dated back to the time of the Jews’ return from Babylonian captivity. The Samaritans were the product of intermarriage of those Israelites left behind by the Assyrians, and various foreign colonists whom the Assyrians had sent in to help repopulate the area.

When the Jews returned from Babylon and began rebuilding the temple, the Samaritans offered to help, but their offer was turned down. From that time on, there was friction between the two groups. So you see the challenge to the disciples in carrying out the commission to the land of Samaria. But we are to love our neighbor, period. So who is our neighbor? Anybody that is outside the length of your arm.

Isn’t it amazing the Jesus wrote the parable about the Good Samaritan, the very people that Jews viewed as half-breeds, both physically and spiritually? But, in St. Luke 10:29-36, Jesus asserts that love knows no national or ethnic boundaries. The Samaritans are people with whom we have contact everyday. Our boss, our geeky guy at work, the drive-through teller, the relative with whom our relationship is strained. Our mission is to evangelize in our town and beyond. At work, in Wal-mart, in the post office, at the bank, on the golf course. We need to get as much exposure from each moment of the day as is possible. How do you begin a conversation with the lost of “Samaria”? We help and encourage the beggar on the road. God has placed that person in your path to witness to them.

The people that you come across may be the least likely for you to have fellowship with on a regular basis, but Jesus said, “you will be my witnesses in Samaria,” in other words, outside your inner circle, outside the church, on the bad side of the tracks.

Finally the disciples were to bear witness “to the ends of the earth.” There is no geographical restriction on the great commission. We are to take the message everywhere, to all nations and to every type of people. We cannot accomplish this on our own. We need to support Godly ministries that are accountable with our financial gifts. The commission extends to those who are very much unlike us. And it goes beyond our immediate sphere of contact and influence.

In a very real sense, local evangelism, church extension or church planting, and world missions are all the same thing. The only difference lies in the length of the radius. When we accomplish the mission of evangelism, disciplining, and teaching the word of the Lord we will have the rewards from our Heavenly Father. God will reveal Himself to us. We will abide in God’s love. Our prayers will be answered. We have assurance of our love for God. And our love for the Body of Christ will be revealed.

“This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out His commands.” – 1st John 5:2. Our love for the body of Christ is revealed in all that we do. Our attitudes, our actions, our speech and our demeanor all reveal the Glory of the Lord. We must carry out His commands in order to reap the reward of Christ Himself.

As God reveals Himself to us through our keeping of Christ’s commands, we will have a greater capacity for worshiping Him for who He really is. The more we understand His character, the better we are able to give Him the praise and glory due His name.

May God bless and keep you by His grace.

Reverend J. David McGuire, Pastor,
Christ Church Anglican, Claremore, Oklahoma