Missio Dei: WK4 - MON
THE COMMISSION BELONGS TO ALL OF US
Matthew 28:18-20 (NLT) “Jesus came and told his disciples, ‘I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’”
The Great Commission is not a job posting for professionals.
It’s easy to read Matthew 28 as an instruction addressed to a particular group of especially qualified people, missionaries, church planters, evangelists, and to understand the rest of us as supporters of their work. We give financially, pray occasionally, maybe go on a short trip. But the professionals carry the commission.
Jesus doesn’t talk to the disciples like that. He has just been raised from the dead, which changes the authority behind everything he says. And what he says, to this group of ordinary people who have just spent three years failing and recovering and following and doubting, is: go and make disciples. Not “commission some of your number to go.” Go. Make. Baptize. Teach.
The word “go” in the Greek is actually a participle , “as you are going” , which suggests the commission is woven into the movement of ordinary life, not reserved for special occasions of religious departure. As you go about your actual life , your commute, your workplace, your neighborhood, your family: make disciples. The mission is embedded in the ordinary.
And then Jesus adds something remarkable: I am with you always. The commission and the promise are inseparable. He doesn’t issue the commission and then leave us to fulfill it on our own. He sends us and accompanies us simultaneously. The authority he claims, all authority in heaven and earth, is the authority behind the sending. Which means the mission we’re joining is backed by the most significant power in the universe. You are not too ordinary for this. You are exactly the kind of person Jesus commissioned.
Matthew 28:18-20 (NLT) “Jesus came and told his disciples, ‘I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’”
The Great Commission is not a job posting for professionals.
It’s easy to read Matthew 28 as an instruction addressed to a particular group of especially qualified people, missionaries, church planters, evangelists, and to understand the rest of us as supporters of their work. We give financially, pray occasionally, maybe go on a short trip. But the professionals carry the commission.
Jesus doesn’t talk to the disciples like that. He has just been raised from the dead, which changes the authority behind everything he says. And what he says, to this group of ordinary people who have just spent three years failing and recovering and following and doubting, is: go and make disciples. Not “commission some of your number to go.” Go. Make. Baptize. Teach.
The word “go” in the Greek is actually a participle , “as you are going” , which suggests the commission is woven into the movement of ordinary life, not reserved for special occasions of religious departure. As you go about your actual life , your commute, your workplace, your neighborhood, your family: make disciples. The mission is embedded in the ordinary.
And then Jesus adds something remarkable: I am with you always. The commission and the promise are inseparable. He doesn’t issue the commission and then leave us to fulfill it on our own. He sends us and accompanies us simultaneously. The authority he claims, all authority in heaven and earth, is the authority behind the sending. Which means the mission we’re joining is backed by the most significant power in the universe. You are not too ordinary for this. You are exactly the kind of person Jesus commissioned.
- How does it change your view of mission to realize it belongs to ordinary people?
- Where in your daily life has God already placed opportunities for discipleship?
- What helps you trust Jesus’s promise that he is with you as you go?
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