Lord’s Day, Vol. 3 No. 34

The Great Commission

The Great Commission is the last instruction of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to His disciples before His ascension to heaven. It is recorded in all four gospels (Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:15-16, Luke 24:44-48, John 20:21-23) and a fifth time in Acts 1:8, which essentially is the summary statement of the entire book of Acts. In essence, the book of Acts is a detailed account of how the apostles fulfilled the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20.

The first principle for missions and church growth must be to understand its divine strategy or blueprint as taught in the Great Commission.

The Great Commission is the first commandment of Jesus Christ, the Head of the church, to His church. It is summarized in 2 commands: (1) “teach” in Matthew 28:19 which means to make a disciple of someone or evangelise, instruct, cause someone to become a follower of Christ; (2) “preach” as in Mark 16:15 which means to proclaim the gospel message to every man.

The instruction to “Go” in Matthew 28:19 means “going”, describing an action in progress to “make disciples”. One cannot fulfil the command to make a disciple unless he first “go”. But it is noteworthy that the action of the verb “go” can be traced to the Holy Spirit in Matthew 28:20, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”

Jesus promised the presence and leading of the third Person of the Holy Trinity in the fulfilment of the Great Commission, in John 16:7-8, “Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.”

The Holy Spirit reprove the world of “sin, righteousness and judgment” is explained in the following verses in John 16:9-11, “Of sin, because they believe not on me; Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.”

An example of the Holy Spirit’s guidance in fulfilling the Great Commission is in the account of the conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8:29 where the Holy Spirit gave the command for Philip to “go”.

“Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.” The passive nature of the verb “Go” in Matthew 28:19 has its significance theologically in that it is not self-led but Holy Spirit led. There is that dependence upon the Holy Spirit for every move.

It is the Holy Spirit that triggers and directs in the proclamation of the Gospel. In the book of Acts, there are many accounts on the dependence upon the Holy Spirit to accomplish the Great Commission.

The Great Commission is not about ‘charging forward blindly and aimlessly’, but rather a Spirit-led journey. The Christian is sensitive to the prompting of the Holy Spirit and obeys in immediate action as did Philip the evangelist in Acts 8:26-40. The mechanics of the Great Commission necessitates a human instrument as the agent of the good news as described by the Apostle Paul in Romans 10:13-15.

“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!”

George Peters aptly said, “It is spoken to the disciples to teach the valuable lesson that the whole of Christian life and especially the Christian commission can be accomplished only in and through the Holy Spirit…already in the Old Testament it had been taught, “Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts” Zech. 4:6…How fully this was realized is well portrayed in the book of Acts, the book which has often been called the book of the Acts of the Holy Spirit”.¹

In John 20:21, Jesus said to His disciples, “…as the Father hath sent me, even so send I you”. God the Father has sent His Son Jesus Christ and this action has an abiding result. The commission from the Father for Jesus is still binding today. Christ in turn sent the disciples. As Christ has sent his disciples, Christ continues to send out labourers today to fulfil the Great Commission as in the very words of Christ in John 17:18 “As thou (Father) hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.”

Our Gospel Rally on 30 August 2015 is in response to the call of Christ in the Great Commission to preach the gospel. May God’s people seek the Lord in prayer that His Spirit may guide us to honour His Name in this gospel endeavour. As the Holy Spirit lead, may we go and bring our unsaved loved ones and friends to hear the gospel to the glory of His Name. Amen.

Yours lovingly,

Pr. Lek Aik Wee

¹ George W. Peters, A Biblical Theology of Missions, (Chicago: Moody Press, 1984), 21.