"The Great Omission!"
"And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen."
Matthew 28:18-20 KJV
"Then Jesus came to them and said, "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."
Matthew 28:18-20 NIV
This passage in Matthew is one of the last of the recorded sayings of Jesus Christ! The setting is after the resurrection and the disciples have assembled themselves upon a mountain in Galilee for a pre-designated meeting with the Lord. These words comprise, what we have come to know as the "great commission!" Usually a person’s last words are of great importance and significance. The last words of Jesus are of extreme importance in defining the essence of his purpose for coming to earth and the purpose of the church! But, I want to suggest to you on this preaching occasion, that by and large, the church has misunderstood, ignored or otherwise discounted the true essence of this monumental command. Hence, I have entitled this discourse; "the great omission," because, for the most part, we have not done, nor are we seeking to do, what the Lord told us to do! By our negligence, we have turned the great commission into the great omission!
Let us take a closer look at the context in which Christ gave this command. As stated earlier, it was given after Jesus had been raised from the dead and it was given based on the fact that all authority in heaven and in earth had been given unto him. The Bible say in Philippians 2:8-10, "And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;" (KJV) Yes! God has highly exalted him and he is the ultimate authority on earth and in heaven! So then, we should view the great commission not as just some idealistic words that Jesus uttered before he ascended up into heaven, but rather as the supreme mandate of the church. All authority in heaven and on earth undergirds the validity of the great commission!
But, I would like to suggest to you, my brothers and sisters, that unfortunately this passage has been the victim of a gross misunderstanding. I believe that perhaps one to the main reasons that the great commission has been misapplied is because of a mis-translation by the King James translators. Grammatically speaking, there is only one imperative verb (command) in the great commission and that is the verb, "mathetes". Unfortunately, the King James translators translated this word as "teach." However, a more proper translation is "to make disciples of" as is reflected in all of the modern translations. In the commission, the words "go," "baptizing," and "teaching," are all participles modifying the imperative verb, "to make disciples." Hence a more proper translation from the Greek text might be rendered thus: "As you go ("go" in the text is an aorist passive participle), make disciples of all nations (ethnic groups), baptizing them (those who believe) in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teaching (this is the Greek word; "didisko", from which we get the English word "didactic") them to observe (be careful to do; obey) all the things that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, even unto the end of the age!" (Pastor Miller’s translation of Matt. 28: 19-20: Nestle-Aland 26th Edition Greek New Testament)
The stress of the great commission should not be placed upon the passive participle: "go" as many have traditionally done. Any English teacher will tell you that the main thrust of any sentence after the subject is the verb! And the verb in the great commission is the imperative: "make disciples!" Consequently, we can go, baptize and teach, but if we have not made disciples of those we have encountered, baptized and taught, then we have missed the main gist of the great commission! And I want to tell you my brothers and sisters that is where the church, for the most part, is today! We go and preach, but we do not make disciples! We baptize those we preach to; but we do not make disciples of them! We even try to teach them, not realizing that it is impossible to teach spiritual things to those who have not been made disciples of first!
But, why is it that the great commission has, in all practical aspects, become the great omission in many churches? I think that the most obvious reason is because of an overall ignorance of what the text actually says. This can be attributed, mostly to the mistranslation of the Greek by the King James translators. However, there are two other reasons that might have some validity. After we shall have discussed these briefly, I will leave you alone!
But I submit that another reason why we have turned the commission into an omission might be because we are not willing to pay the cost of being disciples ourselves! You see, you can’t make a disciple if you are not one yourself! "And he (Jesus) said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it." (Luke 9:23-24 KJV) Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in his classic work; "The Cost of Discipleship" said, "When Christ calls a man, he bids him to come and die!" Salvation is free, yet it is costly! Christ requires of us, not just an acceptance of his "Savior-hood, but also a whole-hearted devotion to his Lordship! The Lord did not free us from the bondage of sin in order for us to be unequivocally free. He freed us from the slavery of sin so that we might become the slaves of righteousness! He brought us out to bring us in! He did not save us for us; he saved us for himself! The first century Christians knew Jesus, primarily as Lord; we know him today primarily as savior. But according to the teachings of Jesus and the early apostles, you can’t have one without the other! If you want to be saved, then you must accept him as Lord! Accepting him as Lord means that you obey his commandments. You no longer live your life according to your own dictates, but rather you submit yourself to him saying, "Not my will, but let thy will be done!" And so I suggest to you, my brothers and sisters, that far too many of us are ignorant as to what true biblical salvation is all about! There are many people in the church today who are saved, only in their own minds! If he is not your Lord, he is not your Savior! And if he is your Savior, then he must be your Lord!
And then, I would like to also suggest that the reason why the great commission has become the great omission for many of us is because we are not willing to pay the cost of making disciples! There is a personal cost involved in making disciples! Now, I’m not talking about contributing to the missions’ budget. It will cost you much more than money to make a disciple! Too often, in the church, we think that we can solve any problem or do the will of God by merely throwing a dollar in the offering plate. But most times, giving money is the cheapest thing you can do! How much does it cost to make a disciple? Well, Jesus invested three and a half years of eating, working, living and instructing the apostles! In order to make a disciple, it will cost you a personal investment of your time and your soul! It will cost you yourself! Disciples are not born; they are made! There can be no disciples without disciple-makers! There are many in the church who desire for disciples to be made, just since the Pastor or some other ministry-staff person makes them! But, becoming a disciple and a disciple-maker is the calling of every Christian! Christ calls us to become personally involved in the lives of those we seek to make disciples of! To cry with them, to laugh with them, to suffer with them! But, not only is there the cost of becoming personally involved in their lives, there is also the cost of allowing them to see us as we really are! This is the baring of our souls in moments of triumph as well as moments of defeat! Are you willing to let brother or sister know that you have faults and frailties just like the rest of us mere mortals? Such is the cost of making a disciple! It requires the cost of being vulnerable! It requires the cost of inconvenience, it requires the cost of becoming personally involved in the life of another person, for Christ’s sake!
Well, I have shared with you some of the reasons why I think that, for many in the church, the great commission has become the great omission. But nevertheless, the commission still stands! A mistranslation or a misapplication of the text does not negate the commission! Our unwillingness to pay the cost of being a disciple or of making a disciple does not lessen the standard not one bit! The commission has not be negated or cancelled by our omission! Oh! How to reach the masses, men of every birth, for an answer Jesus gave the key! "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me! We lift up Jesus, not only in our proclamation, but also in our celebration of life! We lift him up as we become models of him, showing him to the world in our walk and in our talk! We lift him up as we become personally and intimately involved in the lives of others for Christ’s sake! This, my brothers and sisters, is the only way we can be assured of his presence! Don’t be daunted by the immensity of the great commission! As we go about the business of making disciples, he promised to be with us! He promised to never leave us alone! Can’t you hear the Master’s voice echoing down the halls of eternity: "Behold, I am with you always, even unto the end of the age!" Oh! What a blessed assurance! Oh! What a joy divine! The comfort of knowing that as we do his wills, he is ever present to sustain us, to strengthen us, and to support us! Remember that everything that Jesus did, he did it for others! This is the spirit in which the great commission was given: Jesus says to us; "Just as I have laid down my life for you, now you go and do likewise for others!" The greatest act of love is the giving of ones self to the cause of making disciples! This is the essence of the great commission!
