The Great Omission Series

The Great Omission

Luke 24:44-49

Rev. Brian Bill

October 11-12, 2025

A young boy asked his mother and grandmother to play with him in his new sandbox in the front yard. He gave each of them a shovel and pail, and they eagerly started scooping sand. Before long, they became engrossed in their conversation. As they chatted and continued to fill their buckets with sand, they noticed that people walking by were giving them funny looks. It finally hit them that they had become so busy talking they hadn’t noticed the little boy had wandered off to the backyard to play. Here they were, two grown women playing in a sandbox by themselves!

It’s very easy to lose sight of why we’re doing what we’re doing, isn’t it? When we forget our purpose, we can end up looking a little foolish and accomplishing very little. Sadly, the same thing can happen in churches. Over time, it’s common to no longer remember our mission and get caught up in activities, programs, and traditions that have little to do with the task Jesus gave us to accomplish. That’s why we must stay focused on our mission, and our role in fulfilling it.

During our Go Con weekend, Todd Ahrend walked us through the five Great Commission texts found at the end of the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John and at the beginning of the Book of Acts. The final charge of Jesus is repeated and recorded in multiple places because God doesn’t want us to miss His heartbeat and our primary purpose for living. These commissions are similar, but each one has a different focus.

• In John 20:21, we are sent ones, just as the Father sent the Son with humility, love, and sacrifice.

• In Luke 24:46-47, we carry His message and His power to all nations, proclaiming repentance and forgiveness of sins through His death and resurrection, empowered to be witnesses by the Holy Spirit.

• In Mark 16:15, we see the scope of the mission, as the gospel is to be preached to everyone, everywhere.

• In Matthew 28:18–20, we go with the authority of the risen King who sends us to make disciples of all nations.

• And in Acts 1:8, we are given His strategy, to be witnesses beginning in Jerusalem and then going with the gospel to the ends of the earth through the power of the Spirit. We’re to start local and go global.

Together these five passages show that the Great Commission is not optional but essential so the whole world will hear, and all the nations will rejoice. The last command of Jesus, which is to go and make disciples of all nations, must become our first and greatest commitment. While His final words must be our foremost work, we often get distracted and forget what we’re called to be and what we’re called to do. In short, it’s very easy for the Great Commission to become the Great Omission while we play in our sandboxes.

Over the years I’ve preached multiple messages on Matthew 28:18-20, I’ve preached verse-by-verse through the Gospel of Mark, I’ve focused on John’s account during several Easter sermons and have preached multiple sermons on Acts 1:8. But I’ve never preached through Luke 24:44-49 until this weekend.

The risen Lord Jesus makes our purpose crystal clear in this passage by laying out the foundation of our mission, the focus of our message, the field of our ministry, and the force for the movement He’s called us to be part of.

As we read this text, imagine how the disciples first processed these words, even as they tried to comprehend that Jesus had just been raised from the dead: “Then He said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.’”

Here’s our main idea: To keep the Great Commission from becoming the Great Omission, we must live on mission by glorifying God and making disciples of Jesus in our families, among our neighbors, and among the nations.

1. The foundation of the ministry. Jesus made sure the disciples took their marching orders from the Scriptures. We see this in verse 44: “Then He said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.’”