Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)
If you ask any Christian, in any church, in any place, at any point in history, “What is your mission in life?”—this should be the obvious answer. Jesus has commissioned us, given us a mission. He has called us to participate in his own mission in the world. “Mission” comes from the Latin for “sending.” In John’s version of the Great Commission, the risen Lord Jesus says to his disciples, “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you” (John 20:21). Jesus is the Sent One, the Great Missionary, who commissions his people to be sent like he is.
This sending, this mission arises from God’s very nature, from his Triune being. “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16). His being is love. “The statements ‘God is’ and ‘God loves’ are synonymous” (Karl Barth). In his eternal life, there is no self-centeredness. “His love is eternal” (Psalm 136), because it is who the eternal God is, it is how he has his being. In himself, even before he created other people, the Triune God has always been about other People. The Father loves the Son in the Spirit, and the Son reciprocates this love in the same Spirit to the Father.
In time, God the Father sent forth God the Son in the love of God the Spirit, to be born a man: Jesus. (Really, this is the Great Commission!) God did this, not in spite of who he is, but in accordance with who he is, because of his Triune nature. Jesus is the God of love come in the flesh, come to make God known to us so that we might share in the Son’s own relationship to his Father. When Jesus brings us into the life of God (something signified and sealed to us in baptism in the Triune name), he is bringing us into a life that is not just about the self, but about other people. With this God, being brought in means being sent out. In the life of the Triune God, the consummate “insider” is outward-faced. And with this God, being sent out doesn’t mean you go alone. “I am with you always.” Jesus, the Sent One, accompanies his sent ones through the presence of his Holy Spirit.
This is why the Great Commission makes so much sense. Jesus—God—is not commanding us to do anything that he himself has not done. Jesus said, “All that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you” (John 15:15). In the Great Commission, he tells us to keep it going, to make known to others everything we have heard from Jesus.
A disciple is someone in relationship with Jesus, whom Jesus has brought into the life of God. The church (the assembly of disciples) makes disciples by baptizing and teaching. When a disciple of Jesus makes another disciple of Jesus, he is just sharing the relationship that has been shared with him. He is introducing other people to Jesus, to God. The disciple wants other people to know about Jesus—who he is, where he comes from, what he’s like, what he has said and done, and what these things mean for life with God. The disciple makes others to be disciples of Jesus, not of himself. The disciple makes disciples, who will in turn make other disciples, and so on.
We are to make disciples “of all nations.” This means we do not show favoritism to people who are just like us, people of our own family, clan, tribe, or nation. The Greek word translated “nations” here, ethne, is also often translated “Gentiles.” Jesus’ original Jewish disciples were being sent out to non-Jews with the Gospel. Ethnic, cultural, social, or linguistic barriers don’t void the Great Commission, because Jesus Christ has “all authority in heaven and on earth.” You have been authorized by the Lord of all to share the Gospel with all people, to look to bring them into a relationship with Jesus, just as you have been brought in by his grace. Amen.
If someone were to ask you, “What is your mission/purpose in life?” would you respond by simply repeating the mission Jesus has given his disciples? How do you feel about the Great Commission? How would you summarize the Gospel? What are some ways you might be responding faithfully to the Great Commission? Are there times when you forget your mission? Are there times when you are afraid of telling others about Jesus? Do you have other obstacles to participating in Jesus’ mission? Does it matter to you that Jesus claims universal authority? Does it matter to you that Jesus promises his presence to those who go out into the world with his message? Does it matter to you that the church is in this mission together? Would you like help becoming a disciple who makes disciples?
