A Constructive Understanding Of The Great Commission Religion Essay

What is the Great Commission, as it is frequently called? What does it seek to accomplish? Is it of import to the mundane life of the church? The reply is yes, it ‘s really of import and relevant! In this essay assorted subjects associating to this commandment with particular mention to pentecostalism will be briefly discussed.

The Great Commission is the one great order Jesus gave to his church which must be obeyed. Jesus said: “ And he said unto them, Travel ye into all the universe, and preach the Gospel to every animal. ” ( KJV, Mar 16:15 ) . It is hence a commandment from God for the church to move refering the doomed. The church ‘s response to this authorization is called evangelism ( although non a true equivalent word, it can besides be called mission if one looks at the bigger image ( 1991:441 ) ) . The church can non pattern evangelism through their ain powers, but through the Holy Spirit all things are possible.

The Origin & A ; Purpose of the Great Commission

Many mentions to the Great Commission are found in Bible. Harmonizing to Moller, even as far back as the matriarchal pledge ( 1997:39 ) in Genesis 3, we can see a portion of God ‘s program that will be revealed out of the line of Eve. This represents the beginning of the compact of grace. God had a program long earlier there was a cross planted on the green hill outside Jerusalem ( Khathide 1999:32 ) . Therefore the intent of the Great Commission is for people to be saved and united with God, and the beginning of this committee is God. This is the ground why Jesus Christ needed to be born, suffer among work forces, dice on a rugged cross and be resurrected. To do possible, through religion, the redemption of some.

The Universal Theme as found in the Old Testament

The Prophetss of Israel invariably reminded Israel that election is non something to maintain merely for themselves, but is instead something that is to be shared ( Khathide 1999:21 ) . Israel must expose God as both Creator and Liberator towards other states of the universe. From clip to clip the Prophetss communicated their deep letdown with Israel ‘s continual sabotage of her naming ( Khathide 1999:22 ) .

Harmonizing to Peters ( Khathide 1999:22 ) , about all the Prophetss ( in the period prior to 600 AD ) have at least a message of catholicity: Zephaniah, Habakkuk, Joel, etc. In their messages they address non merely Israel but all of world. The missio Dei, a focal point on the whole of world.

One of the greatest Prophetss deserving mentioning is Isaiah. A adult male of God with great vision, non merely of a renewed Israel, but a renewed states, celestial spheres and Earth every bit good ( Khathide 1999:22 ) . Isaiah portrays a Servant as the ideal, yet publically rejected by his fellow human existences. This ideal Servant suffers among work forces, voluntarily harmonizing to His Father ‘s will, prayerfully and mutely. His agonies unto decease are vicarious, and redemptional because they are the will of God the Father so that those who believe can be saved and have everlasting life ( John 3:16 ) . Death gave manner to Resurrection, and the Servant ‘s triumph is complete ( Peters 1999:22 ) . A similar subject as with the Prophetss can be found throughout the Psalms ( Khathide 1999:24 ) .

Jonah has frequently been termed the missional high point of the Old Testament because of the uninterrupted and passionate function of God in directing Jonah across geographical frontiers for the interest of the doomed. The same word, pereuomai ( travel! ) that Jonah uses is the same verb used by Jesus in the Great Commission recorded in Matt. 28 ( Khathide 1999:23 ) . The sleeping of Jonah represents a careless church in the thick of a universe that faces God ‘s opinions. Irrespective of the irreverent status of Nineveh, God still displayed his fervent concern for them by directing Jonah to them. In decision, Verkuyl states: “ If a individual draws his lifeblood from the one greater than Jonah and yet diminutions to distribute the good intelligence among others, he in consequence is undermining the purposes of God himself ” .

The Commandment of the Lord as found in the New Testament

Harmonizing to Moller ( 1997:48, 50 ) , the New Testament ( or compact ) should non be viewed as separate from the Old Testament, but should instead be viewed as portion of a bigger integrity which forms the Bible. There are some differences between the compacts as presented in the Old and New Testament, for illustration, the compact is no longer merely intended for Israel, but for anyone who believes. The New Testament ( or will, bequest of God ) brings a more complete instance of the compact to the reader and reveals more of the council of God than earlier. Jesus is the 1 who fulfils and corrects the partial messages of the yesteryear ( Khathide 1999, 25 ; californium Heb. 1:1 ) .

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus said: “ And Jesus came and spake unto them, stating, All power is given unto me in Eden and in Earth. Go ye hence, and learn all states, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to detect all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you ever, even unto the terminal of the universe. Amons. ” ( Mat 28:18-20 ) . If we study an earlier portion of the book of Matthew, the Sermon on the Mount ( Matt. 5-7 ) , we find the Southern Cross of what is to be taught to new adherents. These instructions concern the patterns of justness. A justness which is more than personal righteousness, but besides a concern for those who are victims of circumstance and society. Grudem ( 1999:308 ) amounts conversion up as “ In add-on to the cognition of the facts of the Gospel and blessing of those facts, in order to be saved, I must make up one’s mind to depend on Jesus to salvage me ” . The church can take comfort of the fact that Jesus will ever be with her to authorise her for this undertaking.

A similar commandment is found in the Gospel of Mark 16:15-20 ( in fact we have noted that the full Gospel of Mark is Evangelistic in tone and nature ) : “ And he said unto them, Travel ye into all the universe, and preach the Gospel to every animal. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved ; but he that believeth non shall be damned. And these marks shall follow them that believe ; In my name shall they cast out Satans ; they shall talk with new linguas ; They shall take up snakes ; and if they drink any deathly thing, it shall non ache them ; they shall put custodies on the sick, and they shall retrieve. So so after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into Eden, and sat on the right manus of God. And they went Forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and corroborating the word with marks following. Amen. ” . This history in Mark is a clear indicant from Jesus that a cosmopolitan undertaking is appointed to the church. It is animating to cognize that God confirms his Word and shows the universe it ‘s authorization and topographic point by executing these attach toing miracles. These manifestations can non be separated from the sermon of the Word.

We find in the Gospel of Luke and in Acts that the authorization is accompanied with the promise of the Holy Spirit: “ And that penitence and remittal of wickednesss should be preached in his name among all states, get downing at Jerusalem. And ye are informants of these things. And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the metropolis of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high. ” ( Luk 24:47-49 ) . It is hence unusual that so many are incognizant of the function and influence of the Holy Spirit. Act 1:8 reads: “ But ye shall have power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be informants unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the extreme portion of the Earth. ” It is besides apparent from the predating poetry that God will supply the agencies to making all of the dwellers of Earth. That is through the power of the Spirit of God.

The compact of God finds its beginning in infinity before the foundation of the universe between God and Jesus Christ ( 1997:38 ) . This is so that a organic structure and bride can be presented to Christ. It is God himself who sent Jesus ( John 3:16 ; John 13:20 ) to this universe, and so in bend Jesus sends his church even today.

For Verkuyl ( Khathide 1999:26 ) the mission is non merely presented in a few books of the New Testament, but the New Testament in its entireness is a book of mission, owing a great trade to the early Christian churches. Intelligibly so, God chose the church as a vas and means through which to make the universe ( 1991:414 ) and the Bible ‘s written histories of these God-events. The important issue among missiologists though is whether the thought and practice of Jesus was cosmopolitan or non ( Khathide 1999:26 ) . Looking at the whole Gospel it is filled with many histories ( similar to the Old Testament prophets ) of universalistic messages. The concentration of Jesus on Israel, harmonizing to Bosch, was a strategic determination of cosmic missional significance ( Khathide 1999:26 ) .

A expression at Pentecostalism

Harmonizing to a Wikipedia article ( hypertext transfer protocol: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentecostalism, 3 March 2011 ) , “ Pentecostalism is a magnetic reclamation motion within Christianity that places particular accent on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, a Grecian term depicting the Judaic Feast of Weeks ” . From Bible, one can bind the name Pentecost back to the promise of God as presented in the book of Acts. After Christ had been resurrected, he told his adherents to patiently wait in the upper room to have the fulfillment of the promise. On the 50th twenty-four hours after the Resurrection, the promise was fulfilled and the adherents received the power of the Holy Ghost on them. The consequence of this is good known from Bible: shortly after the upper room event, 1000s of evildoers came to Christ through the sermon of the Spirit-filled sermonizers like Peter.

Mentioning back to the marks and admirations of Mark 16, it can be said that the Pentecostal-Charismatic motion of yesteryear and today has mostly based its supernatural patterns on these poetries. Particularly the gift of speech production in linguas. One of the 100s of histories in history of pentecostal-charismatic resurgence has been the Azusa Street Revival ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azusa_Street_Revival, 3 March 2011 ) . A resurgence which continued for old ages and old ages and resulted in 1000s of changed lives for the better.

For extra reading on the topic of Pentecostalism, one can see a book like An Introduction to Pentecostalism by Allan Anderson ( published by Cambridge in 2004 ) . The book covers the historical development of Pentecostalism through assorted topographic point scenes.

The Church ‘s undertaking: Evangelism

While mentioning to the Great Commission, Verkuyl ( 1978:112 ) writes: “ As appears from Christ ‘s call, mission is non simply one among the many facets of the church ; it belongs to the really nucleus of her being ” . If the church ignores the authorization of God, they are seen as “ untrue boies ” and will happen themselves outside the compact. Harmonizing to Grudem ( 1999:372-373 ) there are four chief intents of the church. First, ministry to God in worship. Second, ministry to trusters by agencies of raising utilizing the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The driving motivation of this is the love for one another ( 1 Cor. 13 ) . Third, ministry to the universe in the signifier of evangelism and clemency. Fourth and in conclusion, maintaining these intents in balance.

The polar message of the Gospel is Jesus Christ ( Khathide 1999:29 ) . The purpose of evangelism is to present the glorious Christ to a universe, who in world, it wholly lost without him. The doomed who have merely ageless opinion to look frontward to. Jesus said: “ I am the manner, the truth, and the life: no adult male cometh unto the Father, but by me. ” ( Jn 14:6 )

Bosch ( 1991:441 ) notes that there is a difference between mission and evangelism. They are non synonyms of each other. There are many facets of evangelism as presented in Bosch ‘s work, which will be covered in the undermentioned paragraphs. This will give us a constructive apprehension of evangelism.

First we will look at the relationship between mission and evangelism. They are non synonyms, but however they are linked with permanent consequences ( 1991:411 ) . Evangelism is a subset or portion of mission. Therefore when one speaks of mission, one is talking about something bigger as Bosch ( 1991:412 ) references: the church sent into the universe, to love, to function, to prophesy, to learn, to mend, to emancipate. If mission is non related to everything the church does, so the church is fishy.

Evangelism involves witnessing to what God has done, is making and will make. Evangelism is hence proclaiming the Acts of the Apostless of God, who as Creator and Lord has personally intervened in human history and has done so supremely through the individual and ministry of Jesus Christ ( 1991:412 ) . That makes Jesus the Lord of history, Saviour and Liberator. Evangelism should be perceived in footings of its nature, as interceding the good intelligence of God ‘s love in Christ that transforms life ( 1991:413 ) . The success of evangelism is hence measured in footings of how good the good intelligence of God ‘s love is proclaimed that transforms lives.

Evangelism does take at a response. Jesus biddings from his hearers that they “ repent, and believe the Gospel ” . It is expected of the hearer to turn away from any signifier of wickedness and to accept duties in footings of God ‘s love for our neighbor and for Him ( 1991:413 ) .

Evangelism is ever a positive invitation that conveys joy. A stating comes to mind in my evangelistic-friendship circle which goes: “ give them heaven! ” . Evangelism should therefore ne’er deteriorate into wheedling or a menace, or should seek to do people experience guilty. It should instead be presented as something attractive that you need. One of my strong believes is that each individual is entitled to hear the Good News. Peoples should non, as a consequence of the actions or words of Christians, be pushed off from God or put in a bad visible radiation ( 1991:414 ) . Therefore the evangelistic significance can be either positive or negative.

Evangelism offers people redemption as a present gift and with it confidence of ageless cloud nine. It is non merely to have life that people are called to go Christians, but instead to give life ( 1991:414 ) . Authentic evangelism is ever contextual. To those who are sing personal calamity, emptiness and nonsense, the Gospel does come as peace, comfort, comprehensiveness and joy ( 1991:417 ) . Bosch continues to state that the Gospel offers this merely within the context of it being a word about the Lordship of Christ in all kingdoms of life, an important word of hope that the universe as we know it will non ever be the manner it is.

Evangelism can non be divorced from the sermon and practicing of justness. If we understand evangelism non merely as increasing members, non merely as showing to people ageless redemption, and non as seeking to rush the return of Christ, it can non be divorced from the larger mission of the church. Chiefly, people need to do committedness to Jesus and to God ‘s reign ( 1991:418 ) .

In evangelism “ merely people can be addressed and merely people can react ” ( 1991:416 ) . By this it is meant that evangelism does n’t take topographic point against a construction or entity, like a society or household. The persons with those constructions need to be targeted by revivalists. Keeping this in head, to talk of “ prophetic evangelism ” and naming “ societies and states to repentance and transition ” does n’t do that much sense. Even from Bible we can attest that non everyone in Israel if of Israel.

The revivalist is a informant non a justice. I would be incorrect to do a differentiation between “ saved ” and “ lost ” . As Newbigin ( 1991:413 ) formulates it, we can ne’er be so confident of the pureness and genuineness of our informants that we can cognize that the individual who rejects the informant has rejected Jesus. We are informants to God who is both utterly sanctum and absolutely gracious, and this is above any human comprehension.

Evangelism is non the same as church extension ( 1991:415 ) . In other words, to increase in rank does non intend evangelism. This is because evangelism is non about roll uping people, but about showing Christ. For the Catholic Church, evangelism meant to add as greater figure as possible of newly-baptized. It was hence a numerical matter. Besides in Protestantism evangelism was, by and big, wrongly understood as church extension ( 1991:415 ) . McGavran pleads for “ gospel-proclaiming, sinner-converting, church-multiplaying evangelism ” ( 1991:415 ) . This sort of thought distorts evangelism, nevertheless, non least since the grounds why people join the church may change greatly and may ofter hold small to make with their personal committedness to Christ ( 1991:415 ; Moller 1997:55 ) . Peoples might for case be portion of a church because of tradition or household grounds.

Evangelism is non proselytism. Peoples belonging to environing communities, whether they belong to churches or non, are frequently perceived as “ chances ” to be won ( 1991:415 ) . Much of this reflects the inclination toward empire-building – the church can non defy the enticement to open another subdivision in a promising country ( 1991:415 ) .

Evangelism is non a mechanism to rush the return of Christ. This misconception is based on the scriptural reading of Matthew 24:14, that the return of Christ is based on the completeness of the announcement of the Gospel to all the people of the universe. There have been at the clip of the authorship of Boschs ‘ work been 788 planetary efforts to evangelise the full universe ( 1991:419 ) .

Evangelism is non merely verbal announcement but workss. But there will ever been an ineluctable verbal dimension ( 1991:420 ) . The life of Christians are letters non written with ink. In Bible we read that it is necessary to prophesy the Gospel so that it can be heard. And it needs to be heard in order for it to be believed. Christians need to give history of the hope that is within them.

Examples of evangelism activities that can be witnessed in modern times. Albeit it be through local church actions, through mass-media like TBN ( Trinity Broadcast Network ) or through missionaries.

Decision

Jesus Christ and the cross is the polar message that needs to be presented to a lost universe. And it is through the power of the Holy Ghost that the church is able to make this. The marks and miracles confirms this. The Great Commission signifiers portion of the nucleus map and authorization to the church. All people should be presented with a clear image of who Christ is and what work he has accomplished on Earth so that they may take to accept Christ as their Redeemer. May the church of God non keep back in executing their undertakings which will be greatly rewarded, because the crop is mature!