“And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” -Matthew 28:18-20
The Territory of the Great Commission
If the task of the Great Commission is disciple-making, and the target is planting new, indigenous, reproducing churches, our next focus is on the place where this mission is to be carried out. “That’s easy,” you might say, “the church is supposed to carry the gospel to the ends of the earth.” But today there are voices suggesting that it is no longer appropriate for churches in North America to send missionaries to distant lands, especially those Third-World countries where colonialism is and has been a real concern. We reply that Jesus commissioned his disciples using sending terminology, and the Great Commission says very clearly that we are to make disciples “of all the nations.” If we are to make God’s glory the focus of our missions endeavors, then we must obey his command to go to the nations to make disciples. Dave Doran is correct in For the Sake of His Name when he says, “Success in missions should be measured by reaching people from all the nations, not just by reaching as many individuals as possible.”
When we consider the evidence of the NT, we find a clear geographic emphasis. In Acts 1:8 the Lord told his disciples, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” And we see this promise fulfilled in the rest of the book of Acts:
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“The word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem.” (6:7)
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“Those who scattered went everywhere preaching the word.” (8:4)
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“They returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans.” (8:25)
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“And the word of the Lord was being spread throughout all the region [of Pisidia].” (13:49)
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“So that all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus.” (19:10)
The rest of the NT writings use similar geographic language to describe the mission of the gospel. For instance, in Paul’s epistle to the Romans he says, “I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world” (Rom. 1:8). And he similarly commended the Thessalonian believers, saying, “from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place. Your faith toward God has gone out, so that we do not need to say anything” (1 Thess. 1:8). And Paul gave testimony of the extent of his ministry when he said, “from Jerusalem and round about to Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. And so I have made it my aim to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build on another man’s foundation” (Rom. 15:19-20). To this end, Paul explained that he planned to travel as far as Spain preaching the gospel, fulfilling his commission to “bring salvation to the ends of the earth” (Acts 13:47).
But how was Paul to know that he had finished his task of bringing salvation to the end of the earth? And how may we know whether we or another generation has completed the Great Commission? The answer to that is found in Jesus’ promise to be with his disciples until the end of the age. Pastor Doran explains that the Great Commission “focuses on making disciples and it supplies its own terminal point at the end of the age.” He goes on to say, “I would argue that we should not think in terms of fulfilling the Great Commission as if we can get it all done. Christ gave us an assignment to carry out until He returns, and there is no indication that completion of the assignment triggers His return.” In other words, we should not be concerned with who should be made disciples as much as we are with going and making disciples. We must be faithful to preach the gospel to all people without distinction and to carry news of salvation to all nations until Christ returns or we pass away, whichever comes first.
The final question concerns the role of the local church in missions, and we will consider that next week.