In the Great Commission Report, issued ahead of this year’s meeting of the Lausanne Congress for World Evangelization in Seoul, South Korea, Victor Nakah and Ivor Poobalan offer a theological basis for “the Great Commission” as one of the most-used phrases within global Christianity today.
Matthew 28:18–20 records the mandate King Jesus entrusted to the church through his apostles in the period between his ascension and return. (Also important are Mark 16:15; Luke 24:46–49; Acts 1:8; and John 20:19–23.) It’s a climax to a summons issued by God in the Old Testament, a theme evident in the call of Abraham (Gen. 12:1–3) that unfolds throughout Scripture. “The Great Commission was issued as a directive to follow, a command to obey, and a decree to execute,” Nakah and Poobalan write.
I’m grateful for this contribution in their introduction to the Great Commission Report, especially for opening my eyes to the four “alls” in the missionary mandate Jesus gave his disciples, as seen in Matthew’s formulation.
1. All Authority
The Great Commission begins not with a command but with a coronation. Jesus makes the stunning claim that “all authority in heaven and on earth” has been given to him. He didn’t grasp or steal such authority; it was granted as part of his exaltation (Phil. 2:9–11). Nakah and Poobalan comment,
That the Great Commission is premised on this authority says a lot about the intent of God in getting the work done. With this authority, not only are we sure that we will be delivered from harm, but we are confident that when it matters most, we will not be let down, since the Father has put “everything in subjection under his feet” (Heb. 2:8).
2. All Nations
The Great Commission has a worldwide scope. The assignment is global and cross-cultural. Here we see God’s passion for all peoples, tongues, tribes, and languages of the world.
We’re called not only to proclaim the gospel but to make disciples. And not only to make disciples but to “make disciples of all nations” (as Nakah and Poobalan explain, to “bring people from all people groups to a true followership of the Messiah”). The church is on the move even now, they write:
Never since the early centuries has Christianity grown so rapidly in previously un-evangelised societies in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. The most-recent stories of church growth in Asia for example—in places such as China, Iran, and Nepal—are nothing short of miraculous, because the gospel has thrived in predominantly communist, Islamic, and Hindu contexts where sustained antipathy and hostility have been most vocal and active.
God will have his worldwide family of faith. We’re commissioned to the task of discipleship, which itself will have an outward, nations-focused element of missionary obedience. “The call,” they write, “is to establish Christ-loving, sin-hating, God-honouring communities of worship” under the banner of Jesus as Lord.
3. All the Commands
The call of discipleship includes teaching everything Christ taught. The goal isn’t just a cognitive level of doctrinal understanding but total obedience. To obey all that Christ teaches. Nakah and Poobalan comment,
The Great Commission forbids a selective attitude to Christ’s demands on all who follow him. We cannot pick and choose or add what we like. His instruction is to teach “all that I have commanded you.”
As beautiful as it may be to see the explosion of Christian witness in many parts of the world, we must recognize the importance of deep discipleship and lament its absence. “We are forced to concede that today, global Christian spirituality is at risk of becoming ‘a mile long and an inch deep,’” they acknowledge. We seek a harvest of evangelistic conversions, but together with our evangelism, there must be a commitment to deep discipleship that results in obedience and the rejection of syncretism.
4. All the Way
The fourth “all” of the Great Commission is the promise of Jesus’s presence, no matter the circumstances or obstacles we face, whether the cultural conditions are favorable or hostile. Jesus says he’ll be with us always, all the way to the end of time. His statement here gives us the courage to go to the uttermost parts of the world in the face of danger, perils, and trials. “With this statement,” they write, “comes the certainty, the prestige, and the power of his all-time presence.”
Where do these four “alls” leave us? With faith in the power of God to make us disciples—“students and followers”—of Jesus, whose good news is ever on our tongues. “That is the nature of the Christian faith and the direction of the Holy Spirit, who is always leading us to testify about Jesus and glorify him (John 15:26 and 16:14).”
After all, Nakah and Poobalan remind us, “The Great Commission is not an end in itself; it is a means to an end. The future is the presence of all tribes, tongues, nations, and languages worshipping the King at the end of the age.”
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