“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world, AMEN.” Matthew 28:19,20
There are 7 particular characteristics of missionary work describe here in our Lord’s ‘Great Commission.’ These are not given merely as guidelines for the church, they are divine directives, which the church is to follow exactly.
1. Who is to take the Gospel into the world? “Ye”- The Church. It is the responsibility of every believer whom the Father has chosen in grace, the Son has redeemed by His blood, and the Spirit of God has regenerated, I Peter 1:2.
2. What is the instrument? “teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded.” The message we bring to the world is none other than the Word of Christ (the Gospel), Mark 16:15,16. It teaches WHO He is as the God/Man; HOW that He died, according to the Scriptures, to redeem every one that God the Father purposed to save in His eternal grace; WHAT He accomplished by His righteous life and sacrificial death; and WHERE He is now? Rom. 1:16,17; Luke 24:44-47.
Whatever other gifts and abilities one may have in going, the one work of the God-sent missionary is preaching and teaching the message of Christ as the sovereign Savior and Substitute of His people. To set Him forth in truth is to teach Him as the One who has fully satisfied God’s Holy Law, thereby enabling God to be just in justifying ungodly sinners, Romans 3:24-26. All who believe willingly and gladly identify with Him as such by immersion in water, Acts 2:22-42.
Note that nothing is to be added or taken away from Christ’s word. We are to teach only what Christ has commanded. Anything else that is not OF Christ, FROM Christ, THROUGH Christ or TO Christ is false worship, Mark 7:7-9.
3. To whom is the Gospel sent? “teach all nations…” that is, sinners throughout the entire world! Why? Because God in His great love and mercy chose out a people from every tribe, nation and tongue, whom the Lord Jesus Christ redeemed by His death, Revelation 5:9. It is through the Gospel that God is pleased to call out His own, Acts 15:14-18. What a great responsibility and privilege we have as individual believers and as a church collectively. Let us faithfully serve our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ according to His Word in this great mission in prayer, giving, or going, as He directs!