The Great Commission and the Authority of Christ

THE PUBLISHED CHAPTER

The church does not go into the world on its own authority.

It goes because the risen Christ has commanded it to go.

The mission of the church is not built upon human compassion alone, though compassion should fill it. It is not built upon institutional ambition, cultural influence, numerical growth, or the desire to make a name for a ministry. The church has been sent because Jesus Christ possesses all authority and has given His people a command that reaches to the end of the age.

Matthew records the words of Christ after His resurrection: “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations” (Matthew 28:18–19). The commission begins with His authority. The church is not told to make disciples because it has discovered a worthwhile cause. It is sent because the King has spoken.

That order must remain clear.

Christ does not merely encourage His people to share their faith when they feel prepared or when conditions are favorable. He commands them to go. He commands them to make disciples. He commands them to baptize those who believe. He commands them to teach obedience to everything He has commanded.

The church has no right to reduce that mission to a private preference.

It belongs to Christ.

The Great Commission begins with a declaration that governs everything that follows: “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Matthew 28:18).

The word translated power carries the idea of authority. Christ possesses the right to rule. He is not merely one religious teacher among many. He is not dependent upon the approval of kings, governments, institutions, cultures, or public opinion. The Father has given Him authority in heaven and on earth.

This authority belongs to the risen Christ.

He has defeated death. He has fulfilled the work the Father gave Him. He has been exalted at the Father’s right hand. The church does not carry the gospel as a weak message offered only to people who may find it personally helpful. It proclaims the message of the reigning King.

Peter preached this truth on the day of Pentecost. Speaking of Jesus, he declared, “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36). Jesus is Lord. The title is not decorative. It means that He has rightful authority over every person, every nation, every ruler, every home, and every heart.

The church must remember this when the world resists its message.

Christ has not sent His people to ask permission to proclaim the gospel. He has commanded them to speak in His name. That does not mean believers become arrogant, rude, or reckless. The authority belongs to Christ, not to the personality of the witness. But it does mean the church must not become ashamed of the message because the world finds it offensive.

The gospel is proclaimed under the authority of the King.

Christ did not command the church merely to collect listeners.

He commanded it to make disciples.

Matthew 28:19 says, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” The command reaches beyond a momentary response. A disciple is a learner and follower of Christ. He is called out of darkness, brought under the lordship of Jesus, identified with Him, and taught to walk in obedience.

The church must not reduce the Great Commission to securing decisions without building disciples.

A person may respond emotionally to a message, repeat a prayer, attend briefly, or express interest in spiritual things. Those moments may be meaningful, and the church should never despise genuine conviction. But Christ’s command is larger than counting responses. He calls His people to make disciples who are rooted in the truth, gathered with the church, baptized as believers, taught the Word, and formed into obedient followers of Him.

This protects the church from shallow evangelism.

The gospel should be preached clearly. People should be called to repentance and faith. The church should not make salvation sound complicated or hide the free grace of God. But neither should it offer people a Christ who requires nothing, commands nothing, and changes nothing.

Jesus is Savior and Lord.

To come to Him is to receive forgiveness by grace, but it is also to enter the life of discipleship. The church must teach both realities.

Christ commanded His disciples to make disciples of “all nations.”

The gospel is not confined to one people, one language, one nation, one class, or one culture. The promise given to Abraham pointed toward this wider purpose. God told him that in his seed all families of the earth would be blessed (Genesis 12:3). The prophets spoke of the nations coming to the light of God’s salvation. Christ fulfilled and advanced that purpose by sending His church outward.

Acts records the expanding witness of the early church. Jesus told His disciples, “Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judæa, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

The order is instructive.

The church begins where God has placed it. The disciples began in Jerusalem. But it must not remain there. The witness moves outward—to surrounding regions, to people once viewed as outsiders, and eventually to the uttermost part of the earth.

This means the church should not think of world mission as something detached from local faithfulness. A congregation that has no concern for its own community while speaking grandly about the nations has misunderstood the commission. Yet a congregation that cares only about its own immediate setting while ignoring the nations has also fallen short.

The church must hold both together.

It should witness where it lives. It should pray for the nations. It should support those who go. It should rejoice when the gospel reaches people of other languages and cultures. It should resist every form of pride that treats one people as more worthy of the gospel than another.

Christ is Lord of all nations.

The church’s mission is not fulfilled by vague religious encouragement.

It must proclaim the gospel.

Paul writes, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13). But he immediately asks, “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?” (Romans 10:14). People must hear of Christ.

The church must therefore speak.

It must tell the world that God is holy, that sin has separated mankind from Him, that Christ came into the world, died for sins, rose from the grave, and offers forgiveness and eternal life to those who repent and believe. It must not replace this message with generic statements about being a better person, finding purpose, improving society, or believing in oneself.

Those things cannot save.

The gospel is the announcement of what Christ has done.

Paul summarized the heart of it when he wrote, “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3–4). The church must keep this message central. Christ died for sins. He was buried. He rose again. The gospel is rooted in real acts of God in history, and it addresses the real guilt of sinners before God.

The church should speak clearly enough that people know what is being offered and what is being required.

They must know that salvation is by grace. They must know that Christ is the only Savior. They must know that repentance is not merely regret but a turning from sin toward God. They must know that faith is not confidence in religious effort but trust in Christ Himself.

The church is not called to make the gospel fashionable.

It is called to make it known.

Christ commanded the church to baptize disciples “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 28:19).

Baptism does not save apart from faith. It does not replace repentance or make a person righteous before God by outward ceremony. Salvation is by grace through faith in Christ. But baptism is not therefore optional or meaningless. Christ commanded it as the public identification of the believer with the Triune God and with the people of Christ.

The church should not treat baptism as an afterthought.

A person who has come to Christ should be taught what baptism signifies. It testifies to union with Christ in His death and resurrection. Paul writes, “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father” (Romans 6:4). The believer publicly confesses that his old life of sin no longer defines him and that he now belongs to Christ.

Baptism also joins the disciple visibly to the gathered people of God.

The person is not merely making a private spiritual decision. He is confessing Christ before the church and the world. He is identifying with a people who bear Christ’s name and who will help him grow in faithfulness.

The Great Commission therefore does not end with conversion. It brings new believers into the visible life of the church.

Christ did not command the church only to baptize.

He also commanded it to teach disciples “to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:20).

That command reaches far beyond basic instruction.

The church must teach believers how to live under Christ’s authority. It must teach what He commanded about love, holiness, forgiveness, prayer, marriage, family, money, suffering, truth, mercy, witness, service, purity, humility, and endurance. It must not teach selected commands while leaving out the commands that confront the spirit of the age.

A disciple is not merely someone who knows facts about Jesus.

He is someone learning to obey Him.

This does not mean the church teaches salvation by works. Believers do not obey in order to earn acceptance with God. They obey because they have been saved by grace and are now called to walk as those who belong to Christ.

Jesus said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15). Love for Christ does not remain a feeling detached from obedience. It bears fruit in a life increasingly brought under His Word.

The church must therefore resist a form of evangelism that treats discipleship as a later option for unusually committed believers. Christ gave one commission. The same people who are made disciples are baptized and taught to obey. The church must not separate what Christ joined together.

The commission was first spoken to the disciples, but its work belongs to the continuing church.

Some believers will be called to missionary work in distant places. Some will labor as evangelists, pastors, teachers, translators, church planters, or support workers. Others will remain in their homes, workplaces, schools, and communities. But no believer should assume that the mission belongs only to someone else.

Every Christian should be ready to bear witness to Christ.

Peter writes, “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15). The verse does not require every believer to become a public preacher. It does require believers to know the hope they possess and to be ready to speak of Christ when opportunity comes.

The church should equip its people for this work.

Believers need to know how to explain the gospel simply and accurately. They need to understand the difference between sharing testimony and preaching the gospel. Their personal story may help show what Christ has done in their lives, but the power of salvation is not found in the uniqueness of their story. It is found in the message of Christ crucified and risen.

The church should also help believers overcome unnecessary fear. Many Christians remain silent because they feel inadequate, worry about questions they cannot answer, or fear rejection. They need to be reminded that no witness knows every answer. The task is not to display personal brilliance. It is to speak faithfully of Christ and trust God to work through His Word.

The church sends missionaries, but it also sends every believer into daily life as a witness.

The Great Commission ends with a promise: “And, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20).

Christ does not send His people alone.

The disciples who first heard these words had already seen opposition. They would soon face persecution, imprisonment, rejection, and martyrdom. The command to go into all nations could have seemed impossible. They were not powerful by worldly standards. They did not have wealth, armies, political office, or public approval.

But they had the risen Christ.

His presence did not mean they would avoid hardship. It meant they would not labor without Him. He would sustain them, guide them, strengthen them, and preserve His work through them.

The church needs that assurance today.

Mission can feel difficult because the world is resistant. Families may reject the gospel. Communities may become hostile. Believers may feel weak before larger cultural forces. Churches may lack money, workers, experience, or visible influence.

But Christ has not measured the commission by human resources.

He has promised His presence.

This promise should keep the church from fear, but it should also keep it humble. The mission does not succeed because believers are unusually persuasive. It succeeds because Christ is present with His people and because the Spirit gives power to the Word.

The church goes in dependence, not self-confidence.

The Great Commission is broad, but it must not be diluted.

The church is called to make disciples. That includes mercy, service, teaching, care, and visible love. Yet the church must not allow good works to replace gospel proclamation. Feeding the hungry is good. Helping the poor is good. Caring for the sick is good. Serving the community is good. But none of these actions can take the place of telling people who Christ is and what He has done.

A church that serves but never speaks may gain goodwill while leaving people without the message of salvation.

On the other hand, a church that speaks but refuses mercy contradicts the message it claims to proclaim. The gospel creates a people who care for others. Christ’s command does not permit cold indifference toward human need.

The church must therefore keep the proper order.

It proclaims Christ as the only Savior. It makes disciples. It teaches obedience. And as disciples are formed, they become people who love their neighbors, serve the weak, do good, and reflect the mercy of God before the world.

Mission is not less than proclamation.

It is never less than Christ.

The Great Commission gives the church both confidence and humility.

It gives confidence because Christ possesses all authority. The church does not need to be embarrassed by the gospel. It does not need to apologize for the exclusive claims of Christ. It does not need to assume that the truth will fail because the world rejects it.

But the commission also gives humility.

The church is sent as a servant. It does not go to dominate people, manipulate emotions, build personal kingdoms, or use the gospel for money and influence. It goes as Christ’s witness. It speaks the truth, serves in love, calls sinners to repentance, and leaves the results in God’s hands.

Paul described his ministry in this spirit when he wrote, “For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake” (2 Corinthians 4:5).

That should define the church’s mission.

It does not preach itself.

It preaches Christ Jesus the Lord.

The church must never lose sight of why it has been sent.

It has been sent because Christ has all authority. It has been sent to make disciples of all nations. It has been sent to proclaim the gospel, baptize believers, teach obedience, and establish people in the life of the church. It has been sent with the promise that Christ will remain with His people until the end of the age.

This mission is not optional.

It is the command of the risen King.

The church should go with courage because Christ reigns. It should go with humility because the message belongs to Him. It should go with patience because disciples are formed over time. It should go with love because the gospel is good news for sinners.

And it should go with confidence because Christ has promised His presence.

“All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations” (Matthew 28:18–19).