I certainly pray that all who take time to read this blog for July-August 2022 are doing well and living in the full joy and peace of a saving relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ. That is certainly our heartfelt prayer for all people with whom we have contact as we seek to bring the Great Commitment to our community and throughout the world. We live in an age when the mission of the church is increasingly compromised by other forces. While we are certainly called to do all we can to improve the conditions of this world, our core mission is to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to bear upon a lost and sinful world. Each of us, individually and collectively as a church family, must take inventory of how we are working to fulfill the true mission of the church. Are we living for Jesus Christ? Are we good stewards of our time, talents, and resources as we invest in the mission of the church? Do we share the Good News with those around us in both word and in deed? Are we concerned about the spiritual, as well as the physical and emotional, welfare and health of those we know? Are we willing to support missions beyond our own church, neighborhood, and community by investing financial resources, engaging in regular prayer for missions and those following the Lord’s leadership into missions work, and advocating for the cause of missions in “Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8b)?
Yes, we must heed the call to carry out the Great Commission. The Great Commission must be coupled with the following of the Great Commandment. In Mark 12:30, Jesus stated that we are to: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” Then he expanded this commandment by adding: “Love your neighbor as yourself! There is no commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:31). In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus stated this imperative: “But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44). Jesus presented the love commandment, in its totality including the love of enemies, as an absolute requisite of the Christian faith.
If we do not carry out the Great Commission in the spirit of love as required in the Great Commandment, our work will not fulfill its full potential as Jesus intends. How can we effectively share the Gospel to bring the masses into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ, if our image is one of being self-righteous, judgmental, negative, prejudiced toward those who are not like us, and being known for what we are against rather than what we are for. If we show no love and compassion for those who are less fortunate, how can we effectively witness for Jesus? If we treat the “least of these” (Matthew 25) with indifference and even cruelty, do we really have any credibility if we espouse to be Christ followers? If we are racist and mistreat our fellow human beings as second- or third-class citizens because of their race or ethnicity or language, are we really showing that in Jesus Christ we are all one and the same? If we fail to practice the Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) in our everyday living, then our Christian witness is of questionable effectiveness.
In Galatians 3:26-28, we read these important words that should guide us in our relations with other people: “So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you all one in Christ Jesus.” Here is the bottom line, my friends – we either believe these words or we do not! As we seek to carry out the Great Commission, let us be certain that we do so as we follow the Great Commandment and that we heed the words in Galatians 3:26-28. There is no other acceptable path if we are to carry out the mission of the church in the 21st century.