"Go ye therefore and teach all nations . . ." Matt 28:19-20
Jesus gave the Great Commission at least five separate times as recorded in scripture. He wanted to make sure we got it! In each case he reveals something unique in our global mission. The passage in Matthew is the most often quoted because it is the most extensive. All are significant. In Matthew Jesus uses a word we don't use anymore in modern English, and you won't find it in any modern translations. He uses the plural you: "Go ye." Perhaps if you're living in the Southern United States, you might object. You can say, "Go ya'll". But apparently none of our modern translators are southerners! This loss of the plural you is a little unfortunate because we can easily forget that Jesus gave the Great Commission to his entire church. We sometimes like to outsource it to specialists we call missionaries, but actually God intended the whole church to take the gospel to the whole world. We are all supposed to be going, the only question is where. The answer may be go across the street, or it may be go find the nearest unreached people to where you and bring them the gospel. In either case, we need to understand that God wants us all to be goers. We are all on mission, we all have an assignment that requires us to get out there and find lost people who need Jesus. Imagine if every believer, every day asked our commander in chief, "Where do you want me to go today?" If we consider ourselves followers of Jesus this is exactly what we should all be doing. Following Jesus means going where he is going, and where he is going has not changed in two thousand years. He was sent to seek and to save the lost. He is still doing that today--and he has chose to do it through us. What a privelege we have to join with our Savior in an eternal mission to bring home his lost sons and daughters in every nation, tribe and language.
Heavenly Father, show me where I should go for you today.
#sentfromabove
Jesus gave the Great Commission at least five separate times as recorded in scripture. He wanted to make sure we got it! In each case he reveals something unique in our global mission. The passage in Matthew is the most often quoted because it is the most extensive. All are significant. In Matthew Jesus uses a word we don't use anymore in modern English, and you won't find it in any modern translations. He uses the plural you: "Go ye." Perhaps if you're living in the Southern United States, you might object. You can say, "Go ya'll". But apparently none of our modern translators are southerners! This loss of the plural you is a little unfortunate because we can easily forget that Jesus gave the Great Commission to his entire church. We sometimes like to outsource it to specialists we call missionaries, but actually God intended the whole church to take the gospel to the whole world. We are all supposed to be going, the only question is where. The answer may be go across the street, or it may be go find the nearest unreached people to where you and bring them the gospel. In either case, we need to understand that God wants us all to be goers. We are all on mission, we all have an assignment that requires us to get out there and find lost people who need Jesus. Imagine if every believer, every day asked our commander in chief, "Where do you want me to go today?" If we consider ourselves followers of Jesus this is exactly what we should all be doing. Following Jesus means going where he is going, and where he is going has not changed in two thousand years. He was sent to seek and to save the lost. He is still doing that today--and he has chose to do it through us. What a privelege we have to join with our Savior in an eternal mission to bring home his lost sons and daughters in every nation, tribe and language.
Heavenly Father, show me where I should go for you today.
#sentfromabove