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Bryan: In Christ's great commission to us, He says, "Go and make disciples of all nations." All of His followers are called to obey this commandment. But practically, what does that mean? Are we all supposed to leave our hometowns and preach to the world? Today, Chad Vegas answers Jason's question, "Should all Christians do missions?" Listen to find out what faithful obedience to the Great Commission looks like.
Chad: Thank you for your question, Jason.
I want to begin to answer your question by addressing first what missions is and then second who is responsible to engage in mission.
Technically, when we talk about missions we're borrowing from a Latin term speaking about being sent. So a missionary is one who is sent. So the greatest missionary of the Bible, the most foundational missionary of scripture, is the Son—the seed of the woman, the offspring of Abraham, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the greater Son of David, the Christ, Jesus. The Father sends His Son Jesus on mission to save us, to redeem us, to atone for our sins. The Father and the Son send the Holy Spirit on mission to apply the person and work of Jesus to us. So the Holy Spirit is the great sanctifier. He unites us to Christ through faith. As the word is proclaimed, the Spirit carries that into our hearts and gives new life so that we believe in Jesus, and by that instrument of faith are united to Him—and He is ours and we are His.
Jesus told the apostles, "As the Father sent Me, so I send you." Thus the apostles were missionaries. They were sent ones and their mission was quite clear. They were to proclaim the facts of the gospel. In other words, the law-keeping life of Jesus, the sin-atoning death of Jesus, and the grave-conquering resurrection of Jesus, the ascension of Jesus into heaven, and the current rule and reign of Jesus from heaven, and the sending of the Holy Spirit by Jesus, and the doctrine that attaches to that, which is to believe the gospel so that you might be saved, to repent of your sins and receive the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit, or really the gift of eternal life. And as they preached the gospel and folks believed the gospel, the apostles then baptized them and taught them to obey everything God had commanded them in His word. We see that expressly as Jesus commanded that mission in Matthew 28:19-20. "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey or observe everything I have commanded you, and surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
And so as the disciples preached at Pentecost—namely Peter preached—and as people were cut to the heart and believed the gospel, they were baptized and then they were devoted to the apostles' doctrine. They were gathered into churches and over time the apostles then appointed elders and deacons with the common consent of the churches to lead them. We can see that in Acts 6 and Acts 14:23. The apostles did this work in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria. And then they went out toward the end of the earth, just as Jesus told them they would by prophecy in Acts 1:8. In fulfilling the mission they were given, the apostles laid the foundation of the church—Ephesians 2:20.
What's interesting is that in the Great Commission, if you remember when I just cited it, Jesus makes it clear that this mission of the church will continue beyond the apostles. He promised to be with them always to the end of the age. But we all know that the apostles have long since died. They were not going to endure in this life to the end of the age. They have gone to be with the Lord. But the Lord has not departed from empowering His Church to fulfill her mission. We are building on top of the foundation laid by the prophets and the apostles. The Lord is still with us by His Spirit, shining the light of the gospel to every dark corner of the earth.
What I'm getting at then is that means your church, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, is a missionary society. The baton has been handed to us. Not only is Jesus the light of the world, the true source of all light, but His Church is the light of the world. We refract the light of the Son as the moon refracts the light of the sun. So your church is a missionary society. You're a gathering of Christians who bear the responsibility and privilege of making Christ known in all the earth. And every member of your church is a member of that missionary society. You're on that mission together as those who are saved. We are God's people. And we have the privilege of declaring the excellencies of Him who called us out of darkness and into His marvelous light. We are a body of believers who are to be salt—a preservative—and light, a witness in this world. This is of the very nature and purpose of the church. Which is why Jesus will refer to the churches in Revelation 2 as lampstands. They are instruments that exist to give off light.
With that said, we have one body made up of distinct parts. Paul addresses that in 1 Corinthians 12 and in Romans 12 as he talks about the various giftings of the body. We each play our part in this body. Some are sent as gospel ministers, and no one is a gospel minister who is not sent by the church. "How can they preach unless they are sent?" You can see that in Romans 10:14-15. So we call those sent gospel ministers missionaries. Some participate or share in that gospel ministry by supporting those who are sent. So John refers to these supporters as co-laborers in the gospel. He does so in 3 John verses 5-8. Paul expects the church at Rome to support him as he goes to Spain — Romans 15.
So you might say we're all part of the mission of the Church in some particular ways. First, we all live together as salt and light in this world. Our godly lives are to be fruitful trees, and we're to be wise and winning souls. Second, we all serve together in the body of Christ, either as sent gospel ministers or as supporting gospel church members. Third, we all pray for the Lord to raise up workers for the harvest, to give boldness, faithfulness, and fruitfulness to our sent missionaries. And we all pray for the Lord to save our friends, neighbors, family members, co-workers, and every tribe and tongue and nation. And fourth, we all either go or we support those who go. So we send and we work together in that over the many years that people labor on the field.
So you might say that every Christian bears the responsibility of missions in the sense that John Piper summed it up when he said there are three options with regard to the Great Commission: go, send, or disobey. May the Lord be pleased to cause us all to faithfully fulfill our role in the body of Christ.
Bryan: Go, send, or disobey. Those are our options. What will you do? To learn more about the Great Commission, you can listen to Michael Morales's lecture from our Missionary national conference from 2024 on that topic. His lecture can be found at missionary.com/conferencemedia. If you have a question you would like to hear answered on Ask Missionary, drop a comment on this episode, get in touch with us on social media, or send us an email through missionary.com and your question may be featured on this show. And don't forget to subscribe to the show to get notified when the next episode airs next week. Thanks for listening.