Mat 28:18-20 18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go [c]therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” [d]Amen.
All the ancient religions in the world were exclusively local, tied to a specific land, nation, caste, or tribe. This is why every village, city, and people group had its own local gods; they believed the power of these deities worked in that specific area alone. Even the ethnic Jews thought their God was primarily the God of Israel.
But for the first time, 2,000 years ago, Lord Jesus Christ announced a worldwide vision. He commanded his disciples to go into all nations. By doing so, he established the Christian faith as a worldwide missionary faith.
The Plan for Global Reach
After rising from the dead, Jesus met his disciples at “the mountain” in Galilee. In a worldly sense, the scene almost looks comical. If we were to ask, “Lord, you are risen, you have all authority, and you want to make disciples of all nations—what is your plan to reach the world?” He might respond, “I have these eleven people (one betrayed me and died). I will send these remaining eleven to make disciples of all nations.” Knowing the limited capabilities of those eleven and the great hindrances they faced, we might wonder: Will this plan actually work?
If we had the opportunity to offer a suggestion, we might say, “Since you have all authority, you can do whatever you wish. You have risen, no enemy can defeat you, and you will live forever. You should use your bodily presence on earth and your sovereign authority to make disciples directly.” He certainly could have done that. He had the authority to decide the means, and he could have accomplished it perfectly and in a limited amount of time. He could have even used mighty angels.
Instead, his desire and will were to work through his weak and sinful—yet saved—people to accomplish this glorious work. This great privilege of building an eternal kingdom and calling the elect is not granted to angels. It is the highest calling known to man—the glorious ministry of reconciliation—granted to the disciples then and to us today. It is a supreme blessing, not a burden. It is the meaningful purpose for which you and I are left in this world.
Did the Plan Work?
History answers with a resounding yes. Eleven ordinary men faced immense obstacles. From Jerusalem and Judea, through Samaria, Antioch, Ephesus, Corinth, and Rome, the gospel made its way north, west, and south. Peter and Paul traveled toward Europe and Rome. One among the eleven, the apostle Thomas, traveled to India, arriving in Kerala and eventually dying in Chennai.
Today, the flag of Christ is planted on every continent. Many nations even feature the cross of Christ on their national flags. It is the largest religion in the world, though many adherents remain nominal.
We frequently hear in the press about the burgeoning numbers of Islam, but Christianity remains by far the larger religion and continues to outpace Islam in conversions by almost double. It continues to reach new nations and peoples. In 1900, 75% of Christians were white and Western. By the year 2000, 75% of Christians were non-white and non-Western—representing Asian, African, and Chinese populations. Christianity is truly the religion of every tongue, tribe, and nation on earth. The Lord’s wise plan worked for those eleven disciples, and it will work for any believer or church that faithfully trusts his wisdom and obeys the Great Commission.
The Authority and the Command
Today’s churches, including our own, often seem weak. We exist timidly, as if offering an apology for being a church of Jesus. This is because we have not fully understood the authority Christ has given us. Let us come to this passage with humble hearts. We should not merely say, “Speak, Lord, we are listening,” as a formality. Rather, we must be willing to correct our thinking and change our lives to obey his command.
This is the Great Commission of the church. We can understand this passage through four headings:
- The Place, Persons, and Situation of the Great Commission
- The Great Claim
- The Great Commission
- The Great Promise
We have seen the place on the mount of Galilee and the persons involved—primarily the eleven, but likely five hundred others. In that situation, Jesus suddenly appeared; some worshipped while others doubted.
Then we see the Great Claim, which is beyond any human ability to fully grasp:
“And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.’” (Matthew 28:18)
This is a claim of consummate, sovereign authority. Authority is the right and power to do anything. It is the freedom to do whatever he wishes. Jesus Christ is free to do what he wants, when he wants, and to whomever he wants. This is the peak of power. The realm of his authority is cosmic and universal: “In heaven and on earth.”
Before giving the Great Commission, Jesus essentially “switches on the lights” and tells them to gaze upon who he is. When his glorious authority dawns on your spirit and the Holy Spirit enlightens your mind, you are prepared for the mission. The more this claim saturates our minds, the more emboldened we will be to fulfill the Great Commission. This is the authority the church has received. When we understand this right, we gain the boldness to preach the gospel without fear.
The Task: Make Disciples
The Great Commission is found in verse 19:
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
In the original language, the main task is to make disciples. Attached to that task are three actions: going, baptizing, and teaching. You must understand the order. First, he says to go and make disciples. Once that is done, you must baptize and teach them.
Where should we go? The word “nations” (from the word Goim) does not just mean countries with borders like Russia or China; it refers to all ethnic groups. It includes all languages, colors, cultures, and backgrounds. Think of the apostles: they had to set aside their native prejudices and narrow visions to go to the “Gentile dogs” and “half-breed Samaritans.” Jesus commanded them to cross racial, linguistic, caste, and geographic boundaries to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. The church is meant to be a “rainbow coalition” of the rich and poor, young and old, and all social classes.
What is a disciple? A disciple is someone who has heard the words of Jesus, understood them, and been saved. They are learners who submit to his teachings and follow him. The commission of the church is not to wait for the world to come to us; we must go to the world—to schools, offices, neighborhoods, and unreached ethnic groups. The work of the church is not to gather an entertained crowd, but to make disciples.
How do we make disciples? We do not use the sword, marketing techniques, or promises of wealth and health. We do not simply perform social services or magic. As recorded in Luke 24:46-48, we make disciples by preaching the gospel. We witness to the Christ who suffered, died, and rose again, preaching repentance and the remission of sins.
This was the central task of the apostles in the Book of Acts, and it is the task to which the church must give itself without distraction. The greatest need of all people is to hear the good news: that Christ accomplished perfect redemption on the cross. Our message is this:
“For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that 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 Cor. 15:3-4)
It is the most powerful message the world has ever heard. There is no other message God will use to save lost souls. Preaching the gospel is the only legitimate means he has appointed. If we use any other means, we fail to make true disciples of Jesus.
So, you have made disciples by preaching the gospel. What comes next? Do we simply leave them on the road and send them off to live as they please? Unfortunately, that is exactly what many parachurch organizations do. They claim so many do not know Christ that they must send missionaries, asking for money to preach where He is not known. Often, people support these organizations instead of the local church. They conduct revival meetings, preach about Christ, and have people raise their hands or say they believe. Perhaps they even perform a baptism and claim the Great Commission is finished.
This is very wrong. This approach leads to many falsehoods: reports of one revival meeting where 50,000 or 100,000 people were baptized to secure foreign funds. Yet, if you return two months later, most of those people are neither truly saved nor following Christ. The Great Commission does not end with making disciples; the church is given two vital, ongoing tasks: baptizing them and teaching them. You cannot separate these from gospel preaching. This is why I maintain that only a permanent, local church can truly fulfill this mission—no parachurch organization can do it.
The First Task: Baptism
The command is to baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. No one should be baptized who has not first been made a disciple, but all who have become disciples should be baptized. In the New Testament, there is no record of anyone being reckoned as a disciple who refused to be baptized.
Becoming a disciple is synonymous with being saved. Only saved people should be baptized, because baptism is the outward sign of an inward act of repentance and faith in Christ. Baptism itself never saves anyone, but it is given to those who are already saved. It is the church’s duty to discern if a person has truly been saved. This is why we ask people to write their testimonies and why we interview them to understand their salvation experience. This is what we have done for all our members, including our brothers Shajin and Satyanesan, for whom we have planned a baptism on June 3rd.
We baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This is not a magic mantra. Years ago, a sister argued that we must baptize only in this specific way. I told her that while we certainly should, if you are not saved, it does not matter what names are spoken; your baptism is useless. We baptize in the Triune name because salvation is effected by the whole Triune God. As one pastor said, we are so sinful that it takes the entire Trinity to save us.
In baptism, we declare:
- The Father elected me and sent His only Son for my salvation.
- The Son willingly took my place, suffered, died, rose again, and purchased perfect redemption.
- The Holy Spirit applied the benefits of that salvation to me and united me to Christ.
Through the outward act of immersion, we show the spiritual reality of our salvation. We are saved by being united through faith to Christ in His work. Just as Christ died and was buried, we go under the water; just as He rose, we rise from the water to live a new life. This is why immersion is the only viable mode of baptism—sprinkling lacks this beautiful symbolism.
The Second Task: Teaching to Observe
The second sub-task is teaching. Notice carefully what Jesus told us to teach:
“Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:20)
We are to teach everything He commanded. Nothing should be ignored; nothing is too small. We cannot simply pick and choose the “important” verses. The eleven disciples had spent three years learning from Jesus, and the Holy Spirit brought those teachings to their remembrance so they could write the Gospels and Epistles. We have those commands today in our Bibles.
This command implies the necessity of verse-by-verse expository preaching. How many churches today do this? Some laugh at us for studying the same book for seven years, but we are commanded to teach all aspects of what He taught. Disciples must have a lifelong commitment to learning.
Furthermore, we are not just to teach them to absorb information, but to observe it. The Greek word suggests teaching in such a systematic, clear way that people remember, cherish, and obey the truth. It must mould their thinking and pattern their lives. How can this be achieved without the consistency of expository preaching? In many churches, people cannot even remember what was taught the previous week. The Great Commission means admitting people into the “School of Christ” through baptism and making them ready to live according to His commands.
The Great Promise
The mandate ends with a beautiful promise:
“And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen.”
This whole commission is bracketed by the Lord. He starts with His authority and ends with His presence. That word “Lo” (or “Behold”) means: stop, look away from everything else, and pay attention. When you think of the hindrances to this command, stop and behold this truth. This promise is the “holy reward” for the work.
Just as God’s promise to be with Moses was enough to overcome his excuses, this promise is enough for us. When you do His work according to His command, He will be with you. You will experience His redemptive presence, and the work will succeed. The original Greek emphasizes that He is with us “all the days”—in every twenty-four-hour block of time. Whether you are working, resting, or meeting bodily needs, He is there.
What a glorious comfort! The One with universal authority over every enemy, government, and situation promises to be with you continuously, without break. He does not take breaks from His promise. The One who triumphed over sin, death, and hell comforts us by promising to bring us safely to everlasting joy.
There will be days when your labor feels in vain. You may have a hoarse voice, a broken heart, and a body full of aches. The world may mock you. You may not be a glamorous or popular preacher because you refuse to “tickle the ears” of the crowd. You may lose sleep and labor hard to accurately understand the Word, only to see poor results.
But remember: “I am with you.” Jesus does not estimate success the way the world does. The “I AM” is with you. You have no idea what glorious results will come from your faithful work. He will bring the harvest. You are not on a fool’s errand. You cannot fail in this work because you work for the highest Authority. You are His authorized agent.
No matter what we face—war, financial problems, sickness, or the death of loved ones—Jesus is with us until the end of the age. He will decide when that age ends. When the last of the elect is saved, the Father will give the word, the trumpet will sound, and He will return in glory to gather those He purchased with His blood from every tribe and nation. Until then, He is with us as we go.
Applications
Behold the vision of the Church and its work as appointed by Christ, and see how many churches today live completely clueless about His plan. This is the purpose and work Christ ordained for His church. The reason for the horrible state of today’s Christianity is that churches fail at every step of this command.
The Problem of Modern “Discipleship”
“Go and make disciples.” What is today’s church doing instead? Firstly, rather than making disciples by preaching the gospel, they are making religious converts and church members by offering a false gospel and empty promises. The very word “disciple” is missing from modern Christianity. Some claim you can be a Christian without being a disciple; this allows people to feel “saved” by merely raising a hand, saying a prayer, or being immersed in water. They want unsaved people to be called Christians—people who make no commitment to learn or obey Christ’s commands. To allow this, they have created a convenient category for those who are “Christians but not disciples.”
You cannot be a Christian if you are not a disciple. A disciple is someone who is truly saved and, as a fruit of that salvation, desires to follow and learn from Christ. True salvation always reveals itself through a thirst to obey Christ’s words. A truly converted person hungers for the truth and the Word of God. If that desire is absent, you must question the salvation. Our goal should never be to simply gain more church members; we must seek more disciples willing to follow Christ all their lives. This is why we are different—we take time before admitting people into membership because we want disciples committed to lifelong learning.
Instead of preaching the gospel, many churches produce false converts who have no desire for God’s Word. To keep them coming, they replace the Bible with entertainment: dance, music, and “worship” shows. They may open a hundred churches in a region, but they do everything under the sun except teach what Christ commanded.
The Centrality of Teaching
The Great Commission doesn’t stop at making disciples. It is not only a converting ministry but a teaching ministry. This is the primary work of the church: to teach all that He commanded. Where do we see churches in our country committed to verse-by-verse preaching? Someone once told me, “I only find churches like yours that teach the Bible in foreign countries, not in India.”
Today, a Bible-teaching church is viewed as boring or outdated—as if it were 200 years old. People want entertainment, not preaching. They want fifteen-minute sermons and a calendar full of festivals: Harvest Festival, Ash Wednesday, St. Peter’s Day, Father’s Day, and Friend’s Day. They want special effects and skits to keep them happy. There is even a competition over who has the “mega-church.” Is this what our Lord said? May God have mercy on what goes on in the name of the “church.”
The teaching of the Word is the seed and the central work of the local church. People ask, “Fifteen years of teaching? What else should the church do?” Teaching is the command! We teach through Sunday sermons, Sunday schools, singing, weekly meetings, small groups, radio, YouTube, and Bible colleges. The vast educational ministry of the church is contained in that one word: “teaching.”
The Promise and the Response
It is no wonder that many churches do not experience the promise: “I am with you always.” Christ makes His redemptive blessings effective through His presence in churches that obey Him. Only in such places will you see souls truly regenerated, sanctified, justified, and reaching the assurance of grace.
What about us? We have studied the Gospel of Matthew for seven years. Jesus ended His earthly life with these words because they were His highest priority. Now it is time to respond. Everything else is of lesser importance compared to these ultimate words of Jesus Christ. Nothing is more important than becoming this kind of people and this kind of church.
Making disciples of all nations is a massive task. Will we take baby steps or stay as we are? I suggest three simple baby steps: COME, WORSHIP, and OBEY.
- Come Always: Be available. The first-century believers were faithful to all meetings, devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and prayer. We can have great skills, but if we are not available, God cannot use us. Christ told the disciples to come to the mountain, and because they were present, He gave them the Great Commission. You must deal with the sin of irregular church attendance; do not grieve the Holy Spirit by forsaking the assembly.
- A Worshipping Heart: Verse 16 tells us that when they saw Christ, they worshipped Him. To fulfill the Great Commission, your heart must be wholly set on Jesus, where everything else fades into the background. His word must be more important to you than anything else.
- Obey: Our failure to share the gospel is a problem of obedience. Our disobedience shows we fail to recognize Christ’s authority. Do not wait for a “spiritual goosebump” or a heavenly voice to feel responsible for the world. It is not a question of emotion; it is a question of submission to an already-articulated command. Millions of Christians come to Christ only for blessings but never recognize Him as Lord. This is a rebellion against the One who has all authority.
Taking Action
We must stop living easy lives focused on trivial, selfish things. If you lack the desire to fulfill the Great Commission, look at the attitude of your heart. Christ said “Go.” If we don’t go, they won’t come. We make a mistake if we believe the world will simply come to us because we are “good people.” We are called to go out and make disciples. This is a word of action!
To begin personally involving yourself in disciple-making:
- Write down the names of three people you want to see enter the Kingdom of God.
- Commit to praying for them regularly.
- Ask the Lord for opportunities to reach them with the gospel.
- Read a missionary biography to stir your heart.
- Meditate on this passage to overcome your fears.
We all have fears: “What if they ask a question I can’t answer?” or “What if they get angry?” In a world of different religions and secularism, it can be scary. You can avoid embarrassment by never talking about your faith, but if you stay in your comfort zone, you will never discover the true power of Jesus. You’ll never know if Jesus is with you until you decide to go somewhere in His name.
The movement started with eleven men and grew to over two billion people. The plan—”Go, and I will go with you”—still works after 2,000 years. Let us not become smug or content just because we have a building and tithes. We must have one heart and one passion to fulfill this mandate.
Parents, what is your ambition for your children? If you only want them to be polite, middle-class engineers or doctors, they may end up as Pharisees. Tell your children that nothing would make you gladder than to see them use their education and talents to serve Christ and bring souls to the nations.
The authority of Jesus over every religion and god is the basis of world missions. To those who have not yet believed: see what love Christ has for you. He sent me to preach to you so that you might become a disciple. Believe, repent, and join His school today.