The Great Commission: Getting it Wrong.
It seems that many folks are attempting to live out what they call the Great Commission without living out the Great Commandment:“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.”
If one is so eager to go out and make disciples of all nations then go about it in the manner that Jesus made disciples, by loving people and standing in the margins of the world that religion often neglects.
Risk your reputation and go to where your religious friends are unwilling to go. Let the pastors and priests question you and call you names. Let them admonish you and tell you how wrong you are for the way you welcome and include those your church won’t let inside its walls unless it follows the laws of the church. Let folks doubt your sanity. Let them despise you for how much you love those they think are so unlovable.
The great commission isn’t, go and manipulate and coerce people to act, think and believe like you think they should. There was a reason folks followed Jesus. He loved them! Jesus didn’t try to “sell” himself to his potential followers.
I don’t read in the NT of Jesus saying, “Dude, don’t you realize just what an awful sinner you are? You are a worthless piece of crap. You ought to be happy that I came to rescue you despite what a horrible person you are. I’m getting ready to take a major hit for your sorry ass and if you could only get that through your thick head or stubborn heart and just believe it, then you’d be saved.”
Jesus did not command his followers to go and convince people that they are morally bankrupt.
That’s not the gospel.
That’s not love.
And it isn’t the Great Commission.
It is impossible to live out the Great Commission without first living out the Great Commandment.
So if we are so eager to go out and “win one for Jesus” then only way that will be accomplished is through self-emptying love. That's the way of Jesus. If we want to do something for Jesus 'cause we think we are supposed to, then go out and do it to the "least of these" wherever you find them and you can have total peace in your soul that you have it done for and to Jesus.
We are not called to save people's souls. That's God's job, and Jesus said "it is finished."
As Christians, we are called to love one another and thereby bring about wholness to all people.
I hear the word mature Christian tossed around in some circles. The mark of a mature follower of Christ is the way one loves. I have met very few mature Christians, myself included.
“This is how they will know that God sent me (that I am the One); by the way you love another."
He did not say they will know that I am the one by the way you boycott movies, read your bibles, preach and quote the bible out of context to others.
Follow the great commandment in the manner of Jesus and you’ll be living the great commission.
posted by New Life @ 9:20 AM
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