Text- Matthew 28:19-20 “Therefore go 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 everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Christ, before returning to Heaven gave us a mission. As children of God, we have been assigned the responsibility of taking the message of the gospel that He lived and died for to the nations, teaching them what He taught here while He was on earth. The message of the gospel represents all that Jesus came to do for humanity and the will of God for mankind. It is a message of hope and redemption for the lost, of love and reunion for those desiring to have a relationship with God, of power and deliverance to those who have been oppressed, of mercy and grace to those who have a genuine desire to please God and live for Him.
In reality, it would take many lifetimes to be able to fully exhaust all that the gospel message has to offer to humanity, which is why the command was to “disciple”. A disciple is one that follows an instructor or teacher closely enough to learn from him such that sooner or later he behaves, acts, speaks and sees things the same way his teacher does and when he gets to this point he can reproduce his instructor’s teachings in the lives of others, and that is what we have been called to do. First we reproduce Christ in our lives and then in the lives of those around us as we invade the nations with the message He delivered to us. We can see this in the book of Acts where the disciples had not only learnt the life and culture Jesus taught but they were able to develop this in the lives of others too
“The believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the community, to their shared meals, and to their prayers. A sense of awe came over everyone. God performed many wonders and signs through the apostles. All the believers were united and shared everything. They would sell pieces of property and possessions and distribute the proceeds to everyone who needed them. Every day, they met together in the temple and ate in their homes. They shared food with gladness and simplicity. They praised God and demonstrated God’s goodness to everyone. The Lord added daily to the community those who were being saved.” Acts 2:42-47 (CEB)
“Nations” in the context of our first text is not just talking about countries and continents but systems of human interactions, Jesus wants us to take the gospel to our government, work places, schools, markets, cinema houses, malls, amusement parks, radio and television, corporate world and social media, you name it. Anywhere human beings are, Jesus wants the gospel to be preached there and we have to be the ones to take it. As Romans 10:14-15 says “So how can they call on someone they don’t have faith in? And how can they have faith in someone they haven’t heard of? And how can they hear without a preacher? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of those who announce the good news”.
Our commitment to this mission of learning, teaching and discipling people by the message of the gospel is what will forward the cause of the invasion of systems for Jesus, and we can’t back down until we make Jesus popular, not just in every space but also in every heart.