Title: Missionary Command / Matthew 28:16-20
Content Jack Canfield. In the book "Chicken Soup for the Soul," co-authored by Mark Victor Hansen, the story goes like this:
A female teacher in New York decided to award a prize to her senior high school seniors. She made the students come out one by one to the front of the classroom. And each of those students explained how special they were in the class. Then, the female teacher gave each student a blue ribbon one by one. On the ribbon was written in golden letters: 'You are special to me.'
After this happened, the female teacher made another plan. Give each of the students three more blue ribbons, then tell them to take them out and hang them around. Then, after a week, the task was to write the results.
A student went to the vice president of a company near the school. It was because the vice president had kindly consulted about the student's career issues. The student said, tying a blue ribbon to the vice president's collar and then two more ribbons.
"This is what my teacher came up with. Please attach this ribbon to the special person you admire. And have the other one go to that special person. Be sure to tell me the result in a week."
Later that day, the vice president went to his boss. The boss was a man with a reputation for being a terrible person to all the employees. However, the vice president approached the president and expressed his sincere respect for the president's genius and creativity. The boss seemed very surprised. The vice president took out a blue ribbon and said that he wanted to give it as a thank you gift. The boss was confused but happy. "Oh, thank you so much."
The vice president attached a lapan ribbon to the boss's chest, and then took out another ribbon. Then he said.
The boss returned home that night and sat down his 17-year-old son and said:
"Something really incredible happened to me today. I was sitting in my office and the vice president came in and gave me this ribbon, saying I'm a very creative and genius person. Think about it. I'm creative and genius. I put this ribbon on my chest that read, 'You are special.' And I handed him another extra ribbon and told him to put it on someone I care about especially. As I drove home this evening, I was going to give this ribbon to someone "I thought about putting it on. Then I immediately thought of you. I want to give you this ribbon."
Then he said
"I've been busy all day with my business. So when I got home, I couldn't pay much attention to you. Occasionally I used to yell at you for poor grades and messing around in the room. But tonight I'm with you like this I want to sit down and say this to you. You are more special to me than anyone else. Like your mother, you are the most precious thing in my life. You are a wonderful son, and I love you."
The startled son sobbed and began to cry. The son wept and wept again. His whole body was trembling softly. The son finally looked up and looked at his father, crying.
"Dad, actually I was going to commit suicide tomorrow morning. I thought he didn't love me. I don't have to."
This story tells us that love can save a life. That's right. Heavenly Father's love, even giving his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, can save mankind from destruction. God's love through Jesus Christ can save mankind.
There are two great commands in the Bible. One is the cultural mandate and the other is the missionary mandate.
After creating humans in His image, God gave them the following command: "Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. Subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the living creatures of the air and over every living thing that moves on the earth" (Genesis 1:28). In other words, he commanded humans to rule over nature and all things. This command is called a culture command.
There is a message that Jesus gave to his disciples just before his resurrection and ascension into heaven.
“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, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20). This command is commonly referred to as the Lord's Great Commission, or missionary command.
We Christians are those who have received the cultural mandate to rule over all things and the missionary mandate to preach the gospel to everyone. And we must live in obedience to this command.
1. What is a church?
Before asking what mission is, we must ask what the church is. Because mission cannot exist independently of the church. Gerald H. Anderson, a missiologist, in his book The Theology of the Christian Mission, said, “Without flame there is no fire, without mission there is no church.”
So what is a church?
The church can be said to be "a community gathered together to carry out the work entrusted to him by professing the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord". It is a worshiping community in terms of professing Jesus Christ as Lord, and it is a missionary community in terms of carrying out the tasks entrusted to it.
2. What is mission?
Dr. Donald A. McGavran, the father of church growth and evangelical missiology, defined mission as follows.
“Mission is to spread the gospel across cultural barriers to those who have no allegiance to Jesus Christ, to awaken them to accept Christ as their Lord and Saviour, and to become responsible members of his church. We work for evangelism and the realization of justice under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and work so that God's will is done on earth as it is in heaven."
It is easy to understand what mission is if we put together the words Jesus gave as a missionary command.
1) Mission is sending.
“As the Father has sent me, so I send you” (John 20:21), said Jesus.
2) Mission is going.
“Go ye” (Matthew 28:19). So, in the conventional missiology, "go or send" was said. But now it is said "go and send".
3) Mission is preaching the gospel.
“Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15).
4) Mission is to believe and confess Jesus Christ as Savior and receive forgiveness of sins and salvation.
“Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved” (Mark 16:16), “Repentance for the forgiveness of sins in his name must be preached to all nations, beginning with Jerusalem” (Luke 24:47), “Father and baptizing them in the name of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19).
Summing up the above, we can say that mission is the work of preaching the gospel by going and sending, so that we can believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and receive forgiveness of sins and be saved.
The church that serves as a model for missions in the New Testament is the Church of Antioch. The Church of Antioch established Barnabas and Paul as missionaries, and sent them to various parts of Asia Minor and cities along the Mediterranean coast to preach the gospel. And he made people believe in Jesus Christ and be saved to form the church.
3. The church is missionary by nature.
According to the book "A History of Christian Missions" by world-renowned mission theologian Stephen Neil, "Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity are religions with a definite date of origin and founder, and Buddhism is It has declined and spread to the north and southeast, and it has not spread to the west, so it still remains as an Eastern religion. Although Islam is scattered everywhere, it is still today a desert religion and a religion of the Middle East... But Christianity alone is a worldwide religion. It has succeeded in manifesting itself as a religion, which, of course, does not mean that the entire population of the world is a Christian. What began as a religion in the Eastern Mediterranean Empire now exists in almost every country and every country in the world, from the most sophisticated Westerners to the indigenous peoples of the Australian desert. I have received the trust of the nation,” he said. At the end of his book, Steven Neil said: "In the twentieth century, a new phenomenon appeared in the history of Christianity and in the history of the world. It was the first in history that a single global religion, Christianity, appeared in the world.
In fact, the Roman Empire was evangelized within the first 400 years of the 2000-year history of Christianity, and then the gospel was spread to the Goths, Vikings, and Saracens. This has been propagated.
Now, the gospel is being preached all over the world.
4. What is the motive and purpose of missionary work?
Since the 15th and 16th centuries, the gospel has been preached with imperialist thinking and cultural supremacy while advancing to Asia, Africa, and Latin America for the purpose of territorial expansion and political influence.
However, missions must take place from a pure heart that cannot bear without preaching the Gospel because the experience of being transformed and becoming a new person is so moving. Like Jeremiah, who said, “I will no longer declare the Lord, nor will I speak by his name,” said Jeremiah, who said, “My heart is on fire, and my marrow burns, and I can’t bear it.” (Jeremiah 20:9) Even if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast about, because it is my necessity. If I do not preach the gospel, woe to me” (1 Corinthians 9:16), or “To all Greeks and barbarians, wise and foolish, I With the heart of Paul who said, "I am a debtor" (Romans 1:14). From this motive, we must preach the gospel.
And the purpose of missions should be, as taught in the first part of the Lord's Prayer, that "the name of God may be sanctified, the kingdom of God may come, and the will of God may be done on earth as it is in heaven."
5. The path of missionary work is not smooth.
Just as the path that Jesus walked was the path of suffering, the path many missionaries walk is also the path of suffering. It is the way of the cross.
Because of the missionaries who gave their lives for missionary work, the gospel came to this earth and many people believed in Jesus and were saved.
Our Namdaemun Church, a church established by missionaries, has now become a church that sends missionaries. From now on, we will have to fulfill our mission as a church that obeys the missionary command of our Lord and a missionary community.