40 One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him (Jesus), was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41 He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah”. 42 And he brought him to Jesus. Now when Jesus looked at him, He said, “You are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas”. (John 1:40–42).
Christianity has this age-old culture of sharing – sharing the Good News, which would later be called evangelism. Andrew was one of the two earliest disciples of Jesus (John 1:35-40); having come to Jesus, he broke the news of Him to his own brother Simon Peter and went a step further to bring Simon in person to Jesus to have him enlist in discipleship.
However, Andrew was not the only one with such a generous heart; Philip too had such a heart. Jesus invited Philip into discipleship, and he in his turn broke the news about Jesus to his friend Nathaniel and brought him along to Jesus. In time, this generous, self-motivated deed of winning unbelievers for Christ became a commission by the word or orders of our ascending Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, enjoining all disciples and Christians of all ages.
Christians are commissioned to disciple unbelievers
After His death and resurrection, for Jesus who is a good Master of His own sort, the idea of a farewell message to his disciples before a departure was inevitable. Now His last statement of command to His disciples then and thereafter is what is widely referred to as the Great Commission, the content, according to Matthew, is as follows:
“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, 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.” Amen. (Mt 28:19, 20)
These verses enjoin any who calls himself a disciple of Jesus or a Christian to take upon himself the task of discipling unbelievers. In fact, the Bible makes it very explicit that Jesus Christ has not called us to Himself so that we would lazy about, but that we would bear fruit to God, John 15:16; and among our fruits to bear is winning unbelievers to become disciples of Jesus Christ; that is, fulfilling the Great Commission.
Why we should fulfill the Great Commission
We humans, in spite of our sins and wickedness, value relationships – family, friendship, marriage, etc. and we love and do something to please those who love us. Even the unbeliever does that so well; how much more should we Christians love and do whatever it takes to please Jesus, the Man who loves us the most. You would not deny your best friend if he should ask of you a favor which you are more than able to do, would you? Certainly not. Take hold of the Great Commission and fulfill it; do it out of love, for you are doing it to please your true best friend Jesus. And remember that Jesus says, “You are my friends if you do what I command you. (John 15:14 ESV)”.
Certain people started observing the Great Commission long before it was issued by our Lord Jesus. When Andrew converted to become a disciple of Jesus, he went and brought his brother Peter. Why did he do that? Actually, no one tasked him to do that; more so, the Great Commission had not been issued yet. It is obvious that he loved his brother Peter and wanted Peter to share in the salvation he had found. Christians should be latter-day Andrew, showing some love to those we love and care for by making every conscious effort to lead them to Christ Jesus to fulfill the Great Commission.
One wonderful thing about serving God is that every good thing we do for God is not lost. God duly rewards our good works with eternal blessings. Then why don’t we Christians do more good things? One of the good things to do to please God is to fulfill the Great Commission. The Bible says, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord (1 Corinthians 15:58).” Therefore any Christian that fulfills the Great Commission should be sure that God will reward him with eternal rewards.
Jesus is our friend, our brother, our teacher, etc. at the same He is our Lord God and Master. Since the Great Commission is a command, it does not look like any Christian who does not fulfill it would get away with it.
Why some Christians do not fulfill the Great Commission
The Great Commission and the fulfillment thereof is so shrouded in a cascade of misconceptions. Great numbers of Christians in their entire life do either very little or nothing at all to fulfill the Great Commission, thinking they do not have what it takes to win a soul. Many perceive that they have to be learned, full-time ministers or evangelists, to win souls. Wrong! Andrew, at the time he started winning souls for Jesus, knew very little – all he had was the belief that Jesus is the Messiah – just that. He did not even know a tenth of what the average Christian knows today, yet he won a soul simply by telling his brother Simon what he believed he had found, saying, “We have found the Messiah”.
It is quite the presumption of many Christians that winning souls for Jesus would require you to abandon everything, your home, your career, etc. and then go on missions to the ends of the earth, distant places, foreign lands, etc. Wrong! Winning souls starts from wherever you are; in your family, among your friends, in your neighborhood, at your workplace, etc. Start winning those unbelievers close to you.
Some Christians, perhaps, think of having a bigger platform such as being on the air; that is, broadcasting live to the masses on television or on the radio to win souls. Wrong! Take it a bit at a time; if even you could successfully disciple one person at a time, it would please the Lord. Moreover, at present, you have bigger platforms than you could ever dream of; social networks make great numbers of unbelievers available for you to evangelize to. To reach the masses, evangelize also on social networks.
Many Christians are misled to think it takes long preaching or a long sermon or an uncommon eloquence to talk an unbeliever into accepting Jesus Christ. Wrong! Sometimes it does not even take any preaching; sometimes it is not a matter of many words; you may win the unbeliever by a mere word of invitation to church, or a mere act of kindness or service, etc.
Many Christians resort to the excuse of not having time; they are too busy with their jobs and feel very occupied. However, they are the same people who manage all they can to watch their favorite TV shows; they manage to find time to visit the spa and beaches, go on long vacations, pleasure trips, etc. Now if God were rewarding an instant amount of, let’s say $ 100,000.00 per soul won, those Christians who find excuses to avoid the Great Commission would have become billionaires in a week. And if God were rewarding an instant amount of, let’s say $ 10000.00 for every instance of sharing the word of God with unbelievers, these same Christians who find excuses would have become millionaires in a few days.
Many Christians have still not understood that irrespective of the opinion they have about themselves, whether they think themselves worthy to win souls or not, soul-winning is mandatory. Jesus Christ has commanded them to go and win souls for Him; for such purpose were they called and they shall receive the reward thereof. No one is exempted from fulfilling the Great Commission.
The clergy and laity concept: God never intended Christianity, His kingdom, to be anything like what we see today, for His word says – But you are God’s chosen and special people. You are a group of royal priests and a holy nation. God has brought you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Now you must tell all the wonderful things he has done. ….. (1 Peter 2:9. CEV). Across the centuries, certain evil men, thirsty for absolute power, infiltrated the church during the Dark Ages, and established a wide disparity between the clergy and the laity, making sure that all powers were vested in the clergy. In fact, only the clergy was allowed to study the Bible.
However, the laity was reduced to nothing more than ignorant folks, puppets, spectators, and spiritually handicapped folks who did nothing more than look to the clergy. Their situation of ignorance of the Scriptures eventually rendered them incapable of teaching unbelievers; hence their retirement from partaking in spiritual activities such as evangelism and soul-winning.
The present-day churches still walk in the aftermath of the Dark Ages. The clergy hardly teach the laity to understand and accept their priestly role in the body of Christ; hence the laity shrinks back, expecting church leaders, pastors, elders, deacons, deaconesses, etc., to be the only ones to spread the word of God and win souls for Christ, while they sit back, doing nothing and looking on. Every Christian is a holy priest of God – that is the truth – hence the Great Commission is every Christian’s responsibility.
Conclusion
According to pewresearch.org, as of 2015, the population of Christians was estimated at 2.3 billion, making up 31.2% of the world’s population of 7.3 billion. If we even suppose that the estimated Christian population of 2.3 billion is saved, then the remaining 5.1 billion non-Christians or unbelievers are consigned to hell.
The estimated 5.1 unbelievers constitute Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Atheists, etc. Some of these unbelievers are closer to you than you thought. They are in your family, they are your classmates, they are your social network friends and followers; you meet them in the market, you bypass them in the street, etc. Never be puffed up about the fact that Christianity is the largest religion on Earth, but lament and do something to help the estimated 5.1 billion unbelievers who are perishing. If all Christians were a bit like Andrew and Philip, the population of unbelievers would have decreased by a large margin by now. Play your role to keep the Great Commission!
Food for thought
- What challenges withhold Christians from keeping the Great Commission?
- What awaits Christians who disobey the Great Commission? Clue … Eze 3:17–21.
- The Great Commission, is it an obligation or an option?
- Is there any reward for fulfilling the Great Commission? 1 Co 15:58
- Have you kept the Great Commission? If “No”, why?
PRAYER: Dear Father, grant me a generous and loving heart so that I will always see the need to share your word with the unbeliever. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen