It surprises me how often the Great Commission is overlooked by the church - even by me: we think that, somehow, if we financially support people spreading the gospel “over there”, or in some cases merely pray for them on occasion, that our part as Christians is complete.
Matthew 28:19-20a says, “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.”
“Therefore” is an important word - anytime you see it you need to check what comes before. In this case, “All authority” everywhere being handed over to Jesus is the “why” - since authority has been handed over Jesus, the Kingdom breaking in - the plan was “re-booted”. You see, when God originally made man he said, “Be fruitful and multiply” - he told the image of God to replicate itself everywhere - to spread God’s Kingdom. The “image of God” being restored in broken human beings one-by-one is at the heart of the great commission - it’s not a new game-plan: it’s the original game-plan, reinstated.
Next is the oft-misunderstood “go”. Greek is a very specific language with verb tenses that don’t translate easily into English. The word translated “go” here should probably be best understood as ”as you are going” - not a call to go and “do” the great commission somewhere else, but for that call to discipleship to be a part of who we are, and all we do. As we work, we are about forming Jesus in those we work with - how we parent is an act of Spiritual formation - when we celebrate, we should “party” in a way that reshapes how other relate to God. We never leave him behind us: all authority has been given to Him - this world is His - so as we go, we bring Him with us, and that’s transformative!
And the last part that most often misunderstood from this passage: “nations”. The word here means, most literally, not foreign countries, but people groups - tribes - cultures. Sure, there are “nations” overseas, and they need to be reached, and by no means am I downplaying the call to missions, but everyday we encounter cultures and people groups that aren’t our own, and it’s not our job to belittle those cultures, and point our how ours is better, but to bring Christ to bear on them - to disciple them - to transform them and baptize them into Jesus, not so we have a unified, homogeneous culture worldwide, but so that every culture we encounter is centered around Christ. Kingdom transformation, folks.
Call it “missional living” - call it whatever, but the fact is that Christ has called us - has called me - to more than what we’re living. Because He is Lord over this all, and God’s sovereign rule is breaking in, as we are going about our lives, we should do all things and live lives that replicated the image of God in all of the cultures, peoples, and nationalities we encounter. That’s contagious Christianity.