Is the ' Great Commission' the main thing?

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[maranatha]

This statement was on a recent email from GCM:

"The Great Commission of Jesus Christ is the greatest cause in the world".

Although I want all to know of the immense love that was shown by God through Christ at the cross, does that mean that I believe that ' The Great Commission of Jesus Christ is the greatest cause in the world'?"

 Is that biblical to base your church's mission on that one thought?  

If you have any thoughts, I'd appreciate the help working this issue out in my mind.

 



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[maranatha]

I saw this today over at Desiring God:

“The greatest cause in the world is joyfully rescuing people from hell, meeting their earthly needs, making them glad in God, and doing it with a kind, serious pleasure that makes Christ look like the Treasure he is.” John Piper, Don't Waste Your Life, pg. 122

At Desiring God, it is our passion that as many people as possible will embrace this greatest cause for their life's work. "

[maranatha]

And something else from C.S. Lewis:

"We will never save civilisation as long as civilisation is our main object. We must learn to want something else even more." —C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

[nateswinton]

I think that quote hits the nail on the head.

The Great Commission and all the other "stuff" we do is part of a greater picture.

[G_Prince]

I saw this today over at Desiring God:

“The greatest cause in the world is joyfully rescuing people from hell, meeting their earthly needs, making them glad in God, and doing it with a kind, serious pleasure that makes Christ look like the Treasure he is.” John Piper, Don't Waste Your Life, pg. 122

At Desiring God, it is our passion that as many people as possible will embrace this greatest cause for their life's work. "

That seems like a lot of works and "doing." I've pretty much rejected that part of Christianity. Basically I try to live life by loving God and neighbor as myself. Those two activities are hard enough. I can't handle some grand "life purpose" in addition. I figure I'm just like every other human who has ever lived. I have a brief existence than I pass into death and embrace the vast history of humanity.

I love humanity. I recognize myself in every individual...good and bad. I can't save anyone because I am one of them. I am not on a pedestal, I need salvation just as much as my neighbor. We are all together on a journey...who knows if we will ever arrive at our destination...we can only love, hope, and pray en route.

[Truth Lover]

Dear Maranatha,

I've waited a while to give you my thoughts regarding your question about GC and evangelism.  Evangelism is a command we cannot obey in heaven so therefore we must obey it here.  ~ However, there are other commands that Jesus wants us to obey too, so to only camp on that one thing is to diminish the rest of what our Lord said.  In the Great Commission Jesus gave in Matthew 28 (cf. Luke 24) it says to "make disciples...teaching them to obey all that I commanded you..."  So there Jesus is telling us that we have a lot to do,  to teach ones to obey ALL that He has commanded us, including making disciples, baptizing, proclaiming repentance for forgiveness of sins...and many other commands I won't go into right now.  And for us to do evangelism the way our Lord wants us to, we need to study and understand His Word on the subject,  and every other subject He put in His Word for us to understand and believe and teach and obey ~  comparing scripture with scripture to get the real meaning of what God says on everything so we can then teach it, including commands and doctrines we are to believe, properly.  That's why He gave pastors & teachers who should devote themselves to the study and preaching of God's Word so the people can grow in the faith and hope and love.  We are to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and our neighbor as ourselves.  We love people in many ways, most importantly by telling them the truth about their sin and the remedy that God Himself has provided, as well as loving the brethren in our midst by obeying all the "one another" commands.  Those two main commands basically cover all the rest ~ love towards God and love towards people.  We love God by listening to Him in His Word and believing Him, obeying Him and living accordingly.  But when churches tend to diminish the role of the teaching pastors and / or teach inaccurately, they are short circuiting God's plan for growing the church His way ~ by His Word & Spirit, through imperfect but redeemed vessels such as us.  It is so the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not of ourselves.  (2 Cor. 4:7).  "Sanctify them by Thy truth." ~ John 17:17.   Jesus said "I will build My church..." ~ Matt. 16:18.  No man made plans will do the job. Well, that's all I'll say for now.  If you want to listen to MacArthur's sermon on that passage ( 2 Cor. 4) at the Desiring God conf., it is Part 2 of Certainties That Drive Enduring Ministries.  Here's the link if you're interested.  http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/ConferenceMessages/ByConference/37/2412_Certainties_That_Drive_Enduring_Ministry_Part_2/  

Again, we must learn and believe what God says about our human condition and the salvation He provides and do His work His way if we want to please Him and have the results that He desires ~ and He gets ALL the glory!  Take care, and may God help all of us "clay pots" to be clean and willing vessels, to bring honor and glory to Him!

[G_Prince]

I think this brings up an interesting question about GCM's great commission which is "who is saved." When I went to a GCM college group there was definitely a feeling that anyone outside the group was either not saved or not practicing their faith properly. I think most other evangelical churches would fall into GCM's saved category but big denominations were probably on the hell fast track. They were all considered either too liberal or like the catholic or episcopal church had "added doctrine" not found in the Bible.

Even though the US is the most Christian nation in the world I doubt GCM considers even %10 percent to be true, born again Christians. To justify this philosophy they would quote things like "by their fruits you will know them" and interpret that as "if they don't look like us they are probably not saved." That's a pretty big leap.

[maranatha]

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[Linda]

Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?"

Jesus answered: "The work of God is this; to believe in the one he has sent."

John 6:28,29

In light of this, I might argue that the greatest cause or work I can ever do is to believe in Jesus and be satisfied in God alone.