[stextbox id=”custom”]The article is from “The Will Of God” series.[/stextbox]
During His earthly ministry, Jesus confronted the depraved sinners of this world in a variety of ways.
Sometimes we see the Lord discipling a few men in a garden late in the evening, while at other times He was preaching passionately in the open air to thousands along the seashore. Once we find Him reclining at the home of a tax collector—surrounded by party mongers and harlots—yet even then He was teaching sinners the goodnews.
Our Lord was in the world but He was never influenced by the world. He was always a friend to sinners, but never did He fellowship with wicked companions.
He spoke to an adulterous Samaritan woman next to a well, to a demon-possessed man who came running out of the tombs, and He even rebuked the elite Pharisees of His day for their hypocritical ritualism. Jesus taught in the temple while but a youth of twelve years, conversed with disciples of the locust-eating Baptist, and even relinquished morsels of glory in the presence of the high priest after being handcuffed in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Yet still He spoke the everlasting gospel!
He fed the five thousand in the wilderness, raised a stinking Lazarus from the dead, sat alone and hungry in the wilderness for forty days being tempted by Satan, and even quoted Scripture as He hung on the timbers of Calvary. In every circumstance of life, we see the Lord resting upon the Scriptures, instructing multitudes, discipling those in His inner circle, offering words of eternal assurance to a redeemed thief hanging next to Him on a cross, and otherwise performing the will of His Father.
Jesus glorified His God 24/7! Jesus Christ is the true pattern for Great Commission Discipleship that every one of us must strive to imitate today.
In the Great Commission passages of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Acts, we see many important features of Christian living to be made aware of. We see Christ’s authority for sending us out into the world, we learn the message He gave us to teach, we are told where to go and who to speak to, He tells us He will be with us as we go, we are given instructions about what to do with those people who believe our message, and even that we will be supremely gifted in the work.
What I find intriguing, however, is that the one critical element altogether absent is anything having to do with the method (or means) in which we are to specifically fulfill this Great Commission.
Behold the wisdom of the God we serve.
What I mean by this is that the choice of ministry(s) to serve in is left to your own discretion, based upon both the desires of your heart and your God-given spiritual giftedness.
Not many of us are called to stand on a soapbox and preach into the open air, but you are free to if you’ve got the nerve. We are not commanded to specifically hand out gospel tracts at bus stops, but you are given that liberty if such a ministry is placed on your heart. We are not instructed in the Great Commission passages to visit hospitals, go to prisons, fly overseas to build church facilities for missionaries, visit the homes of people who visit our churches, or even to conduct activities such as Vacation Bible School, faith-based homeless shelters, or neighborhood swimming pool parties for single mothers and their children. Yet you are free to “make disciples” along such avenues if you have the inclination to do so.
Every genuine Christian is radically endowed with spectacular speaking and/or serving spiritual gifts. No two believers are exactly alike. You are as unique as a snowflake that falls from the heavens. God supernaturally gifted you for ministry in a way that He has never gifted anyone since.
What a marvelous truth!
Other believers might possess the gift of speaking while you may be supremely gifted with the tools of mercy or administration. A woman might have the spiritual gift of encouragement while her husband is sovereignly equipped with the gift of helps. Christians are free to minister to children, teenagers, adults, the elderly, to foreigners in third-world countries, or in any other mixture of the world’s demographics—both in Christian and non-Christian contexts.
We are individual members in the Body of Christ and we have been equipped to minister to one another—and the world at large—through the gifts given to us at the moment of our rebirth. The means in which you minister along the canvas of the Great Commission is left up to your own personal choice.
How awesome is that?
In his book Evangelism & The Sovereignty Of God, J.I. Packer wrote, “Such was evangelism according to Paul: going out in love, as Christ’s agent in the world, to teach sinners the truth of the gospel with a view to converting and saving them. If, therefore, we are engaging in this activity, in this spirit, and with this aim, we are evangelizing, irrespective of the particular means by which we are doing it.”
But please notice that it is this remarkable omission in the Great Commission passages themselves that also leaves every one of us without excuse for not being active and intentional about our own progressive sanctification. There is no legitimate excuse you or I could ever claim for not being proactive in some kind of ministry to someone in need. If you are alive and conscious (and I hope you still are), then your age, theological training, and physical health are all equally irrelevant. God wants to use you in ministry. He desires to swing that hammer!
If the Lord of glory was finished with you then you would be up in heaven rather than here right now.
A friend of mine recently told me about a 104 year old woman who regularly shared the gospel with the community of people at the assisted living facility where she lived. You see, you may be an elderly, silver-haired saint less than a breath away from glory, but you are not in heaven yet. Fulfill your mission. Fulfill God’s will for your life today.
If the Lord had said that the only means for accomplishing Great Commission Discipleship was for pastors to preach from the pulpit on Sunday mornings, then the rest of the church would have a water-tight excuse for not being directly involved in “making disciples.” However, because Jesus did not give any such instruction, you are free to brainstorm how you might best be used to manifest God’s glory to all the nations.
J.I. Packer further concluded, “The principle is that the best method of evangelism is the one which serves the gospel most completely…What that best method is in each case, you and I have to find out for ourselves. It is in light of this principle that all debates about evangelistic methods must be decided.”
So choose a ministry and busy yourself at glorifying God while serving others in that ministry. That is God’s will for your life today.