The Great Commission is the very reason you are still breathing right now. (Insert an inhale and an exhale here.) Life is about evangelism and discipleship; both of others and for yourself.
But what is the Great Commission, you ask? And what does it have to do with repentance?
I’m so glad you’ve asked!
When considering the many facets of Jesus Christ’s Great Commission mandate, every one of them are necessary and important. None are more critical, however, as in making quite certain we get the content of the gospel message right.
Teaching and believing the unaltered gospel message is essential for rightly determining God’s will for your life today.
There are a few cults exceptionally active going door-to-door, peddling their theology, but few rise above the tide called heresy.
Dozens of aid organizations spend untold millions of dollars in overseas humanitarian work—waiving the banner of Christianity—yet you would be hard pressed to locate one native converted according to the biblical definition of the Way.
Sadly, hundreds of American preachers stand in their pulpits trying to meet sinner’s felt needs rather than proclaiming the one message that would cure their greatest need of all. Such pastors are band-aid preachers, offering sinners gauze for their splinters when the real problem is a rebellious heart bent toward the love of sin. Worse yet, it appears that almost anyone can get a job as a television evangelist, so long as they write a bestselling novel catering to the fantasies of an undiscerning audience with their credit card handy.
No, it is not more programs or activities or gimmicks that are needed in the church today. What is needed, however, is the biblical gospel of grace alone through repentant faith alone.
So that begs an important question: According to the Great Commission passages themselves, what exactly is the message Jesus said we should proclaim to all the nations?
At the time Christ ascended through the clouds, there were as yet no New Testament books written. In fact, the first New Testament book was not penned until some twenty years after Jesus ascended into heaven. The revealed gospel message was, at that time, contained in what is commonly called the Old Testament and the words of Jesus Christ Himself, which truly are one and the same. Gospel truth is the same yesterday, today and forever, whether it is found in the older or newer testaments.
When we examine the actual Great Commission texts, there are relatively few parts that provide details about the specific content of the gospel message itself. There are portions that explain what to do with the disciples in general (baptize and teach), where we are to preach the gospel geographically, how we would receive power to share that message, and even that Christ will be with us as we go. Yet there are precious few statements from the Lord which specifically describe the content of the gospel message itself.
Take a fresh look at these Great Commission passages and reintroduce yourself to the content of this simple—yet profound—gospel message.
- Matthew 28:20 “teaching them to observe all that I commanded you”
- Mark 16:15 “And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.”
- Luke 24:46-47 “Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations.”
From these passages we see that Matthew tells us we are to be “teaching” the disciples “all that I commanded you.” Mark says we are to “preach the gospel” and Luke informs us that what is to be “proclaimed” is “repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” In other words, Jesus commands us to preach and teach the gospel, which is a message requiring repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
On the surface it may not seem like a lot of substance overall, but as we dig deeper we strike gospel oil.
According to the Lord’s revealed will and Great Commission, the gospel that we are to proclaim is everything that Christ taught, which is further summarized as “repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”
In fact, repentance is the very first subject Jesus preached about when He began his public ministry, for He said, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). This is particularly significant when you compare it to most gospel presentations given in contemporary Christianity today. Far too often the message peddled across our nation is so watered-down that not only is repentance glossed over with little more than a bashful apology, but in most cases it is absent altogether.
Author Randy Newman wrote, “If we think that the gospel is simply a good deal that any reasonable person would accept, we’ll not only be amazed at how many people turn it down, but we may actually distort the message in the process of proclaiming it” (Randy Newman, Questioning Evangelism, page 35).
This is quite true in many churches today.
Recently I collected a significant number of doctrinal statements of faith from conservative, reformed, and evangelical church and para-church ministries. I wanted to see where they each stood theologically on this critical issue of repentance. I confess that by the time I finished reading them I was rather discouraged.
The apple of biblical repentance has fallen far from the tree of grace. This is certainly not God’s will for the church today.
Most of the doctrinal statements were healthy as far as their definitions of the Godhead, the inerrancy of Scripture, the sufficient work of Christ on the cross, eschatology, and the necessity of faith are all concerned. However, in far too many of them, key words like “repent” or “turn” or “repentance” were missing altogether.
How can this be when the teachings of the Old Testament, of Jesus Christ, and even the New Testament books speak about the necessity of repentance so often?
It appears that Satan has taken an erasure to many of our statements of faith. We have once again become “ignorant of his schemes” (2 Corinthians 2:11).
We cannot do what the writer of Hebrews suggested: “Therefore leaving the elementary teachings about Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of instructions about washings and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits” (Hebrews 6:1-3; italics mine).