Do you know what a congregational charge is? By that, I mean those words printed in your bulletin that I read near the end of the service about going out into the word, enjoying the blessings of God, contending for the faith, and remaining in Christ. Do you know what the purpose of those words really is? Or have you just mindlessly said them (some of you your entire lives) without ever giving a thought as to what the purpose for our saying them is at all? Well, a charge is when the minister charges or challenges the congregation to go out into the world and minister and witness in the name of Christ. In essence, the charge is where the pastor or worship service leader challenges the hearers of the message for that day to take what they have just heard and to carry it out into the world. Now, how effective this has been is another question. Are you even listening to these words or are you telling yourself that now that the service is over it’s time to decide on a place for lunch? The congregation that I used to work for in Mississippi had the whole congregation say the charge in unison, “We go nowhere by accident. Wherever we go, God is sending us. God has a purpose for our being there. And He has given His Holy Spirit to us.” Each Sunday as we prepared to leave worship, we were all reminded that no matter where we found ourselves, we were right where God wanted us to be and we were to seek how to minister to the people around us. Even when we felt unequipped, we needed to remember that the Holy Spirit was there with us, giving us the power that we needed to accomplish God’s good work.
Why, when our text is on the Great Commission, am I talking to you about charges and worship service ordering? Well, it’s because I, along with many others, view the Great Commandment to be the somewhat charge of Jesus’ earthly ministry, with the benediction being the words that he gave to his disciples about being his witnesses in Samaria and Judea and all to the ends of the world. You see, the main message behind a charge is the same message behind that of the Great Commission. Well, at least the first aspect of them is the same. Both a charge and the Great Commission start with going. “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…” All of the commands of the Great Commission are imperatives. Jesus was charging his disciples to go! He wasn’t telling them that when the opportunity was right or when the feeling struck them that they ought to go, but he was commanding them to go. It’s the difference between me or my wife telling our children that their rooms need to be cleaned up before we eat dinner, or simply looking at them and saying that one word, “Clean!” One of those options provides a bit of choice, while the other is a direct command that is to be carried out that moment. You see, Jesus tells us that the first step in reaching the lost in order to baptize them, make them disciples, and teach them is to go. We have to go out into the world in search of the lost, in search of the hurt, and in search of those who are in need of hearing the good news of the gospel.
The sad fact of the matter is that this is the exact opposite of the way that most of our supposed evangelism is done in the modern church. We build fences, hire security, have certain protocols, and many other steps to make it difficult for people to get in, much less us go out. Many Americans view of evangelism has become that they are willing to minister to only a certain type of person (usually someone who looks just like them), but only after that person makes the initial move and comes into the church in the first place. Look, I’m not throwing grenades at others; we are just as guilty as any other congregation of doing the very same thing. When was the last time that any of you can honestly say that you reached out to someone who wasn’t a Christian and spoke to them without them coming to you first? Somehow, we’ve replaced the imperative “Go” with the situational “wait and see if someone comes to you and presents you with an opportunity to possibly share the gospel with them but by all means don’t be too pushy.” I’ve made no secrets about mine and Amy’s families having some alcohol issues throughout the years. Sitting back and waiting for someone to on their own come to church and realize that they need Jesus is like sitting back and waiting for the alcoholic to realize on his own that he has a problem. Sure it may happen every now and then, but it most certainly isn’t the most effective way of dealing with the issue at hand. We have to go out into the world if we are ever going to shine the light in the darkness as we like to say.
Secondly, when Jesus tells us to make disciples of all nations, notice the word all. Do you remember the words of the promise made to Abraham (then Abram) in Genesis 12? God told Abraham, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you ALL the families of the earth shall be blessed.” I mentioned just a moment ago that for many of us our evangelism stops when it comes to people who look different than us, dress different than us, live different than us, and even talk different than us. Now, I won’t deny that or personalities and our gifts sometimes lend themselves to our being more at ease with certain groups over another. When I was in youth ministry, I had a much easier time relating to the middle-class white children that I went to church with than the African American kids from the inner-city that I taught. However, my responsibility to minister and witness to them and to help them see their potential and to strive for success was the same with both groups. When I have gone to Mexico, Jamaica, or Haiti, my call to share the gospel has been the exact same as it is here in the U.S. You see, the gospel isn’t for one people group or one nationality, but for all people. My wife can attest to you that we talked a lot about the state of the church following the shootings in South Carolina. While the tragedy of what happened was terrible and I’m not trying to diminish it in any way, what we found most disturbing was that the church was constantly described as a black church. Look, I get it. I’m from the south; I’ve never lived any further north than Starkville, MS. I get that things are still referred to (rightly or wrongly) as black and white. However, and this may be just because of how I see things, a church should never be classified according to race. After all, all churches (and by this I mean real, Bible-centered, God-fearing churches) are worshipping the same resurrected Lord. We’re all worshipping Jesus Christ. And the truth of the matter is that none of us are worthy of what he offers us, but he stills offers. So, we cannot ever think that the gospel is more for one group of people than any other.
So, what is it that Jesus is exactly calling us to do it the Great Commission? What does it mean to make disciples? What does it mean to baptize people in the name of the Triune God? What does it mean to teach them to observe all the commands of God? Well, to try and sum all of this up into as simple a statement as possible, all of this means that we are to help others grow in their relationship with God. We are to witness to them and help them to see the importance of what God is offering them. Now, I will clearly state here that only God can turn someone’s heart from stone to a heart that seeks after Him. Only God can truly change a person from being one who runs from God to one who follows Him. However, many times it’s people just like you and me that God chooses to work through in order to accomplish these purposes in His children. When we make disciples, we are teaching people the importance of Christ, but also helping them to incline their hearts to live lives that more honor God. You can see very easily that this also fits in with the command that we have for teaching others to observe all that God has commanded us. One of those commands is for all believers to be baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. When we are baptized, it symbolizes our admittance into the church. Baptism is a sign and seal of the covenant of grace, of our being united with Christ, of our rebirth, and of our forgiveness of sins.
One of the other great fallacies to the modern American church (in addition to the poor methods of evangelism that I mentioned earlier), is that many times little thought is given to real Biblical training. Many times, the majority of energy and effort is placed upon bringing people in. Even in churches that don’t fit the model I previously mentioned that have good evangelistic ministries, there is a real drop-off when it comes to Christian education. One of the most frequently asked questions of semi-new Christians is “now what?” In other words, after someone professes faith in Christ and is baptized; after someone has come to see the deep need that they have for Jesus in their life, they want to know what the next step is. In essence, they want to grow. They want to learn more, they want to dig deeper and find out more and more about God who created and sustains all things. They want to hear more about this Savior named Jesus who was fully God and fully man at the same time who paid the price for their sins. They want to know more about the Holy Spirit, this third member of the Trinity who dwelt in Jesus then and dwells within us now.
Have you ever been to a really nice, fancy dinner? I don’t mean your anniversary dinner to a nice restaurant; I’m talking about a real ornate meal surrounded by a lot of folks that you don’t know. I know that I don’t give off the refined vibe, but my wife will tell you that I actually can function in this world when required, largely due to my upbringing. You see, I was taught by my grandmother about table etiquette and which fork goes where and what utensil you use to eat a certain dish. I’ve got that knowledge and I can use it when the situation requires. Well, let’s say I didn’t have that knowledge, I would be completely lost. In other words, just because I am at this nice dinner surrounded by a bunch of people who know what they’re doing (assuming that they actually do), that really wouldn’t be enough for me to correctly go through the steps of the meal. Sure, I could fake it and probably make my way through the meal unscathed, but should that really be the goal, should that be the goal of our faith? Should our goal really be about being able to fake it long enough so that we don’t get discovered for how little we know or how shallow our faith truly is? NO! Our goal ought to be to grow. Our goal ought to be to grow so that we may more accurately and faithfully honor and bring glory to God.
Finally, we have to remember the final words of our text. Jesus told the disciples, “And behold, I am with you always, to the ends of the age.” Jesus’ name at his birth of Immanuel means God with us. Friends, the end of the age has not come yet because Jesus has not returned. Therefore, Jesus is still with us. No, he may not be physically present with us just as he was with the disciples when he said these words. In fact, he wasn’t to be with them either after only a few days. However, he is still with us, sitting at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, serving as our eternal advocate with the Father. Not only that, but the same Holy Spirit that we have mentioned remains with us, applying the work of Christ to our hearts each and every day. Our objective is a simple one: we are to go out into the world. When we go out into the world, we are to tell everyone about Jesus. When we find someone who doesn’t know God, then we are to witness to them and help bring them to the Lord. Have you gone out into the world in search of the lost lately? Have you sought to help someone grow in their already existent faith lately? Have you even gone out into the world lately with the message of the Gospel? The task is clear and concise, as Christians, we ought to be going and not just gathering. Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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