My soul clings to you,Your right hand upholds me.
“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, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
This is the Great Commission, the dear words Jesus left with us before He ascended. Wow, you can hear these words reaching from the moment that they were spoken to the end of the age. It is for me to live and to lay my life down for. I don’t want to be at fault in taking His words and running with them in vain. I have often made it my goal in evangelism to bring “converts” to “assent” to the Gospel. But in truth, I only reduced the Gospel and the calling of Christ.
Jesus said, “make disciples”. And in these words, He made the Gospel something very personal. We cannot “make disciples” and not be involved in people’s lives. It requires that we pour out our lives for others. This is not merely getting someone to “assent” to the Gospel, for a “decision” does not save you. It is bringing someone to live (to obey) the Gospel that saves. The Gospel is something that is very hands on and intimate. Our attitude is to be as Christ’s who came and became flesh and was involved in our lives. Paul in his ministry proclaimed the Gospel in this manner. He preached the Gospel and poured his life into those who came to faith in Jesus Christ. And when he taught, he did not reduce the gospel, but taught “them to observe all that” Jesus commanded. We see this throughout Acts and in the Epistles, the pouring out of their lives to carefully nurture the gospel in the lives of those with whom they witnessed to.
I am not saying that we wait for an opportune time to preach the Gospel. We are to make the most of every opportunity. In Proverbs, “Wisdom cries aloud in the street, in the markets she raises her voice; at the head of the noisy streets she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks”. We must preach the Gospel. We are the fragrance of Christ, everywhere. And there is grace for those moments when the encounter with a person is short. However, we do not want to run in vain. We want to walk with them to make sure that their election and salvation is sure. And we want to walk with them as they grow in the faith.
I believe that if our pursuit is to obey Christ in making disciples unto salvation and not just merely speaking the Gospel, we will not run in vain, even when our encounter with a person is short, for Jesus said, “behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
