In Matthew 28:19, right before Jesus ascends to Heaven, He tells the disciples 19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” This is commonly known as “The Great Commission” and is used at just about any missions service you will ever go to. We tend to take this commission and only think of it in a more global concept instead of a local concept as well.
Have we ever thought that we are all called to missions? We think of missions as going overseas and helping build orphanages or bring clean water to people while telling them about Christ, but these are just side effects of people carrying out missions. True missions is to share the Gospel. John Wesley said, “You have one business on earth – to save souls.” This should be our foremost thought and goal.
I remember when I was much younger one of the churches, we attended had signs above all the doors to the sanctuary. As you were exiting these signs said, “You are now entering the mission field.” Missions does not require travel or going to some far-off place. Missions is here and now. Charles Spurgeon said, “Every Christian is either a missionary or an impostor.”
Too often I think we find ourselves as imposters. We will donate to foreign missions and talk about how much we wish we could go share the Gospel, but we ignore the mission field right in front of us. Whether it be in your job, your school, your neighborhood, or community that is your mission field. Wherever you live is where God has called you to do missions.
We are to share the Gospel. That is what the Great Commission entails and what should be the focus of every church. We share Christ and Him crucified and raised to life. This is the Gospel. Not to love our neighbor or to take care of widows and orphans. These are good and are commanded by scripture, but they are not the Gospel. The Gospel message is much too precious to share space with anything else. The fact that the sovereign God of all creation, came down to earth and walked and talked and experienced everything we experience. Then died in the most humiliating, painful method of execution, satisfying the wrath of God for all that would believe on Him. Then He rose and conquered death and the grave and has now gone to prepare a place for us. This is the Gospel. This is the Good News. This is the core of the Great Commission.
If you have the opportunity, and feel God leading you to it, go on a short-term mission’s trip. I promise you it will change your life if you allow it to. Go fellowship and share the Gospel with other brothers and sisters around the world, but don’t ignore your own mission field. Don’t think that because you are not able to go to somewhere far away from where you live you cannot be involved in missions. Jesus said in Matthew 5:14, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.” Go and be that light to your friends, to your co-workers, to those you consider your enemies. Let the light of Christ shine from within you to all that you encounter. Show others Jesus through your actions and your words. This is your missions’ field. Jesus simply says go.
“God is pursuing with omnipotent passion a worldwide purpose of gathering joyful worshipers for Himself from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. He has an inexhaustible enthusiasm for the supremacy of His Name among the nations. Therefore, let us bring our affections into line with His, and, for the sake of His name, let us renounce the quest for worldly comforts and join His global purpose.” — John Piper
