Much of the Christian world today flips the Great Commission on its head.
18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:18-20
The following is a description of the way a huge chunk of our modern evangelical churches interpret the Great Commission. Compare this to what Jesus actually said in Matthew 28.
Jesus does not have all authority.
If Jesus is merely a king spiritually, but not physically, he does not have all authority on heaven and earth. He only has authority over those who follow him now. And he’ll only have authority over the whole earth after the resurrection.
Do not go forth.
Any evangelism we do must be relegated to our churches during emotionally manipulative altar calls. If we do venture into the outside world to tell people about the Gospel, we must do so with our actions. Not our words. We must do everything we can to show the saving love of Jesus Christ by doing good deeds for people. Traditional evangelism where we actually “preach” the Gospel to people is far too abrasive. More people can be reached if you allow them to come to us, rather than going forth to them.
Do not disciple the nations.
Nations can’t be discipled. Only people can be discipled. But the mistake is understandable.
Discipleship is best accomplished by going to as many church programs as possible, reading devotionals regularly, listening to KLOVE, and having lots of quiet time. When people see how fun all of these things are and how much better they make our lives, they’ll want to join. Anyone can help disciple others simply by loving Jesus. Even our kids have opportunities in school to be salt and light to their classmates.
Do not baptize them.
It’s inconceivable to baptize a whole nation of people. We may accidentally baptize someone who’s not a true believer.
We should only baptize people who really mean it. Which means we should doubt their salvation as much as possible (and make them doubt it too) by making the whole process as inconvenient as possible. It’s necessary to put someone who wants to be baptized through various interviews, make them sign documents agreeing to complex doctrinal statements that we never talk about in church, and make them wait a long time for all of this to happen. If they’re young, it’s best to make them wait even longer – a few years at least, until you think they’re mature enough to believe in Jesus. If they make it through all of that and still want to be baptized, only then will they prove that they’re really saved, and it’ll be safe to baptize them.
Do not teach them to obey.
We know that once we’re saved, we’re forgiven no matter what we do. So we wouldn’t want to make anyone doubt their salvation by talking too much about sin or repentance. We need to focus on a more positive and encouraging message, just like the one Jesus taught.
Obedience is kind of a harsh word, and it brings to mind abusive relationships. Instead of obedience, we should be teaching about love. Loving God and others is how we sum up all of God’s commands after all. So as long as we’re loving God and loving our neighbors well, we don’t need to worry about anything else.
I hope you read that as if it were from Screwtape. There were grains of truth among a sea of lies. You may know people who believe many of the ideas that I expressed here. If you do, consider them in need of true discipleship. Go read this article where I dive more deeply into the correct way to understand the Great Commission.
