A few years ago our church had a men’s camping trip in a remote place in the desert.
We had planned a discussion around the fire, but a group of young men never showed up. Among the sandstone and cactuses, we didn’t have cell service; but we had sent detailed instructions on how to get there. Some time around midnight we saw their headlights bouncing down the dirt road. It turned out they had been driving around randomly in the desert looking for us. Apparently each of them thought the others knew the way. My Grandpa used to say, “when all else fails, read the directions.” When all else failed these guys found cell service and looked more carefully at the directions. They followed them and were led to camp.
Pastors and churches sometimes reflect the guys in the car regarding the mission Jesus gave us. We know there is a mission, we have heard—and preached!—so many sermons on the Great Commission that we feel like we have a good sense of where we are going. But there are aspects we often overlook or minimize. Do you talk about making disciples and carrying out the Great Commission consistently with the commission itself? If not, you can be making great time in the wrong direction. I know this happens, because I have done it. Maybe you have done it too. Maybe you are doing it right now. Are you willing to stop and check the directions again?
Missing this is especially dangerous for Southern Baptist pastors and churches, because we have a reputation and a history of being good at missions and evangelism. We know we have weaknesses, but in the back of our minds it’s easy for us to assume that our application of the Great Commission isn’t one of them. We are really good at two of the three instructions Jesus gave us in the Great Commission, but sometimes we draw back from the third. If there are three turns we need to take to get to camp, regardless of how clear we are on the first two, if we miss the third turn we will not arrive.
So bear with me in looking again at something you are familiar with, so we can check if we are missing anything. My observation is that we most often miss the line “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:20, ESV). In the Great Commission Jesus commands us to make disciples. This is the controlling imperative: make disciples. It is modified by three subordinate actions that show how to do it: going, baptizing, and teaching them to observe everything Jesus commanded. “Make disciples” is the mission. The way we make disciples is by going, baptizing, and teaching. Making disciples requires each of these three. Each is a part of the broader mission. Southern Baptists tend to be strong at going and evangelizing, how are you doing in teaching the disciples to obey everything Jesus commanded?
As Southern Baptists we highlight the missionaries we send and the churches we plant. This is great, we should keep sending and going. But don’t forget that going is not enough. Remember Jesus’ stinging rebuke of bad missionaries, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves” (Matthew 23:15). The Pharisees were going and even getting “conversions”, but what glory did they bring to Christ in making converts that were children of hell? I am not saying we are making converts of hell. I am saying that going is not enough.
Secondly, as Southern Baptists we highlight baptisms. This is also great, we should keep on baptizing people in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Preach the gospel, win souls, convert pagans to Christ. We love baptisms, it is exciting to do them, it is encouraging to report them. As we do so, let’s remember that we are baptizing disciples: followers of Jesus. This involves genuine faith and repentance, it involves the new birth, which leads to a new life—a complete shift from the heart to the daily actions.
Too often evangelism drifts into hosting community events, inviting people to church, and making them feel welcome. These things are not evangelism. They are all fine, and may lead to evangelism, but we must remember that the call to be baptized is a call to die. We must preach the living gospel, which involves speaking clearly and specifically about sin and calling for repentance and faith in Christ Jesus. Charles Spurgeon said, “In all true conversions there are points of essential agreement. There must be in all a penitent confession of sin and a looking to Jesus for the forgiveness of it. And there must also be a real change of heart such as shall affect the entire life. And where these essential points are not to be found, there is no genuine conversion” (Spurgeon At His Best, 42). If we put people through the water who have not been through this profound reality of being converted from death to life, then we lie with our actions. We give a false assurance to the person, and we invite darkness into the fellowship of light.
Thirdly, our commission is to teach the nations to observe everything Jesus commanded. Do you see this as woven into going and baptizing? Do you see it as crucial to the mission, as part of the Great Commission? Do you give it as much attention as evangelism? It can be hard because we labor to go and tell people, we baptize and welcome them, but when we teach them everything Jesus commanded, when we boldly proclaim the whole counsel of God in Scripture, people often leave.
If we speak clearly about the sin of homosexuality, people will leave. If we speak clearly about the evil of abortion, people will leave. If we oppose Marxist ideas regarding race and economics, people will leave. If we explain that women can’t teach or exercise authority over a man, people will leave. As a result, many function as though teaching everything Jesus commanded is opposed to evangelism. Many believe the lie that if people are leaving or getting upset, we must be doing something wrong. So we draw back from some of the things Jesus teaches us in his Word. The result is that evangelism becomes less about people dying and submitting every area of life and thought to Jesus and walking in obedience to him, and more about getting people to show up on Sunday and keep coming back. But these people are not disciples.
When we pit evangelism against “discipleship,” we focus on evangelism and baptisms and we choose not to speak about difficult issues. And when the church doesn’t speak plainly and clearly about difficult issues, people turn elsewhere to get answers on those issues. So we have a generation confused about sexuality. We have a generation confused about politics. We have a generation confused about the role of women. And in their confusion, they are adopting the ideas of the world which are opposed to Christianity. So we are not bringing the light of the truth to them, and we are not making disciples, and in our desperate attempt to become relevant we are becoming wildly irrelevant.
So my exhortation, brothers, is that we preach the full counsel of God boldly, and trust God that his sheep will hear his voice and will follow him. I want to strengthen you in the resolve that God will save people through the ministry of the fullness of his Word. Our job is to herald all of that Word in confident faith without apologizing, editing, or soft-pedaling it. We are not God’s PR guys, translating him into a nicer, gentler version for modern ears. Our age is desperate for a clear, true Word from heaven. God has given you this, deliver it to them and don’t flinch.
Man can’t live on bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Your command is to give people the whole counsel of God. If you don’t, God will hold you accountable for them. As Paul said, “Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:26-27). Say everything God says with gladness, boldness, and faith. Trust God to work and to save people and to grow them into mature disciples. Don’t shy away from hard words, they are often what is needed to break hard hearts. God bless you as you continue to carry out Christ’s mission.
Tom Thiessen is an Elder at Gospel Church Durango, Colorado
