Great Commission

Don’t Forget Our Mission

by Ben Zornes · Mar 11, 2024

This past weekend was our annual Missions Conference. I’d like to underscore why this event is on our church’s annual calendar. We’ve all got plenty to do, so it isn’t just another event to fill our schedule.

We believe that the church’s primary task is found in Christ’s commission to His disciples to go into all the world and preach the Gospel. This command hasn’t been rescinded. Therefore, it’s the task of the church in every age to obey our Lord and bring the glorious news of His suffering and exaltation on our behalf to all nations, tribes, and tongues.

In some quarters foreign missions has either become simply an opportunity for adventurous Christians to see far off parts of the world, or it’s contaminated with the postmodern sludge of “all cultures are equal” and have abandoned, almost entirely, the task of proclaiming the Gospel of Christ’s Kingdom.

Nevertheless, the banner of Christ will be raised over every citadel of human society: church, state, and family. But keep in mind that when the Great Commission says, “Go” it literally translates to “as you are going.” Meaning, this task of evangelizing the nations isn’t to be done as if it’s a Hail Mary desperation pass at the end of a football game. Rather, we’re to courageously and diligently seek to know Christ and make Him known to all inhabitants of the earth.

All this will take awhile, but we must not twiddle our thumbs. Spurgeon gives a fantastic reminder on this front: “If from this day for the next 10,000 years not a single soul should be converted to God by foreign missions—it would [still] be [the Church’s] duty with increasing vigor to thrust her sons forward into the mission field because her duty is not measured by the result, but by the imperial authority of Christ!”

Prayer of Confession

Father God,
We would be numbered as Your friends, and we know that this can only be if we come through the righteousness of Jesus. Through Him you draw us near, in order that you might then send us out to be ambassadors of Your great mercy unto the sons of men. Forgive us where we have been cold and indifferent to the plight of the lost and the depraved. Renew a zeal for evangelism in the midst of your church, that we might see a reformation that is deep and wide in this dark age in which we live. Where we have not been faithful to live as obedient witnesses and testimonies unto Your Word and ways, pour out Your mercy upon us once more.
You have called Your church to truth in the inward parts, so we now confess our individual sins to You. Selah.
We do this in Jesus’ mighty name, and Amen.

So You Can’t Boast

by Ben Zornes · Feb 25, 2019

Picture the scene: a newly married man with his young bride. They live on a 197,000,000 sq. mile plot of land. Theyâ€™re the only people on the planet. The dream honeymoon. The Almighty commands them to take dominion of it all. Tame it & fill it. And God wasnâ€™t joking.

Now, picture a different scene: 30AD, 11 disciples are charged to go throughout that same world, preaching the Gospel to every inhabitant. Once again, a vast commission.

Both the dominion mandate of Genesis, & the Great Commission in the Gospels are staggering tasks. God loves to ask His people to do things far beyond the seeming strength & capacity of their ability. He has Noah build a boat to save all of earth’s species, before boat-building was really a thing. He has Moses take on Pharaoh, with just his staff and a promise to deliver the Hebrews. He has David fight Goliath. He whittles down Gideonâ€™s army to 300, to battle the superior Midianites. He commands Joshua to conquer Jerichoâ€™s formidable fortress by marching Israel around it silently.Â

Why does God love to give such massive commands to His people? So that when the victory is won, when the commission is fulfilled, when the mandate is accomplished, when the battle is over, God alone gets the glory.Â

[epq-quote align=”align-right”]So that when the victory is won, when the commission is fulfilled, when the mandate is accomplished, when the battle is over, God alone gets the glory. [/epq-quote]

God has called you to do things that to your earthly eyes can seem (and in fact are) beyond the scope of your ability. This shouldnâ€™t swallow you up with despair. It should spur you onward in humble, faith-filled obedience. God never calls you to something without also pouring out upon you His Holy Spirit that you might â€œlabor, striving according to his working, which works in [you] mightily (Col. 1:29).â€ Look at all that Godâ€™s called you to do, then rejoice. God intends to do great and mighty things in and through you. Far beyond what you can imagine, and far beyond your capacity. He does this so that when He accomplishes it, all that you can boast in is the faithfulness, power, and goodness of your God.

Gospel in the Darkness

by Ben Zornes · Jun 23, 2017

When We Might Feel Discouraged

Christian, do not grow discouraged. It may seem as if the Church is beset on all sides by earthly foes and hellish fiends. Schisms and heresies abound. The seeds of mushy thinking and sloppy feelings have brought us a harvest of evangelical apathy, theological anemia, and liturgical cravenness. Many have lost their confidence in the efficacy of the Gospel, largely because we have been deceived into thinking that the Gospel’s only purpose is behavior modification or a topic for theological hair splitting.

[epq-quote align=”align-right”]The seeds of mushy thinking and sloppy feelings have brought us a harvest of evangelical apathy, theological anemia, and liturgical cravenness.[/epq-quote]My fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, the Gospel of our Lord Jesus brings better news than simply “correcting our bad behavior.” This Gospel we preach is white hot with the blazing glory of resurrecting power. It is the power of God unto salvation (Rom. 1:16). It is not merely a slap on the wrist to get us to stop chewing our nails. The Gospel is accompanied by the regenerating power of the Spirit, which makes dead souls live.

Two Errors in Understanding the Gospel’s Effect

Slapping the wrist of a corpse will only cause the corpse to more quickly crumble into the decaying dust of its existence. ButÂ this Gospel brings new birth. It makes that dead man live, truly live. This does indeed change his behavior because he was once dead, but now is alive. So, we must not make the mistake of thinking the Gospel is only about following Jesus’ example, this is the mistake of liberal theologians. But we must not make the mistake in the opposite direction that the Gospel’s effect is found only in some technical relationship to God.

The Gospel of Christ’s electing grace in saving sinners is not akin to a Google algorithm which makes sure I get on God’s good list, and so glad that’s all sorted! Rather, His redeeming work in saving His chosen ones means that we are united toÂ His life and righteousness. This means a wellspring of the most variegated glories of Christ’s perfections and virtues are born anew in the sinner-made-a-saint.

To the Furthest Shore

But one other sinful assumption many evangelicals of our generation are makingâ€“and these are the young, reformed, and restless typesâ€“is an assumption that is based on the individualistic sensibilities of the Enlightenment era. Yes, God saves individual sinners. But this Gospel which we preach is more powerful than the saving of individuals. It is a leaven which is working its way through individuals into families into cities into nations. The Gospel, though at times it seems shrouded by the surrounding darkness, is a torch which will bring confusion to God’s enemies at the shout of our true Gideonâ€“Jesus Christ.

When it breaks forth in all its resplendent glory of Spirit-born revival its effects will not be the mere redemption of individuals. As the fire of God’s grace lights upon the kindling of dead hearts, families, and cultures, it cannot but bring new life. It is a fire that destroys that it might make new. Kings and their kingdoms will stream to the city of our God (Ps. 68:29), all the nations will worship Him (Is. 2:2 & Ps. 86:9), and those walking in darkness will see a great light and as Isaiah foresaw: “And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising (Is. 60:2).” This flood of fire with which God has poured out upon the earth, will wash through the whole earth and the Gentile nations shall come into Jerusalem to be nourished by the river of peace (Is. 66:12).

Make no mistake, the Gospel burns brightest when it seems the Church is at her darkest. It is her hope and her sword. The Church is not a victim of her circumstance, she is fair and terrible as an army sent out to conquest. She laughs at danger. She fears no darkness. This is so because the Gospel is not only effective in saving us for eternity, but the Gospel will conquer in history as well. The nations will rejoice in God, in history. We are not inviting the peoples of the nations to join our secret club of 42 people. We are proclaiming a Gospel that Christ has bought this world with His most precious blood and call upon all people, everywhere to repent of their rebellion, and be welcomed into the City of the True Jerusalem.

[epq-quote align=”align-right”]Repentance is not just for individuals, it is for city councils, family gatherings, federal governments, and continents.[/epq-quote]Repentance is not just for individuals, it is for city councils, family gatherings, federal governments, and continents. Africa, Asia, North & South America, Oceania, Europe, and Antarctica are Christ’s. Chicago, Weld County Colorado, Tokyo, Jamaica, Lesotho, Mosul, Saskatchewan, Amsterdam’s Red Light District, are all lay within the wide-extent of the domains of Christ’s Kingdom. We are to call them to baptize them into His covenant and to “obey all He has commanded” (Mt. 28:18-20). “For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea (Is. 11:9).”

Broadening Our Scope

[epq-quote align=”align-right”]Lift the smallness of our vision.[/epq-quote]Perhaps the reason for the ineptitude and impotence of our modern evangelism is that our scope of the Gospel’s extent and influence is so darn small. We want it to be a moral slap on the wrist or an entry in God’s rosters. When in fact, the Gospel is the good news that Christ is King of this planet, and we are to expect the nations to be redeemed as we faithfully preach His living Word as the Spirit pours out effusions of saving grace upon individuals, families and nations. His Kingdom shall know no end. So perhaps our confidence in the Gospel’s power should not be so constrained. It is far more potent than we could ever imagine. As one hymnodist once said, “Lift the smallness of our vision.”