But can God use ME?

“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

(Matthew 28:18-20)

I believe most Pentecostal/Charismatic Christians on the earth today have heard this scripture countless times. It is of course known as the Great Commission — Jesus' final instructions to the apostles before He left the earth. And if one has even a limited understanding or revelation of Christ or the Gospel, one must agree that this statement is of the greatest importance to the church and all its members. 

The vast majority of believers you are likely to meet will agree with part or even most of this instruction given by the Lord — with baptism being the reason for most disagreement, as is to be expected. Most Christians believe and profess that the primary purpose of the church on earth is to do exactly this: make disciples. But the sad reality is that believing and speaking is one thing, going and doing is quite another. 

Forgive me for being blunt but let's not beat around the bush. Jesus isn't asking us, is He? He certainly isn't making a suggestion. The noun "commission" means an instruction, order or command. To be commissioned means to be appointed or authorized for a task. Generations have read these words of Christ and grasped the gravity of them, only to go therefore and do nothing. Well okay not exactly nothing. We love Jesus, go to church, fulfill our various Christian duties including attending church and paying our tithes. We do read our Bibles and pray most days. It's really not that we are too ashamed of God that we'd deny Him. We're quite content to be associated with Him and for the most part cherish the relationship we have with Him. But were our Christian walks to be weighed the one area in which most of us would be found lacking would be in this area right here.

What I have been contemplating of late is why we as believers struggle with this command. What is it that prevents every Christian in the world today from just going out and telling everyone they meet the Good News of Jesus Christ? Are pastors not motivating the point enough? Are unbelievers meaner and hence more difficult to reach today than back when Peter and Paul walked the earth? Do we think that the command was given only to an "elite" group of disciples who have undergone theological training and/or identify as preachers of the Word? 

My conclusion is that 90% of the time believers feel inadequate to "go to all nations." We feel unqualified for the task, as if we have not yet reached the necessary "level" in our Christian walks to actually tell someone about Jesus with the goal of converting them. The problem isn't with the Gospel itself or its relevance to a postmodern generation — it has been and will always be the answer to a dying world. Despite it being our favorite excuse, nobody is too busy to reach out. We are surrounded by people who need Jesus almost on a constant basis so it's not like we lack the opportunities. No beloved, the only weak link in this whole chain is man.

Now I was nearly tempted to list off some of the popular excuses we use to ease the itching conviction of the Holy Spirit, but there really is no point! Chances are that you are already familiar with said excuses and highlighting them again might just strengthen us in our disobedience. The truth is that God chose us for this mission. Furthermore God wants to use us to complete this mission, in fact the mission cannot be accomplished without us carrying out our orders. But the biggest truth about this mission, the revelation of the Lord Jesus' words in the last verses of Matthew, is that really isn't up to us at all! Contradictory? Let me explain.

All those excuses we so diligently save up for the day we need to justify our inaction in the face of the lost and the poor? They're all lies. The devil cunningly has us believing that we'll somehow mess it up. We foolishly believe that our actions are the determining factor in the success of the Great Commission, while it is our inaction that has a far greater effect. But in the end our influence on the effectiveness of the Great Commission is minute, minuscule, infinitesimal, and at best extremely small. Let me draw your attention to the first and last sentences of Jesus' words at the end of Matthew 28:

"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to ME."

"And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

These two statements are like the anchor points at either end of a suspension bridge. They begin and complete the Great Commission, and like a bridge they uphold that which spans between them. It is Jesus who possess the highest authority in all creation, and it is this very Jesus who promises to be with us always in all His glorious might.

Knowing this, the middle steps of the Great Commission, the "go, make, baptize, and teach," is as easy as crossing a solid bridge that is not swayed by any element or force, no matter how great it might be. Yes, it requires action on our part to go from one side of the bridge to the other. But it is Jesus' strength, His authority and His presence that ultimately carries us over. It is not without reason that He is called Alpha and Omega, The Beginning and The End, the Author and Finisher of our faith.