Missions

Matthew 28:18-20 reminds us that basis for Christians to bring the gospel to the lost both home and abroad is the reality that Jesus died and rose again so that all nations would be blessed. The ‘therefore’ in verse 19 is not just for the preceding verse 18, but ultimately for all of the Gospel of Matthew. In other words, it’s as if Jesus is saying, “I came as God in the flesh, I was born as an infant in a cow’s feeding trough, I was tempted by Satan, I was baptized by John the Baptist, I performed signs and wonders, I taught in parables, I was confronted by Pharisees and confronted their legalism, I was unjustly arrested, I was mocked, beaten, spat upon, I was forced to disrobe publicly, I wore a crown of thorns, I was abandoned by you my disciples, I was nailed to a cross, I was suffocating and bleeding simultaneously, I was forsaken by my Father, I died, and I arose on the third day in fulfillment of all the prophecies written about the Messiah in the OT, and I did it all so that anyone who would believe in me would be received with my perfect righteousness and I would bear their sins on the tree and they would be accepted as now sons and daughters of my Father, THEREFORE GO and make disciples of all nations.” The call to go to the ends of the earth is rooted in this Gospel of God in Christ. This is the good news Paul speaks of in Romans 10:14-15.

Therefore, we believe the gospel is more than the message that must be shared with others. It is our motivation and basis upon which we consider missions in the first place.