What does it mean to be sent?
Matt 28:16-20
The Great Commission
Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go.When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 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.”
This is The Great Commission, it’s at the end of the book of Matthew right before Jesus flies off into the sky. (That last part may be an exaggeration.) But it’s obviously a ridiculously important message if this was one of the last things Jesus physically communicates with his disciples. If we are striving to act out on this in all of our advances, then this is what being “sent” is. We are sent out to make great efforts to make disciples, to spread the gospel through evangelizing and teaching.
I was doing some personal reflection time and I realized that just because I’m in India doesn’t mean I’m acting on/being sent within the instruction of the commission. My thinking was pretty much this;
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.”
So I was pretty much forgetting that what makes me a sent isn’t being in a different country, in reality, back home I could walk down the street and evangelize to someone and be more sent than if I sit here in India and don’t act on the great commission. Because that would be a holiday. And in reality, when we’re on holiday we should still be sent, because acting on the “GC” should be a natural outflow of our life, in all nations, including our own.
So what are my goals for this trip in light of this?
- Evangelize, with the hope that it leads to knew disciples, but knowing it’s all up to God
- Keep the good news that Christ is with me always close to my heart
- Let all of this become a natural outflow in response to the Gospel and Christ’s teaching
Be praying for:
- Faithful evangelizing
- The spreading of the Gospel
- Health within the team
- This realization to root itself in my own heart as well as the rest of my team
- Safe travel from Hyderabad to Ongole this weekend (We’re finishing up with the three weeks of ministry in Hyderabad’s branches of Sarah Covenant Homes, to the homes in Ongole, which is about an 8 hour drive east)
Thanks for reading!
