What is the Great Commission?

[evangelist6589]

Lots of debate and confusion on evangelism on this board. I think a key problem is the interpretation of the Great Commission.

Mark 16:15 (NIV) He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.

Luke 24:47 (ESV) and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

Matt 28:18-20 (NIV) 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 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, 20 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 version emphasizes making disciples and is often overemphasized as the model of doing evangelism and the other passages are ignored. Let me suggest that both Matt, Mark, and Luke are all part of the great commission. When Jesus sent out his disciples in Mark one thing he emphasized was REPENTANCE

Mark 6:12 (ESV) So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent.

Both Jesus and John the Baptist preached repentance of sins and so should we.

So how should we do evangelism?
This is a great debate on this board as few agree with each other but may I suggest that we evangelize everyone that is lost including the false teachers.

Jesus never said to His disciples that they needed to build a relationship with people before they evangelized them, and this is not shown in Mark 6, but instead the disciples just went out and preached that people should repent and if they were rejected they were to leave and move on. Often the way I do evangelism is by passing out tracts, open air preaching, and challenging lost people using the Good Person test which is the 10 Commandments. I also mail out letters to both the false teachers, and lost family members and friends. The gospel message that I preach emphasizes sin, hell, the coming judgment, and the cross. The gospel message of today focuses too much on grace, and ignores sin, hell, and the coming judgment. A typical gospel message by most evangelists today may mention sin or hell, but it will almost never park on those themes. According to the Bible we need to be BALANCED and preach on the negative but also the positive as in grace, and the cross.

 

[Revmitchell]

Let's just go ahead and say it. This thread is really about justifying what so many have told you is wrong.


anywayyy......

What did Paul say:

1Co 9:20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law.
1Co 9:21 To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law.
1Co 9:22 To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.
1Co 9:23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.

What did Paul do here? He developed relationships with people in order to win them to Christ. That is what he was doing when he said "I became", when he said "I became all things to all people". Becoming all things is building relationships. You have not become anything to anyone except a pain in the back side.


Also, The Great Commission does not begin and end with simply telling someone the gospel. The act of making disciples entails much more than that. The Great Commission is all about making disciples not just believers. Making disciples means building relationships, being intimate, building trust and credibility, teaching way beyond just a salvation message, and it means taking responsibility for the person the Lord saved through your testimony of Jesus finished work on the cross.

The Great Commission does not just say to tell the salvation story, it says make disciples. What you are doing is not the Great Commission at all. It does not even resemble anything like it. You just go around beating people up with the Bible and apparently making threats.

The fact is you need to withdraw from any of your activities until you have been trained and discipled yourself. You are just making a mess.

 

[DHK]

Matt 28:18-20 (NIV) 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 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, 20 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 version emphasizes making disciples and is often overemphasized as the model of doing evangelism

Jesus never said to His disciples that they needed to build a relationship with people before they evangelized them, .

I see you don't like the most clear-cut broadest explanation of the Great Commission given in the Word. Any reason for that?
Did it occur to you that before one can actually "disciple" a person they must build a relationship with that person first?

 

[SolaSaint]

As God used three different men to report what Jesus said about the great commission and how evangelism is done, so today He can use us all in different ways. You feel God is using you to street preach and proclaim the Gospel. I feel God wants me to build relationships with those I come in contact with.

Just a note it was Luke who said to repent....and Mark said those who believe will handle snakes, speak in tongues and drink poison w/o harm. I'm sure you don't suggest we do that do you....:laugh:

 

[evangelist6589]

Let's just go ahead and say it. This thread is really about justifying what so many have told you is wrong.


anywayyy......

What did Paul say:




What did Paul do here? He developed relationships with people in order to win them to Christ. That is what he was doing when he said "I became", when he said "I became all things to all people". Becoming all things is building relationships. You have not become anything to anyone except a pain in the back side.


Also, The Great Commission does not begin and end with simply telling someone the gospel. The act of making disciples entails much more than that. The Great Commission is all about making disciples not just believers. Making disciples means building relationships, being intimate, building trust and credibility, teaching way beyond just a salvation message, and it means taking responsibility for the person the Lord saved through your testimony of Jesus finished work on the cross.

The Great Commission does not just say to tell the salvation story, it says make disciples. What you are doing is not the Great Commission at all. It does not even resemble anything like it. You just go around beating people up with the Bible and apparently making threats.

The fact is you need to withdraw from any of your activities until you have been trained and discipled yourself. You are just making a mess.

So you ignore Mark 6, Mark 16:15, and Luke 24? You ignore what Jesus told his disciples in Mark 6 and how they just went out and preached repentance??? Shame on you Mitchell.

 

[evangelist6589]

I see you don't like the most clear-cut broadest explanation of the Great Commission given in the Word. Any reason for that?
Did it occur to you that before one can actually "disciple" a person they must build a relationship with that person first?

Thats not what I said. I said that they all are the great commission and appropriate for different times. For example I was at a Calvinist church that had multiple ways of doing evangelism in 2010. They had street evangelism, and then they had friendship evangelism. The street evangelists passed out tracts and did open air preaching, and the friendship types went to the YMCA and built relationships.

My point is the Bible supports both methods of evangelism!

 

[evangelist6589]

As God used three different men to report what Jesus said about the great commission and how evangelism is done, so today He can use us all in different ways. You feel God is using you to street preach and proclaim the Gospel. I feel God wants me to build relationships with those I come in contact with.

Just a note it was Luke who said to repent....and Mark said those who believe will handle snakes, speak in tongues and drink poison w/o harm. I'm sure you don't suggest we do that do you....:laugh:

God can use them all and I am open to them all. However I am more gifted as a street evangelist.

 

[Rippon]

Mark said those who believe will handle snakes, speak in tongues and drink poison w/o harm. I'm sure you don't suggest we do that do you....:laugh:

I don't believe Mark wrote that at all --another hand added verses 9-20. In some manuscripts another penman wrote less than 12 additional verses to Mark 16. But that is a departure from the theme of this thread. Sorry.

 

[evangelist6589]

I don't believe Mark wrote that at all --another hand added verses 9-20. In some manuscripts another penman wrote less than 12 additional verses to Mark 16. But that is a departure from the theme of this thread. Sorry.

Thank you. That topic belongs in the textual criticism thread.

 

[Revmitchell]

So you ignore Mark 6, Mark 16:15, and Luke 24? You ignore what Jesus told his disciples in Mark 6 and how they just went out and preached repentance??? Shame on you Mitchell.

Do you even know what the context of those passages are? There is nothing there that contradicts anything I have said. By the way when did you last cast out a demon? When did you last pick up serpents and drink deadly poison. I mean if you are going to quote a passage then include it all. Don't just cherry pick it to fit your presupposition. So I will stress this question, do you know the context of the passages you quoted?

What I do know is that you do not have the ability to deal with the passages I have shown you. Ray Comfort would not approve of your method nor of your attitude. If you want to be a "Way of the Master Evangelist" instead of a biblical one then by all means go ahead.

 

[evangelist6589]

Do you even know what the context of those passages are? There is nothing there that contradicts anything I have said. By the way when did you last cast out a demon? When did you last pick up serpents and drink deadly poison. I mean if you are going to quote a passage then include it all. Don't just cherry pick it to fit your presupposition. So I will stress this question, do you know the context of the passages you quoted?

What I do know is that you do not have the ability to deal with the passages I have shown you. Ray Comfort would not approve of your method nor of your attitude. If you want to be a "Way of the Master Evangelist" instead of a biblical one then by all means go ahead.

The ending of Mark is not original but an insertion. If you read from the NIV or ESV you would see this. Mark 16:15 is the model verse in the Way of the Master which is very Biblical.

 

[Revmitchell]

Mat 28:19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
Mat 28:20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

Anyone know what it means to make disciples?

 

[Revmitchell]

The ending of Mark is not original but an insertion. If you read from the NIV or ESV you would see this. Mark 16:15 is the model verse in the Way of the Master which is very Biblical.

That did not answer my question. Do you know what the context is of any of those verses you quoted?

Also why do you avoid Matthew 28:19-20?

 

[evangelist6589]

Anyone know what it means to make disciples?

Build relationships which I am open to doing as well and what I have tried doing, but as a laymen this is not easy. Sure if I was with Paul Washer as a missionary in Peru where people were open this would be easier but I am not. I am a laymen evangelist. Its very difficult not being in school and being married and attending a separatist church to make disciples.

 

[evangelist6589]

Tomorrow I have a phone chat with a false teacher scheduled. I am gonna try and build trust with him first. I believe he is just deceived.

 

[Revmitchell]

Build relationships which I am open to doing as well and what I have tried doing, but as a laymen this is not easy. Sure if I was with Paul Washer as a missionary in Peru where people were open this would be easier but I am not. I am a laymen evangelist. Its very difficult not being in school and being married and attending a separatist church to make disciples.

The title of this thread is "What is the Great Commission"? That is the title you yourself gave it. I have explained it to you and have given clear scripture. You now, in the quote above, have acknowledged that you understand what I have said and in fact agree with it....but.......it is too hard for you.

I guess the implication is that because it is too hard for you, you feel you have the choice to ignore part of the great commission and only engage in the part that you like.

Now what you need to understand is that by leaving out part of the Great Commission you are like someone who tries to make it out into busy traffic only to realize that you should not have darted out there yet. You just make a big mess.

You need to slow down, do all of it or none of it. Its like trying to preach repentance without grace, its like trying to preach hell without heaven. You are being one sided and heavy handed.

 

[Revmitchell]

Tomorrow I have a phone chat with a false teacher scheduled. I am gonna try and build trust with him first. I believe he is just deceived.

That a boy, good job! You need to know that building trust and relationships takes time and may take months. Slow down let things simmer, get to be friends.

 

[InTheLight]

God can use them all and I am open to them all. However I am more gifted as a street evangelist.

Yet you have said you know of no one that has come to Christ through your efforts so how can you say you are gifted?

 

[Don]

The ending of Mark is not original but an insertion. If you read from the NIV or ESV you would see this. Mark 16:15 is the model verse in the Way of the Master which is very Biblical.

Okay, now I'm confused.

If the ending of Mark is NOT original but an insertion ... Mark 16:15 is part of that insertion ... but Mark 16:15 is very biblical ... well, by jiminey, what exactly am I supposed to believe here?

 

[Rippon]

Okay, now I'm confused.

If the ending of Mark is NOT original but an insertion ... Mark 16:15 is part of that insertion ... but Mark 16:15 is very biblical ... well, by jiminey, what exactly am I supposed to believe here?

There are a number of additions to the original text that are indeed biblical, such as Mark 16:15 --but not penned by the author.