“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. Matthew 28:18-20
Happy 4th of July everyone! The 4th of July celebration is wonderful. It’s one of the few times of the year where most Christians are happy to be Christian nationalists, at least for one day. We rejoice in the godly heritage of our American forefathers and the nation they founded that was much more Christian than we are today. We give thanks for the blessings and freedoms the church still enjoys today due to their faithfulness to God and His word. We pray for the future of our nation, mourning the current wickedness of our culture, hoping for repentance and revival.
It’s days like today that we can help our brothers and sisters see that the Great Commission doesn’t just apply narrowly to foreign missionary work but is an all-encompassing vision that is the fulfillment of the dominion mandate in Genesis. As the second and faithful Adam, Jesus ushers in the New Covenant dominion mandate where the church, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and led by Jesus Himself, is faithful to be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, subdue it, and have dominion over it.
Notice that all authority has been given to Jesus in heaven AND on the earth. Most of the year the church acts as if He only has authority in heaven. Jesus then commands us to make disciples of all nations. Most of the year the church reinterprets this verse to mean Jesus has commanded us to go into all nations and make some disciples. But this is not what Jesus says. He says make disciples of ALL nations including our own.
We make disciples by baptizing them and teaching them to obey everything He has commanded. Most of the time the church thinks that instead of teaching them to obey, we should just teach them information and leave the obedience part up to them. If they obey, great! But if they don’t, hopefully they’ll come around at some point. But don’t pressure them. And we certainly shouldn’t teach them everything. We need to leave out all the uncomfortable and confrontational stuff or people won’t become disciples. The sad truth is that the church hasn’t been faithful to the Great Commission and the result is that the nations are not being made disciples.
But Jesus is Immanuel, He is with us and because all authority has been given to Him (past tense), we have been given weapons of warfare that are mighty in God for pulling down all strongholds, arguments, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:4-5) God has given us everything we need to make disciples of all nations, including ours. We just need to be faithful to the Great Commission, the New Covenant dominion mandate. Perhaps Christians will begin to view our nation like we do on the 4th all year long.
His mercy endures forever!
Pastor Flynn