Passion for the Great Commission

June 11, 2009 – 10:20 am

Massimo Lorenzini, writer and speaker for Frontline Ministries, wrote about the passion that believers ought to have for the Great Commission of our Lord. In his extensive article, he traces the life of a believer from the call to discipleship, to a full understanding of God’s eternal purposes, to obedience to Jesus’ Great Commission.

His outline:

  1. What the Disciples Learned about Discipleship
    • They learned to make the kingdom of God their priority
    • They learned that Jesus is the King of God’s kingdom
    • They learned that Jesus was establishing His church
    • They learned that to follow Jesus would entail great commitment and sacrifice on their part
      • They were to submit to the requirements of discipleship
      • They were to understand the reason for discipleship
      • They were to realize the reward for discipleship
      • They were to remember the royal source of discipleship
    • They learned that Jesus gave His life to redeem sinners.
    • They learned that Jesus’ plan for them was to go and make disciples of all the nations by the proclamation of the gospel.
  2. God’s Eternal Purpose
  3. The One Command of the Great Commission
    1. Disciple-Making As Reproduction And Multiplication
    2. What This Looked Like In The New Testament
    3. Where To Start
    4. Recognize The Brevity Of Time
    5. Lord, Give Me Another Ruben!
    6. Closing Challenge

Below is Massimo’s closing challenge, a call to see the worth of our Savior compared to the alluring satisfactions of this life.

In his devotional book Quiet Talks with World Winners, S.D. Gordon recounted a story of a group of amateur climbers who planned to ascend Mount Blanc in the Swiss Alps. On the evening before the climb, the guides outlined the prerequisite for success. They said that due to the difficulty of the climb, one could reach the top by taking only the necessary equipment for climbing, leaving all unnecessary accessories behind.

A young Englishman didn’t listen and proceeded up the mountain with a blanket, a small case of wine, a camera, a set of notebooks, and a pocketful of snacks. On the way to the summit the other climbers began to notice various items left along the path-first the snacks and the wine, a short while later the notebooks and camera, and finally the blanket. The young man managed to reach the peak, but, just as the guides had predicted, he did so only after discarding all his unnecessary paraphernalia.

Gordon made this application to the Christian life: “Many of us, when we find we can’t make it to the top with our loads, let the top go, and pitch our tents in the plain, and settle down with our small plans and accessories. The plain seems to be quite full of tents.”

Fellow Christian, where is your tent pitched? Have you settled on the plain? Or, are you still following Christ in obedience to the Great Commission? What changes do you need to make to follow Christ in this area? The church is the bride of Christ. The church is of infinite value to Him because He paid an infinite price to redeem her. He willingly endured the pain and shame of the cross to redeem us. How much it must grieve Jesus when we don’t esteem the value of the church and the Great Commission. Let’s not insult our Lord by living as if our goals and plans are more important than His. Let’s follow His example by living sacrificially in order to carry out the work of disciple-making. Let’s recommit ourselves to the great task of making disciples by evangelizing, edifying, and equipping the people around us.

Read the entire article or view the print-friendly version.

HT: @NationsBeGlad

D. Massimiliano “Massimo” Lorenzini just earned his MDiv from Southern Seminary. Massimo was born in Italy and moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico when he was nine. He spent his teen years in a rebellious and intoxicated lifestyle. He was saved by Jesus Christ at the age of twenty after viewing a film on Rock music from a Christian perspective called Hell’s Bells.  Massimo maintains a blog called Fueling Faith and a personal web site called Maximum Massimo. [bio taken from his Frontline author page]

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