GO!

“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.””  Matthew‬ ‭28‬:‭19‬-‭20‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Perhaps I have been looking at this text all wrong!

Well maybe not, “all wrong,” but normally I have preached Jesus’s great commission with a primary focus on the threefold mandate of, making disciples, baptizing and teaching all to obey Jesus commands.

Whereas those are all essential components of the church’s mission, but I have so easily jumped over the main verb that precedes Jesus’s call to  – “GO!” 

Not come, sit quietly, listen to a message, sing some songs, pray and then expect others to come and join us. Yes, I know I invite you to “come” to church every Sunday, and yes, all these things form the core of our mission statement of making disciples of Christ, but before we can make disciples, baptize and teach, we must first Go. And yet, we can get downright comfortable staying put,  just like those first disciples, until they got a visit from a powerful friend.

Truth is Christianity is a come and go affair. We come and receive and then we go and share. We come to worship and then we go to practice what we preach.

Last week we read the Pentecost story and I asked you all to be praying for the Holy Spirt to prepare for this coming Sunday. You may recall how that same Holy Spirit gave the first disciples the power, passion, and the language to go be the church. 

I know that I usually conclude these emails with an invitation to “Come and see,” but this time I’d like to add, “and let’s talk about how we should be going.” Besides it is “Trinity Sunday” and we will talk about how God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit enables us to go.

Pastor Rob