Commission: (n) a duty given to a person or group of people.

It is pretty universally known as the “Great Commission”–the words Jesus imparted to his disciples before ascending to heaven. (You can stop reading at any point where you no longer believe.)

He said to them, “Go unto all the world and preach the Gospel to every living creature.”

Truth is, you’d be hard-pressed to find any corner of the globe (an oxymoron) where an awareness of Jesus and his deeds is not known to at least some extent.

So when you consider projects, the Great Commission has been a relatively successful one, though it has taken two thousand years.

But what weakens the Great Commission of going “into the world and preaching” is that the simpler commissions that precede it are often ignored.

The Initial Commission:

“I am not hot shit. I need to humble myself and realize that I become stronger by recognizing my weaknesses.”

You see, that Initial Commission is not nearly as popular. Why? Because you don’t get to preach at people. Yet if you try to share the Great Commission while thinking you’re better than everybody else, it will be rejected by the hearer.

Then there is the Expanding Commission:

“If I am the salt of the Earth and the light of the world, I should probably bear some fruit to prove the point.”

It always astounds me that God collects some of the laziest, broken-down, ignorant and bitter people to follow Him and attempt to convey His message of love through their hatefulness.

So you see, I don’t think the Great Commission works very well–getting a platform to preach the Gospel to the whole world–if the Initial Commission–finding out you’re a sinner–and the Expanding Commission–“well, since I’m a sinner, I might want to de-sin before I preach to others”–is not in full bloom for the world to see and smell.

I am very proud of my ancestors for sharing the message of Jesus throughout the whole world.

Now, since we’ve got a good start on it, why don’t we reinforce it by embodying his message?

Subscribe to Jonathan’s Weekly Podcast

Good News and Better News