The Great Omission

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. (Matthew 28:19, 20)

As we look at the way we compartmentalize God’s orders to what we find comfortable with as opposed to the whole command released. Then we claim full compliance when the only thing we have done is keep 51% of the small portion we agree with.

It is sad that the Great Commission is looked at with the same lens. We pick the portion we can easily keep and assume the rest does not matter.

A church may choose the first word, ‘GO’ and run with it for all it is worth. Missions are the heartbeat of God, they believe. We must Go, Go, Go and Go to make God happy. Any church that is not involved in missions is not worth to be called so. So we continue going and sending. We look down on a Christian involved in any other Christian endeavor than missions.

Another one will choose ‘TEACH’ or disciple. The heartbeat of God has moved to discipleship even as the Goers are getting better at their game. Nothing is worth the Christian calling if people are not being discipled. From Bible Studies to mentorship forums to seminars their plates are always full.

Another will choose ‘BAPTISING’ and spend every waking moment on that. Distinguishing different levels and categories of baptism as the reason it is the only quantifiable command in the commission. They fill their books with member after another who has been baptized their way, requiring that someone not baptized their way is not really baptized and must be baptized aright.

And that is where most will stop. In fact you will be surprised to get someone talking about the rest of the commission beyond reading it to avoid the accusation that they are reading parts of a verse. And it is also awkward to jump over a portion you can’t implement to get to the promise at the last part.

Yet what does the remainder of the verse state?

Teaching them to observe ALL THINGS whatsoever I have commanded you

Do we realize that that portion encapsulates the whole commission? Teaching God’s people to walk in the obedience of everything God commands them is the whole purpose of the commission. Teaching everything else yet leaving out obedience is not taking the commission as it is required. But teaching obedience without widening its scope to ALL that God has released is not teaching aright.

But we must look beyond the negative aspects of our response to the commission. We must look at our omissions as an active aspect of our personal and corporate response. It is not just the absence of our keeping the commission. It is simply our choice to decide to do contrary to what it calls us to.

Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. (James 4:17)

Sidestepping one part, and the key part of the commission, is therefore a sin against the One who gave it. Choosing what we will do makes us lords as opposed to ministers (slaves or servants). We are in effect demeaning the One who gave the commission to our level, even worse.

But it gets worse. Omitting the ALL part will make the product of all our effort severely limited as we have given a very small dose of what is required. They will therefore believe that they have the whole package when they have only a small portion. Like we talk about drug resistant ailments, what we have done is inoculated them against the complete Gospel Christ gave and is. We therefore make them enemies of the Gospel by making them believe that the dose we gave them was the complete package. Then any other demand the Gospel places on them will be resisted with their all.

That is why we see very ‘devout Christians’ visiting witches, some who even practice witchcraft. We have very serious pastors comfortable with keeping harems as the commission they were given did not say anything about adultery. We have some who see no problem defrauding their congregation through one ruse or the other yet they are very firm on the commission, even using the commission for it. that is how pastors, churches and ministries can defend homosexuality as an inherited trait instead of the abomination God calls it.

We have churches and mission organizations that will use every trick on the book to get your contribution, from taking you on guilt trips to giving exaggerated missions’ reports to convince you to give to them. We have churches that oppress their laborers and ministers to give the top brass palatial lifestyles. Yet they are convinced they are obeying the commission.

No wonder we are having a drought of preaching that touches on sin or holiness, even heaven and hell. No wonder we do not look for spiritual qualifications when we are looking for church workers. No wonder money and position is the thing we look for when we are looking for elders and deacons instead of spiritual virility. No wonder there is no place to grow a thief and weed him from the stealing spirit but decide to make him a pastor to benefit from the masses he will pull with his dramatic testimony. No wonder singers (called worship leaders) many times are the most sexually immoral people in the congregation.

Yet it is not enough to show the negative. I believe God has called me not to show where the error is but to show how to get from error to the truth.

What is the ALL? I completely believe it is connecting the people we get into the faith and grow in discipleship have a real and growing relationship with the risen Christ.

And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. (Acts 2:42)

And our responsibility as ministers is to facilitate that.

Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word. (Acts 6: 3, 4)

That was a church that had taken the commission seriously. Everybody was about keeping the King’s commands on a continuous basis. That is why we see a normal member dying for trying to display an exaggerated generosity in chapter 5.

What then is the ALL? I know someone is wondering. It is simply teaching ALL that Christ taught His disciples. But what about this verse?

And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen. (John 21:25)

How can we get the ALL yet only a small portion of it was written? I know many are wondering.

That is the essence of the ALL. We are supposed to guide them to the ALL through accessing the source of that ALL.

I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. (John 15:5)

We are supposed to nurture the people God sends our way to the point at which they stop depending on us and start feeding off the Vine Himself. Otherwise we are what I always refer to as spiritual brokers.

What is the source of that ALL? It is important to realize that God has released enough of Himself through the Bible. Accessing the Bible in its completeness forms the basis of being able to access His more focused nurture.

Valuing God’s word and spending adequate times in it consistently connects us to the life-giving flow from heaven as we can get the revelation God has given to mankind. And that is not optional. No Christian can grow unless he spends adequate time in God’s word. Why?

As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: (1Peter 2:2)

New believers need to be introduced to a consistent intake of God’s word to grow. Unfortunately, most are introduced to doctrines and traditions as per the ones doing follow up or discipleship. Even the more focused will take them through helpful topics that will answer their basic questions. Most do not lead the new believer to develop a taste for the Bible as their only source of nurture.

I have asked a question in training forums that causes me intense sadness when I see the response.

How many have read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation even once? I have been shocked to see a whole hall of pastors, bishops, evangelists where none has ever read the Bible from beginning to end successfully. And we are talking about ministers! Most read the Bible to prepare their sermons and nothing else.

Is it any wonder that there is so much sin and drama among them? Does it then surprise that some pastors must be paid to pray for somebody? Should we be surprised when it is only the moneyed that can access pastoral ministry?

How does a person go through a Bible school and not read the Bible consistently? How does someone preach God’s word that he does not spend adequate time reading?

We cannot expect God to give us revelations if we are disregarding the one He has already given. God will never speak anything that is contrary to the revelation contained in the Holy Scriptures. No revelation can come from Him that casts any doubt or suspicion on the one already recorded in the scriptures. Simply speaking the surest place we can access revelation is the Bible. No revelation is worth a dime if it does not concur with the revelation that has already been recorded.

Pursuing any other agenda than the intake of the Bible is therefore spiritual folly. And that does not matter with whether your pastor, bishop, apostle, superstar demonstrates otherwise. In fact he is the greater fool. And I am not afraid of offending.

To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. (Isaiah 8:20)

You are safer if you rejected all other revelation except the Bible than if you spent your effort following other revelation, however inspired it is. If Jesus used the scriptures to argue with His enemies, who am I to think that using revelation outside the Bible for my argument is useful? Prophecy is prophecy not because of its accuracy. It is from God only if and when it agrees with God’s revelation in the Bible. Anything that does not agree with the plain teaching of scripture is spurious revelation. Check this

If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him. (Deuteronomy 13: 1 – 4)

Discard these prophets who are boasting of their general prophecies coming to pass as that is where the test for prophecy should begin, not end.

Immerse yourself in the word of God. That is the surest place to get revelation. It is from there that God can speak a more specific word to you and not apart from there. In fact there can never be any word from God apart from the Bible. It is only in addition to and in agreement with the Bible.

This, I believe, is the full extent of the Great Commission. We are simply supposed to lead people to become completely immersed in the Bible so that any revelation will easily be known from where it came.

Lest you think I am speaking from jealousy I will tell you a few facts about me.

I was a musician, singer, choir master and trainer, instrumentalist and composer.

I have been a missionary to unreached people groups and have preached for over thirty years. I am a trainer on evangelism and discipleship and am involved in a lot of discipleship and mentoring programs.

I am a writer and have published many books, booklets, Bible Study materials and run a blog. I am presently involved with the writing ministry and assist Christian writers have their books published and have many books that have come out as a result of that effort.

God has granted me a very rich harvest (fruit) through the years as I have served Him.

I have handled temptation from many sides in those years of ministry and I can confidently state that it is my complete and passionate intake of the Bible that has not only kept me sober but also pure from the defilement that comes from much public ministry. People have come to me with a ‘clear’ word from God that I disqualify because it is contrary to the Word. I remember that after I rededicated my life to Christ I was able to read the New Testament from the Gospel of John to Revelation in a month. And I have never looked back. People struggle with reading plans but I have never had much of a problem with reading the Bible.

But it started with a commitment. I discovered that my first years after accepting Christ were a struggle because I did not know what the Bible said about many issues and there was nobody who was able to help me through my many questions. When I discovered that the Bible was not only current but on spot on many things, I determined to entrust all my nurture to it. And of course I will be lying if I attributed it all to my effort. God gave me a thirst for that word that is present to date. And I enjoy reading the Bible.

And I know that is what has kept me sane when fame or money or attention or success or failure struggle to put me down or set me up for a compromise.

And the Bible is the reason the church thrived behind the iron curtain when persecution was at its worst. The only thing they could count on is the portions of scripture they could memorize as the Bibles were treated as contraband. They therefore valued the Bible and would strip it so that each would take a portion to memorize then they would exchange. Fellowship was a risky venture and so they valued those portions of scripture. And no wonder they were able to bring down atheism and communism in those lands. The western world is going down for the same reason. They are treating the Bible as an ornament to be worn around the neck instead of food to be consumed daily.

This therefore is the Great Commission simplified. Go to the whole world sharing the love of Christ so that you draw men to God. After they believe, start growing them in the ways of God through the word until they are able not only to stand on their own in faith but are fully connected to Christ and His word that they will walk in obedience in all ways. Then they will be able to replicate what you have done on them.

And that is how life is. A child is born completely helpless. Then they grow to take care of themselves until they are able to reproduce and take care of the next generation.