The story is told of a man who on his hospital bed, called his wife and three children to his bedside to give them his last wishes. “To you, my darling wife, I leave that big hotel on Kairaba Road (imagine a 13-floor hotel)”. The wife burst into uncontrollable tears. Turning to his eldest son, he said, “to you, my son, I leave the hospital in Kotu” (imagine the size of a busy tertiary referral hospital like Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital). His son wailed even louder than the mum.

Then he turned to his daughter and said, “to you, my daughter, I leave the football stadium at Bakau” (think the size of Baba Yara Sports stadium). Even more loud cries and tears. Then finally, to his lastborn son, he said, “and to you, Abdoulie, I leave the school complex in Fajara” (imagine a high school complex like Mfantsipim School), as the life ebbed out of him, and he slipped into the next life. Even louder screams and sobs!!!

A nurse standing by was intrigued and asked, “I know it’s sad to lose a loved one. But your father has left you all such wonderful properties; why so much weeping and wailing?” To which they replied, with deep sadness in their eyes: “He was a cleaner. The so-called properties he handed over to us are where he works, and he has just passed on the responsibility of cleaning those places to us!”. Seeing as these were the last words of their husband and father, this wife and kids were despondent, not only to lose their loved one but more for the fact that they felt obligated to carry out his last wishes—cleaning those vast properties he assigned to them!

We usually take the last words of a dying man very seriously, don’t we? Much like a will. Whether you like the contents of the will or not, you usually have to carry it out unless there’s reason to doubt that it was genuine. In Matthew 28:18-20 we’ve got the last words of our Lord before he ascended to heaven. He said,

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

From the very start, Jesus’ first words to his disciples included a promise to make them disciples who make disciples:

“Follow me,” Jesus said, “And I will make you fishers of men.” (Matthew 4:19).

And his last words to them included a command to carry on with the task he assigned to them from the very beginning, namely, to make disciples who make disciples. This is a command to every Christian who’s worth his salt. Yet, our attitude to this great commission—the final command of our Lord—can be likened to the response of the wife and three children to that man’s last wishes.

Rather than filling us with excitement, the mention of evangelism conjures feelings of dread in many Christians. For many of us, the command to “go and make disciples of all nations” was meant for specialist “evangelism committees”, a few evangelists and missionaries, and professional pastors and teachers. C. H. Spurgeon, in his usual pithy way, puts it like this:

“The gospel command is, “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature,” but it is so little obeyed that one would imagine that it ran thus, “Go into your own place of worship and preach the gospel to the few creatures who will come inside.” [1]

David Platt notes instructively:

“Jesus has invited all of us to be a part of His plan. He has designed all of His people to know His joy as we share His love, spread His Word, and multiply His life among all of the peoples on the earth. This is the grand purpose for which we were created: to enjoy the grace of Christ as we spread the gospel of Christ from wherever we live to the ends of the earth. And this purpose is worth giving our lives to seeing it accomplished. It’s worth for millions of people who do not yet know the mercy and majesty of God in Christ. And it’s worth it for you and me, because we were made to be disciples who make disciples until the day when we see the face of the One we follow, and together with all nations we experience His satisfaction for all eternity.”  [2]

I think David Platt hits the nail on the head as to why so many of us neglect the command to go and make disciples of all nations; namely, because we have yet to grasp the big picture of God’s heart for the nations. So, in this three-part series of posts, we will attempt to explore God’s big picture for our world.

In Ephesians 1, from verses three through ten, we read:

“3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4. even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5. he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6. to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8. which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9. making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10. as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.”

This verse is part of a long, complex statement beginning in verse 3 and ending in the 14th verse. In this passage, Paul describes the grand scheme of God’s salvation as carried out in Christ — beginning from eternity past with the choosing or election of the Saints, to eternity to come, when God will once more head up or re-unite all things under the rulership of Christ. As the details unfold, we get to realise that the purpose of Christ’s redemptive work is to undo the effects of the fall of man.

After our first parents had disobeyed God and their eyes opened to their sin and shame, they run and hid from God’s presence, when he came by in the cool of the evening to fellowship with them as at other times. Thus, we see that the fall produced in man a dread of God’s presence and a sense of guilt.

By contrast, God’s elective grace towards the Christian justifies him (declares him guiltless) through faith in the cleansing blood of Christ. Restored to the right relationship with God, he can once more walk before God in love (without fear or guilt)—for perfect love casts out all fear (1 John4:18).

Further, God adopts the believer into His family, fully granting us the rights of a son—including giving us the gift of the Holy Spirit, who is a seal of His ownership and a foretaste of the inheritance that awaits the believer in heaven. Paul’s explanation for all of these is,

“according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished on us, according to the riches of his grace.” (Ephesians 1:7b-8).

Notice in the Ephesians passage that few words or phrases occur repeatedly. One is the phrase “In Christ” or “through Christ.” Throughout the Bible, this is another way of describing Christians. A Christian is simply someone who is “in Christ” (see Romans 16). Also, notice the phrase “the purpose of his will” or “the mystery of his will”.

It is instructive to note that the first time we encountered the term, God’s ‘purpose’ or ‘will”, it was in connection with our adoption into God’s family. The second time we encounter the term, it is linked with God’s plan to reunite all things, by which we can deduce that God’s plan to reunite all things starts with adoption into His family. And the common theme in both places is the term “In Christ”. From this, we can say the following:

If you have already placed your faith in Jesus for salvation, you have taken the first and vital step in aligning with God’s purpose to reunite all things. But as there are so many people out there who as yet don’t know Jesus, it behoves us who’ve been adopted into God’s family to make it our primary concern to see others come to salvation and be a part of God’s global reconciliation agenda.

In future posts, we will explore how God outworks his great purpose in and through us, culminating in reunifying the entire cosmos.  

Notes: