A Final Exam on the Great Commission

Matthew Wells, Media Assistant

I know you’re all burned out on exams. But this one only has two questions. I think you can handle it.

​1. Which of the following Bob Jones University students will be participating in the Great Commission this summer?            A. Bob, who is serving as a counselor at the WILDS Camp in North Carolina.
        B. Betty, who is doing a missions internship at an orphanage in Tanzania.
        C. Bill, who is interning at an inner-city church in Philadelphia.
        D. Barb, who is going home to work at Chick-Fil-A so she can afford tuition next semester.

2. Which of the following graduates will be engaging in the Great Commission in their life calling?
         A. Tom, who got a job at one of the Big Four accounting firms.
         B. Tim, who is staying at BJU for Seminary.
         C. Tammy, who is going to be a K-4 teacher at a Christian preschool.
         D. Tracy, who has been accepted into Clemson’s engineering grad program.

Answer key:

1. I will accept A, B, C, or D. I will also accept “all of the above.” Oh, and I’ll also accept “none of the above.”
2. See above.

Sorry about the trick questions!

But how we answer those questions – at least how our heart is prone to answer the question – reveals how much we understand the Great Commission.

What do you picture in your mind’s eye when I say someone is doing the Great Commission?

Do you picture someone in a faraway land speaking some strange language with another person? Do you picture someone handing a tract to someone else? Do you picture some guy preaching? All of these could very well be part of the Great Commission.

​But just as much, you could picture a guy taking his lunch break during a fifty-hour week to sit next to a coworker and hear his story, and then try to tell him his story about how Jesus changed his life. It could look like a weekly meeting at a coffee shop with an old friend who used to go to church but has since gone astray.

​The Great Commission is not confined to foreign fields or “evangelistic programs.” It knows no boundaries. The only contextual constraint is that first word – “Go.”

In whatever context you “go,” Jesus says to make disciples there.

So if your summer plans take you to the Middle East, make disciples there. If it takes you home to Michigan, make disciples there.

If your future job takes you far away to teach in China, make disciples there. If it takes you back to BJU and Greenville, make disciples here in grad school.

I would encourage you to spend a summer on the mission field or at camp. But the problem is not necessarily that some of us aren’t going. The problem is that we’re not actively trying to make disciples in the places we’ve already gone!

​God has called you somewhere this summer. He’s also guiding you somewhere for the rest of your life. Wherever that somewhere is, make disciples there in the context of a faithful local church where those new disciples can be baptized and taught, as Jesus goes on to instruct (Matt. 28:19-20). If there’s not a Bible-believing church there, plant one!
This summer, we’re all about to go. The only question is how many of us are going to disciple.