The one thing you can’t do in heaven
Perspective can be powerful!
Personal evangelism is work, perhaps the most critical work this side of heaven. Think about it. It’s one thing on earth we won’t be able to do in heaven. Worship in heaven will be perfect. Fellowship will also be perfect in heaven. We’ll serve God perfectly in heaven and enjoy the process completely. Evangelism, however, is something done in the here and now.
People are broken. People need the Lord. Jesus is the answer. That’s why the Lord came to die for our sins and rise again. He came to restore that broken relationship between God and man that sin’s curse brought. He’s called His people, the Church, to be Ambassadors of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20), giving us the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18). The Great Commission serves as our marching orders.
At the heart of the Great Commission is Jesus’ command to “go out into all nations and make disciples” (Matthew 28:19). God’s Kingdom building program requires His children, you and me, to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, for, “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). People need to trust in Christ to be forgiven of sin, to experience the abundant and eternal life Jesus promises, and to go to heaven.
At the heart of the Great Commission mandate is the operative word, “go.” What does going look like?
Interestingly, it doesn’t begin with an action, but rather with a commitment of the heart to follow Jesus. Additionally, it will look different for each one of us.
In Matthew 4:18, Jesus said to Simon (called Peter) and his brother Andrew: “Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:18). Jesus didn’t explain to these Galilean fishermen what that statement meant. They simply followed.
In this Matthew 4 passage, Jesus was calling them to follow Him in long-term discipleship. Their decision to follow would mean three-and-a-half years spending lots of time with the Lord. During that time they underwent a life-changing process where they were transformed from fishers of fish to fishers of men as Jesus taught them, set an example for them, and allowed opportunities for them to minister. There were also times to debrief following ministry activities.
The disciples becoming becoming fishers of men began with the decision to follow Jesus.
As His children, our decision to commit our Christian witness to Him and to follow him wherever He leads us evangelistically is the starting point.
As we follow Him, He will transform us and will show us the way we need to go. He will give us the grace we need for the work. “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8).
In our lives we have comfortable ways of being and living. Just as Peter and Andrew would have been very comfortable and familiar with fishing for fish, so we also are comfortable and familiar in areas of our life.
Yet, the call to walk by faith in our personal witness requires we be open to God as He molds us and changes us from what we are to what He wants us to be. For today, we are all in process, being conformed to the image of Christ, because none of us ever “arrives” this side of glory. We all have room to grow.
Whatever your passions, gifts, and abilities, will you surrender them to Jesus and allow Him to mold them for His Glory to accomplish His Kingdom purposes, which center on redeeming lost people?
Jesus spent His entire earthly ministry within the boundaries of the Holy Land. Yet after the resurrection, He commanded His followers to make disciples of all nations, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 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 things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18–20). Notice again the word “go.” We can only imagine their reaction when He said go out to all nations.
The resurrected Lord reaffirmed His mandate to go to all nations in Acts 1:8, including the promise of the Holy Spirit partnership in the Great Commission endeavor: “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.”
I wonder what the disciples were thinking when they heard the words “to the end of the earth.” The disciples are a great example of stepping out on faith. They were called to move beyond the walls of everything they knew.
Geography was only one part of the story. They would follow the Lord to new places, but they would also be ministering among various peoples and cultures. This would be quite a learning experience and faith stretching endeavor to be sure.
For you and I, the will to go will always precedes the how to or where to go. And the willingness to go where you’ve never gone before (whether close to home or far away)—and maybe even do what you’ve never done before—is an amazing commitment. This was the Great Commission given to the disciples and it is the same mandate for us today.
Will you and I step out in faith and go where He calls to whomever He calls, in order to share the life-saving message of the gospel—doing the one thing we can’t do in heaven? Amen.
“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news.” – Isaiah 52:7