"Understanding the Great Commission: Spreading the Good News of Salvation"

Christians were commanded by Jesus to go out and make disciples of all the nations. This commandment, called the Great Commission has been the driving force behind mission trips since the apostles walked the earth. Christians today are still under this commandment, and many people alive today still need to hear about the Good News of Jesus Christ.

We live in a world that is very different from the world during the biblical times. The way of living now is quite different from how it was only 50 years ago. The way people think and live changes constantly, and as Christians we need to be aware of that to ensure we can reach unbelievers. Should we remove ourselves too far from the evolution of the culture, reaching those who do not believe in Jesus Christ will be nearly impossible. While we are called to be set apart from the culture, we are not called to be an island that can neither reach nor be reached by those living beyond our shores.

While Christians are commanded to be apart from the surrounding culture, we are still under the Great Commission of going out and making disciples. This requires reaching those who are not yet in the family of God. The soul-saving message of Jesus’ life and death on the cross, and His resurrection paving our way to an Eternity with Him must be relayed to the ends of the earth.

A Christian who wants to communicate the Gospel with an unbeliever needs to be aware of this dilemma: they are talking to a person who cannot understand spiritual things. The solution here is prayer. We should pray that God convinces the unbeliever of their sin and future of eternal separation from God, and that this conviction will lead the unbeliever to open their mind and heart to Him. That’s why biblical churches must organise prayer meetings specifically aimed at the conviction and conversion of unbelievers.

This is to say that spiritual work needs to be done in the heart of an unbeliever, which only the Holy Spirit can do. On our side, we must work hard to share the Gospel with unbelievers, while praying for those we reach and those we don’t. It should be a big item on the to-do list of the Church.

Starting with Truth

A major stumbling block to the Gospel is how truth is defined. The big question in philosophy throughout the ages has been: “What is truth?” Does it exist? If so, what is it, and where does it come from?”

These questions continue to be relevant today. Why is it so important? Simply because all we do in our lives is based on the presupposition that Truth exists. Truth is what corresponds with reality. So, what is truth and where does it come from?

I am writing this to argue that here, only the Christian worldview makes sense. All other worldviews fail, simply because they start from a god or an idea that is far too limited to be able to serve as the foundation and source of truth. Only the God of the Bible is infinite enough to be and give a complete and rational explanation of truth.

Francis Shaeffer, one of the leading Christian philosophers and apologists of the 20th century, talked about “true Truth”. To speak of truth in that way has become more and more necessary since the definition of truth radically changed during the last decades. Truth has become a subjective and personal thing. The message of our culture is: “Everybody has their own truth” – an increasingly popular statement which has made it necessary to clarify what Christians mean when speaking about truth.

Truth is true for everybody, always, everywhere and it never changes. Everything else is opinion. This is a rejected idea in our modern times as it robs people of their freedom to think, and therefore do, whatever they want.

Jesus said: “It (the world) hates Me, because I testify that their works are evil”, essentially saying that He confirmed that truth is absolute and therefore makes people responsible for their deeds. So, if a person can change the God-given definition of truth, they are free to bend any other truth and do away with all cultural norms.

But truth, by definition, cannot be subjective or personal. If two people live by different “truths” and these “truths” contradict, it becomes impossible to know what is true. Besides, if it is true that there is no absolute truth, how can that statement be true? This ideology is self-defeating.

There is also an ethical concern in this discussion. If there is no absolute truth, who decides what is right and wrong? Who is to say charity is good and murder is evil? If we can each decide on our own truths without experiencing confrontation, what use is the judicial system? The path of no absolute truth is a dark one when taken to its fullest potential.

This shows that the fight for Truth is not only an intellectual discussion but a moral one as well. The unbelieving world fights to get rid of Truth, because ridding the world of this would rid it of biblical truths and rules, which exist to convict and condemn those who live to gratify the flesh alone. Without truth, humanity is left with no standard at all, which will in essence lead to chaos and anarchy.

Jesus was also recorded saying: “I am the Truth”. This shows that Truth is a Person. Not an idea or a personal conviction. And why could Jesus say that? Because He is God and therefore, All Knowing. Only a Person who knows everything can never be wrong and can say that He is the Truth.

Here is the amazing thing: In the reality of our daily and practical lives all people appeal to “true Truth”. This shows that modern people do not believe what they say they believe. This is true in every aspect of life, whether we talk about Truth itself, moral judgement, the belief in our rational capacities, logic or the laws of nature. For all these things unbelievers “borrow from God”. I will be writing future articles about these topics.

Truth can only come from a Source that knows everything and can never be mistaken. None of the parts of our visible and invisible universe are absolute. All things die, decay and disappear. Outside the God of the Bible, there is nothing we can come to in our search for Truth.

In our conversations with unbelievers, we need to show them not only the impossibility of their worldview, but also the fact that their search for Truth lies much closer than they realise. It lies in the embracing of Jesus Christ and using the standard set in His Word as a roadmap for life.