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Yesterday we briefly surveyed a handful of the injustices plaguing our world today. What does a just church look like in an unjust world? The answer is clearer when we understand the mission of the church.

In Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus speaks to His disciples in a text that is often called the Great Commission. He has died on the cross, risen from death three days later, and now, just before He ascends into heaven, He issues His marching orders for the church. It’s interesting that His marching orders aren’t about feeding the hungry, helping the poor, healing the sick, visiting the prisoner, freeing the enslaved, welcoming the marginalized, or any other social justice issue. Each of these issues matters, but none of them are the church’s mission. Look at the text:

 

Matthew 28:18-20—“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.”  

 

Now look again at the passage. There are four action words in the Great Commission: go, make disciples (one word in the original language), baptizing, teaching. Now let’s go back to grammar school for a moment. Among those action words are one imperative and three participles. You’ll remember that an imperative is a command, like “Open your Bible!” You might be less familiar with a participle. A participle is a word formed from a verb that often helps us to understand the main verb. In English it usually ends with the three letters -ing.  

Consider this example, “Clean the kitchen, taking out the trash, sweeping the floor, and wiping down the counters.” You’ll notice four action words in that sentence. Which is the imperative? Clean. And which words are the participles? Taking, sweeping, wiping. Clean tells you what to do and the participles tell you how to do it.

Now go back to the four action words in the Great Commission: go, disciple, baptize, teach. One word tells us what to do, three tell us how to do it. Three are participles, one is an imperative. Which of those four words is in the imperative?

Many instinctively say the imperative in the Great Commission is “go,” but that’s incorrect. The imperative is make disciples. MAKE DISCIPLES . . . as you are going. MAKE DISCIPLES . . . by baptizing. MAKE DISCIPLES . . . by teaching.

Making disciples is the mission of the church! If we’re not careful, we can get so focused on important and urgent issues that we forget the unique mission that Jesus has given to us!  In a world filled with injustice, what does a just church look like? A just church is a disciple-making church. Come back tomorrow to learn more about what that means.