Mere Missions

22 • M ere M issions : M oving F orward to M ultiply

that is all around them. We must put aside childish ways (1 Cor. 13.11) and be aggressive and intentional in loving one another. We are brothers and sisters (Eph. 1.5) from the same household of faith (Gal. 6.10); a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation (1 Pet. 2.9). The third mandate from the Lord Jesus is also given to His followers as members of the Kingdom Society. Its focus is towards those outside the Church to all who are spiritually dead (Eph. 2.1) and at enmity with God (Rom. 8.7; James 4.4). It is a mandate to “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.” We have been entrusted with a message that liberates (Gal. 5.1), reconciles (2 Cor. 5.18), and restores (1 Pet. 2.24) the fellowship with God for all those who by faith confess Jesus as Lord and believe in their hearts that He is alive (Rom. 10.9). This mandate does not negate, supersede, duplicate, or absorb the first or second mandate. It stands on its own. It is carried forward by evangelism leading to discipleship and church planting. This mandate was not given to humanity but was given to all those who claim Jesus Christ as Lord and is considered missions in the strict biblical sense of “the sending forth of authorized persons to unchurched communities to proclaim the Gospel in order to win converts to Jesus Christ, make disciples from the converts, and gather together the disciples to form functioning, multiplying local churches that bear the fruit of the Kingdom of God in that community” (Acts 13.1-3; Acts 26.18; Eph. 4.11 [some are apostolic in gift and calling]; Jon. 3; Mark 16.15; Matt. 28.19-20; Luke 24.47; John 20.22-23). All God’s children are to honor Christ the Lord in our hearts as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks us for a reason for the hope that is in us yet doing it with gentleness and respect (1 Pet. 3.15). This is different in that certain individuals within the