Missionary Work, Jesus’ Great Commission Matthew 28:18-20, NIV Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Hallelujah! I would like to share the grace of God under the title, “Jesus’ Great Commission,” which is based on Acts 1:8. Please repeat after me: Jesus’ Great Commission, Jesus’ Great Commission. Without exception, we have only one life to live. We must therefore live our life meaningfully, rewardingly, and happily. To do this, we must understand the meaning of our life and strive to achieve that goal. Then God will pour His grace upon us. What is the purpose of our life? It is to live for the glory of God. We were created and called for the glory of God. “I pray that the Lord alone will be glorified in all the aspects of my life. I want to please my Lord through my life.” Students must study for the glory of God. Workers must work for the glory of God. Businessmen must do their businesses for the glory of God. Then God will receive glory from us and bless us. We must always ponder about how to please God. Hallelujah! Truly devoted children always think about how to please their parents. As truthful Christians, we must always focus on what we should do to give glory to God. What should we do to please the Lord the most? We should obey His commands to please Him. The final commandment that Jesus gave to His disciples before He was taken up to heaven is written in Matthew 28:18-20. We call this Jesus’ Great Commission or the Great Commission. Jesus’ Great Commission is recorded in all four gospels; Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. It is also recorded at the beginning of the Book of Acts. The Great Commission commands us to preach the gospel. We must go out and evangelize people. Missionary work is the core of Jesus’ Great Commission. Now that we have been saved, thanks to the marvelous grace of the Lord; we must, as children of God, share God’s grace with others, preaching the gospel to the ends of the earth. We must concentrate on Jesus whether we are asleep or awake, standing up or sitting down. The goal of our life should be to lead people to the Lord Jesus. Our faith will grow when we go out and preach. God will pour His grace upon us. A church that has done its best in missionary work will grow in the blessing of God. God will bless with prosperity the country that sends missionaries to other nations. God blessed the European nations that sent missionaries to other countries. God continues to bless the United States of America who is still the leading missionary-sending nation in the world, striving to evangelize the world. God blesses America as the leading power of the world. Today Korea is the last divided country in the world, with many problems and difficulties; but we enjoy God’s blessings and prosperity because we are sending out many missionaries ? second next to America. God continues to bless Korea as a whole because Korean churches emphasize mission work and strive to send and support missionaries. I pray that your life will be approved by God. I pray that you will please the Lord through your life. I pray that you will receive enormous grace of God through your world missions and evangelization work. Then, in what ways should we do missionary work? First, we must do missionary work through the authority of Jesus Christ. It would be impossible to do missionary work on our own. We can overcome all things only when we do missionary work through the authority of Jesus Christ. Matthew 28:18 says: “Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.’ ” Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth. Jesus took all the sin of humankind and died on the Cross. Every authority in heaven and on and under the earth must and will bow at Jesus’ name because He was resurrected on the third day, destroying all power of sin and death. Philippians 2:10-11 says: “…that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.” Missionary work revives dead souls. We call preaching the gospel to different races “missionary work” and preaching the gospel among the same race “preaching.” It is not easy to preach the gospel to other people groups but it is indeed a marvelous work to revive dead souls. This is why we need the help of the Lord when we go out to the world and preach the gospel. We will have power to fight the devil with the help, power and authority of Jesus. Miracles, blessings, and grace will come to us as we march forward in our ministry, trusting and concentrating on the authority of Jesus. “Lord, clothe me with the authority of Jesus so that I will be a witness of the gospel.” We will be filled with the Holy Spirit when we are clothed with the power of Jesus. We will be armed with the authority of Jesus when we are filled with the Spirit because the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus. Bill Hybels, pastor of Willow Creek Community Church, one of the leading churches in the States, wrote a book called Just Walk across the Room. He emphasized the help of the Holy Spirit in our work of evangelism. He said, “Prayer and evangelism are closely intertwined. We must be devoted to prayer if we want to be successful leading others to Christ. We must not even think of doing evangelism unless we are prayed up. Throughout the day we should communicate with God as we intersect with people.”” This statement is true. We should pray up before trying to lead people to Christ. We must through our prayers destroy the power of the devil behind people first. They will open their heart and accept Jesus after we pray and we preach the gospel to them. You must pray fervently for your non-Christian parents. The Holy Spirit will move their hearts when you pray over and over again for them. The Spirit will melt and open their hearts so that they will accept the Lord Jesus. Rev. Bill Hybels said that we must seek the help of the Holy Spirit every morning. He advised us to pray as follows: “My life is in the hand of the Lord. Make me into a sign to point to You. I make up my mind to do my best to cooperate with You.” I want you to follow his advice and pray every day: “Lord, I walk with You today. Evangelize the world through me. Give me the power of the Holy Spirit so that I will a witness of the gospel.” Acts 1:8 says: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Armed with the Cross of Jesus and filled with the Holy Spirit; when we preach the gospel, we will lead people under the power of the Cross, bringing them to conversion giving glory to God. Moreover, we need to be humble before the Lord, saying: “I cannot do it on my own. Lord, it is You who does the work. May glory be only to You.” Second, we must do missionary work of seeking lost souls. Matthew 28:19 says: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” We must go to those who are neglected and needy. We have to leave where we are now to be able to go to them. God told Abraham to leave when God called him. Genesis 12:1 says: “The LORD had said to Abram, ‘Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you.’ ” Why did God tell Abraham to leave the country he had been living in for 75 years? Why did God tell him to leave his father’s household and his relatives? It was because the homeland of Abraham was Ur of the Chaldeans, which was the central city of worshipping idols. His father made idols and sold them. Had Abraham stayed there he could not have kept his faith in the Lord. All his relatives were in the idol-making business, and most probably worshipped them. The Lord said to Abraham: “Leave the city of sin. Leave from the wrong background of your life.” Like Abraham, we must leave our old self of hopelessness, easily falling into despair, and being wounded. We must also leave our self-centeredness and pride. We may have some problems in our personality, fighting and quarrelling and yelling at others around us. We must leave from this way of relating to others. Nothing will change in our lives if we continue to stay in that place. If we cannot control ourselves, how can we say that we are children of God? We must leave our old and bad self. Then where should we go? We must go to the neglected, the poor, the sick, and to those who are surrounded with problems. We must go to people when they call us, “Come and help us.” God will pour His marvelous grace upon us when we go to them. This past February, The Overseas Ministries Study Center (OMSC) published The 2110 World Religious Population and the Annual Report of World Missions. According to their study, of the total global population of 6.9 billion, 33.2% or 2,292,450,000 are Christians; who are the largest religious group. The second largest are the Muslims (1,549,440,000), followed by the Hindu (948,500,000). 639,850,000 people of the world have no religion. 29.3% or 2,026,690,000 of the world population is un-evangelized. The OMSC study indicates that there are 1,140 tribes in this world who have not ever heard of the gospel or the Bible through any type of media such as radio stations. We need to preach the gospel to these tribes. I went to Indonesia a few times. This nation consists of more than 17,000 islands. 13,000 of these islands are inhabited. In some of these Indonesian islands people live like their ancestors lived 3,000 years ago. There is no electricity, no tap water, or no civilization. They do not wear clothes. They hunt. They rub twigs together to make fire. Missionaries go to such places to preach the gospel and evangelize. The 1,140 tribes are like these tribes of Indonesia who have not ever heard of Jesus Christ. We need to preach the gospel to these people. We will receive God’s grace when we preach the gospel to them. The poor, the naked, the neglected, the sick, and the troubled wave at us, saying, “Come and help us. Come and help us.” We must go to them. Rev. Jae-pil You wrote a book called Evangelism is Inspiration. He introduces a girl in his book. She was born in 1929. Her parents divorced when she was eight. Her father was a very rich British banker. Her mother was the daughter of a former governor of Dutch Guiana. This little girl lived with her mother in the Netherlands after her parents divorced. The Second World War broke out and the Nazis seized control over the European countries including the Netherlands. This little girl’s family lived in fear without much food to eat. She spent her childhood in fear of war and malnourished. Luckily, the UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) provided emergency food such as bread and milk for children who were suffering from the war. Thanks to UNICEF this little was fed. She wanted to be a ballerina but did not have enough money to go to a good conservatory or a ballet school. She decided to take ballet lessons as she supported herself with part-time work as a model. During this time she received an acting role in a film. Her first starring role was with Gregory Peck in the Italian-set Roman Holiday. She was able to act perfectly as the princess in the movie because she came from a noble family. The following year she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. This little girl was Audrey Hepburn. Even though she was a famous actress; Audrey Hepburn became more recognized in her later years for her dedication to the poor and neglected children of Africa. She was called “the Angel of Africa” because of her devotion to this cause. She traveled around slum areas in Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia, Bangladesh, and Vietnam and took care of suffering children. She worked for the children until she died of rectal cancer at 63. Her son Sean Ferrer continues to maintain The Audrey Hepburn Children’s Fund that stages exhibits and events to benefit UNICEF. Audrey Hepburn left the following to her son when she died. “As you grow older you will discover that you have two hands: One for helping yourself, the other for helping others.” She was saying that God has given us two hands: one for helping ourselves, the other for helping others. Christians must share the grace of God with others as the servants of the Lord because we have received so much grace from the Lord. Let us look around us. There are so many people who need our help. There are more than 1.2 million foreigners currently living in Korea. We are living in an era of multi-cultures. Thousands of young ladies are coming to Korea as young brides. More than 5,000 Vietnamese ladies came to Korea in one year. More than 3,000 Filipino ladies came to Korea in one year. These ladies came and continue to come to Korea as brides but they do not speak Korean. They immediately come into a language barrier. They give birth to children and speak to their children in their own language; who in turn grow up with serious identity problems. These children cannot see themselves as either Korean or Vietnamese or Filipino or whatever. These children are often bullied at school because their Korean language is not fluent. They would be totally lost in this society if their parents divorced. There are so many such children in this position in Korea. This year is the sixtieth year since the Korean War. It has been almost sixty years since the cease-fire. Although the Korean War has stopped a long time ago; all the orphanages in Korea are full. All the children’s group homes are up to full capacity. I went to a group home in a remote shore in Haenam and saw tens of children living there. They were so hungry for love they would not detach themselves from me. I happened to dine with a senior judge one day. He said, “Pastor, when I would try a divorce trial up until ten years ago, the couple would fight for the custody of their children. Now they fight not to have custody of their children.” Neither of the couple wants to have any burdens from their split marriage. They should not have given birth to their children. They are deserting their own children. There are so many orphans with living parents. It is time for us to turn our eyes to them. It is time for our church to do something for them. We must start a movement of practicing love. We must set up sisterly relationships with these children and support them with love, prayer, and money. We must work for the unity of the world through the love of Jesus Christ. There are so many homeless people these days. Even the government does not have accurate data of the number of the homeless. I once talked with a staff member in a homeless shelter. According to him, there are 104 homeless centers in Korea. No one knows the exact number of the homeless because the number fluctuates daily. Somebody said that there were about 5,000 homeless near Young-deung-po Station alone but another person said that number was closer to 20,000. Today many people end up living on the streets having lost their jobs and homes. It is time for us to care for these people. We must put our brotherly love in practice for them. We must go to them with the love of Christ. We have to share the grace that we have received with other people. However, sharing love and grace should not be our ultimate goal. We must go further than this. We must preach the gospel and make them disciples for Christ. Third, we must do missionary work by making disciples for Christ. Matthew 28:19 says: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” There are many believers but not many disciples. Who are disciples? Disciples are those who imitate and follow the footsteps of their teachers. I want you to be true disciples of Jesus. I want you to imitate the Lord Jesus. How much do we resemble our Teacher, the Lord Jesus? How much do we reveal the Lord in our lives? We must examine ourselves. We may look pious when we worship the Lord at church. We may seem to be worthy to be a Christian. However outside the church when somebody pushes or their car blocks ours; some people might fight or yell at others. I am sure none of you fall into this category. Can we call such people true disciples? They may look like a Christian at church; but if they fight at home, can we call them true disciples? Suppose there is a person who loses his or her temper and yells at people many times a day. Can we call such a person a true disciple? There is no place in the Bible which says that Jesus lost His temper many times a day. Please, be a true disciple of the Lord Jesus. I pray that you will be filled with the Holy Spirit and will live like Jesus. Rev. Jack Hyles was the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Hammond in Hammond, Indiana. He wrote a book called Meet the Holy Spirit. He said the following in his book. “One cannot love because he DECIDES to love. He walks with the Author of love, and then gradually, love is transferred to him. One cannot have peace because he decides to have peace; peace is a fruit of the Spirit. As one walks in the Spirit, he then becomes more like Him, and peace is a natural result.” I pray that you will imitate Jesus Christ. “Heavenly Father, fill us with the Holy Spirit so that we will resemble and imitate Jesus. Help us live as little Jesus. Help us trust in the Lord Jesus, looking onto Him, and imitating Him when we are asleep or awake, and when we are standing up or sitting down. Help us preach the gospel of Jesus to all the people we meet, making them disciples for You. Make us Your faithful servants so that we will teach them to imitate You.” Matthew 28:20 says: “…and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” After you have become a disciple for Christ through the hearing of the Word; try to have a good influence on other people and convert them. Make them into disciples of Jesus. Their life should be changed. Their personality and their attitude about life should change, as should their thoughts and quality of speech. This is what true disciples should be like. Fourth, we must do missionary work accompanied by Jesus. The Lord will never leave us when we preach the gospel. He promised this in Matthew 28:20. “…and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” I am with you always, to the very end of the age The Lord will never leave us. We sometimes wonder if the Lord might leave us when we are under various temptations. Such thoughts occur to you because your faith is weak. I assure you that the Lord Jesus will never leave you. He will be with you to the end of the age. He stays with you in times of suffering, upholding you when you weep with pain and agony. Jesus stays with us to the very end as the eternal Victor. John 16:33 says: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” I have overcome the world. I have overcome the world. The Lord Jesus who has overcome the world is with us. Hallelujah! The joint conference of C.G.I. Conference and Asia Conference was held in Singapore last week. It was sponsored by the City Harvest Church of Singapore. More than 30,000 church leaders from many countries participated in this conference. We witnessed a wonderful work of the Holy Spirit there. Rev. Kong Hee, the Senior Pastor of the City Harvest Church is in his mid- forties. He is ten years younger than I am. The City Harvest Church is 21 years old with 33,000 members attending regularly. The average age of their members is 25. The City Harvest Church, filled with young people, will change the future of Singapore. Nick, a young man from the City Harvest Church, drove me around during my entire stay in Singapore. He was very faithful. He came to pick me up early in the morning, took me everywhere I needed to go during the day, and took me back to my hotel late at night. I discovered that he was not a church employee. He was a volunteer, a businessman, who took a week off to offer his devotion and service to the success of the conference. This realization made me feel even more grateful. Many faithful and devotional servants of the Lord took the entire week off for the service of the Lord. I was very much impressed. Hallelujah! I pray that we too have as many devotional volunteers in our church. I went to a Christian bookstore but it did not carry the book that I wanted to buy. I was looking for a new version of the English Bible but it was not in that bookstore. This devoted man who drove me around checked all the bookstores in Singapore and found the Bible I wanted. He purchased it and brought it to me that night. I offered money for the Bible but he declined, saying, “No. It is my pleasure.” I was touched by his diligence and loyalty. I believe God will greatly bless him. So I laid my hands on him and prayed for him. He served the Lord with love and devotion by giving his time, love, and money throughout the week. We must serve the Lord with devotion. Missionary work requires self-sacrifice. It also requires our time, money, and devotion. From our church, we have sent 740 missionaries all over the world. We must pray and support them financially so that the gospel of the Lord will be preached all over the world. “Heavenly Father, make us witnesses of the gospel. Be with us wherever we go with the gospel. Help us preach the gospel of the love of Christ, the gospel of divine healing, and the gospel of forgiveness. Let many people hear the gospel and come to Jesus. Change their lives through the gospel. Lord, make us witnesses of the gospel. Lord, make us witnesses of the gospel.” The Lord will praise us when we stand before Him for faithfully devoting ourselves to Him. Matthew 25:21 says: “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!’ ” Hallelujah! What does God delight in the most? What is the Lord pleased with the most? The Lord will greatly delight in our work of evangelism. “Heavenly Father, help us go to lost souls by trusting the authority of the Lord Jesus. Help us make them Your disciples. Help us stand and walk with You throughout our lives so that we will fulfill Your Great Commission. Fill us with the Holy Spirit and use us as witnesses of the gospel until You come again.” I pray that you will daily make this confession in the name of the Lord. It is my earnest prayer for you. Let us pray. Our Father of infinite love, grace, and mercy, we thank You for choosing us and making us Your precious children. Now that we are saved by believing in Jesus; help us show our gratitude for our salvation by being witnesses of the gospel to the ends of the earth until the Lord Jesus comes again. Fill each and every one of us with the Holy Spirit so that we will imitate You as Your disciples. Help us do our best as witnesses of the gospel to fulfill Your Great Commission. I pray in the Name of Jesus. Amen. 10