Matthew 28:18-20 - The Great Commission.

The last three verses of Matthew's gospel record the great commission that Christ gave to His disciples before He ascended into Heaven. Jesus commanded them (and us) to "go and make disciples of all nations". There are a couple of important points in this command that must be noted. Firstly, it does not say "go and make disciples IN all nations", rather we are to make disciples "OF all nations". A better translation is "go and make all nations disciples". Secondly, this command is not just referring to evangelism but to DISCIPLE-MAKING! Christ commanded us to reach out to nations, not just individuals. He commanded us to make these nations followers of Christ - Christian nations - not just nations with some Christians. This is not an impossible task - indeed, Reformers such as Martin Luther and John Calvin turned Europe upside down, and brought in an age of Christian influence unparallelled in history. Unfortunately, the following generations lost the plot and either failed to continue making disciples or even worse - undid the work their fathers had done. Now, when you consider there are around a billion Muslims and a billion Shintoists in the world today, we have a lot of work to do. But take heart - Jesus promised us He would always be with us right up until this age of disciple-making comes to a close.