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Introduction
Content warning: This article focuses on Christian discipleship. Although it discusses specific political themes from recent history, the main point is that Christians should focus on matters of faith and mission instead of temporal politics.
The core of the Christian faith is encapsulated in the Great Commission, which calls believers to proclaim the gospel universally, baptizing and making disciples of all nations. This mandate assumes renewed urgency and complexity within the contemporary context of Western Christianity. The socio-cultural and spiritual challenges of the modern era necessitate a recalibration of missional strategies, emphasizing that the fulfillment of this divine charge begins within the local contexts of believers. The Great Commission compels us to engage with the intricate and dynamic interplay of ethnic, cultural, and societal diversity in an increasingly globalized world.
We must refocus our mission from a predominantly territorial perspective to prioritize the individuals and communities within these geographic spaces. Such an approach demands a paradigm shift, moving beyond traditional frameworks of evangelism to a model that centers on intentional disciple-making within immediate contexts. This renewed focus, however, must not undermine the broader imperative to reach all nations. Instead, it underscores the necessity of integrating local and global dimensions of mission, fostering a holistic strategy that aligns with Christ's call to nurture discipleship as a transformative and enduring practice. As we strive to respond faithfully to the Great Commission, we must heed the words of Jesus, who charges us to form Christians committed to authentic and sustained discipleship.
Make the Commission Great Again
It was an inauguration ceremony to remember. The streets were packed with visitors worldwide, and each local small business operated in the black for weeks. After years of poor leadership and divisive culture wars, the working class hoped for a fresh start and a brighter future. The newly appointed leader of a nascent populist movement addressed the estimated crowd of about 300,000 people, which fell short of some higher expectations by thousands, if not millions. The man was known for making bombastic remarks, and his accent was off-putting to many commentators. However, this did not stop him from giving a historic and riveting speech that launched a successful administration.
He was Simon Peter, a blue-collar Galilean known for his temper and speaking his mind. He was now the keynote speaker for the Way, as the Jesus movement was called at this time. This day was the inauguration of the Christian church. During this Jewish feast of Pentecost (Hebrew: Shavuot; H7620), around May 25, AD 30, Peter began, "Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It's only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel" (Acts 2:14-16). In his speech, Peter connected an Old Testament prophecy to the day's mysterious events. Jews from the Roman Empire heard the eleven apostles speaking in other languages they had never learned but were somehow testifying about Jesus' messiahship. Before the world's end, God promised to send visions to all demographics, whether male or female, enslaved person or free, Jew or Gentile (Joel 2:28-32; Gal. 3:28).
Disciples of All Nations
Peter's sermon at Pentecost was about ten days after Jesus issued the Great Commission: "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" (Matt. 28:19-20). While the apostles waited in an upper room of the Jerusalem temple, the Holy Spirit inspired them to carry out Jesus' command immediately.
These nations had the first baptized Christians: Parthia, Media, Elam, Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Roman Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, Libyan Cyrene, Rome, Crete, and Arabia (Acts 2:9-11). They roughly correspond to the modern countries of Iran, Iraq, Israel, Turkey, Egypt, Libya, Italy, Greece, and those on the Arabian Peninsula (i.e., Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen). The distance from east to west stretched for about 3,182 miles (5,122 kilometers; see here) and from north to south for approximately 2,766 miles (4,452 kilometers; see here). This area roughly matches the dimensions of the conterminous United States (see here & here). On the first day of the church alone, 3,000 Jewish pilgrims repented from their rejection of Jesus as their national Messiah and received baptism (Acts 2:37-42). Once they all returned home, the gospel reached a vast expanse that included the continents of Africa, Asia, and Europe. This dispersion of Jews was instrumental to the growth of Christianity across the Roman Empire and beyond. Even in his time, Paul of Tarsus wrote, "This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven" (Col. 1:23).
Still Greatly Commissioned
We are Christians today because someone once baptized our ancestors and turned them into Jesus' disciples. This conversion happened at any time between the first and the twenty-first centuries. Yet, the Lord still greatly commissions us to make disciples of the nations and to baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Throughout church history, we have successfully taken the gospel to every country. However, those of us Christians in the West now find ourselves in a peculiar situation when we must evangelize the nations we live in before committing ourselves to others. Yes, we need to "Make the Commission Great Again!"
You may ask, "Didn't Jesus tell us to baptize the nations?" Of course, but we must understand the actual meaning of the text. Matthew recorded the Great Commission and applied the Greek noun ethnē (G1484) we receive as "nations." We better interpret this word as "ethnicities," as the biblical jargon implies a group of non-Jewish people rather than a political unit. Jesus commissioned the church to evangelize the Greeks instead of Greece, the Italians instead of Italy, and the Ethiopians instead of Ethiopia. Today, he calls us to bring the good news to the Chinese instead of China, the Iraqis instead of Iraq, the Colombians instead of Colombia, the French instead of France, and the Somalis instead of Somalia. That said, more of us need to stay at home and evangelize the Americans instead of the United States, the Puerto Ricans instead of Puerto Rico, the Canadians instead of Canada, or the British instead of Great Britain. We need to reach out to all the "leavers" who decided to "Chrexit" (i.e., exit from Christianity) and address their doubts. Nonetheless, Jesus did not commission us to make churchgoers but to baptize disciples to be the church.
Cost of Discipleship
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–1945) wrote a book titled The Cost of Discipleship in which he distinguished costly grace from cheap grace. As a pastor whose resistance to Nazi Germany led to his execution at the end of World War II, Bonhoeffer knew something about the cost of discipleship. He wrote:
Cheap grace is preaching forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession, and absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate. . . . [Discipleship] is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son (pp. 44-45).
Jesus taught us: "And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won't you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?" (Luke 14:27-28). Parenthetically, this lesson requires a mathematical answer. The word "disciple" translates the Greek mathētēs (G3101), which derives from the verb manthanō (G3129, "to learn"). Yes, this is the same root from which our term "mathematics" comes from, as it defines the learning of factual knowledge. To be a disciple, a learner, of Jesus means to count the cost of following him. This decision must be deliberate for us. To put it in business lingo, we must prepare a risk-cost-benefit analysis and choose the most profitable action. Jesus asks, "What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?" (Matt. 16:26).
Conclusion
Peter's sermon at Pentecost was the inauguration ceremony for the Christian church. It was our ecclesiastical birthday, in which the streets of Jerusalem were packed with Jewish pilgrims from all over the Roman Empire. The people wanted change after decades of mediocre leadership from the Herodian dynasty and the Sanhedrin. Divisive culture wars pitted Hebraists against Hellenists, Pharisees against Sadducees, Jews against Gentiles, and Judeans against Galileans. However, most people were simply working-class folk hoping for a new beginning. Peter took charge as the keynote speaker of the Way, a populist movement based on this "good news" (Greek: euaggelion; G2098) that changed the world (see "Christian Case for Capitalism & Populism"). Ancient writers such as Josephus believed that over 2,700,200 Jews came to Jerusalem for the festival pilgrimages (Wars of the Jews, Bk. 6, Ch. 9), while modern scholars give a more conservative estimate of about 300,000. Peter, known for speaking his mind and his Galilean accent, convinced 3,000 Jewish visitors to repent from their sins, receive baptism, and accept Jesus as their Messiah. Today, we read this robust discourse in light of Christendom's triumphant history.
Prayer
Blessed are you, LORD our God, King of the universe; we pray for you to prosper all those who proclaim the gospel of your kingdom throughout the world and strengthen us to fulfill your Great Commission, making disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them to obey all that you have commanded. Amen.
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