Recovering the Priority of the Gospel by Michael L. Brown for Ask Dr Brown
When it comes to our greatest priority as followers of Jesus in this world, it this simply this: we are here to know God and to make Him known. Or, put another way, our highest calling is to be disciples and make disciples. Nothing matters more than this.
As expressed by Jesus in the Great Commission (not the Great Suggestion), “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” (Matthew 28:18-20).
This is the command we were left with. This is our sacred mission.
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We love helping others and believe that’s one of the reasons we are chosen as Ambassadors of the Kingdom, to serve God’s children. We look to the Greatest Commandment as our Powering force.
And while it is hardly the only thing we do, the Great Commission must be our primary goal.
In the words of the Methodist leader John Wesley to his workers, “You have nothing to do but to save souls. Therefore spend and be spent in this work. And go always, not only to those that want you, but to those that want you most.”
He continued, “Observe: It is not your business to preach so many times, and to take care of this or that society; but to save as many souls as you can; to bring as many sinners as you possibly can to repentance, and with all your power to build them up in that holiness without which they cannot see the Lord.”
Of course, Wesley gave this directive specifically to his evangelistic workers.
He understood that moms and dads and workers and students had many other responsibilities in life. He was hardly calling everyone to stop what they were doing and simply preach to the lost.
At the same time, the redemption and transformation of the lost must be our highest priority. It is why we are here, commissioned by Jesus Himself.
He shed His blood for a perishing world. It is our sacred responsibility to share that Good News before it is too late. Nothing matters more.
As expressed by Salvation Army founder William Booth, “On to Calvary! On to death for the world! Let us not refuse the smiters! No halting! No rest! On, suffering, sorrowing, weeping, dying for God and men, till the hosts of hell fly from their last defense, and we march on over a burning world into everlasting glory!”
No sacrifice is too great when it comes to bringing someone from eternal death to eternal life.
It is this burden and vision that has carried missionaries to the ends of the earth and church planters to the streets of our inner cities.
It is a burden for the lost, a vision for their transformation, a recognition that we are ultimately passing through this world, an understanding that we live our lives here in the light of eternity. That is a consistent theme throughout the pages of the New Testament.
To repeat: it is our highest priority.
As the Moravian leader Count Nicolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf once said, “I have but one passion: It is He, it is He alone.” But his devotion did not stop there. Instead, love for Jesus meant love for the lost. As he also said, “The world is the field and the field is the world; and henceforth that country shall be my home where I can be most used in winning souls for Christ.”
