Thursday September 15 | God's People Working for Shalom
Read Matthew 28:19-20
“Go into all the world.” As we talk about the mission of the church, the most common Scripture passage to point to is Matthew 28:18-20, also called the Great Commission. Stop right now and read this passage in your Bible or on your Bible app.
When we talk about the mission of the Church, we often point to this verse, and read it as a mandate for one particular spiritual activity: evangelism. Evangelism certainly is one part of the command - telling people about God so he can be known! But there is another part of God’s mission!! As we’ve said, God’s mission to restore shalom has two parts - to be known by all AND for all creation to flourish!
Jesus was clear about both parts of this mission to restore shalom. Not only did He die as a sacrifice for our sins so our relationship with God could be restored; He LIVED an example of what it looks like to help all creation flourish.
He healed diseases, He spoke against injustice, He calmed storms, He fed the hungry. He honored the limitations of his human body by resting.
In telling them to teach others to obey “everything I have commanded you,” he was telling them to see their role in God’s big mission (as Jesus did) and to tell people about it while actively participating in realizing God’s Kingdom here and now!
This has been the job of God’s people all along. Shalom is why God gave the Israelites the law; so that their community would look like His Kingdom. Shalom is why Jesus came; to make a way for people to know God again. And shalom is why the Church exists; to participate in God’s work of reconciling “all things to Himself,” as Paul says in Colossians 1:20.
As you consider the passages you read yesterday about God’s unchanging mission, how does that inform your understanding of the Great Commission?