“And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’ Amen.”
Matthew 28:18-20
Our response to the Great Commission is something that the Lord places before all humanity. He never forces His hand on us to say ‘yes’ to the Great Commission. Nor does He call us to strive for His way and will by answering the call. We simply surrender our lives to the risen Lord, Jesus Christ. When we surrender our lives to Jesus, though there are seasons of trial, refining, and frustration, the Lord opens up every door and makes clear the path that He has already trod before us.
What does answering the Great Commission call look like?
Well, answering the call is an all-encompassing ‘yes’ to the lordship of Jesus. Come to realize, this all-encompassing ‘yes’ mirrors the coffee process.
In little detail, the process of coffee includes the following phases. The coffee cherries are picked, from among their familiar trees. The picked cherries are rinsed in water. Then they’re laid out in the sun (depending on the type of process). Next the beans are separated from their cherry-flesh. Again, they’re left out to dry. The beans are compared and divided by weight. Lastly, the beans are roasted. All these stages occur before you get the final product (and make yourself a nice pour-over).
Now, I’m not saying that human beings are a bunch of beans (that look the same and have the same outcome in life). What I’m analogizing is that we all go through processes, times and seasons of pruning and refinement.Though we may not anticipate these seasons when we say ‘yes’ to the Great Commission, we however, go through similar processes, and we get through them.. There are times when we leave familiar people and places. Times when we are washed, cleansed, and forgiven. Times when we are affected by life circumstances. Times when we are being pulled away from our fleshly desires. Times when we are feeling dry or dried up. Times when we compare and feel divided. And times when we go through the Refiner’s fire.
No matter what season you might be in, the Lord knows the end-result, the fulfillment of His promises, and the joy of surrendering to Him and living out the Great Commission. In Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, it gives us a glimpse of the different types of seasons in life.
Acknowledging this, Jesus also knows that we cannot go through these processes and seasons alone. That is why Jesus sent us the best Comforter and Helper, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the One who prompts us to say ‘yes,’ to give ourselves to Jesus. The Holy Spirit is the full-surrender initiator of the Great Commission. The Holy Spirit empowers us to get through these processes and fully bring ourselves before the Lord in awe and obedience. In Acts 1:4-5 it talks about waiting for the Holy Spirit. Posturing ourselves to wait on the Baptism of Holy Spirit is the first step in hearing and obeying the Great Commission. Shortly after the “wait for the Promise of the Father,” Jesus unfolds commissioning words to all His disciples. In Acts 1:8 JesusJesus says: “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Surrender, posture, receive, and witness is our ‘yes’ to the Great Commission. No matter the processes and seasons that we go through, if we come back to surrendering, posturing, and receiving, we will be the witnesses that Jesus has called us to be. So, I invite you today to surrender all to Jesus and say the all-encompassing ‘yes.’ Posture yourself before the Father and submit to Him as Lord of your life. Receive what the Lord wants to give you, in His love and in His power. Witness to what the Lord has done in your life, through surrendering, posturing, and receiving. Witness to your family. Witness to your friends. Witness to your community. Witness to your city. Witness to your generation. Witness to the nations. Every human being has the opportunity to say ‘yes,’ to the Great Commission. The opportunity to surrender, to posture, to receive, and to witness.
The question is, will you?
–Morgan Lane
From one man He made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from any one of us. Acts 17:26-27