Found at Postmillennial Worldview from One More Hope. The latter I know nothing about, but Postmillennial Worldview is well worth a stop each week. I don’t know anything about Pastor Sumpter or his ministry.
Idahoan Pastor Toby J. Sumpter recently tweeted what he deems is the newly edited version of the Great Commission for modern evangelicals:
“A moderate amount of power has been given to Me — mostly in Heaven and a little on earth, therefore try your best to make disciples, maybe a few from every nation? — baptize them and teach them only your favorite parts of the New Testament.”
The quote makes some chuckle, but to a large part of the evangelical world it is a sad, but true reality: Welcome to the great omission! In 2018 Barna Group [1], a Christian research organization, released the results of a study conducted on pastors, churchgoers, and U.S. adults which demonstrated that 51% of those surveyed did not know what the Great Commission was! If 51% of the surveyors had never even heard of the Great Commission (this included pastors mind you), I wonder out of those who have heard of the Great Commission, how many actually understand and are actively obeying this great command?
The survey and quote demonstrate a catastrophic failure of the Church to understand what she is for and why on Earth (literally) are we here. It’s like we have embarked upon a ship not knowing where we are going, why we are getting on a ship, or what the purpose of the trip is. I once heard Pastor Jeff Durbin say that “culture is the report card of the Church” and if that’s the case we are failing tremendously. The Church’s disobedience to know, comprehend, and obey the Great Commission is the direct result of the darkness and sin encroaching upon the bride of Christ. Think about it, God’s solution to save, redeem, and restore the world from its cursed state (Gen. 3:15), is the Great Commission implemented and obeyed. It is not plan A or B or C, it is THE plan and for too long we have engaged in the great omission. It’s time for the bride of Christ to repent of her disobedience and be awakened to the inheritance that already belongs to her (Ps. 2:7-8), purchased by Christ’s blood-bought payment for the world (Matt. 28:18-20;Jn. 3:16-17; 19:30).
Amen.
Let us compare and contrast Pastor Sumpter’s satirical formulation of the Great Commission with the actual passage from Matthew 28:18-20. First he says: “A moderate amount of power has been given to Me — mostly in Heaven and a little on earth”. Now it’s probable that most Christians would not actually profess this with their mouths, yet we do confess it by the way we live. The misconception comes when trying to understand the idea of Christ’s Lordship. Scripture says:
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” Jesus having all authority in heaven and on earth often means to Christians that He is supreme Lord in the heavenlies, in some other dimension way-out “there”. He is Lord over all of the angels, over all of the deceased saints that are now in heaven, or Lord over the Church, but when it comes to His full authority, kingship, power, and sovereignty over all his earthly creation, we have a hard time not limiting His authority because we are under the guise that “this world is not our home”, we’re just “passing through” and that the earthly world actually belongs to Satan. Yet Jesus is saying the exact opposite! At his ascension, Jesus was attending his coronation session. The Father gave Him all authority and made a regal pronouncement to the world, to every individual, every family, every city, every nation, every president, every political authority, every business, every educational system, that everything must be submitted under the Lordship of Christ because He has been crowned as King over all kings and Lord over all lords (Rev. 1:5). Universal dominion belongs to Christ (Ps. 2, 72; Matt. 28:18-20; Eph. 1:18-22; Col. 1:15-20). This scene is the capstone moment of God’s great story of covenantal and redemptive work throughout the world. Therefore, Christians are commanded to press the Crown rights of King Jesus in every area of life and thought. Hallelujah, truly “all authority” has (past-tense) been given to the King.
Read the rest here.
It’s one thing to send the tweet and write this article; it’s another to teach anyone who would listen about the foundations of not just why we tell folks about Christ but how to deliver a clear and straightforward salvation testimony. If you read the whole article and come away thinking, it doesn’t tell how to prepare and do it, you’ve found the real problem.
The Great Commission isn’t only about teaching those who wander into your church building, but as Mark relates the words of Christ, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” (Prepare: here, here, here, here, and doing it here.) Christ made His men into teachers, evangelists, witnesses, and preachers. Todays leaders make their men comfortable by tickling their itching ears.
I wonder how many doors Pastor Sumpter’s church knocked on this summer and how many of his men stand on public streets with their Bible offering to show lost sinners what Jesus was doing two thousand years ago and why they need Him this very moment. I hope for their zeal and my total embarrassment that their works put me to shame for even asking.
The trenches are where Christian Soldiers win the war, one soul at a time. Personal witnessing is as much about seeking the lost as it is about asking those who claim Christ if they’ve told somebody how they got saved and how Christ can save them also. Challenging milk-takers to grow by publicly sharing their testimony with lost sinners is a key beginning of growth in the believer. Every Christian must tell lost souls how to be saved; that’s the power of the multiplier, as the Holy Spirit works through us.
The Gospel of Christ doesn’t need a bunch of fancy university degrees; it needs sergeants, soldiers, and grunts who know how to fight and win. Professional Christianity has wrecked the Church in the West. Take your fancy titles and throw them in the trash, grab your Holy Bible, and go show folks how to be saved from the book of Romans, compelling them to come into the wedding supper of the Lamb.
