Most committed Southern Baptist could recite the Great Commission of Matthew 28:19-20 by heart. Jesus gave instructions to the disciples before He ascended to heaven about their task ahead and commanded them to go and make disciples in all the nations. Everyone knows this message in some way. It is a driving force behind the efforts of Southern Baptists to take the news of the gospel to every corner of the globe and every people that exists. But I am intrigued by the verses before this commission just as much. For instance, I am convinced that we should add verse eighteen to our quotations, because it explains that all of our efforts to carry out the Great Commission are only possible through Jesus authority. So verse eighteen belongs in the Great Commission, but verses sixteen and seventeen are even more enlightening.
The disciples had been given instructions by Jesus, through the women who came to the tomb, to meet on a mountainside. According to Matt 28:16, it was only the “eleven” who went to meet him there, which makes Matt 28:17 all the more remarkable. Matthew writes, “When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.” Have you ever noticed this verse before? Have you ever heard a preacher preach a sermon about the Great Commission and include the fact that it was pronounced to a few “doubting Thomases,” pun intended? Jesus came and appeared to them and they still couldn’t get their mind around what and who they were seeing.
Out of all of the human traits that the disciples put on display in the gospels, this tendency to doubt might be the most amazing to us even as we find the tendency within us. The gospel doesn’t name names as to who the doubters even were, but it is a humbling thing to see that some of these men had their doubts even then. What does this mean to us as modern day believers?
First, doubts are normal. Listen, if these guys who had spent as long as three years or more walking and talking and eating and living life alongside Jesus had doubts when they “saw him” on that hill, it must be something God both expects and can handle when we have a doubt or two along the way. If you have doubts, take them to God or talk about them with another believer that you trust.
Second, not everyone that we share the gospel with is going to “get it” right then and there. In our heads we may understand this, but our hearts can oftentimes get frustrated at a lack of response to the gospel. If these disciples on the hill experienced doubt in this moment, why should we be surprised at people who have a problem accepting their testimony of who Christ is. I have had plenty of conversations with skeptical people who can’t believe that Christ is risen. I can hand them all of the evidence that I can find and they can still dismiss it if they choose. Some of them have even told me that the only way they can accept it as true is if Jesus himself appeared to them. Judging from this example, it might be tough for some folks even then. Jesus said that if someone wouldn’t accept the testimony of Moses and the prophets, they would not believe, even if they did get a witness back from the dead. (Luke 16:31)
Share the gospel with confidence, but always remember that we cannot “convince” someone into the Kingdom with evidence. If a risen Jesus Christ had trouble convincing all eleven disciples the instant He showed up, we are certainly going to run into a few doubters. Only God can change a heart and begin to make a disciple.
Jeff,
You’re the second person this week that has pointed out that phrase preceding the G.C. to me. I think your first point should be considered by not just those who doubt, but by those who encounter fellow believers who doubt. Rather than being disconcerted or threatened when a fellow believer expresses doubt, be kind and understanding and gently work to strengthen their faith. Come alongside the doubting brother. Sometimes doubts occur at times of great crisis or loss. It is at these times especially that we need to strengthen our fellow believer and let them rest in our faith until their own is strengthened.
Blessings,
Todd
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”If they believe not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead”.
Unless the Holy Ghost moves in their heart, they can’t and won’t believe.
Todd,
Those are my thoughts exactly. I have heard too many stories of people who felt alienated at church by their doubts and the attitude toward doubting, when it should be a time that we can shine with love toward that brother or sister.
Dr. Foltz,
I couldn’t agree more.
Jeff Ms last blog post..You Must Be Born Again
Jeff M; I thank you for your kind words . see my blogs listed under my profile at;
freegracepreacher.com
I agree, too. God’s word is a great deep. What looks simple on the surface, ain’t. What is incredibly complex can at the same time be profoundly simple. His word is utterly paradoxical in its ideological powers. That is why the Baptist doctrine of ministerial qualifications is two-sided and apparently contradictory, education and illumination.
They cannot be reconciled, and they are meant to be. They both together provide the divine and human sides in the effectiveness of a minister; they make him balanced, flexible, creative, and magnetic. The nature of all biblical teachings are two-sided and apparently (we can’t reconcile them and are not supposed to) contradictory. Two-sided truths create a tension in the mind which enables one to be balanced, etc. That is why we keep having resurgences of the Christian Faith through out the ages. One of these will take the whole earth by the most peaceful, gentle, loving means possible. I believe we ought to have it as our aim to pray and labor for the conversion of ever last soul on earth at one time and for one generation and for a thousand generations just so the Lord’s promise to Abraham be fulfilled literally. Like numerous as the sand by the shore and the stars of heaven. WOW! No wonder the Bible speaks of the number in heaven as a number no one can number. Let us pray. Have you seen the article in Time magazine for 3-23-09 on 10 ideas that are changing the world now? Number 3 is THE NEW CALVINISM. Hmmm.
Dr. James Willinghams last blog post..The Climax of the Reformation
Note: The ideas of education and illumination are not meant to be reconciled. Noted the error after posting.
Dr. James Willinghams last blog post..The Climax of the Reformation
Dr. Willingham,
You bring out an interesting point that is in line with some of my recent study. For the Hebrew mind, the paradoxes of God’s nature beyond our understanding magnified the majesty and greatness of God. The Western/Greek mind prefers to be able to explain these in some manner, even though there may not be a pat explanation possible. Some of the harshest disputes of theology and doctrine result from a desire to definitively explain something about God that is not fully resolvable to human satisfaction.
Jeff Musgraves last blog post..You Must Be Born Again
Jeff: The human mind likes things manageable and simple. Unfortunately, most things are not. In any case, I have spent the better part of a half century thinking about and investigating these things as a pastor, student, scholar, teacher, and counselor. Mountains of research and reading lie behind what I have said, along with the dumbest mistakes a human can make. The difficulties are not to be believed, but dealing with the harships leads to treasures the surpass the mind’s powers to conceive. Humiliation, eating humble pie, figures in the process more than I like to think. But now, I pray, we are on the verge of a Great Awakening breathrough. After 36 yrs of praying for such, I feel like one might be drawing near. Hark! Do I hear a sound of a going in the tops of the Mulberry trees? Do we all hear faintly the sound of water, a distant flood racing toward us? Can it be that a tsunami of grace and mercy will roll in upon us like those awful ones of Judgment and death in the Indian Ocean? Only the flood of grace and mercy will be for good and salvation and relief to people suffering so much now. C.S. Lewis described such in That Hideous Strength in these words: THEY PULL DOWN DEEP HEAVEN ON THEIR HEADS. God grant that it shall be so for the glory of Christ.
Dr. James Willinghams last blog post..The Climax of the Reformation
Dr. Willingham,
I don’t wish to make you feel old by saying this, but you have been praying for this earnestly for slightly longer than I have been alive. Perhaps I can turn that to encouragement by saying that God has given many people of my generation a desire to see exactly what you are talking about, a new Great Awakening. It is my fervent prayer that God would raise up men and women who desire Him above all else so that we can once again take the world by storm and turn it upside down. It is only through God’s power and might that this can happen. So we pray and cry out to Him.
Jeff Musgraves last blog post..A Few Random Thoughts
Without Revival given to the Church, and an Spiritual Awakening given to the
lost, our beloved Country will not survive, as we have known it.
But, we have an prayer-answering God. Though II Chronicles 7;14 was given to earthly Israel, we can apply it spiritually to our land today.
So this is a clarion call to fervent prayer and fasting. Who out there will join me/
Jeff,
Wonderful post. I intend on rereading that passage as a result.
It also made me think of why Jesus used the symbol of the mustard seed as a basis for faith as well as the lamp as a symbol for our light. Both are feeble elements by themselves, but with the power of God, they can effect much!
God knows us as He created us. And what are we made of? The dust of the ground. What can you expect of dirt? Nothing much, really. God knows that. But with His power–and just as fertile dirt can grow much fruit and crops–we can do much for the Kingdom. But it’s not us (“apart from me you can do nothing”) it’s Him!
Joe Chavezs last blog post..Prayer Request: Ike & Carol
Dear Jeff: I heard today from a friend that heard from one of his friends that the greatest disappointment in Dr. D.M. Lloyd-Jones’ lif was that God never gave him a great awakening at Westminster Chapel though he had prayed for it more yrs than I have. Another friend I know has prayed for an awakening since the mid-fifties. Well, it doesn’t matter how long it takes, God has promised to hear the cries of His children. There are a multitude of promises in the Bible. Dr. Foltz has cited one that has often been pleaded by many for yrs. I would recommend that you read Jonathan Edwards, Humble Attempt, Works, II, (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, ?), p.283ff. There you will find perhaps a 100, many of which William Carey pleaded through out his life. You and your generation must continue to plead these promises whether the awakening comes now or in the future. But come it must as God keeps His word.
I need to add that there is an article in the March 23, 2009 issue of Time Magazine, “10 Ideas that are changing the world new.” Number three in the list in order presented in the magazine is, “The New Calvinism.” Suggest you read it. Also see the book just published by Reformation Trust, John Calvin: A Heart for Devotion, Doctrine, and Doxology. Our son loaned me his copy a week ago, and I have been reading, and it has given me some new perspectives on John Calvin. While I can never approve of Calvin and the Servetus’ affair, I can at least put it in the perspective that Richard Furman made the foolish statement that Southern Baptists would fight in defense of slavery (this was about 1823-24 I think). In 1861 a cannon ball from Ft. Sumter smashed into his grave like an exclamation point. the cost to North & South was 650,000 + dead soldiers, a sum that all the other wars equaled only when Vietnam surpassed 58,000. That means the Civil War’s casualties equaled all of those of the American Revolution, the War of 1812, the War with Mexico, The Indian Wars, the War with Spain, World War I, World War II, Korea, and Vietnam, when the total reaches 58,000. Many of our Southern Baptist ministers and lay people defended slavery, though Boyce and Broadus had a disagreement. Boyce said would have the war and lose it due to the way we had treated the slave families (just read the descriptions of children being sold from their mothers’ bosoms), while Broadus defended the war. Most Southerners thought they were defending their homes as they did not accept the idea that the real problem was slavery. So we all have failures in our closets. God have mercy upon us. We need to humbly beg his forgiveness and blessings in another visitation.
Joe,
Those are good points as well. God takes the little that we have and makes much of it.
Dr. Willingham,
I will definitely see if I can find the Time article you mentioned. I also want to say that even though we all desire to see God move and bring revival, there is no guarantee in Scripture that we will see one. In fact, if we do live in the last days, we may see just the opposite around us as many choose not to listen to sound doctrine.
Jeff Musgraves last blog post..A Few Random Thoughts
Jeff Musgrave;
Although God may not send an awakening, Revival of His people and of local
churches is still possible, and still occurs. Tabernacle Baptist in Geenville,
South Carolina had revival that lasted 38 years under its founding pastor, the
late Harold B. Sightler. I witnessed part of it first hand. God loves His people,
and will send Revival, when they meet His requirements.
Every thinking Christian experiences doubt at one point or another, but most of us find it difficult to talk about our doubts. I’ve always appreciated the honesty of C.S. Lewis:
“Now Faith…is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods. For moods will change, whatever view your reason takes. I know that by experience. Now that I am a Christian I do have moods in which the whole thing looks very improbable: but when I was an atheist I had moods in which Christianity looked terribly probable. This rebellion of your moods against your real self is going to come anyway. That is why Faith is such a necessary virtue: unless you teach your moods where they get off, you can never be either a sound Christian or even a sound atheist, but just a creature dithering to and fro, with its beliefs really dependent on the weather and the state of its digestion.” (Mere Christianity)
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Dr. Foltz,
Revival is something we all need; in our own lives and hearts.
Barry,
Honesty is something we all need to be better at when it comes to doubting. I think we could make a lot bigger impact on the world today if they could see honesty in our pursuit of God.
Jeff Ms last blog post..A Few Random Thoughts
Brethren: I read Edwards’ Humble Attempt and found those promises were the ones pleaded for the beginnings of the Great Century of Missions and the Second Great Awakening. They were the promises that William Carey found so helpful, and they are the promises that we can plead not only for a local revival but for a worl wide awakening. God said in Isa.11:9 & Hab.2:14 that he would fill the eath with his knowledge and glory (as the hymn puts it) as the waters cover the sea.
Writers of the Bible have prayed, “Lord, do as you have said.” Etc. The wisest man I ever met asked me once, “Have you ever thought about the fact that at any one time every last soul on the face of the earth could be the elect of God?” My answer was no, because me eschatology did not allow for such a thing. 7 yrs or so later, I was looking at Jonah’s “Forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” Forty days later that literal statement was no fulfilled, and the prophet wanted it fulfilled. And yet he did not expect it to be fulfilled. An unconditional prophecy statement did not come to pass exactly as prophesied. As I thought about it, I realized that it was not the statement per se but the purpose for which it was made. That gave me another way of looking at prophetic statements. It also demolished all of my approaches to prophecy, and opened the door to other perspectives. addition, my research into I Cors.13 for two yrs gave me insights into the character of God as revealed in the words, person, and works of our Lord Jesus Christ. I insist that we can, should, must pray for another awakening – even one that will encompass the whole earth, and we should pray for a generation to be converted and even a thousand generations. After all, the number of Abraham’s seed by faith is suggestive of a reality like that. I think it moved me most to find Spurgeon praying for the whole earth and every soul on it – that has helped me to see other possibilities. Also see Edwards’ work on the church and the future (I can’t recall the title).
Dr. James Willinghams last blog post..The Climax of the Reformation