The Great Commission

Let’s piece it all together. God has given you strengths, personality traits, and spiritual gifts that will uniquely qualify you to accomplish your life’s task. It will be something that makes you come alive and that will leverage your best qualities. However, this task does have a specific focus—to continue Jesus’ mission.

You are not on this planet just to mind your manners, though hopefully, you will. You are not here just to find a great career and make a good living, though that is very likely. You are certainly not here just to find ways to entertain yourself. You are here to be the man God designed you to be and to share the strength that He gives you with others. Your life’s task will influence many people to become followers of Christ. This is your great purpose, your Great Commission.

Charles T. Studd, an 1880s British missionary to China and Africa, said, “Some wish to live within the sound of church or chapel bell; I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell.” Before becoming a missionary, Studd was a sports celebrity at Cambridge University. Though he loved playing cricket, he knew his greatest purpose was to continue Jesus’ mission—to encourage people to love Jesus so they could become all He designed them to be, avoid hell, and spend eternity in heaven with Christ.

“Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.”

—Mark 16:15

So it was with former politician, John Ashcroft. While residing in the Missouri governor’s mansion, representing Missouri in the U.S. Senate, and serving as U.S. Attorney General, he was always faithful to continue Jesus’ mission. His integrity spoke volumes as he shared his God-given strength with the nation following the terrorist attacks of September 2001.

As it was with Studd and Ashcroft, so it must be with you. Regardless of the life task God leads you into—ministry, politics, business, or something just as outstanding—you are to “run a rescue shop” wherever you live or work.

This will take courage. Serving as a missionary is dangerous. Standing strong for Christ as a public servant can be politically risky. A businessman who designates a large percentage of his income to help the less fortunate will have to be content with fewer possessions.

The alternative is far more dangerous. Finding your sweet spot in life and failing to focus it on continuing Jesus’ mission will steer you right back into self-centeredness and dead-end living. However, when you combine all your strengths to “run a rescue shop within a yard of hell” so people can experience freedom in Christ, you become dangerous for a good purpose. There is no better way to live!

In My Experience:

A few years ago, my Uncle Bob passed away and I started to reflect on the fullness of his life. He joined the Marine Corps out of high school the way his older brothers had before him. Once he got out he realized that he really enjoyed working with his hands and so he became a plumber, and a very good one at that. Early in his career, residential air conditioning began to develop. As homes started to move away from the old window units in select rooms of the home to central air and heat that provided climatic control for the entire home, he was on the leading edge of installation and maintenance.

But there was a problem. God was tapping on his shoulder to be involved in ministry to achieve God’s purposes. But he fought it. At first I’m not sure he knew how to reconcile his love for working with his hands and this growing call to ministry. Perhaps he was paralyzed by a common misconception that you are only in ministry if you are a full-time pastor, evangelist, missionary, Bible professor, or other professional minister. The truth is you are called into ministry regardless of your career choice. Some of the biblical greats, like Stephen, were not apostles. But they knew God’s purposes and prepared themselves equally well for their career and their ministry. These men of God understood that their work allowed them the opportunity to accomplish God’s work.

In time, my Uncle Bob decided to pastor a church in rural Missouri. He had finally found the perfect combination, plumber and pastor. The fact is he influenced people for Christ that no one else could have. His impact on the lives of his neighbors was immeasurable. Can you imagine attending your plumber’s funeral? His memorial service was packed with people whose lives he had changed for eternity. Real living is doing what makes you come alive within the purposes of Christ.

God’s Great Commission requires that you use your life’s work, whatever that may be, to influence those around you for Christ. God will direct you to do that in a very unique way. For some that will be full-time ministry as a pastor. A musician will glorify God in his lyrics. A police officer will serve and protect the public with integrity and justice. And a plumber will impact countless lives with the good news. Regardless of the means, the mission is to be God’s ally in your area of influence.