Dark Night of the Soul: A Term Paper

The Final Goal

10. Discuss Dr. Coe's view that the Christian life is about obedience and being a disciple of Jesus in relationship to the "great commission" of Matthew 28. What are the implications of this for the church?

"This is Deidrea," my coworker said, introducing me to the head of another department. "She's planning on taking her ministry to Korea."

I wasn't sure how to reply at that moment. Since when did I have a ministry? I wasn't planning on becoming a missionary or evangelist. I was only planning to move from the US to Korea to teach English and write novels. I had no intentions of preaching the Gospel, really, unless the opportunity presented itself.

And then, to my surprise, it did. My students - who had spent their whole lives in a country that was only 29% Christian - suddenly came to me with confusion and questions about the Bible, Christianity, and the afterlife. I somehow got swept up into discussions about what happens after we die, the meanings of Easter and Christmas, whether or not demons exist, and the crucifixion.

Perhaps my coworker understood what God was doing before I did.

Matthew 28 speaks of the Great Commission:

"Go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you." (verses 19-20a, NLT)

This has become the motto of missionaries who sell all they own and leave to preach in countries far from home. There seems to be an unspoken implication, however, that those who leave their homes to preach the Gospel are more spiritually elevated than those who stay and home and tell their neighbors. The truth is, the Great Commission has no distinct rules except to make disciples, baptize them, and teach them the commandments of God. The location is up to God, whether it's in your childhood home or 3000 miles from your hometown.

The Great Commission has two parts: one, to win souls. This doesn't mean that we keep a tally of how many people we've brought to Christ, since it is truly the Spirit who wins souls, not us. We are simply messengers, telling people of the Kingdom of God. Our message is of the Gospel: how Christ died and rose again to save us from our own sin and destruction. And the second part of the Commission is to take those who respond to this message and grow them as disciples.

But to grow disciples is not an easy task. James 3:1 warns, "Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness." Teachers are not above mistakes, however, they have been handed a great responsibility. To teach wrongly is destructive to both society and the soul.

With this in mind, the church should look at their leaders carefully, training up their members to teach the Gospel in their greatest capacity and equipping their missionaries and teachers to teach rightly. The contexts of each verse - Biblical, literary, historical, and theological - are necessary to guide people towards the Kingdom of Heaven.

But, the church will fail. We cannot be more than human, limited in knowledge, wisdom, and abilities. We will stumble and sin. Our leaders will make poor decisions and teach wrongly at times (not on purpose, but simply because it's so easy to be led astray by culture, prideful academics, or personal sin). But God can use our failures, and His Spirit can still guide those who genuinely wish to seek Him. 

One quote from The Great Divorce by CS Lewis gives me great encouragement in this situation: "That's what we all find when we reach this country. We've all been wrong! That's the great joke." When CS Lewis says "this country" he means Heaven, and it is both humbling and relieving to know that none of us have it completely right.

Regardless, God will use us. He will use the church and its people to speak of the coming of the new Kingdom. Whether we deliver that message to those who sit at the dining table with us or those who don't even speak our language, it doesn't matter.

Our mission is to spread the Good News. The conditions and results are in the hands of God.