I was listening to a podcast Tuesday, and I heard these words: “All of Christ for All of Life.” Wow, that’s good. I googled the phrase to see if I could identify its origin, but I could not pin down the first time someone used it. “All of Christ for All of Life” works; that will preach. There’s lots of life-application in those seven words. Another podcast edifying my intellect and soul lately is “Christ over All.”
Today’s title is: Consider the four all’s in the Great Commission. Where is the most dominant “great commission” passage? Mark has a shorter more focused text—but who has the most definitive, the most all-encompassing? If you’re unsure, it is time to put more energy into Bible memory. Matthew gives us our mission. There are four “all’s” in the Greek text—the Greek word is πᾶς-pas translated ‘all’ three times and ‘al-ways’ the fourth time. Let’s use the ‘all’s’ to remind ourselves of the passage and the mission.
- God the Father has given all authority in the heavenly places and on every square inch of this earth to Jesus. He is the Christ over all. Consider Ephesians 1:22, “And he [the Father] put all things under his [Christ’s] feet and gave him [Jesus] as head over all things to the church.” Truly, truly, Jesus is the Lord of Lords. Do I live outside of the walls of this building like He is Lord?
- We are to be making disciples of all ἔθνος-ethnicities. Our congregation should reflect the diversity of our city. We must welcome every ethnicity God created into our assembly with arms wide open. There is NOT a single ethnicity outside of the word all.
- Our Lord, the Christ, told us to teach the “all” from the nations following Jesus to obey all He commanded. Praise the Lord He said this. He did not tell us to obey all that Moses commanded. He told us to teach all that Christ commanded. For example, in this very passage, we are commanded to baptize. Yet there are some in this assembly living in disobedience to this commandment. You are ignoring the “all” of “all that I have commanded,” and the “all” of “all authority” has been given to Christ from the Father.
- The fourth all is missing a second ‘l.’ Jesus promises to be with us all-ways (that’s not a typo). Always in the ESV is two Greek words. Christ has promised to be with us all day and all night to the end of this present age with the reality we will be in unity in the age to come.
We are not carrying out this mission all alone. The One who has all authority gave us this mission. Christ died for all people and intends to have disciples from all people. We must strive to obey all of Jesus’ commandments because He has all authority.
Have you followed Christ in believer’s baptism yet? What excuse will you offer for disobeying such an important commandment at the judgment seat? Study Matthew 28:18-20 until you have it committed to memory.
