November 3, 2026
I was born in 1961. The U.S. president at that time was John F. Kennedy. In that year, he issued a challenge to our nation. It was that we build a rocket ship, put men in it, send it to the moon, have them walk on the surface, plant our flag, then return them safely to Earth. He called on the nation to accomplish this within a decade. This extraordinary, demanding, costly endeavor is known to history as Kennedy’s “moon shot.”
The nation rose to the challenge. I still remember watching in 1969 a grainy, black-and-white broadcast as Neil Armstrong stepped on the surface of the moon and declared, “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
We often think of the astronauts with admiration. And rightly so. They were courageous.
However, let’s note that the Apollo mission employed some 400,000 additional people to fulfill the mission. Team members included mission controllers, metal fabricators, communication specialists, caterers, engineers, scientists, nurses, doctors, mathematicians, and computer programmers.
Beyond these, all U.S. taxpayers contributed! It took a nation to get two astronauts to the moon and safely return them!
That term, “moon shot,” has made its way into our vocabulary. It can be used for other daring, costly, and valuable undertakings.
It is fair, then, to say that the Lord Jesus, our Master, has a moon shot of His own! His mission merits our lives and resources. His mission includes all who name Christ as Lord, collaborating to fulfill it.
At the International Mission Board, all our plans, strategies, and decisions center around this biblical idea that we all must work together to fulfill Christ’s mission. We all must pray. We all must give. We all must go. We all must send.
Matthew 28:18-20 is one passage, perhaps the best known, that gives us the details for our mission. The name that evangelicalism has given to this passage is “The Great Commission.” The word “commission” is not one that we use commonly. It simply means a command. How interesting that, with hundreds of commands in Scripture, this is the one that gets the definite article, “the,” and the adjective, “great.” Does it merit that moniker? I say that it does, and I offer three reasons why.
When quoting the Great Commission, it is common for folks to omit verse 18 and simply begin with verse 19. But to do so undercuts the weight that Jesus’ claim in verse 18 adds. There, He claims to have all authority in heaven and on earth. That essentially is a claim to divinity — to supremacy. He is saying that He is the King above all kings and the Lord above all lords.
When we consider His claim, we all have a choice to make. To borrow from C. S. Lewis, we could decide that He is a liar or a lunatic. Following liberal theologians or Muslim theology, we could decide that much of what is taught about Him in the New Testament is the stuff of legend — that the disciples exaggerated and “created” the Christ of faith.
But the decision that I have made (and on which I’ve staked my eternal destiny) is that He is not a liar, nor a lunatic, nor a legend. He is, in fact, Lord! My prayer is that all will decide similarly. As such, He has the authority to issue any commission, and our only right response is, “Yes, Lord!”
His authority is why, 35 years ago, my wife, Nell, and I said “yes” when He called us to serve with the IMB in Cali, Colombia. It was under His authority that we planted churches and taught future leaders in the seminary there.
Not only is it the Great Commission because of the claim that it contains, but it is great because of the command it presents. In verses 19 and 20 there are at least four verbal ideas mentioned: go, make disciples (one word in the original language), baptize, and teach.
To be clear, the four actions listed above are not all equal in their weight or primacy. Which of the four is primary? The heart of the Great Commission is in the principal imperative: “make disciples.” The Great Commission is all about making disciples.
What, then, is a disciple? Jesus said in Luke 9:40 that a disciple, when he is fully instructed, will be like his master. A disciple is one that is so committed to his teacher that he imbibes his word and is transformed by it.
A sports analogy here might help. Nick Saban is widely recognized as the “GOAT” of college football coaches — the “greatest of all time.” Now that he is retired, a discussion has swirled around the question of who will take his place as the greatest active coach.
I find it fascinating to see that many of the likely candidates — men like Kirby Smart of Georgia, Curt Cignetti of Indiana, Lane Kiffin of LSU — all have one thing in common. They were mentored by Saban. They were his assistants — his “disciples,” if you will. They became like their teacher and, not surprisingly, are excelling in their careers.
We, as Christ-followers, are to be so committed to Him and His Word that we become like Him. We then replicate that process in the lives of new believers.
If making disciples is the heart of the Great Commission, how is it done? That’s where the other three dependent verbs apply. We can only make disciples as we go, baptize (which comes after evangelizing), and teach.
Making disciples of all nations is an intimidating goal. Many peoples around our globe are hostile to the little they may know of Christianity. If we were left to ourselves to carry out this mission, we would have little hope.
The good news is that we do not go alone! The Lord Jesus Himself, in the closing phrase of verse 20, promises to be with us. The promise of His presence makes all the difference.
I grew up with one sister and two brothers. My older brother is Paul, and my younger brother is Timothy. We loved and played sports. Paul was a good basketball player. He played for our high school’s varsity team.
One cold winter night, we went to the gym for one of his games. When it ended, he went to the locker room to change while Tim and I went outside to wait. To our surprise, we discovered it had snowed and a fresh coat covered the ground.
Innocently enough, my younger brother began to make and throw snowballs into the air. After a moment, three older teen boys encircled him and pinned him against a car. “Hey, punk, you hit me with that snowball,” one yelled. They began to push him around and rough him up.
When I saw what they were doing, I cowered behind the closest car. I saw that they were all bigger than I was. I could do little to help my younger brother. If I went to his defense, they would whip him and me!
About that time, Paul opened the door to the gym and stepped out. In an instant, he summed up what was happening. He immediately approached the three ruffians who turned to face him. He said, “That’s my little brother. Leave him alone.” When I saw that, I emerged from my hiding spot, stood shoulder-to-shoulder with my big brother, and said, “Yeah, leave him alone!” Thankfully, some of my brother’s teammates joined our ranks, and the hoodlums decided strategically to retreat.
I went from cowardice to courage. What made the difference? The presence of my older brother.
Jesus is our elder brother — and our Lord! As children of the King, we are joint heirs with Him. He not only gave us the Great Commission, but He accompanies us in it. And that makes all the difference!
May God help us to give our lives to the fulfillment of our Master’s moon shot — the Great Commission!
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