A number of years ago, I flew into San Francisco to spend a few hours with two women who were historians.  On the trip across town from the airport I was drenched by the rain while trying to scramble to get transportation during a city-wide taxi strike.  Bedraggled, and soaked to the skin, I finally arrived at their lovely home in a quaint part of that beautiful city.  Like two mother hens, my hostesses, Miss Verna Hall and Miss Rosalie Slater, ushered me into their home, gave me a towel to dry off with, and then proceeded to fix a lovely evening meal where we chatted and got acquainted.

After the food and fellowship, they began to show me around their home which was a stunning collection of antique furniture, beautiful decor, breath-taking art, and loads of books.  In every room Verna and Rosalie gave me a free lecture on aspects of America's history and heritage as seen through the artifacts, writings, and memorabilia that they have painstakingly collected. I was fascinated by their presentation. After this had gone on for an hour, Verna turned to me, and asked me some questions.  One of them I will never forget.

"Ron" she said sweetly, and without apparent pretense, "Can you tell me why our Christian missions work in Africa, though extensive in nature, has left the majority of Africans still living in poverty, and under the domination of authoritarian governments?"

Taken back by the question, I struggled to answer.  It was true that extensive missions work had been done in many African nations.  In fact, a large part of the African continent was more Christianized than Europe.  Yet it was also true that most African nations were still very backward when it came to economic development, and most of them possessed very harsh and unstable governments.

”Why were they still living in poverty?  Why were their governments so authoritarian and cruel?"  I didn't have the foggiest idea.  Shouldn't their Christian faith have led them into aspects of economic blessing and governmental liberty?  Surely their faith should have made a difference in their lives upon the earth.

I answered weakly that I didn't know.  Verna did not keep me in ignorant suspense.  Warmly and confidently (as if it had all been planned), she gave me the answer:

"The reason so many African Christians, and many other evangelized peoples of the world today are still living in poverty and under oppression," Verna explained, " is that the missionaries gave them an incomplete gospel.  They saved their souls and didn't teach them to apply their faith to every dimension of life.  They didn't serve them by teaching them to make Jesus the Lord of all of life.  So they left them to live under misery and cruelty."

I was stunned by the answer.  An incomplete gospel?  Verna continued her motherly lecture as we moved through other rooms of the house, with Rosalie picking up where Verna left off.  After a final chat while seated on the living room couch, I thanked them for their graciousness and their time, and made my way to my next destination.

But something within me had become very unsettled.  What was the calling of Christian missions?  Hadn't Jesus commanded us to go into all the world and win souls for Him?  After listening to Verna and Rosalie, that perspective seemed to be lacking in depth and perspective.  Was the message of the gospel broader than just the saving of the individual soul?  What were we called to do when being sent into the nations of the earth?  At that moment, and after that little divine encounter, I set my heart to answer that question.  An answer had to be found.

After all, I was a missionary.

The older I get, and the more time I spend in God's Word, the more comprehensive the scope of Christ's Lordship appears to me. For much of our lives, many of us have believed that Christ's salvation was limited to only a small remnant of individuals who would come to the Savior.  Deep down in our hearts there hasn't been the faith to believe that much more could happen on this darkened planet.  On the other hand we have believed that Jesus' death on the Cross was the greatest and most powerful act of all history.  Life conquering death.  Principalities and powers being defeated.  The Last Adam removing the curse from the first Adam.

Yet somewhere in our celebration of His glorious death and resurrection for our sins, we have accepted the idea that sin is still the greater power on this earth and that the triumph of the Cross does not really have the power to liberate whole tribes and whole nations. But what does the Bible say?

In the second Psalm we read of a promise that the Father gave to the Son of God.  In it, He invited the Lord Jesus Christ to, "Ask of Me, and I will give you the nations for Your inheritance and the ends of the earth for Your possession" (Psalm 2:8) In this prophetic passage, the Father specifically grants to His Son Jesus the power to possess the nations on the earth, not just a few individuals here and there, and not just a future kingdom where there will be no earthly nations.  He gives to Him the nations of this earth.  When one considers the literal meaning of this passage, the more clear the meaning of the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20 becomes.  Jesus said before He left the earth:

"All authority has been given unto Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you;  and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

Make disciples of all the nations.  To say it another way: disciple the nations.  This is what Matthew Henry says when he interprets this important passage: "What is the principal intention of this commission:  to disciple all nations, to do your utmost to make the nations Christian nations. . . to go and disciple them."

Discipling or teaching whole nations.  Seeing whole nations influenced and changed through the power of the Christ's good news. Isaiah had seen this prophetic view when he exclaimed,

"Arise, shine;  for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.  For behold darkness will cover the earth, and deep darkness the peoples;  But the Lord will arise upon you, and His glory will appear upon you.  ”And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising" (Isaiah 60:1-3).

What an expanded view of the role of the church on earth!  God the Father has given to the Lord Jesus Christ the nations of the earth as His possession.  Following Jesus' death and resurrection, the authority of God to accomplish this task fully rested upon Him. He commanded His disciples to go out and make disciples of all the nations, teaching them all that Jesus had commanded them.  The practical effect of this would be to bring whole nations under His influence and liberating power.  It wasn't just individuals that were to be saved.  Whole nations could be enriched and set free through the power of His victorious death and resurrection.

As I personally began to think about this truth, all of a sudden Verna Hall's words began to make sense.  I, too, had been a missionary with an incomplete message.  There had been the laboring for individual souls, but I had not believed the Scriptures that ”Jesus Christ was the Lord of the nations now. (David Bryant is currently working on a new book called Christ Now!) I had not endeavored to teach my converts and disciples all that Jesus had commanded.  I had preached a weakened gospel, and had not lifted up the teachings of Christ so as to affect whole nations and societies.

But I wasn't alone.  Great segments of the church  were just like me.  We were denying the power of the Cross and failing to live out Christ's Lordship.  We were giving, by default, the nations of the earth to the evil one.  God had given the nations to His Son.  He had told us to go and disciple them for Him.  We had failed.

Thank God for His forgiveness and grace!  We are currently living in a time period in which God is giving us the opportunity to go forth and make disciples of the nations of the earth.  The focus of this task is to assert the reality of the reign of God through Jesus Christ as accomplished on the cross of Calvary. Thomas Aquinas states the historic confession of the followers of Jesus:

"We confess our belief in one God and one Lord, according to the words of the Apostle (1 Corinthians 8:6):  To us there is but one God, the Father. . . and one Lord, and both of these pertain to government.  ”For to the Lord belongs dominion over subjects.  Therefore the world is governed by one." (Thomas Aquinas, ”Summa Theologica•, Part I, Q.103, Art.3).

It is time to lift up the salvation and Lordship of Christ in every sphere of life in all of the nations of the world.  This will be done through the church winning men and women to Jesus, teaching them all that He commanded, and in doing so ”being servants of people and stewards of society and the earth.  Our motive must be to serve.  Service will bring both leadership and influence. 

In doing so, whole nations and cultures will be changed through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Every individual will not be saved, because that is a matter of personal choice, and many will choose
the broad path of destruction (Matthew 7:13).  But whole tribes and countries will experience the salt and light of the awakened and caring church.  The Master Himself said,

"You are the salt of the earth;  but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?  It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. You are the light of the world.  A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.  Nor do they take a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.

Let your light so shine before men that they see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven (Matthew 5:13-16).

NEXT WEEK: Part 2: The Culture Changing Power of the Good News