Now the eleven
disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed
them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And
Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth
has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples
of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all
that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always,
to the end of the age.” Matthew
28:16-20
Let’s look today at
verse 19 where Jesus said that we should go to all the nations and make
disciples. The English word translates into “nations” is actually the Greek
word “ethane.” It’s where we get the word “ethnic” from. So, we are supposed to
go to all the ethnic groups and share the Gospel.
For my family,
following this passage has meant moving to India. In some ways India is a very cosmopolitan
place, but in the smaller, more backward parts of the country, they’ve never
seen outsiders at all. I’ve been to
several villages in which they’ve told me that I was the first white person to ever
come their village, ever.
I took my wife and
3 kids to one of these small villages one sunny spring day. My kids wanted to visit one of my friends
there who raises goats and they had six brand new baby goats. These baby goats jumped on top of everything
and my kids had a good time picking them up and holding them, as well as
chasing them around the courtyard. We
made quite a stir that day in the village, being a family of white people. One of the villagers asked my friend in
Punjabi, “Oh, so white people have children too?” To which, with a big smile,
my friend replied, “No, over there the children just fall from the sky.” At this, the villagers realized how silly the
question was and we all had a good laugh.
Going to the
nations doesn’t have to be across the world, however. It often is as easy as going across the
street.
Lord, I pray
that you would send workers to the remaining unengaged, unreached people groups
and that they would hear the Gospel soon.
