What Part of “Go” Don’t We Understand?

In Matthew 28:18, Jesus begins the final words in Matthew’s gospel by reminding the gathering of believers of His authority—all authority (exousia, “power”) in heaven and in earth. That would be all the authority that there is. So when He tells us to do something, there really is no authority for us to veto or debunk what He tells us to do. Why would He need to remind us of how much authority He possessed? We already know it. They already knew it. People would discourage His audience from fulfilling that goal and none of them were higher than Him in authority. When other people said “stop” and when these believers felt like stopping, they should just go ahead despite that opposition. Why? Jesus said so.

After the gigantic reminder of His authority, Jesus says, “Go” in Matthew 28:19. He also said “Go” in Mark 16:15. When you think of 1492, what do you think of? Columbus? Think the number of times that “go” is found in the King James Version. Let me give you a sample of “go.” The first time it appears in the New Testament is Matthew 2:8:

And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.

Do you think that when Herod told men to “go,” that he meant “stay”? Does “go” ever mean, “Take a few steps and stop”? Does it ever mean, “Get up and travel to the front door and no further”? “Go” isn’t a confusing term. And yet, we have made “go” confusing. We have made it mean “lure.” “Lure ye.” “Pull people in” through advertising, marketing, and promotion. “Attract ye.”

Jesus was right in mentioning His authority because men have stopped going. I rarely meet anyone that has had a preacher come to his door and preach the gospel. I have never had one person do that with me. The Jehovah’s Witnesses go. The Mormons go—not nearly as much as the JWs—but they go. True believers have the Holy Spirit. Scripture is the Spirit’s Sword. Scripture says “go.” Do you see people, who have the Holy Spirit indwelling them and controlling them, not going? So what gives? Are they a kind of Spirit-filled non-goers?

If go is simple, Scriptural, and Spirit-filled, then why isn’t it done? What part of “go” don’t we understand? I rarely “feel” like going. I know why I don’t feel like it. I have heard others tell me why they don’t feel like it. Here is what we feel:

1. Going doesn’t work.

2. Going is scary.

3. Going will turn people off.

4. Your people won’t want to go and your church will shrink.

5. Going isn’t the only way to do it.

6. The people you go to don’t like you going to them.

7. There are more successful methods than going.

8. Going is different today than it was in Bible days.

None of the above are Scriptural, except that the Bible rejects them, puts them down, denies them.

I’m going to provide for you a Scriptural excuse for not going. Stay with me. Here goes. “Go” in Matthew 28:19 and Mark 16:15 isn’t a verb. It’s a participle. The verb in Matthew 28:19 is “teach.” The verb in Mark 16:15 is “preach.” The grammatical understanding of “go” in Matthew 28:19 and Mark 16:15 is “while going.” “Go” modifies “teach” and “preach.” So there we go. It doesn’t teach us to go. We’re just supposed to “teach” and “preach.”

The excuse doesn’t work though. Why? “Go” is the assumption of the two verbs. It is assumed by using the participle for “go,” that you can’t teach (make disciples) or preach the gospel without going. Here is how the assumption works. An assembly of believers needs to “go” to preach to unbelievers. The assembly is made up of believers. The assembly is assumed not to be unbelievers. Scripture teaches a regenerate, immersed church membership (Acts 2:41). You aren’t supposed to find unsaved people in the assembly. To get to unbelievers, you will have to leave the midst of the saints and go outside of the group of them to find unbelievers to preach to. “Teach” and “preach” are imperatives. The two participles, both “go,” attached to “teach” and “preach,” therefore, come with the force of a command. It is, like the King James Version translators have translated, as though “go” is a command, even more so.

Messing up on the simple “go” command has caused huge amounts of trouble for the church. Instead of recognizing our difference from the world and preaching the transforming message of the gospel, the churches have put a ton of time and energy into formulating a plan to attract unbelievers. The gospel itself doesn’t jive with this strategy, so it has been one of the casualties of the “invitation” philosophy. On top of this, unbelievers are not attracted by the same things as believers. Churches have morphed to the ways of the world to get people in. They’ve done it so long that they don’t even know they’re doing it anymore.

What damages have been done?

• Loss of Worship (man’s pleasure elevated above God’s)
• Loss of a Pure Gospel
• Epidemic False Professions especially among Young People
• Lack of Church Discipline
• Perverted View of the Church
• Loss of Church Purity
• Change in Preaching (types of sermons and depth of sermons)
• Loss of Biblical Ministry
• Massive Loss of Discernment
• Weakening of the Faith
• Wrong View of Sanctification

I could list more. I think it is the single greatest problem in the church today. It is doing the most to destroy the gospel than any other issue in the church today. It is something that today is being done by evangelicals, fundamentalists, conservatives, independents, and denominationalists.  All of this should matter to you.

We have made the Great Commission a Bad Option or a Mediocre Suggestion. That’s not what it is. It is a command and one with all the authority in the universe behind it. You disobey it at your own peril.