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 28:18–20
Matthew 28:18–20 is the great commission. It is our central mission, like the mission that governs our lives as followers of Jesus. And if we’re not careful, we can lose sight of the centrality of this mission, especially amidst a political election, where there can be so much concern about this candidate or that party or this outcome that we can lose sight of what is most vital, urgent, significant.
During a presidential election, we must not lose sight of the most urgent calling: to share the gospel with others.
Matthew 28:18–20 Reminds Us of Our Calling
And that’s the people right around us that we interact with every day. We’re on a road that leads to either everlasting joy with God or everlasting suffering away from the love of God. Not just an eternity, but people around us right now on this earth who have a God-sized vacuum in their hearts that only the love, grace, mercy of God through the gospel can fill.
So Jesus has told us, go, and not make partisan politics our ultimate aim. No, go and make disciple-making among all the nations. Not go and make political parties and candidates and politics in your nation your ultimate aim. No, go and make disciple-making among all the nations the ultimate mission of your life.
This Verse Leads Us to Pray for help Focusing on the Gospel
So, God, we pray that you would refocus us right now, even in this moment and today and our lives and our families as your church in our nation, whatever nation you’re in, whether you live in the United States or some other country, God help us to be more concerned about the spread of the gospel in all nations than we are even about our political preferences and even the good of our nation. God, we pray that the gospel in all nations would be our driving, supreme aim.
Matthew 28:18–20 Leads Us to Pray for the Unreached
God, we pray right now for different nations. We pray for Senegal, the Fulani people specifically in Senegal, this unreached people group of almost a million people. God, we pray for the spread of the gospel to the Fulani in Senegal. And God, in other countries in Africa, we pray for the spread of the gospel and the good of Eritrea and Somalia and Ghana and Morocco. God, for the Central African Republic, for Egypt, for South Africa. Lord, we pray for the spread of the gospel and spread of your goodness in Southeast Asia and Indonesia and Myanmar and Laos and Thailand and central Asia.
God, for the spread of the gospel and your glory in Iran and Afghanistan and Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. God, we pray for the spread of the gospel and the good of people in the Middle East and Saudi Arabia, in Iraq, in Syria, in Lebanon, in Jordan. For the spread of the gospel and the good of nations in Europe. God, we intercede right now on behalf of France, Spain, Belgium. We pray for Italy. God, we pray for the spread of the gospel in Europe. God, going east, we pray for the good of China. We pray for the good of Japan. We pray for the good of South Korea, North Korea. God, we pray for the good and spread of the gospel in Australia.
God, in all the countries, the nations of the world, and not just geopolitical nations, but people groups in the world among thousands and thousands of people groups, God, we pray you would keep our focus and our praying and our thinking and our giving and our going on making disciples of all the nations.
May this mission just dominate our lives and our minds and our affections and our hearts. God, we pray that you would use our lives, spend our lives and our churches to see disciples made among the nations. Help us to live for your mission we pray. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
