In 1962, President John F. Kennedy inspired the nation:
We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win.
President Kennedy’s words inspired the cultural imagination of the nation. In September 1966, the nation heard the voice of Capt. James T Kirk for the first time:
Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds; to seek out new life and new civilizations; to boldly go where no man has gone before!
As a boy of seven years old, I was fascinated by the bold vision and journeys of Captain Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise.
Before President Kennedy challenged the nation to go to the moon, before Capt. Kirk took command of the Starship Enterprise, Jesus challenged and commissioned his disciples:
All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to follow all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age (Matthew 28:18-20 NASB).
After the day of Pentecost, the disciples of Jesus set out on foot, traveled on camels, and sailed the seas on ships to preach the Gospel of Christ. By the end of the first century, the Gospel was preached throughout the Middle East, Northern Africa, Europe, and southern Asia. Their antagonists declared that the Christians “upset the world” (Acts 17:6).
The mission was difficult and dangerous. Stephen was stoned, James was beheaded, Peter was crucified, Paul was beheaded, Thomas was speared, Thaddeus was beaten to death. With this in mind, the words “I have been crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20) takes on new meaning. This is not a mission for the faint of heart.
Go … make disciples of all the nations.
The world of the first Christian evangelists and missionaries was a world of thousands of strange gods and goddess with idols and temples scattered throughout the world; of diverse peoples speaking strange tongues and eating strange foods. It was from these peoples that God created a new nation. God’s holy nation is comprised of “a people who were not a people” (1 Peter 2:9).
The charge is NOT simply to invite your neighbor to church. We are to go into all the world (Mark 16:14), every nation, every marketplace, every institution. We are to engage the culture. “I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation” (Rom. 1:16).
Are we prepared when the world is coming to us? In the 9th century the pagan Vikings invaded the Christian British Isles. By the 12th century the pagan invaders were themselves converted to Christ.
Go … baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
The baptized are presenting their “bodies as a living and holy sacrifice … a spiritual service of worship” (Rom. 12:1), pledging their allegiance, their faithfulness to God, giving priority to God’s kingdom.
Water baptism signifies new birth – new creation. “…having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith” (Col. 2:12). “He saved us … by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5).
Water baptism signifies sanctification. “Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless” (Eph. 5:25-27).
Water baptism signifies baptism in the Spirit. “Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38).
Go … teaching them to follow all that I commanded you.
We preach to convince unbelievers; we teach to transform believers.
We are to be “sanctified entirely” – “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:23).
The head – we must be disciplined to have the mind of Christ. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Rom. 12:2). We are to have “the mind of Christ” (Philippians 2:5).
The heart – we must be disciplined to have godly affections. “Do not love the world… the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the boastful pride of life” (1 John 2:15-16). Love God, love one another, love your enemies! Seek first God’s kingdom. Earnestly desire the spiritual gifts.
Our hands and feet – we must be disciplined to do the work of Christ. This includes acts of generosity, acts of mercy, acts of hospitality towards strangers. We declare the forgiveness of sin, we pray for the sick, we tend to the wounded, we exorcise demons, we care for widows and orphans.
Go … to the end of the age.
President Kennedy inspired the nation to go to the moon. Captain Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise were challenged to “explore strange new worlds, to seek out new civilizations.” Jesus said, “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14).
Jesus promised, “I am with you always” – In tribulation, persecution, political chaos, war, storms of life, in the midst of evil men and wild beast.
When Paul declared the gospel at Mars Hill, “some began to scoff, but others said, ‘We shall hear from you again concerning this’ … some men joined him and believed” (Acts 17:32-34).
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