This graphic shows the cost of living around the world and ranks them by country.

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What’s the difference between a trunk and a branch?

When it comes to thinking about the Great Commission, some think that the Great Commission is just a branch. Some think that is simply one item on a large list of items that the church is supposed to do. They think the Great Commission should be done along with hospitality, visiting the sick and dying in hospitals and raising money for the poor.

But, there are many biblical reasons why the Great Commission should be the trunk of the Church’s purpose on earth and not simply a branch. Here are two:

First, the Great Commission comes towards the end of the book of Matthew. What’s significant about it coming at the end? The significance becomes clear if we approach the book of Matthew in a certain way. Matthew is an account of Jesus not only as the promised Savior of the world, but also her rightful King. By Matthew 28, it becomes clear that Jesus is the resurrected and triumphant King who has just conquered sin and death. At this point what the King says isn’t just a teaching, but a decree over his Kingdom and for his subjects–the disciples.

Second, throughout the book of Acts, we see accounts of not only the Apostles fearlessly sharing the gospel, but also many other disciples living the great commission. A great example is Philip, who shared his faith with the Samaritans and the Ethiopian Eunuch. Stephen, selected to help with the distribution of funds for buying food for widows in the Jerusalem church, wasn’t killed for his charitable work, but for preaching the gospel. It seems the first-century church saw the great commission as something for all disciples, not just the apostles.

The Great Commission then is not simply another item on the church’s to-do-list. It’s the main function of the church. It is the King’s last decree to us before He ascended and before He returns.

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This week’s Monday Music comes from Scotland, where we have a great OYC site.

From Andrew Murray’s The Inner Life:

Redemption is nothing but the restoration of God’s will to its place in the world. To this end Christ came and showed in a human life how humanity has but one thing to live for, the doing of God’s will.

Jim Eliot is a great example someone who gave his youth to God. As a college student, he had aspirations to be used powerfully in ministry. After graduating he became a missionary to the Ecuadorians, and eventually was killed by the Waodani Indians at the young age of 28. While we wish that no one have the same fate as he did, we believe that all people, especially young people, can influence and change all the world for God. We don’t agree with all the Jim Eliot taught, but his story is a great encouragement for people in campus ministry who are considering going on an OYC.

I do not wonder that you are saddened at the word of my going to South America….Grieve not, then, if your sons seems to desert you, but rejoice, rather, seeing the will of God done gladly. Remember how the Psalmist described children? He said that they were as an heritage from the Lord, and that every man should be happy who had his quiver full of them. And what is a quiver full of but arrows? And what are arrows for but to shoot? So with the strong arm of prayer, draw the bowstring back and let the arrows fly—all of them straight at the Enemy’s hosts.

Read the whole thing.

The term used today to define whether the Gospel has been preached in a specific area of the world is called “reached” and “unreached.” Still, the question remains, does the Great Commission finish at “go” or “teach them to obey everything he has commanded”? How many more nations still need to be taught the commands of Christ? David Sill compares this idea of a place being “reached” to the Great Commission.

The task of the Great Commission cannot be compared to running through a large darkened building, flipping on a few switches and announcing that they now have light even though thousands of other rooms leave most people in darkness. If that is all one understands reaching the unreached to mean, then we must agree that the great tragedy of the world today is not that it is unreached, but that it is undiscipled.

Read the whole thing.

If you have a question for the OYC Guys, go to oneyearchallenge.org. They’d love to hear from you!

This map shows the percentage of people around the world who share themselves as “convinced atheists.”

See the full-size image.

The Great Commission is understood by, if not all, most Christians that the purpose driven task set by king Jesus 2,000 years ago was to share his gospel. Much of the world today has heard about Jesus and has heard of the Gospel in some form. There are, however, still many who have not heard.

The seed of the Word does not always bring forth fruit, but no fruit is ever brought forth without the seed. (Luke 8:11-15)

The undoubted truth that we must declare the gospel coincides with most Christians all around the world, but where there is no spread of the gospel, there is no salvation and opportunity for people to be saved. Places that have never heard the gospel won’t even get a chance of salvation if there is no one that will bring it to them.

So that leaves us with the heaviest question of them all which is, to whom then do we still need to bring the gospel? If your answer were to be your neighbors, friends, bosses, and coworkers, then your answer would be only half correct. Yes, they need a prophet in their life reminding them the magnitude of God’s love, but what about those who not only don’t have a prophet in their lives, but don’t have the Words of salvation to save them either? The message was and is very clear that we are to go into “all” nations. If there are still areas that need to at minimum hear the gospel, then following in line with the Great Commission, should lead our next steps to them.

This week’s Monday Music comes from Germany, where we have a great OYC site.