It is often the case that a per­son's last words are most remembered. The anticipated separation of the parties adds extra enduring emphasis and urgency to the words spoken, and thus indeli­bly carves them in the mind. That might explain why the last words of Christ recorded in the Gospels and Acts have so resonated with Christians throughout the ages. That does not, however, explain why those words have been inter­preted and applied the way that they have. The Church's mandate to carry the gospel around the world has been dubbed "the great commission." It is my contention that the net effect of that outlook has been that the Church's main concern has shifted radically from God's glory to man's comfort, in the name of a passion for souls. That the Church in large measure has identified the conversion of man as its great commission is disconcerting enough; but the manner in which that commission has been implemented is even more objectionable.

Disregard for a moment how this commission has given impetus to Arminianism, and spearheaded pietism. Overlook the fact that many Christians live with unbear­able guilt and despair for "not wit­nessing enough" to the point of believing that their silence has caused their neighbors or the stranger they saw on the streets to go to hell, and that God will judge them as a result. We'll even ignore how this view of Christianity has spawned three distinct yet unified camps within the Church: positive (or possibili­ty) thinking, the gospel of health and wealth, and liberation theolo­gy. What they all have in common is a concern for man's comfort.

Damage Assessment⤒🔗

Consider how this humanistic view of missions has infected and affected Reformed congregations. There was a time when those who believed in the great commis­sion actually proclaimed the gospel of Jesus Christ to the unconverted. Today, however, it is no longer proclaiming the gospel to people that motivates revival teams, but simply reaching and keeping people in church. In most cases those churches which actu­ally do make contact with unbe­lievers fail to communicate any substantive truth whatever about Christ to them. No true comfort is offered to aching souls in need of meaning in their lives. Real prob­lems and existential crises of life are not even acknowledged, much less resolved. Man's autonomy is not challenged in the light of the Christian philosophy of life. Sinners are not confronted with the claims of the gospel, because churches fear losing those pre­cious visitors for whom the entire liturgy has been orchestrat­ed in the first place. Because the ultimate goal of this great com­mission is reaching as many people as possi­ble, many Christian churches have suc­cumbed to a gospel of the lowest common denominator.The gospel has been diluted and compromised to the point where any person adhering to any brand of secular philosophy can at the same time profess to be a Christian.

In those churches the glory of God is relegated to the back­ground so that covenant breakers feel at home and on a common footing with covenant keepers. The great concern is numbers. Ministers therefore use whatever tricks and gimmicks necessary to sway people to "try Jesus". And doctrinal correctness, an emphasis on God's sovereignty, the use of the keys of the Kingdom, and the indispensibility of the means of grace are seen as impediments to conversion. The gospel is preached not as a call to repen­tance and obedience to the word of God in this world, but as an insurance policy against hell.

The worship service is no longer a meeting between God and His covenant people but a staged show whose sole purpose is to convince visitors to come again, and bring a friend next time. And should they eventually decide to join, they need not subject their lifestyles to obedience in Christ. Purity at the Lord's Table is sacrificed for the sake of unity. The role of office and office-bearers is either down­played or obliterated because that might repel potential "seekers." In such circles disagreements over doctrinal differences are habitual­ly concluded with, "Well, it's not a salvation issue..." That in a nut­shell summarizes the problem. That means if a doctrinal issue does not rise to the level of actual­ly threatening my or your salva­tion, then it's of no consequence how it is viewed, believed or prac­ticed. How many concessions have been made on that basis among supposedly Reformed Christians? The cost of construct­ing a new building or purchasing a new organ is typically weighed against that of sending out mis­sionaries, lest the great commis­sion should be adversely impact­ed.

Many of us have diagnosed these problems as evidence of either: a) our generation's shrinking atten­tion span; b) the aftermath of the rise of the silver screen; c) the great strides secularism has made in the Church; d) the straw man of your choice. No doubt these ene­mies have dealt some serious and fatal blows. But to what extent has the Church's inaccurate vocabu­lary contributed to these prob­lems? I submit that it is the logical outworking of the view that the great commission of the church is to multiply in number.

In 1933 the 13th clause of the Humanist Manifesto read, "Religious humanism maintains that all associations and institu­tions exist for the fulfillment of human life." Forty years later, the first clause of the Humanist Manifesto II reads: "...(a)s non-theists, we begin with humans not God, nature, not deity..."

In many ways, the Church of our day is marching to this drumbeat, and is close to seconding the humanist's motion.

The Real Commission←⤒🔗

Of course Christianity cares for the salvation of people. In fact, Christianity is the only religion or system of thought that is capable of expressing a genuine interest and concern for man. We know man's true origin, purpose and destiny. We understand man's real problems, and possess the real solution. Moreover, it is the case that we have been commissioned to carry the gospel into the world (note Paul's compelling case in Romans 10:13d). In fact, some churches do not emphasize mis­sions enough. If anything we need more emphasis on missions, not less. Furthermore, only the Reformed can truly engage in Biblical missions consistently. The opportunities have never been greater nor the media more numerous for proclaiming Christ to the world. There have been many rival philosophies, yet Christianity is the only one with the truth and with a worldview worth proclaiming and defending. Paul's challenge in 1 Cor. 1: 20 has never been answered.

All this notwithstanding, the great commission of the Church is not about preaching to or convert­ing people. The Church's great commission is to glorify God, and the preaching of the gospel is a means to that end in the case of people. The chief end of God is to glorify Himself and be glorified. That may sound very selfish, cold and austere to the humanistic, altruistic evangelists and crusaders of our day. But if we follow scrip­ture, it becomes very clear that nothing supersedes the glory of God.

The death of Christ, for instance, did not have as its primary pur­pose the salvation of man; but rather the appeasement of God's wrath and the satisfaction of His sovereign justice — His glory. As Jesus approached the altar where He was to be slaughtered, He bid the Father to glorify Himself (John 17:1). As He reflected on the work He had done prior to the "hour," the glory of God was the only prominent feature in His resume (John 17:4), not how many converts He had brought in.

His wish for the disciples was that He would be glorified in them (vs. 10). His earnest prayer was that the Church would be sanctified by the truth (vv. 17, 19), not seduced by tricks.

The Christian who makes the glory of God the great commission will not shrink from the mission field or from sharing his faith. How can he? Christ has mandated us to be His ambassadors; He has in fact asked us to pray for more reapers in the field; preaching is unquestionably the Holy Spirit's tool in regeneration. But if God's glory is preeminent, then pietistic humanism will have been dealt a requiem in the Church. And the Church of Jesus Christ can relinquish its marketing strategies, and begin to express genuine concern for lost sinners while preserving what is most dear to God and to us — His glory. Our chief concern will not be to fill pews by whatever pragmatic means available to us, but to preach Christ in season and out of season, and let God convert peo­ple.

Let's not teach people how to escape hell when they die, but how to embrace the Reformed world and life view while they are living; and consecrate their lives (not souls) as living sacrifices to God. As these sinners are hard­ened in their own depravity, let us not merely issue them an invitation to warm our pews, enjoy our "programs," laugh at our skits, and revisit our halls, for at the end of this matinee there exists no glory for God and no regeneration of man, because there the offense of the cross is not to be found, and the claims of Christ are at best only surreptitiously parodied. Let's give sinners the one true comfort that will satisfy both God's Chief End and ours.