By The Rev. CHARLES G. FINNEY

Modernized by Cliff Collins

Then Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen.” (Matthew 28:18-20)

In discussing this subject, I will try to show;

I. What does the command ‘to make disciples of all the nations’, mean?

II. Who is required ‘to make disciples of all the nations’?

III. What does ‘to make disciples of all the nations’ imply?

IV. What are the conditions of obedience to the command ‘to make disciples of all the nations’?

V. What are the reasons we fail to make disciples of all the nations?

VI. What is the great guilt of the churches failure to make disciples of all the nations?

I. What does the command ‘to make disciples of all the nations’, mean.

If you have a King James Version of the Bible, it says, “to teach all nations”. However, in the margin of your Bibles, you will probably read, “go and disciple or make disciples of all nations”. This is undoubtedly the real meaning of the original Greek. The words ‘make disciples’ or ‘teach’ in the nineteenth verse, is not the same word that is rendered ‘teach’ in the twentieth verse. The true meaning of the command is, go and make disciples or Christians of all nations.

II. Who is required ‘to make disciples of all the nations’?

Christ addressed this passage to those of His disciples who were present at the time, but Jesus’ words were certainly intended for all Christians, for it isn’t likely that Christ expected the disciples who were there to do all this work. No doubt, Christ meant to delegate the responsibility to all Christians, to lay this responsibility on their consciences until this work is accomplished.

III. What does ‘to make disciples of all the nations’ imply?

1. The command, to make disciples of all the nations, all by itself, implies that we have the ability to obey it. Every command of God strongly implies that we have the ability to obey it. Please remember, that both God’s love and wisdom is perfect: therefore He cannot be so unjust that He would demand that we must do something that is impossible for us to do, nor is God so ignorant that He doesn’t know the real limits of our powers.

2. Please notice, that Christ assumes that we are able to obey this command on the ground that He has all power in heaven and in earth and He has promised to be with the church in this work. In the eighteenth verse He says, “All authority is given to Me in heaven and on earth.” The command follows; “Go therefore”, in other words, “go for this reason. Why? You can go because I have all power in heaven and on earth! Go and make Christians of all the nations; and lo, I am with you always even to the end of the age.” So, we see that Christ assumes that we are able on the ground that He has all power in heaven and on earth, and He promises to be with us always even unto the end of this age. Christ pledges His divine agency to work within us, to motivate us to will and to do, and Christ also pledges to work externally to providentially open the way for our labor. But, there is more. Christ also promises to work by His Spirit in those to whom we proclaim the gospel. Thus, Christ exerts His divine power in heaven and on earth as far as it is needed to accomplish this great work.

3. The command implies that the great work of the militant church is to make disciples of all nations; in other words, the great work of the Church of Jesus Christ today is to convert the world to God.

4. This command implies that this is the only job that the Christian is called to do. This command implies that the only business Christians can have on earth is to glorify God in the world’s conversion. Christians are to do, say, and be nothing more, or nothing less, than what they need to do and say to accomplish this goal. Christians should consecrate their whole lives, their time, influence, and possessions to accomplish this goal. When Christ spoke these words, He had already risen from the dead, and He was soon going to ascend to His father in heaven. In that solemn parting hour, Christ, no doubt, meant to pour out His whole heart in these few last words, “Go, apply yourselves directly to the conversion of the world, and finish the great work which I have begun. I have set the example before you with My own life; let your eye also be focused on this one goal, and let your devotion be unwearied and total.”

IV. What are the conditions of obedience to the command to make disciples of all the nations?

1. The first condition that I mention is that we must have a hearty and a total consecration to this work. The church will never accomplish this work, until they go forth in the true spirit of this requirement. The church will never accomplish this work, until they have their eyes totally focused on this work, just as Christ was devoted to this work. In other words, I don’t mean that every Christian should be a preacher of the gospel, for there are many different kinds of work that needs to be done. Preaching is only a small part of the work. The work may involve printing, writing, mechanical work, agriculture, commerce, or merchandise. In short, the Church should take advantage of every useful occupation that is in this world today, in her pursuit of this great work. The Church should pursue all these occupations with the same goal in view, that is, to convert the world.

Let me say that every minister should be consecrated to this work. Lay men and women should also be consecrated to this work. No matter what the immediate occupation of each individual is, he should pursue his occupation with the same dedication, and the same consecration to the great goal of the world's conversion that ministers must have when they preach the gospel. Everybody understands that ministers should preach for the glory of God, and should consecrate themselves to the work of the world’s conversion. This is their most important job, and they really apostatize in their hearts from their work whenever they fail to give their heart and soul to it. Now, this is true of ministers; but it is equally true of all Christians. That Christian who tills his ground, or stands behind his counter, or writes, or prints, or does anything else, is required to be just as completely consecrated to the glory of God and the world’s conversion, as the minister should be, and unless he is, he can never be saved. Lay men and women make the right judgment when it comes to what is required of ministers in this matter, but they should understand that precisely the same thing is required of them. Until the Church recognizes this as a whole, and until the followers of Christ in every denomination consecrate themselves with their eyes focused on the work, and that they are just as dedicated as they expect ministers to be, they will never properly perform the work that God has placed before them.

2. Another condition of obedience is, a untied effort. By a united effort, I mean the opposite of sectarian efforts. When I talk about Christian unity, I don’t mean that they must all have the same opinions. No. But that they should be one in heart, and concerning doctrinal opinions, they should at least agree on all the fundamental points. They should also agree to tolerate each other, and allow each other as much freedom of opinion as possible concerning all issues that are not fundamental. They must agree to differ on minor points without controversy or friction. They must love each other so intensely and labor for the world’s conversion so sincerely that they don’t get hung up on any of the minor points of Christian doctrine. If the church waits until all her members think alike on minor points, the world will never be converted; or if she expects to convert the world while divided up into sects and arguing factions, she is entirely deceived. A sectarian church can never convert the world to God, no matter how evangelistic that church might be. If they convert them to their respective denominations, this is by no means converting them to God; it only makes them sectarians. I humbly believe, that until union prevails in the church in the sense I have just mentioned, the world can never be converted. But, that is another message.

3. Another condition of obedience to this command is that we realize our individual responsibility. The fact is that many professing Christian’s today strangely shrink away from their individual responsibility. Christians don’t seem to realize that every one of them is pledged by a solemn oath to do the best that he or she can do to convert the world to God. In making a profession of religion, they pledge unquestioning obedience to Christ. Now this is Christ’s last, and I may say, His greatest command. This last command is a summary of everything He requires us to do. Christ’s lasts words summed up our whole gospel duty, which is to convert the world. Now, every Christian of every age stands pledged to accomplish this Goal. The Christian’s life, his influence, time, property, talents, and resources, everything he has or is or can control, are pledged to this work by a solemn oath. Nothing less than this is implied in pledging our obedience to Christ and in making a public profession of our commitment to follow Him. Now, how come so few professing Christians have their gospel duty strongly developed before them as the great goal that they are to set before them to accomplish? Until this comes to be the ever-present idea of the church, the world will never be converted. Until the conversion of the world becomes the great goal at which not only the whole Church but every individual member aims at, and which everyone constantly seeks to accomplish, the world will never be converted. Every Christian man, woman, and child, must address himself and herself decidedly and exclusively to this work, or this work will not be done.

4. The church must not expect to bring about the conversion of the world, either totally or partially, by simply hiring learned, or highly educated ministers. It is perfectly absurd for the church to expect to ever send forth enough highly educated people to convert the world. Some scholars are necessary to help us accomplish this work. We need scholars to translate Bibles, to write books and critical commentaries, to bring forth everything that belongs to the literature and linguistics of the Bible. These people have their place and their use. Yes, they are very important, and indeed, they are absolutely necessary for us to accomplish this work. Yet, we cannot expect more from that part of the ministry that is devoted to the literature of the Bible. They don’t have the time nor are they the right people to go forth and reap the harvest. They are, so to speak, engaged in manufacturing the tools and preparing these tools for the workers to use. They are stationed here and there to do many things that the uneducated cannot do. But, don’t think for one moment, that colleges and theological seminaries are going to provide enough people to convert the world. The fact is, that lay-men and women must come up to this work and make a personal and direct effort, and really preach the gospel; or, in other words, they must, in every way suited to the circumstances they are in, tell the story of the cross, and press the truth on the minds and hearts of men. Colleges and theological institutions have their places, and in their place they are very important. They are designed to furnish an important number of learned men to help accomplish this work. But, these educated men after all, if the world is converted, will be only about one out of a thousand or perhaps one in ten thousand of the laborers that God must employ in this field of labor.

5. Nor should the church expect to accomplish this work completely, or perhaps even mainly, through the instrumentality of any particular ministry, whether it is educated or uneducated. No doubt, there are hundreds and thousands of people who are not educated, as we commonly use that term, who are people of sound minds, strong piety, good judgment, great discretion, who we can safely place into the ministry, who should be put in and who must be put in before this world can ever be converted. But even these people will not be enough. The system of spreading the gospel needs to be extended a hundred or a thousand times. Indeed laborers must be sent out and they must blanket the world like the leaves of autumn, until the whole church, both men and women, goes everywhere proclaiming the word of life, just like they did at the very beginning of Christianity. Anyone who has attentively read the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles knows that the Apostles all labored for many years in and about Jerusalem, while the lay-men and women went every where preaching the gospel. There had to be a great persecution in Jerusalem to prevent the light from being completely snuffed out in Judea. The influence of the Apostles was needed in Jerusalem for several years. But, when the persecution arose that killed Stephen, the infant church, except the Apostles, were scattered everywhere. These Christians, under God, were the means of diffusing the knowledge of Christ and the sweet savor of His name in all directions.

6. Another condition of obedience to the command to make disciples of all nations is, the demonstration of brotherly love and Christian confidence. Christ, in His last great prayer, which we find in John Chapter 17, made brotherly love and Christian confidence, the condition of the world’s conversion, and clearly, this is true. “I do not pray for these alone”, He prayed, “but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.” (John 17:20-23)

Where Christians manifest no mutual attachment and little mutual confidence in Christ, those around them will only see their theorizing as mere abstract, worthless theory. The gospel in their hands, will never grab a hold of the masses of lost souls until whole world is compelled to say, “See how these brethren love one another.” Christians will neither have nor deserve the confidence of the world until Christians both have and deserve the confidence of each other. If they will not confide in one another who will confide in them? This question is natural and inevitable. I regard it as an indispensable condition of the world’s conversion, that the church must everywhere manifest intense brotherly love and perfect Christian confidence. This is true in every community. You will find the wicked everywhere impressed with a sense of the importance of the gospel in proportion to the union, affection, and confidence that Christians have for one another. If professing Christians show little love towards each other, and little confidence in each other, most of the unconverted will not be impressed with the importance of religion. However, if Christians are united, if Christians love each other with a pure and a fervent love, and if they show that they have the greatest confidence in each other, this impression will arouse the world, and they will immediately begin to ask, “What shall I do to be saved”?

7. Another condition of success in this work and a condition of obedience to the spirit of this requirement is confidence in the presence, power, and readiness of Christ to go forward with the church to accomplish this work. The Apostles and early Christians seemed to realize that Christ was very serious when He said, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” They seemed to understand that Christ was very serious about this, and that He really was ready, willing, and able. They knew that Christ’s whole heart was set on the work, and that He was indeed with them, helping them to do the work efficiently.

When, in the 4th chapter of Acts, the Apostles were persecuted and commanded not to preach or to teach in the name of Christ, listen to what they say; “And being let go, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. So when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said: ‘Lord, You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them, who by the mouth of Your servant David have said: ‘Why did the nations rage, and the people plot vain things? the kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ.’ For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done. Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.’ And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness. Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all.” (Acts 4:23-33) Here is a glorious example of how they regarded and treated their opposition. Here is also a beautiful example of their faith in Christ concerning performing this great work. How could they not succeed?

8. Another condition of success is the practice of all necessary self-denial. Self denial is absolutely necessary to furnish the resources so that devoted men and women will willingly go forth to every nook and cranny of the world where human beings are, and proclaim to them the gospel of salvation. We need men who are willing to take their lives in their hands, who have the health and strength and the heart to do the work, and who can labor as some of our missionaries are laboring among the Indians, and as some of our African missionaries do, and as some others do in various parts of the world. We need hundreds and thousands of these men, men like-minded, or rather men possessing a hundred times more faith, if possible, and a hundred times more patience and power than those missionaries that are already in the field have. I would generally not find fault with the men that are engaged in this work, nor say anything that should suggest a lack of consecration in them, but many are laboring almost single handedly, greatly strained because of the lack of the proper resources, and their calls for help are unutterably agonizing.

Are you listening to what they tell us they could do, under God, in converting the world, if they had the people and the proper resources? Recently, I read an account of an address delivered by a British missionary from India, in which he told his audience that the obstacles throughout India to spread the Gospel were fewer than they were in England. He said, that if twenty thousand missionaries could immediately be sent to India, they could go everywhere preaching the gospel to large and attentive congregations, in which not one person among them would have ever heard the gospel before. He said that the land is completely open; the fields are white and waiting for the harvest. The only thing that is needed is the men and the resources, and faith in Christ to fire up the train and spring the mind, and they could blow apart the very kingdom of the devil. Oh, what a call this is! Oh, what a door is opened here for the church to enter and achieve the world’s conversion!

9. Another condition of obedience to the command to make disciples of all nations is patience in performing this work. No man ever accomplishes anything in the kingdom of God unless he allows patience to patiently accomplish its work in his life. Some people say that Christ will neither fail nor be discouraged until He establishes judgment on the earth. Whoever loses his patience and begins to scold and find fault, or becomes discouraged, will immediately grieve the Spirit of God and completely destroy his own success. Many revivals have been prevented this way. The laborers didn’t have enough patience. They allowed themselves to lose their patience, fret, perhaps to scold, complain, and find fault because things didn’t go the way they wanted them to go. This grieved the Spirit, and if there was a revival, it was a revival of faultfinding and not a revival of love.

10. Another condition of obedience to the command to make disciples of all nations is perseverance. Workers must learn to hold on and have courage until God strengthens their hands and their hearts in the work. Let me recommend to you Moffatt's account of the labors of the missionaries in Africa. That is certainly an admirable book, and everyone should imitate the patience of Moffatt and his associates. I don't know when I have been so instructed, so deeply touched, and so rebuked as I was when I read that book. The whole church should carefully read and seriously think about the admirable patience and perseverance of those missionaries. Often, there were times while I was reading that book, that I wondered why they did not abandon the field and conclude that God had not called them to do that work. But no, they persevered against discouragements and embarrassments that would have overcome any but those who were completely filled with the Spirit like they were, and consecrated like they were to the great work of saving souls. May God bless them forever and prosper them until all Africa shall know the blessed gospel, and Ethiopia stretches forth her hands to God.

11. There must be constant and prevailing prayer. Did God promise to enlarge His church and convert the world? He has added this condition; “I will also let the house of Israel inquire of Me to do this for them” (Ezek 36:37) There must be constant prayer. It must be the prayer of faith. It must be the prayer that sympathizes, or agrees with God. It must be the effective, fervent prayer, that wrestling agonizing travail of soul that has power with God. This must extend throughout the church. It must be universally diffused abroad, and prayer for the world’s conversion, instead of being confined almost entirely to the monthly prayer meeting, must be our labor and our everyday burden. The church must take the world in her hands and upon her heart. The minister and the lay people, rich Christians and poor Christians, old Christians and young Christians, must seriously travail in birth for the world’s conversion. It must absorb all of their attention; it must engross their thoughts, it must rise up and set on fire to their feelings, and pour itself out before God in a flood of agony before the world can be converted.

Such prayer is not commonly heard, but it must be offered before this work can be done. We must have praying men and women, in fact, the whole church must become a praying church, and gather around the mercy seat and lie on her face, and pour out her prayers with loud weeping and tears. This must be persevered in until they have accomplished the full spirit and meaning of what God says, “You who make mention of the Lord, do not keep silent, and give Him no rest till He establishes and till He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.” (Isaiah 62:6-7) They must besiege the throne of grace with the promises in their hand. There must be a great lifting up of their hearts and souls and a thousand times ten thousand hearts must echo and echo, “Your kingdom come, Your kingdom come”, until this comes to be the universal cry of the church, until the heart of the church militant heaves like a volcano, and the gospel becomes like a burning fire shut up in her bones, and the promises become to them as stable as the everlasting mountains; until she can plant her feet on those mountains of promises, and stand and never retreat one inch until the work is done.