PSALM 67 (ESV)
May God be gracious to us and bless us
and make his face to shine upon us, Selah
2 that your way may be known on earth,
your saving power among all nations.
3 Let the peoples praise you, O God;
let all the peoples praise you!
4 Let
the nations be glad and sing for joy,
for you judge the peoples with equity
and guide the nations upon earth. Selah
PSALM 67 (ESV)
5 Let
the peoples praise you, O God;
let all the peoples praise you!
6 The earth has yielded its increase;
God, our God, shall bless us.
7 God shall bless us;
let all the ends of the earth fear him!
God’s Mandate to Us
Matthew 28:16-20, Psalm 67, John 20:21, Acts 1:8
INTRODUCTION
Let the Nations be Glad by John Piper
“Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is
ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not
man. When this age is over, and the countless
millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before
the throne of God, missions will be no more” (p. 15)
INTRODUCTION
Mandate – To live under mandate is to be entrusted with
a task of lasting significance. Mandates are not
commands we assign small errands or daily chores. A
mandate, on the other hand, releases authority and
responsibility to pursue endeavors of historic
importance. God has entrusted to Christ, and with Him
to the Church, a mandate to fulfill His purpose for all of
history.
MAIN IDEA
God has given us a mandate to know and
worship Him and to share with others
their need to know Him
OUTLINE
I.
His Mandate
II.
The Great Commission not the Great
Suggestion
III. To All Nations (panta ta ethnos)
I. HIS MANDATE
Christ’s mandate calls us to continue the work He
began during His life until it is complete in every
people.
John 20:21 –
“As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending
you.”
I. HIS MANDATE
Christ modelled God’s concern for world
evangelization.
Christ also prepared a dynamic, multiplying
movement capable of evangelizing the
world.
I. HIS MANDATE
Christ’s strategic focus:
• to the Jewish people
• to the Gentiles
• to the few
I. HIS MANDATE
“Master Plan of Evangelism”
By Robert Coleman
Jesus Strategy focused on:
A. Reproducing character
B. Reproducing structure
II. THE GREAT COMMISSION NOT THE GREAT SUGGESTION
Matthew 28:16-20 (ESV)
16 Now
the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the
mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 And
when they saw him they worshiped him, but some
doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All
authority in heaven and on earth has been given to
me. 19 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, 20 teaching
II. THE GREAT COMMISSION NOT THE GREAT SUGGESTION
“On Mission with God”
By Henry Blackby and Avery Willis
The article sums up much of God’s ways of involving
us in His will: “He calls every one of His followers to
join Him in that relationship of love, power and
purpose.”
III. TO ALL NATIONS (PANTA TA ETHNOS)
Matthew 28:19 (ESV)
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations”
Greek form
Panta ta ethne
(panta = all, ta = the, ethne = nations)
III. TO ALL NATIONS (PANTA TA ETHNOS)
Discipling All The Peoples
By John Piper
“One would have to go entirely against the flow of the
evidence to interpret the phrase panta ta ethne as “all
Gentile individuals” (or “all countries”). Rather, the focus
of the command is the discipling of all the people groups
of the world. This conclusion comes from the following
summary of our biblical investigation:
III. TO ALL NATIONS (PANTA TA ETHNOS)
1.
2.
3.
4.
The plural ethne can mean either Gentile individuals or
people groups.
The phrase panta ta ethne occurs 18 times in the NT. Only
once must it mean Gentile individuals. Nine times it must
mean people groups. The other 8 times are ambiguous.
Virtually all of the 100 or so uses of panta ta ethne in the
Greek Old Testament refer to nations in distinction from
the nation of Israel.
Mark 11:17 shows that Jesus probably thinks in terms of
people groups when he envisions the worldwide purpose
of God
III. TO ALL NATIONS (PANTA TA ETHNOS)
How Many People Groups Are There?
Total Peoples by Country
(People Group counted for each country it is in.
This is the list most often referred to as the
peoples of the world.)
16,600
III. TO ALL NATIONS (PANTA TA ETHNOS)
How Many People Groups Are Considered Unreached /
Least-Reached?
(Using criteria of less than 2% Evangelical
and less than 5% Adherent)
Best current estimate of
unreached / least-reached
ethnic people groups:
6,900
III. TO ALL NATIONS (PANTA TA ETHNOS)
Countries with the Most Unreached Peoples
Country
# Unreached
Peoples
India
2034
China
456
Pakistan
435
Bangladesh
339
Nepal
328
III. TO ALL NATIONS (PANTA TA ETHNOS)
Joshua Project Progress Scale
Stage
Level
Unreached / Least-Reached
Less than 2% Evangelicals and
Less than 5% Christian Adherents
1.1
Formative / Nominal Church
Less than 2% Evangelicals and
Greater than 5% Christian Adherents
2.1
Significant / Established Church
Greater than 2% Evangelicals
1.2
Level Description
Very few, if any, known Evangelicals.
Professing Christians less than or equal to 5%.
Evangelicals greater than 0.01%, but less than or equal to 2%.
Professing Christians less than or equal to 5%.
Very few, if any, known Evangelicals.
Professing Christians greater than 5%.
2.2
3.1
Evangelicals greater than 0.01%, but less than or equal to 2%.
Professing Christians greater than 5%.
3.2
Evangelicals greater than 2%, but less than or equal to 5%.
The ‘Joshua Project Progress Scale’
provides an estimate of the
Evangelicals greater than 5%.
progress of church planting among people groups.
III. TO ALL NATIONS (PANTA TA ETHNOS)
Progress of the Gospel by people group.
Geopolitical boundaries are ignored.
III. TO ALL NATIONS (PANTA TA ETHNOS)
VISION OF COCA-COLA:
“A can of coke in the hand
of every person on the planet.”
III. TO ALL NATIONS (PANTA TA ETHNOS)
World as Coke
Drinkers
Approximate Percentages
10% Coke Fans (True Followers of Christ)
20% Cola Drinkers (Nominal Adherents of Christianity)
40% Non Cola Drinkers (Heard, but not responded)
30% Cola Unknown (Virtually no exposure to Gospel)
III. TO ALL NATIONS (PANTA TA ETHNOS)
Status Summary
A Church for every People Group
Global Total
Unreached / Least Reached
16,600
6,900
The Gospel to the Ends of the Earth
True Believers
Nominal Adherents
Heard, no response
Virtually no exposure
10%
20%
40%
30%
III. TO ALL NATIONS (PANTA TA ETHNOS)
* Explosion of the non-western Church *
• True Christianity has grown by more than 300 million
believers in the past ten years.
• About 10 million of these new Christians are from North
America and Europe
• The rest – 290 million – are from developing countries
like Nigeria, Brazil, India and China.
The Global South: The new faces of Evangelical Christianity
III. TO ALL NATIONS (PANTA TA ETHNOS)
* Philippines *
1975 – 3,000 churches
2005 – 55,000 churches
2010 – Expect to send out over 10,000 cross-cultural workers
into the 10/40 Window in the next 15 years as
tentmaking missionaries.
III. TO ALL NATIONS (PANTA TA ETHNOS)
* China *
• 1948 less than 1 million believers.
• 2013 conservative estimates suggest over 90 million
believers. Most all of the growth has been in the last
35 years.
• Over 12,000 new Chinese believers every day! The
great need is for pastoral training.