Mark 16:15, “And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.”
This command is followed with a promise and a warning. “He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned,” (Mark 16:16). If we are convinced that the promise and warning are true, we should be all the more compelled to obey the command.
We should not need any motivation to obey God’s command to preach the gospel. Like any of His commands our impulse to obey should come from our love of our Savior, who died for our sins, and then wooed us to Himself, so that we would believe on His name, and find salvation in Him. But we are like our own children, who sometimes obey what we ask them to do because they love us, want to honor us, and want to find pleasure in maintaining a good and pleasant relationship. But at other times they are overwhelmed by their selfish nature and would rather do what they want than respond in love, therefore they disobey.
This is why when we ask our children to do something we rarely only say, “Do this because I said so, I am the parent, I know better, no questions asked.” No, rather we show patience and grace with our children’s developing minds and sinful flesh, and we show them the wisdom of obedience, the danger of disobedience. We offer the positive results of what it means to obey, and we warn them of the consequences of disobedience. We are not tricking them into doing what is right. We are treating them like God treats us.
He commands us to go into the world and preach the gospel. He then shows us the promise and the warning to help us see the goodness and wisdom of obeying this command. His grace to us knows that our human nature and fallen flesh desire understanding and need further motivation. His grace. He does not have to give us verse 16. It could have all stopped at v. 15, but His grace brings us v. 16.
How do we obey the command to go and preach the gospel to all nations? There is a personal responsibility and a corporate responsibility. Personally, we pray, preach, and pay. Corporately, we pray, preach, and pay.
Personally, we should be in prayer for the lost. We should be praying for the Lord of the harvest to send workers into the harvest (Matt. 9:37-38). We should be praying for the Spirit to open their hearts to believe. We should be praying for opportunities to share with our relatives, neighbors, co-workers, or classmates who do not know the Lord. We should be praying for opportunities to meet strangers and be allowed to share the gospel.
Personally, we should preach the gospel. Preaching the gospel does not only include getting a pulpit, a microphone, and gathering a crowd so that you can deliver a sermon. Preaching is a proclamation. We should be ready to proclaim the good news of the gospel at any opportunity (1 Pet. 3:15). We should be speaking of who God is, what sin has done to our human condition, what Christ did by dying on the cross, and that we must believe and repent in order to receive the free gift of His salvation.
Personally, we should be paying for the furtherance of the gospel. I know that sounds crass, but all I mean is that we need to participate in giving to our local church where ministries of the gospel are to begin. Our tithes and offerings allow for a space for the church to meet so that the gospel is shared weekly through worship, where disciples are made through relationships and programs like Sunday School, AWANA, Student Ministries, Children’s Ministries, Singles Ministries, Women’s Ministries, Men’s Ministries, Language Outreach, and so many other ministry groups.
Corporately, we do these same things. The corporate nature of praying, preaching, and paying is not just that the individuals are all doing something personally while holding loosely to the common bond of belonging to the same church. No, our efforts are combined and compounded. We pray together in corporate settings for the lost, for missionaries, for bold witness, and for open hearts. Corporately, as the gospel is preached, we are loving one another as testimony to whom we belong (John 13:35). We work alongside one another for the evangelism of those among us. When one person is baptized in the worship service rarely is that salvation the result of only one person’s witness. Rather it represents the testimonies and prayers of parents, Sunday School teachers, and friends. It represents the unspoken witness of a church family living believable professions of faith in front of that new believer’s life, convincing them of the faithfulness of the gospel to change lives. That new convert is the culmination of many seeds planted, many believers watering, and of the Spirit causing new life.
And corporately, we give to the cause of the gospel being spread to all nations. Not only in our tithes and offerings, but as we give to missionary causes like the CHBC World Missions Offering, or the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. These are designed to allow the church to take an offering together and see gospel impact in places we cannot personally get to at this time. We support those who are living in those areas, or who have responded to a call to go to those places and to those people who are not currently hearing the gospel.
So, obey Mark 16:15. The reasons are compelling (Mark 16:16). The opportunities are possible. And the processes are already in place. Pray, preach, and pay (participate by giving) personally and corporately.
By His Grace and For His Glory,
Pastor Mark
