Past faithfulness does not guarantee future faithfulness, and that’s especially true when it comes to the Great Commission.
That was the warning Greg Mann, a 19-year missions veteran who now leads the International Mission Board’s Asia-Pacific Rim Peoples Affinity, emphasized during the opening session of the 2024 Southern Baptist Convention Pastors Conference in Indianapolis on June 9.
“Our faithfulness to the final commission given to us in Matthew 28:18–20 (the Great Commission) hinges upon our faithfulness to the first commission given to us in Matthew 4:18–22,” where Jesus calls his first disciples to become “fishers of men,” Mann said.
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The disciples were called to tackle what was then and still is “the world’s greatest problem — the problem of lostness.”
‘Imminent, eternal danger’
“Mankind is lost and needs to be found, or in Matthew 4 language, mankind needs to be caught and pulled out of their state … of imminent and eternal danger.”
Global estimates suggest 174,202 people worldwide die apart from Christ every single day, Mann said. Among the 2.3 billion people who populate the 3,300 people groups of the Asia-Pacific Rim, 1,000 of those groups are unreached and nearly half are unengaged, IMB President Paul Chitwood noted earlier in the evening.
Sharing stories from his experiences in the missions field, Mann spoke of the urgency of fulfilling the Great Commission and every believer’s part in sharing the gospel.
“God pursues us so we might in turn fish for those who are dying lost and apart from Christ each and every day, so they’ll have an opportunity to see not just any light but the great light of Jesus Christ,” Mann said. “We must be passionate about what God is passionate about if we are to be faithful … to the Great Commission.”
First things first
We are not by nature fishers of men, so before we can “go and make” disciples, we must first “come and be made” one by God’s grace, Mann said. It is then that the Spirit enables us to do something that apart from Him we could never do — “fish for the souls of men.”
“Jesus knew something, and we need to know it too: A following spirit inevitably leads to a fishing spirit.”
With two simple words, “Follow Me,” Jesus called the “least of all men … to engage in the greatest of all pursuits.”
“God delights in choosing what is foolish and weak in this world so that no human being might boast in the presence of God,” Mann said, emphasizing Jesus’ words in the second part of Matthew 4:19: “I will make you …”
“We are not who we need to be, and we cannot do what needs to be done. … What we are not and what we cannot do, He will enable us to become and do.”
‘His eyes were open’
Mann shared the story of a believer in Thailand who followed Christ after listening to Scripture in his heart language on a solar-powered device he received from a missionary. Following his conversion, the man went around his village all the time proclaiming the name of Jesus until a church was born. The story illustrates the transformative power of the gospel, Mann said.
“His eyes were open to the glorious truth and the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
“We can’t ever forget what darkness is like because if we can’t remember what the gospel has done for us, then we’ll have very little motivation to see what the gospel can do for others.”
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