GO!

Mat 28:19-20 “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, teaching them to observe all

that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

This last command, given by Jesus to His followers, told them to GO.   To go and to  

make disciples.   The going had a purpose and it had an endpoint.   In thinking about

this, I thought that the command to go is different in tone from the idea of leaving.  To go

is forceful, pointed, urgent.  It is directed toward a goal or an end.  We have been told to

go to a place, a destination and once there to serve; teaching and baptizing.  There is a

reason for us to go.  We have a purpose to be fulfilled.    The command to go does not

give a follower of Jesus the option to stay.

On the other hand, to leave is not a command, it is a decision one makes.  It is almost

passive in its action.  One can leave or not, can leave even if there is no reason to leave or

purpose to be achieved.  One can also leave with or without a command to go.  Leaving is

not a command; it is a response, a reaction.  And to leave is much less forceful in tone

than to go.

Jesus did not tell us to leave, He told us to go.  Our response then, must be to go.  To Go

is defined as the active movement of traveling from one place to another.  But we don’t

go flippantly or lazily, we go with the expectation of serving the kingdom.  We go to let

the world know that there is a King and He does rule.  We go to let the world know that

this current world is not all there is.  The Kingdom of God is among us and is coming in

fullness and we all need to be ready for it.  We go to teach others about the Kingdom of

God and the culture and laws of the coming kingdom.  We are ambassadors.  Living in a

foreign land, but keeping the customs of home, of the kingdom.  As ambassadors, we

continually remember our kingdom, and promote it as we are going out and about. 

And we live by the rules and laws and ethics of our home, where the King lives.  In going,

we carry our home with us, and we show the world what it is like to live in the kingdom.

Our speech, our actions and our attitudes all teach what the King has commanded.  We

look like people from a different place, act like people with a different ethic, speak with

the accent of one whose language is the language of the king. 

And so we go.   Perhaps we go to another land, and spread the news of the kingdom

there.  Maybe we go to a new city and let the people living there know that the king is

coming soon.   Or, we simply go across the street and tell our neighbor about the king

who loves them and has been searching for them and has invited them to come .