In an earlier post, I looked at the term “ends of the Earth” and saw how, in addition to the obvious physical meaning, it pointed to Gentiles and ultimately, to those who are far from God. Jesus’ statement in Acts 1:8 described the church expanding through various levels of spiritual commitment until finally it broke out into those areas where there was no connection with God at all.

It became clear that today, spiritually, the ends of the Earth today are all around us, not just in far distant regions.

In a similar manner, I think we can revisit the Great Commission in Matthew and note that there is a spiritual application for today that challenges us to think about evangelism in a new way. A way that, at least for me, encourages getting away from standard Christian contexts.

Let’s start by revisiting the passage.

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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.”

Matthew 28:18–20 (ESV)

Note that the command is to go into “all the nations”.¹ This is generally taken to mean something similar to the physical interpretation of “ends of the Earth” – to go even to far distant lands. It also is often taken to mean that every “people group” is to be reached.

However, just as “ends of the Earth” was also associated with Gentiles and not just distant lands, the term “the nations” was also the way of saying “Gentiles”. In other words, Jesus used a term that meant both the physical reality of different people groups all over the world, and the spiritual reality of people far from God (wherever they might be).

This latter meaning of spiritual lostness gets obscured with standard translations so that the emphasis is on going far away – things like international missions and the like. In order to apply the command to our local lives, the word “go” is often rephrased from into “as you go” and then becomes a command to witness as we go through our normal lives.

For myself, however, the neglected spiritual perspective reveals the need to be deliberate and proactive about reaching into the darkness around us. I feel led to go away from church, both physically and metaphorically – away from Christian services, concerts, programs, ministries, and other forms of Christian context, and to find ways to present the Gospel in those spiritually distant places that are all around us.

I think the deliberate act of taking the Gospel into dark contexts involves actions that go beyond our normal activities, and that this is the difference between “go” and “as you go”. In other words, we need to look for ways to go into secular contexts, things we might not otherwise do, that can be used to speak truth.

We need to go to the ends of the Earth that are all around us.

So, what might this look like in practice? Obviously, the first step is prayer, seeking the Lord for new ideas, perhaps meditating on encounters in Scripture for specific principles to use. My previous essay briefly described a technique I’ve been led toward. I’ll write more about that later. But for now, I think that a regular practice of prayer and Scripture meditation is a way to let the Spirit lead one towards options.

This is part of what this blog will work towards.

1. Even though the ESV translates this as “all nations”, it seems the Greek actually says “all the nations”, and more literal translations present it that way.