All Nations: The Gospel Overcomes All Prejudice (Matthew 28:19).

Class Outline:

Wednesday May 13, 2026

 

Open:

 

If we take Christ’s “Go” in the Great Commission [GC] to mean “as you are going” and treat our evangelism / discipling as chance encounters, I think that we’ll miss opportunities that we would have otherwise seen if we deliberately looked around us. Think of Paul - did he disciple those whom he happened to bump into or did he have a plan to go?

 

ROM 15:20

And thus I aspired to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named, so that I would not build on another man's foundation; 

 

Why else would Paul write this to the Romans if he did not expect them to also preach the gospel where it had not been before? 

 

Text: 

 

MAT 28:16-20

But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. 17 When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful. 18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.  19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,  20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

 

Main idea: “All nations” reveals that there are no racial, social, cultural, economic barriers to the gospel or to the discipling of other people through baptism and teaching the mind of Christ. 

 

You are never to evaluate a person as unable to hear and believe and be taught, or unworthy of the same, no matter where they are from, what sins they are mastered by, what gender, race, or nationality. Christ died for all and by His supreme authority, He sends His new shepherds to all the world. 

 

GC is to extend beyond Israel, but also include Israel. 

 

ACT 1:8

“you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

 

1. The GC is the beginning of the fulfillment of what the prophets spoke as the whole world under the authority of the Messiah. 

 

The GC is the beginning of the progression that will end in what the prophets spoke as the whole world being brought under the authority of the Lord. 

 

ISA 66:18

the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and see My glory.

 

MAL 1:11

“For from the rising of the sun even to its setting, My name will be great among the nations…”

 

The Great Commission is not a new idea but the fulfillment and expansion of God’s long-standing plan. Jesus, as the true Israel and Servant, accomplishes what Israel could not and then commissions His followers to carry the good news to all nations.

 

The beginning of fulfilling one aspect of the Abrahamic Covenant. 

 

GEN 12:3

And I will bless those who bless you,

And the one who curses you I will curse.

And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed." 

 

ISA 49:5-6

And now says the Lord, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant,

To bring Jacob back to Him, so that Israel might be gathered to Him

(For I am honored in the sight of the Lord,

And My God is My strength), 

6 He says, "It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant

To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel;

I will also make You a light of the nations

So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth." 

 

ISA 42:6-8

6 "I am the Lord, I have called You in righteousness,

I will also hold You by the hand and watch over You,

And I will appoint You as a covenant to the people,

As a light to the nations, 

7 To open blind eyes,

To bring out prisoners from the dungeon

And those who dwell in darkness from the prison. 

8 "I am the Lord, that is My name;

I will not give My glory to another,

Nor My praise to graven images. 

 

The GC is your voice in the world that loves idols. We must not compromise. 

 

2. No barriers between people: 

 

The GC, given by the authority of Christ, makes us set aside all barriers that fallen man makes between himself or his tribe and others. 

 

Instantly, the Lord made the gospel and the church cosmopolitan - in the strict definition of being worldwide in scope. 

 

The church began as a mustard seed, just like all of our faith and then it became the biggest tree in the garden.

 

Celsus, an early and outspoken critic of Christianity, took note of it: “Far from us, say the Christians, be any man possessed of any culture or wisdom or judgment; their aim is to convince only worthless and contemptible people, idiots, slaves, poor women, and children… These are the only ones whom they manage to turn into believers.” 

 

John Wesley, “The world is my parish.” 

 

“All nations” removes any narrow-mindedness concerning race, culture, or traditions.

 

Prejudice, which runs thick in the veins of fallen man must be set aside if you are going to disciple all nations. The gospel has made you a lover of the world.

 

Holiness does mean being set apart, and since every believer in the age of the church is a saint (holy one) then we are to live set apart, but not apart from the world in the way of the Pharisee or say, monk.

 

1CO 5:9-11

I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; 10 I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. 11 But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler — not even to eat with such a one.

 

You have to discern when it is proper not to associate with someone who calls themselves a Christian and is immoral.

 

Because you mingle with them, but live holy, they will persecute you. 

 

MAT 24:9

“Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name.”

 

3. All nations need Christ. 

 

Not teaching a new way without rebirth - each person needs faith in the gospel that results in regeneration. 

 

Many will want the teaching but will not want Christ as Savior or Lord. They will never become disciples.

 

JOH 3:5-6

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.  6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”

 

1CO 15:50

Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

 

2CO 5:17

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

 

1PE 1:22

 for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable

 

All human distinctions are laid aside by the gospel in which Christ died for all: 

 

COL 3:10-11

according to the image of the One who created him —  11 a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all. 

 

One of the first false teachings to attack the gospel had at its base an appeal to teaching or knowledge without the regeneration of the person in Christ. This was Gnosticism. 

 

People do not need a teacher (Gandhi; Confucius, Marx, etc), they need a Savior. Once they have been saved then the Savior teaches them through you: “all that I commanded you.” 

 

Conclusion: 

 

There are dangers to be avoided when we disciple all the nations: 

 

Secularizing the gospel to make it more attractive. 

 

Prejudice. 

 

Wrong application of holiness (we are separate in way of life but among them in love). 

 

Teaching without emphasizing regeneration in Christ through faith.