“Making his last command our first priority.”
This is the slogan of a larger ministry catching a lot of attention. Catchy. Clever. Christ-centered, and, also, correct.
We should take the last command of Christ as the first priority in the church. Amen.
But what happens if you get the last command wrong? Wouldn’t that result in the wrong priority?
Yes, it would.
The church calls itself 2819 after what it believes is the last command of Christ (in agreement with most Baptists – Matthew 28:19).
Unfortunately, that puts as their first priority teaching all nations to obey Israel’s commandments, water baptism, enduring to the end for salvation, and (if you include the Mark 16 and John 20 statements) healing, speaking in tongues, and apostles remitting sins.
Matthew 28:19 is not the last command of Christ. It is only the last command of Christ in the book of Matthew. He returned much later to give further revelation and instructions to the Body of Christ through the apostle Paul.
Paul writes that he saw Christ “last of all” (1 Cor 15:8) and received his gospel and message from Christ after Matthew 28:19 and the ascension of Acts 1 (see Galatians 1; Col 1:25).
Christ returned to command the apostle Paul to go to all nations giving them the gospel of the grace of God and the glorious mystery of Christ (Eph 3:9).
These final instructions and ministry to the church can be found in 2 Cor 5:17-21 and Ephesians 3:1-12, and they affect everything the church does.
When churches fail to see the later revelation of the mystery, they cannot obey the last command of Christ.
It is not their desire to obey Christ, serve Christ, love Christ, or pursue Christ that is wrong. It is that they do not hear his last message and so cannot get their priorities straight.
Make Christ’s last command your first priority. Make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery of Christ.
For Truth,
Justin “top priority” Johnson