The Unfinished Task

By Clint Morgan

“We may not be finished, but I’m done.”

If someone told you 41.6% of the people in your town would die in the next 30 days, how would you react? Perhaps the question makes you shudder. Or maybe you’d just shrug it off, declaring with assurance and well-covered hesitation, “Oh, that’s not going to happen!”

So, let’s talk about something that really could happen—today. If you believe the Lord’s return is imminent, then He certainly could come at any moment. The latest statistics indicate 41.6% of people are still unreached with the gospel. If Christ returned today, their eternal destiny is suffering and separation from God.

Yet, the figure of 41.6% doesn’t touch the totality of the lost condition of the earth’s population. An estimated 1.2 billion professing Christians populate earth. Approximately 800 million are classified as evangelical. If every person who fits into the category of “professing Christian” is truly born again, 6.4 billion of the 7.6 billion men, women, and children filling planet Earth are without a saving knowledge of Christ. That means a staggering 84% of Earth’s inhabitants are in need of the Savior.

With these facts stirring our hearts, we must face a stark reality. The task is unfinished! This being true, we must consider how to move toward finishing the task.

Three Great Factors to Consider…And One More

The main premise serving as our impetus to action is understanding and believing God desires all people to come to know Him and accept His Son as their personal Savior. Building on this premise, we can address three aspects of His plan: 1) the Great Commandment; 2) the Great Commitment; and 3) the Great Commission. If we leave out any of these, we will not accomplish His desire for the nations.

The Great Commandment—Love

In Mark 12:28-31, the scribes addressed Christ with a question intended to trap Him. At first glimpse, it appears a rather benign question. Asked which commandment is the most important, Christ responded we are to love God wholeheartedly and love our neighbor as ourselves. He left His questioners with no way to refute Him.

I believe if professing believers grasped the full magnitude of this statement and lived it out, a major step in accomplishing the task He has assigned us would be taken. As we consider the unfinished task of reaching the nations with the Good News, our understanding and life application of the Great Commandment absolutely comes into play.

The Great Commitment—Function as One

The second element playing a major role in our pursuit of finishing the task is what is sometimes referred to as the Great Commitment. Located in John 17:11-25, this passage is sometimes labeled “the priestly prayer.” In His prayer, Christ poured out His heart to His Father. He expressed His desire for His disciples to understand that the credibility of Christianity often rests on functioning as one unit, one body.

We absolutely must be unified in accordance with Jesus’ prayer in John 17:21: “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” If we are to finish the task of reaching the nations with the gospel, we must glorify God through our message, methods, and manner of living, leaving no doubt we represent a holy God.

The Great Commission—The Task

First, we must understand the impetus for the task springs from the compassionate heart of God. Those embracing this task must be disciples of Christ. He sends out His disciples to make more disciples.

Second, being a true disciple implies dedicated service to Him. This includes fulfilling the Great Commission. However, in 2018, research revealed only 64% of evangelical Christians believe they have a personal responsibility to share their faith.

Third, we must understand the time frame in which this task is to be pursued. Christ made it exceedingly clear we are to be about making disciples “to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). We do not know when that will be, but we can be about the task until He calls us home.

The Great Omission

In 2018, the IM staff took a mission trip to Panama. One of our tasks was painting a dorm on the Bible institute campus in the town of Chame. The temperature neared 100°, and high humidity rode its coattails. A team member who doesn’t tolerate heat well perspired profusely all day. About 5:00 p.m., he made a profound announcement: “We may not be finished, but I’m done.” And he was. The rest of us did not want to admit we were in the same place, but it didn’t take long for us to wrap up our work for the day.

I wonder if his statement doesn’t express the attitude many believers have about the unfinished task of the Great Commission: “It may not be finished, but I’m done.” We have allowed the Great Commission to become the Great Omission.

We must not allow ourselves to get stuck in this mode. We must ask His Spirit to examine our hearts and move us to finish the task.

The WMO Theme—Unfinished

This year, IM has chosen the theme Unfinished for the annual World Missions Offering (WMO). On Sunday, April 26, 2020, we ask every Free Will Baptist church member to give a designated offering to the WMO.

A gift to the WMO provides funding for our partnership ministries with national churches and other ministries, deficit or underfunded missionary accounts, and the general fund. This is an amazing means of supporting strategic aspects of IM’s ministries and programs. We pray our churches will make this year’s WMO a record breaker. Together, we can soar into 2020 and the years ahead with a renewed passion to reach the 6.4 billion still without Christ.

Your prayers, special offerings, and other efforts will ensure that we as Free Will Baptists do our part to finish the task.

About the Writer: Clint Morgan has been director of IM, Inc. since 2011. Learn more: IMInc.org.