The Blogs: Becoming a Great Commandment Christian – Part 6 | Ed Gaskin

The Great Commandment as the Church’s Witness

The Church does not exist for itself. It exists to bear witness to the reign of God—a reign defined not by power, wealth, or politics, but by love. In a divided and polarized world, the Church has the opportunity to demonstrate a different way. The credibility of our message does not rest in eloquent sermons, doctrinal precision, or impressive buildings. It rests in the visible love of a people shaped by the Great Commandment.

Jesus himself made this the measure of discipleship:

“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:35)

When the Church loves across barriers, it becomes a signpost of God’s kingdom, a living parable of the world that is to come.

A community where every tribe and tongue is honored.
A fellowship where disagreements do not fracture love.
A witness that reflects the kingdom of Revelation’s great multitude.

The measure of witness is not the number of bodies, or buildings, or the size of the budget, or even the number of conversions. The true measure is this: when people see the witness of the Church, do they see that the kingdom of God is at hand? Do they see light shining in the darkness?

When the Spirit Empowers the Church

This love is not produced by human effort alone—it is the fruit of the Spirit. When Christians receive the Spirit and begin exercising their gifts, they do not confine themselves to the four walls of a church building or house church. God did not give the people of God the Spirit of God and all of that power to be confined to the four walls of the church.

No matter how edifying it is to exercise spiritual gifts among ourselves, the goal is to benefit the world, not just the gathered body. The Spirit sends us outward to heal, to serve, and to embody the justice and sacrificial love of Jesus. The witness of the Church should look like Jesus in action—bringing healing to the broken, justice to the oppressed, and hope to the weary.

I believe in miracles and the gift of miraculous healing. But one must ask, if you had the gift of healing, would you limit your gift to Sunday morning at church, or would you be in the ICU wards of hospitals, visit those receiving hospice, or travel to countries where doctors are in short supply?

After Pentecost, empowered by the Spirit, Christians:

Preached boldly – Peter proclaims Christ at Pentecost and thousands are baptized (Acts 2).
Formed radical, generous communities – “There were no needy persons among them” (Acts 4:34).
Healed the sick and performed signs – the lame man at the temple gate walks (Acts 3).
Endured persecution with joy – rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer for Christ (Acts 5:41).
Crossed cultural barriers with the gospel – Philip baptizes the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8); Peter welcomes Cornelius’s household (Acts 10).
Sent missionaries into the world – Barnabas and Saul are set apart by the Spirit in Antioch (Acts 13).
Created an inclusive, multiethnic Church – the Jerusalem Council affirms that Gentiles are welcomed without bearing the yoke of Jewish law (Acts 15).

The Spirit ensures that the Church is diverse, welcoming, and outward-facing—a body that embodies holiness and love in action. The Church becomes a foretaste of the kingdom, a community where God’s love is made visible.

The Great Commission and the Witness of the Church

The Great Commandment cannot be separated from the Great Commission. As the prophet Micah declared, God requires us “to act justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8). Justice, mercy, and humility are not abstract virtues; they are the very posture of the Church as it proclaims good news to the world. Jesus’ charge to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19) is fulfilled not only in preaching, but in living out this Micah-shaped gospel before the watching world.

A Great Commandment Church is therefore also a Great Commission Church—one that loves deeply and sends boldly. It prays privately in the secret place, publicly in the assembly, and with its feet in the streets as it walks with the poor, the hurting, and the excluded. This is worship that extends beyond hymns and sermons. It is worship that honors God for who God is and for what the Spirit of God has done and is doing through the Church.

In this way, the Church becomes the honest broker between a holy, loving God and the people of a sinful world. It is both ambassador and witness, interceding for the broken and proclaiming reconciliation through Christ.

When this vision takes root, neighborhoods cannot remain the same. The parish, the catchment area, the community surrounding a congregation should be palpably different because of the presence of God’s people. The hungry are fed. The lonely find family. The unjust are confronted. The weary discover hope. Where the Spirit empowers and the Church obeys, the kingdom of God breaks through in visible and undeniable ways.

Conclusion: Becoming a Great Commandment People

From Sinai to the Prophets, from Jesus to the Spirit, the story has always been about holiness expressed in love. To be a Great Commandment Christian is to embody both—living out holiness, righteousness, and love in our homes, our communities, and our world.

This is not simply an option for the Church. It is our mission. It is our identity. It is our calling.

The world does not need another institution clamoring for power, nor another voice shouting in the marketplace of division. What the world longs for—what it desperately needs—is a community so shaped by the love of God that it becomes impossible to ignore. A people who forgive when others seek revenge. Who share when others hoard. Who welcome when others exclude. Who serve when others grasp for control.

The Great Commandment is not merely a verse to be quoted, but a life to be lived. It is the very heartbeat of the Church’s witness, the sign that the kingdom of God has drawn near.

As John wrote: “No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us” (1 John 4:12).

When the Church embodies this love, the unseen God becomes visible in the world. And when that happens, the Church truly becomes what it was always meant to be: a living testimony that Jesus is Lord and that the reign of God is breaking into our world.