The Great Commission Analyzed
May 18, 1957, Brother Guy N. Woods, delivered a discourse at the Garfield Heights church in Indianapolis, Indiana, on "Cooperation in the Field of Benevolence and Evangelism." During the discourse, he analyzed the great commission. The sermon was published in tract. I have read the tract with much interest. Part of its contents is serious and a part amusing. On pages 5, 6, and 7, he analyzes the commission as follows:
"Have you ever stopped to analyze the commission? I want you to analyze it with me tonight. The passage says, 'Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.' (Mark 16:15.) Now let us see what this means. In the first place, it necessitates our going to every place upon this earth. That, within itself, is a tremendous task. This is a huge planet on which we live; and when you begin to take into consideration-the many, many places upon the earth, first the continents, and then narrowing it down to the subdivisions, of the continents, and breaking these subdivisions up into counties, and these counties into communities, and then places that are not even classified as villages, the countryside round about, we are able to appreciate the hugeness of our task. Inasmuch as this commission bids us to go into all the world, this means it is our obligation to go to every place upon the earth. But this is just the beginning. Not only does the great commission teach us to go to every place upon the earth, but it teaches us that we must contact every person in every place on earth. That magnifies the effort a millionfold. As difficult as it would be to go to every place upon the earth that, within itself, is a comparatively simple task compared to preaching the gospel to every person in every place on earth. Suppose, now, that we are going to start out to obey the command to go to every place on earth. All right, we have come to Indianapolis; and we have fulfilled that part of it. But watch, please, not only must we go to every place on earth; but we must contact every person in every place on earth. That would mean when we came to Indianapolis we must contact every person in Indianapolis. But still that doesn't exhaust it, because we must not only go to every person in every place upon the earth, but we must preach the gospel to every person in every place upon the earth. Now get it, ladies and gentlemen; There never was a church on earth that could carry out this commission unaided. There is in the commission absolute authority for church cooperation. By cooperation, I mean the pooling of resources. It would take the resources of the Federal Government to carry out this commission with any degree of success whatever. There never was a New Testament church on earth that had sufficient means by which to carry out this commission unaided."
Here is the serious part of Brother Woods' sermon. Did he contact every man and woman in Indianapolis and preach the gospel to them while there? If not, then did he not disobey the Lord's command? We all know that he left the city without completing his job. He tore down his little play house. Brother Woods puts every preacher in the brotherhood in the same hole that he puts himself in, for the reason that there is not a preacher among us that ever did contact and preach the gospel to every individual where they operated. It seems that we are all disobeying the Lord. Brethren, if we hope to get to heaven, don't you think we had better change our way of preaching to correspond with the great commission?
Brother Woods tells us: "It would take the resources of the Federal Government to carry out this commission with any degree of success whatever." I don't see how the Federal Government with all its resources together with the aid of God Almighty, "could carry out this commission with any degree of success whatever," by using our present corps of preachers, unless they converted them and started them out contacting and preaching the gospel to every individual where they go. Either that, or allow the devil to raise a great persecution and scatter them, like he scattered the disciples from Jerusalem.
Brother Woods says: "By cooperation, I mean the pooling 'of resources." I never read in the Bible where any New Testament churches ever pooled their resources, yet, Paul tells us that "the gospel was preached to every creature which is under heaven." (Col. 1:23.) If Brother Woods knows of any New Testament churches that pooled their resources, will he please tell us which ones, who handled it and what did they do with it?
So far we have been dealing with the serious part of Brother Woods sermon, we now turn our attention to the amusing part of it. On page 18 of his tract, in speaking of Sommerism, he says:
"A lot of people over the country have been disturbed, deceived and deluded by it. I rejoice in the great fight you have waged here: and this is nothing but a modified form of Sommer-ism. You have been fighting it for a number of years, and you watch and see if this movement spearheaded by the Guardian, doesn't continue to progress on and on and on toward that position until there will be a hard corps of brethren that are advocating exactly the same views that were enunciated right here in this city and which remained a mission field until many of you brethren from the South came up into this area and began teaching the truth and to oppose such hobbyism as is characteristic of that movement."
Do you know what real Sommerism is? If not, we will let David Lipscomb tell you. He speaks as follows:
"I do not read Warlick's paper, (the Guide) because he will not publish both sides of a question.... Brother Sommer, of the Octographic Review, adopted this policy some years ago, the only example of it I had ever known avowed among disciples. I ceased to read his paper, and we get along so peaceable. The Guide adopts the same plan. I treat both alike. . . . If the Gospel Advocate were to adopt this policy of criticizing others and refusing to let them reply, I would cease to read it." (Gospel Advocate, 1911, p. 44,45.)
It is clear from Lipscomb's statements that Sommerism is a policy, and that the policy is refusing to publish both sides of an issue. Brother Woods seems to have overlooked this fact, as well as the fact that a' "movement spearheaded" by Old Reliable, under the management of its present editor, "continued to progress on and on toward that position until there" is "a hard corps of brethren," practicing Sommerism; not in "a modified form," but the real original genuine doctrine, not publishing both sides of an issue; and that he himself is associated with the movement. Brother Woods has beat the hobby riders to it, for the reason he is already on the bandwagon. I don't know what he will do when he sees the hobby riders coming, whether he will quarantine them or open the door and welcome them in. Selah.