The same people to whom Christ was sent. And who was that?

Luke 5:29-32 And Levi made him a great feast in his own house: and there was a great company of publicans and of others that sat down with them. But their scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners? And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Christ was sent, as are we, to the world. To the sinners – not to the righteous. Why?

Luke 5:36-38 And he spake also a parable unto them; No man putteth a piece of a new garment upon an old; if otherwise, then both the new maketh a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeth not with the old. And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish. But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved. No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better.

The Pharisees of the day were “old bottles”. And Christ is new wine. We’re not sent to the church of today – we’re sent to the world at large. We’re sent to…

Mark 16:15 Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

We’re nowhere sent to the church, or to the righteous – certainly, we must “be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you” (1 Peter 3:15), but that isn’t our primary calling. Our job, our commission, is to help the world as much as possible to see it’s own evil and repent for it, and to generally make the world a better place… so that God can bless it.

Let’s say for argument’s sake, that we could take a Pharisee, and through much arguing, convince him of the truth – thereby making him a more godly person. Let’s say that we took him and made him a disciple of Christ… What we just did is took a man, who already kept the ten commandments – who already understood quite a bit about God, and already wasn’t hurting his neighbor nor stealing from his employer… and made him into a more Godly person. Undeniably a very good thing.

But now let’s say we could use that same time to teach a new person – a publican, sinner – who is shoplifting from the local wal-mart on a regular basis – and we can teach him that he needs to stop that, and repent of it – and teach him the commandments…. We’ve done much more for the world as a whole, than we did with the Pharisee. And if we repeat this a thousand times in our lifetime… where was our time better spent… with the old bottle, or the new?

Daniel 12:3 And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.

You can’t turn someone “to” righteousness… who already IS righteous. This is our commission… to preach repentance to the world. Repentance is what turns someone from unrighteousness to righteousness. Teaching the world, or anyone in it, to repent, is how you work towards earning the reward promised in Daniel.

This is the most basic foundational doctrine of Hebrews 6. This is the first thing a new person, and the world at large must understand – Repentance. This is the message that should be preached at campaigns, to brand new people – Repentance. Just as John the Baptist, Peter, Paul, and Jesus Christ himself campaigned “repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”.

Preaching repentance, and the kingdom of god (in that order), is what we are commanded to do.

Matthew 24:46-47 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, that he shall make him ruler over all his goods.