WORD From The Woods
Well, another Resurrection Day celebration is in the books, back to living our normal Christian lives……Resurrection Day doesn’t stop for us as Christians after Easter dinner and an egg hunt. We should celebrate it every week on the Lord’s day, and it should change the way we live and act in the world each end every day! One of the core values I’ve had for a long time as a Christian, and for the ministry of Fellowship of Christian Loggers, is discipleship. Discipleship is really pretty simple, it’s just the process of equipping others to grow in the Christian faith and teach others to do the same. This is what’s known as “The Great Commission,” and it’s generally quoted from Matthew 28:19
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” Now, that sounds really nice right? Go tell the world about Jesus! The problem is, many people will quote just that one verse without ever looking at the entire context of the passage. Or they just take it to mean that Jesus was a really nice guy and if we just learn be really nice and spread the love of Jesus to the world around us, they can learn to be nice too. As if, the doctrine of niceness will convince people to turn away from their path to hell, and nice them right into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many Christians act like we’re standing on the outside of the world looking in, just trying to be nice enough for people to want the nice faith we have. Now, I’m not saying christians shouldn’t be nice, we should be like Christ and demonstrate love in all that we do, love is kind and does no wrong, but it’s not always nice, (see Matthew 23.) What I to want to point out today is the broader context of The Great Commission, this was the last thing that Jesus said to His disciples before He ascended to heaven. Matthew 28:16-20 “Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Notice is the word ‘therefore” in verse 19, like I said, many people like to quote that one verse by itself. But, when you see the word “therefore” in scripture, you need to find out what it’s there for. To do that you need to back up and look at the broader context. You see that the disciples worshipped Jesus when they saw Him. That’s the position we need to start with when it comes to discipleship, fall on our face before a Holy God in worship Him because He is God and we are not. They worshipped Jesus because they knew that He had all authority, not just in Heaven but also here on Earth! That’s why, when Jesus taught them to pray, He prayed to the Father “Your kingdom come, Your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.” It’s because Jesus has all authority in all the universe that we can “Go therefore, and disciple the nations.” But disciple them to what? To be nicer to each other? Just like verse 20 says “ to do all that Christ had commanded.” To repent, to turn away from sin and follow Him. Then He says that He will be with them always even to the end of the age, but how could that be when He was about to disappear into the sky not to be seen again for at least 2,000 years? To understand that, we have to know where He went. Mark tells us plainly in his gospel account of the same great commission. Mark 16:19 “So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.” Jesus ascend to the throne room of Heaven, where He was and still is seated at the right hand of the Father ruling and reigning over Heaven and Earth as the King of kings and Lord of lords! In the end of Matthew 22, Jesus quoted from Psalm 110 to establish His authority, right before he unloaded a scathing rebuke of 7 woes against the religious leaders in the temple. Psalm 110:1-2 The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies!” The apostle Paul understood the authority of Jesus when he wrote to the church in Corinth. 1 Corinthians 15:25-26 “For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” I point out all these verse to show you the reality, that when we come to faith in Christ, we enter into a Kingdom that is being ruled by a Savior who not only died to pay the penalty for our sin, but who is a risen, glorified King who is seated on His throne and has ALL authority in Heaven and here on this Earth, yesterday, today and tomorrow. We aren’t just standing on the outside of this messed up world looking in, hoping people will want to follow Jesus with us. We are members of the great and eternal Kingdom of Heaven, and as such, we bear the authority and commission of King Jesus to go into all the world, making disciples, teaching them to obey all the He has commanded!
God Bless, and have a great week! -Terry-
Well, another Resurrection Day celebration is in the books, back to living our normal Christian lives……Resurrection Day doesn’t stop for us as Christians after Easter dinner and an egg hunt. We should celebrate it every week on the Lord’s day, and it should change the way we live and act in the world each end every day! One of the core values I’ve had for a long time as a Christian, and for the ministry of Fellowship of Christian Loggers, is discipleship. Discipleship is really pretty simple, it’s just the process of equipping others to grow in the Christian faith and teach others to do the same. This is what’s known as “The Great Commission,” and it’s generally quoted from Matthew 28:19
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” Now, that sounds really nice right? Go tell the world about Jesus! The problem is, many people will quote just that one verse without ever looking at the entire context of the passage. Or they just take it to mean that Jesus was a really nice guy and if we just learn be really nice and spread the love of Jesus to the world around us, they can learn to be nice too. As if, the doctrine of niceness will convince people to turn away from their path to hell, and nice them right into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many Christians act like we’re standing on the outside of the world looking in, just trying to be nice enough for people to want the nice faith we have. Now, I’m not saying christians shouldn’t be nice, we should be like Christ and demonstrate love in all that we do, love is kind and does no wrong, but it’s not always nice, (see Matthew 23.) What I to want to point out today is the broader context of The Great Commission, this was the last thing that Jesus said to His disciples before He ascended to heaven. Matthew 28:16-20 “Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Notice is the word ‘therefore” in verse 19, like I said, many people like to quote that one verse by itself. But, when you see the word “therefore” in scripture, you need to find out what it’s there for. To do that you need to back up and look at the broader context. You see that the disciples worshipped Jesus when they saw Him. That’s the position we need to start with when it comes to discipleship, fall on our face before a Holy God in worship Him because He is God and we are not. They worshipped Jesus because they knew that He had all authority, not just in Heaven but also here on Earth! That’s why, when Jesus taught them to pray, He prayed to the Father “Your kingdom come, Your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.” It’s because Jesus has all authority in all the universe that we can “Go therefore, and disciple the nations.” But disciple them to what? To be nicer to each other? Just like verse 20 says “ to do all that Christ had commanded.” To repent, to turn away from sin and follow Him. Then He says that He will be with them always even to the end of the age, but how could that be when He was about to disappear into the sky not to be seen again for at least 2,000 years? To understand that, we have to know where He went. Mark tells us plainly in his gospel account of the same great commission. Mark 16:19 “So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.” Jesus ascend to the throne room of Heaven, where He was and still is seated at the right hand of the Father ruling and reigning over Heaven and Earth as the King of kings and Lord of lords! In the end of Matthew 22, Jesus quoted from Psalm 110 to establish His authority, right before he unloaded a scathing rebuke of 7 woes against the religious leaders in the temple. Psalm 110:1-2 The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies!” The apostle Paul understood the authority of Jesus when he wrote to the church in Corinth. 1 Corinthians 15:25-26 “For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” I point out all these verse to show you the reality, that when we come to faith in Christ, we enter into a Kingdom that is being ruled by a Savior who not only died to pay the penalty for our sin, but who is a risen, glorified King who is seated on His throne and has ALL authority in Heaven and here on this Earth, yesterday, today and tomorrow. We aren’t just standing on the outside of this messed up world looking in, hoping people will want to follow Jesus with us. We are members of the great and eternal Kingdom of Heaven, and as such, we bear the authority and commission of King Jesus to go into all the world, making disciples, teaching them to obey all the He has commanded!
God Bless, and have a great week! -Terry-