It's easy to get lost in translation when it comes to living the Christian life. I know and admit, there is a call to holiness that springs from being made righteous in Christ and thereby becoming the righteousness of God. In our efforts to be like Jesus, and as the Apostle Paul says, to present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God while not be conformed to this world but being transformed by the renewing of our mind. And of course, this renewal is impossible without the leading and guiding of the Holy Spirit. In all of our striving to be like Christ, let's not forget His commandment and commission to believers. It's commonly called the Great Commission.
Matthew 28:18-20 "And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I amwith you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen."
1. Jesus has all power. The believer must rest in the fact that Jesus has all power to help you walk the Christian walk, and to do what God has called you to do. John said, "Greater is he that is in me than he that is the world." Christ in you, Paul said, is the hope of glory. Rest in this: your God is not a weak god. Jesus has ALL POWER in heaven and Earth.
2. Go. Jesus hasn't saved us, then left us to do nothing with our lives. He has saved us and called us to go. Go into your workplace. Go into your school. Go to your family. Go to your neighbors. Go to your friends. Go to the broken. Go to the hurting. Go to the addict and the desolate. GO! God has called us to go! Who is around you today that you need to go to?
3. Make Disciples. This is the crux of the call of the Christian. Make disciples. This means that Jesus is the hope of the world, and without Jesus people are going to hell. Without his saving power in and through their lives, we are all damned. Has our view shifted away from the saving power of Jesus, who is the only one who can save us from our sins and make us right before God. Lord, help us make discipled. Convict us till we do!
4. Baptize them. Don't let your faith remain secret. Go public, and wash away your sins in the name of the Lord. We identify with Christ in baptism. We are, as the Apostle Paul says, "buried with Him in baptism, in the likeness of His death." (Romans 6:4, Colossians 2:12) In the book of Acts, the disciples who followed Jesus' mandate in the Great Commission, baptized believers. When a person believed and repented they were baptized in the name of Jesus. (Acts 2, 8, 10) If you have believed in the Lord Jesus and repented of your sins, you need to be baptized! (Acts 2:38)
5. Teach them. Living for the Lord, making disciples isn't just about the number of people that get saved. (Though this is extremely important.) It is also about learning to walk the Christian walk. This is where being taught to follow Christ comes in. We find Jesus' teaching in the Gospels, and we see the Apostles demonstrating what it means to live the Christian live in the Epistles (Romans - Jude). To be repetitious, remember Romans 12:2 - don't be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind!
6. Jesus is with us. In this whole journey, from the moment you first believe, till the moment you die, God is with us. He is with us, not in a bodily form as Jesus was in the Bible; rather, he is with us through the power of the Holy Spirit. John 14:26, " But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you." God is with us.
Have you sought the power of Jesus in your life today? Believe on Him and repent of your sins!
Have you obeyed the Great Commission today?
My prayer is that you are stirred to obey the Gospel, and to share the Gospel.
In Christ,
Pastor B