‘“And Jesus came up 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 the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’” (Mt.28:18-20)
Satan is busy. He is busy attempting to convince people to suppress truth (Ro.1:28), to exchange the truth for a lie (Ro.1:25), to be selfishly ambitious and not obey truth but obey unrighteousness (Ro.2:8), to rejoice in unrighteousness, not with the truth (1 Co.13:6), to walk in craftiness, adulterating the word of God, not manifesting truth, and on and on – very busy.
How many professing Christians actually believe that all authority in heaven and earth has been given to Jesus? This is another way of saying that He is Lord. What does this mean? Since He is in authority, everything is happening just the way He makes it happen? He is in control of everything, so we can kick back and watch events unfold, knowing “it is what it is.” We can take a passive role in the affairs of our nation; our world?
Notice, after declaring that He has authority, He tells His disciples to “… make disciples of all the nations…teaching them to observe all that I commanded…” This is Jesus, the Lord, exercising His authority.
Hopefully, along this line we can be “of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose” even as we argue over method (remembering that a kingdom divided against itself is laid to waste – Mt.12:25, Mk.3:24-25, Lk.11:17). Hopefully, we take Him seriously and actively seek to understand what this means. Hopefully, we actively seek to understand how to do this. Hopefully, we actively seek to know our role in this grand project.
Satan is busy. He likes it when we play church like a couple of little children playing doctor, dress-up or house. We must be careful that we do not replace being church with a 21st century, Western version of playing church. We must be careful that we do not satisfy ourselves with a veneer of the gospel, as genuine and attractive as it might appear. We must realize that the gatherings we attend are for the purpose of encouraging one another not to go on sinning willfully and equipping the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ, so we are no longer children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming (He.10:25-26, Ep.4:12-15). We are to avoid mere speculation that does not further the administration (kingdom) of God (1 Ti.1:4).
As Satan and his disciples are busy making disciples of all the nations, professing Christians are busy writing articles that make us feel good (or at least not bad) about each turn of events that befall us – forever looking for the silver lining with which to cover our eyes, so we do not have to face the harsh realities of our failures. We spin and weave an eschatology that convinces the flock that the worse it gets, the better it is because it means “Jesus is coming back any day,” regardless of the fact that He said, “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come” (Mt.24:14). The Good News of the Kingdom. Which good news and what kingdom?
Well, while many congregations major on making people of every moral persuasion feel good, we often forget to ask how Jesus feels. Frighteningly, the churches in Asia Minor had the first-hand “privilege” of finding out (Re.2 & 3).[1]
Anyway, back to our original text – a large part of the problem is that we are no longer truth based but feeling based. Our goal is to avoid hurting people’s feelings and, if at all possible, make them feel good (even if they do not “sin no more” – Jn.8:11).[2] As we abandon truth for feelings, we, consequently, dismiss truth about love and turn love into a feeling. Many Christians are advocating a poorly developed concept of love that allows “the world” (those inspired and empowered by Satan in opposition to God’s kingdom) to make disciples of all the nations (including the USA) – the nations of which we were told, “go…make disciples of all the nations…teaching them to observe all that I commanded.” I suppose that if we don’t do what we were told, the rest of the statement, “I am with you…,” can be set aside also.
[1] I was shown a paper that had this passage as a pattern and pastors were to fill in what they thought Jesus would say to their congregation. To my amazement (not) the forms were filled out with flowery, sappy sweet statements of pure sentiment and fluff.
[2] In fact, we are not allowed to call what they do “sin” or we are being too judgmental.’
Source: Mick Wolfe (Comprehensium)
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