August 7, 2011
Morning Worship
Text: John 20:21-22
Subject: The Great Commission
Title: Whom Shall I Send? - Part 5 in the Great Commission Series
Today is the last message in our Great Commission Series. From Matthew’s gospel we have learned that the Great Commission involves making disciples. That requires building relationships with people in and out of church. From Mark we learned that we need to share the good news to every living creature with the expectation that when we do God will move in a supernatural way to confirm the word. And last week we learned that before we go we need to wait on the Promise of the Father – the baptism in the Holy Spirit – to be poured out on us for power. All three things tie nicely together in one thing – the Love of God. That is, the love He has for us, and that we in return have for Him.
There is rarely a Sunday School that goes by where someone doesn’t mention the fact that we are supposed to be witnesses. Yet, we all know that is the one thing that strikes fear in the hearts of most Christians.
Lieghton Ford, Good News is for Sharing, 1977, David C. Cook Publishing Co., Page 15.
In preparing for this book, I have talked to a lot of people, and the fear issue comes up front again and again. What makes people hesitate to share their faith? Here are some of the fears that have been mentioned to me:
- "I am afraid I might do more harm than good."
- "I don’t know what to say."
- "I may not be able to give snappy answers to tricky questions."
- "I may seem bigoted."
- "I may invade someone’s privacy."
- "I am afraid I might fail."
- "I am afraid I might be a hypocrite."
Perhaps the most common fear, however, is that of being rejected. A survey was given to those attending training sessions for the Billy Graham crusade in Detroit. One question asked, "What is your greatest hindrance to witnessing?" Nine percent said they were too busy to remember to do it. Twenty-eight percent felt the lack of real information to share. None said they didn’t really care. Twelve percent said their own lives were not speaking, as they should. But by far the largest group was the 51 percent whose biggest problem was the fear of how the other person would react! None of us likes to be rejected, ridiculed, or regarded as an oddball.
That brings us to where we want to be today. We want to wrap our minds around the call of the Great Commission in all the gospels in order to see what we can really do to take this message out into the world.
John 20:20-21,
21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
Lord, open my eyes to see and my ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the church.
I. WHEN WITNESSING YOU SHOULD HAVE THE PEACE OF GOD. 21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! When I was younger I had a difficult time asking people for something. For some reason I always felt that my asking was an imposition on someone else. I’m still that way in some respects. You may not believe it but I have always been a little bashful. It’s true. And I still am to a degree. I’ve gotten better about it. You all know what James the brother of Jesus said about asking. “You have not because you ask not.” On the other hand, there are some of you who are bold enough to ask about anything. The mindset of those people is this, “The worse answer you can get when you ask is ‘No.’ so it’s no big deal”. For some of us that “No!” is rejection and is something that is hard for us to take. Why do we take it so personally? Jesus said in Luke 10:16, “He who listens to you listens to me; he who rejects you rejects me; but he who rejects me rejects him who sent me.” So when witnessing, people aren’t really rejecting you, they ultimately are rejecting God. So maybe you think that their rejection is your fault. Not true! Rejecting God is what people walking in darkness do. 2 Thessalonians 2:10, They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. John 15:18, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.’ OK, let’s move past all the talk of hatred and rejection, because Jesus says that those things are not from Him. He says instead of having fear, or being anxious about this we should be confident in who we are and what He has called us to do. “Peace be with you!” Where does the Peace that Jesus says is to be with us come from? Philippians 4:7 answers that question for us. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. That Greek word translated “peace” implies not just a lack of conflict, but also prosperity. In the KJV it is also translated in various places as quietness or rest. A couple of weeks ago a man showed up at our back door who was… let me say it this way… he wasn’t quiet as coherent as he would have been had it not been for the alcohol. He was being tormented by the enemy and didn’t know it. But I was able to sit with him and talk to him about his problem and about the Lord and in doing so I had such a sense of peace. I shared scripture with him and talked to him about what God would like for his life. He told me things that you would expect worldly people to say. “If I go to a church I don’t want to hear about money.” “I don’t want the preacher to tell stories or give his opinion – I just want to hear the bible.” And as I shared scripture with him and told him what he needed in his life he asked me this question, “Is your preaching like this?” I was sharing the word with him and I was doing it with such peace that it really got his attention. I would like to be able to say that he gave his heart to the LORD that day, but he didn’t. But God proved His word to be true in me that day. “Peace be with you!
II. WHEN WITNESSING YOU SHOULD REMEMBER THAT YOU HAVE THE CALL OF GOD… Here are ten words that should have a lasting impact on your life. As the Father has sent me, I am sending you…. Here we see in John’s gospel we see a new version of the command to “GO”. Not just “Go” but “Go” the same way that Jesus went. In order to understand the full impact these words are to have we must look at what the bible says about Jesus. Philippians 2: 5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! 1) The Father sent Him as a servant… Mark 10:45, For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mark 9:35, If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.” Jesus was sent as a servant. 2) He was humble. Contrary to popular belief, humility is not a weakness. Humility is what Paul tells us about in Philippians 2:3, Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 3) He was obedient. John 5:19, Jesus gave them this answer: “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. John 12:50, I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.” So if that is the way that God sent His Son, then how are we sent? Let’s go a little further. The servant, humility, obedience thing almost makes it sound like God wants us to just be His little puppets. That couldn’t be further from the truth. We serve Him because we love Him. But our “being sent” goes way beyond this. God sent Jesus in His authority. Jesus gave that authority to all believers. Jesus went in Holy Ghost power/we have Holy Spirit power available through the baptism in the Spirit. Luke 4:18-19, 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor… God sent Jesus working signs and wonders. Matthew 4:23-24, 23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. 24 News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed, and he healed them. We are sent in the power of His mighty name to do these things, Mark 16, 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.” … 20 Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it. As the Father has sent me, I am sending you
III. WHEN WITNESSING YOU SHOULD REMEMBER THAT YOUR LIFE IS IN GOD… 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. It was on this day at this time that the church was born. What did Jesus mean by that? What was the purpose of it? Turn over to John 3 and let’s look at a few verses to help us gain some understanding. 3 In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” 4 “How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!” 5 Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” We know that when anyone is born again he becomes a new creation. …no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again… In order to get the real significance of what Jesus is doing in 20:21 we have to go back to Genesis chapter 2 verses 4-7, When the LORD God made the earth and the heavens— 5 and no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no man to work the ground, 6 but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground— 7 the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. What made man different than the other created things? God breathed His breath into man. So when Jesus breathes on the disciples and says, “Receive the Holy Spirit…” He is claiming the authority to give life. In creation God gave man physical and spiritual life. In John Jesus restores the very breath of God in the disciples – they aren’t just born, they are born again. When Jesus breathed on them, the word that is translated “Spirit” as in Holy Spirit is the same Greek word that is translated breath or wind. Just to clarify – this is not the baptism in the Holy Spirit. This is the indwelling presence of God that takes place when you are born again. This is the new life that comes at the time you accept Christ as your Lord and Savior. Jesus had and still has the authority to breath new life into unbelievers. Once you are born again your response should be a desire for others to receive what you have received.
In his book, An Anthropologist on Mars, neurologist Oliver Sacks tells about Virgil, a man who had been blind from early childhood. When he was 50, Virgil underwent surgery and was given the gift of sight. But as he and Dr. Sacks found out, having the physical capacity for sight is not the same as seeing.
Virgil’s first experiences with sight were confusing. He was able to make out colors and movements, but arranging them into a coherent picture was more difficult. Over time he learned to identify various objects, but his habits--his behaviors--were still those of a blind man. Dr. Sacks asserts, "One must die as a blind person to be born again as a seeing person. It is the interim, the limbo . . . that is so terrible."
To truly see Jesus and his truth means more than observing what he did or said, it means a change of identity.
Terry Seufferlein Norman, Oklahoma.
Go and make disciples of all nations…
Go and preach the good news to all creation…
Wait in the city until you are clothed with power from on high…
As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”
The peace that you can have is the peace in knowing that Jesus is send us the same way He was sent… in humility but in power; as a servant, yet a child of the King; out of obedience, and out of love.
The message? “Receive the Holy Spirit…
This is the Great Commission and you are commissioned under the anointing of God to carry it out.
Are you willing to do something that Jesus saw as important?
Are you willing to share the love of Christ with a lost and dying world?
Are you willing to go in the love, the humility, the power, the authority, and in a life lived for God to bring salvation to those who are lost in a world of darkness?
Jesus said, “Go”
Are you ready?
