THE GREAT COMMANDMENT
NOT THE GREAT SUGGESTION
Mark 16:15-20 And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. [16] He who believes and is baptised will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. [17] And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; [18] they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover." [19] So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. [20] And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.
Verse fifteen is the Great Commandment "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature" and the early Christian Church did that with a passion.
Why?
Because they believed it.
They knew that Jesus had come from heaven
They knew that Jesus had died for them
They knew that Jesus had risen from the dead
They knew that Jesus had gone back to "heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God"
They knew that Jesus was coming back agin the same way He had left.
This gave them the passion to reach out to the lost.
They had a first hand encounter with the living resurrected God who had "come to seek and save that which was lost" as Luke 19:10 tells us.
Sadly over time apart from times of revival most in the church have taken that Great Commandment and turned it into The Great Suggestion
They believe that’s up to the Pastor or some Evangelist to do, I am not called to evangelise, that’s not my calling.
My friends I am here to burst that bubble this morning.
THE GREAT COMMANDMENT IS NOT THE GREAT SUGGESTION
We are all called to declare the Gospel to ever creature.
You might say but that was OK for the disciples in the Bible after all they had a first hand encounter with Jesus.
Well that is not true
Many including Paul did not see Jesus in the flesh, Paul just heard a voice speak to him and that changed him forever and caused him to declare the Gospel as far and wide as he was able.
Paul and many who were saved after Jesus had ascended into heaven got hold of the words of Jesus
Luke 19:10 "for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."
They understood the lost state of man kind and did something about it. They got a passion for the thing that Jesus was passionate about that is "that which was lost."
Sadly many of us get around with little or no concern for the lost.
The other day my wife Elaine lost a pair of earings that we had bought overseas she had been searching for them off and on for several days but could not find them. I said why don’t we pray about it, which we did, I felt that the Lord was saying they were under the bed, so I had a look but could not see them.
Elaine got the same thing but she looked between the bed and the side cupboard which was obscured from my site when I looked. Sure enough she found them
I thought well may be I had not heard from God but as it turned out we both heard from God but Elaine was motivated to look further because they were of more value to her.
MY FRIENDS THE LOST ARE OF GREAT VALUE TO GOD THAT’S THE REASON JESUS CAME.
YOU and I were lost and Jesus sent someone to each one of us to declare the Gospel so that we to could be saved.
Where would you and I be if that person had said to them selves, O that’s just a suggestion God does not mean for me to go and tell Bruce about the Gospel.
You see my wife and I did not come back to church through a personal invitation but a young boy had been speaking to our son Glenn about going to Boys Brigade and it was through that we all came back to church and became born again.
Then a young man in the church dared to ask if we would like to do a bible study. I know at the time Elaine thought that I would refuse and in the natural I would have. But God had done a work on my heart and I said Yes and the rest is history.
Have you lost your passion for the lost
Has the devil stolen your passion for the lost
You see the opposite to passionate is lethargic, calm, frigid
Have you found yourself Lethargic that is lifeless, idle, lazy or neglectful of the lost. In other words do they really matter to you at all?
Or maybe you have found that you are just calm towards them. Doesn’t sound so bad to be calm until we look up its meaning in this context which is undisturbed, unruffled, quite, placid or cool towards them.
The last opposite to passionate is frigid
Apart form meaning chilly, cold, freezing, frosty or icy, frigid also means to be distant, passionless and unresponsive
Have you found yourself distant, passionless or unresponsive to the lost?
I am sure if we are all honest we will have found our selves in one or more of these states.
If that is you this morning then the Devil has stolen your Passion for the lost.
We need to take back what the Devil has stolen
We must become passionate for the lost again
So this morning I want to give you three ways to regain your passion for the lost.
1. The first thing we must have is a compassion for the lost. To do that we must have a fresh realisation of our own lost state. I don’t think any of us can have a passion for the lost if we don’t know the state from which He saved us.
When we got back from Sri Lanka I shared how several times during our trip I felt compassionate towards various people. This is were we must start we must have Compassion for the lost.
I looked at those Buddists going to see Budda’s tooth and got a realisation that they were all going to a Christless eternity. My friends we are surrounded by people that are going to hell. Sadly most of them just pass us by and we are neglectful, unruffled, distant, passionless and unresponsive towards them.
I am not talking about stopping everyone and telling them about the Gospel or standing on a box and preaching the Gospel. What am saying is that if you can get a compassion towards the lost God will give you opportunities to witness to them.
Ask God to give you a compassion towards the lost and make the most of the opportunities He will give you.
2. The second thing needed for reaching the lost is effort.
When our boys were quite young we used visit my Grandmother at Aldersgate village. One day Glenn and Paul disappeared and our hearts really sank thinking all sorts of things. We went everywhere looking for them and it was some time before we found them. It took a great deal of effort but what joy when we found them safe and well.
You see even though it took a great deal of effort we would not have thought to do anything else. Why? well the answer is obvious they were our children and of great value to us.
I was thinking about Lloyd Rowlands and Pastor Lalani. Lloyd has a passion to reach the lost in the Congo and Pastor Lalani has a passion to reach the lost in Sri Lanka. Both of them have a compassion towards these people and for both of them it is taking a lot of effort under trying conditions to reach them.
Are we willing to make the effort to reach the lost around us do we have a compassion for them.
3. The third thing needed to reach the lost its persistence.
Lloyd shared about his nervous break down and how he has had to breakthrough that with persistence to be able to get back on the mission field.
Pastor Lalani has persisted with a group of people that killed her husband and have tried numerous times to destroy her church. The result is many souls won for the kingdom. Hundreds of people that once were lost but know are found.
So many times we feel like or actually give up on people but praise God He never gave up on us.
Elaine’s mum is a classic case of why we should never give up on people. over Ninety years old with numerous people including us witnessing to her. In the words of one of her grandchildren she was a stubborn women. Then out of the blue Elaine was able to lead her to the Lord and her life totally turned around. She would have been easy to give up on but because Elaine had the compassion, was willing to put in the effort and persisted in witnessing to her she is know in the Kingdom.
My Friends the Great Commission is not the great suggestion. Jesus wants to work with you and He will confirm His Word with signs following. We have been through a bit of a dry patch with the fellowship but there are many souls that have been turned around for the Kingdom through this ministry.
I know if we will only get that compassion for the lost and continue to put in the effort with persistence that we will see many more lives turned around and won for the Kingdom.
Remember from where you came I am sure it was just like me.
I once was lost but now I am found, was blind but now I see.
Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
HOW ABOUT YOU THIS MORNING!
