JmA Newsletter Missions Mid-Month Mar 2024
The Great Commission in John, the Gospel of the Son of God
(Part 1 of 3)
John 20:21-23, 21"So Jesus said to them again, "Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you." 22And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. 23If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."
This is the Great Commission of the Son of God. We've seen Jesus as King in Matthew; as the suffering servant in Mark; and in Luke, we saw His humanity as the son of man. Now, He speaks to us as God the Son. There is a lot in this passage, but for today, we will focus on just one sentence!
1. "As the Father has sent Me, I also send you."
Connection John 14:16-18
John 14:16-18, 16"And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— 17the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. 18I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you."
In all the examples of the Great Commission we’ve seen in the other Gospels, this one promise remains consistent in all of them: “I will be with you.” If the truth is that we belong to Him, then we are connected to Him, adopted by Him, and immediately put into the ‘family’ business by Him! We are sent in the same fashion that the Father sent the Son, because we are connected, and we are family.
The promise that I’m talking about is not the same as when your grandpa promised to take you to get ice cream when you were a kid and didn’t. Or your rando Uncle Mark promised to buy you a car when you graduate college, and you still don’t have that car. Because the truth is that people mean well, and we try, but sometimes our mouth can write a check that we can’t cash! We’ve all experienced something like the disappointment of a promise that never happened. And when someone starts talking about how God promised this or that, we file it in that same ‘broken promise’ folder.
This promise is not like that, because God isn’t like us. Maybe you didn’t learn this truth in Bible School, but there is something that God cannot do! He can’t lie! And He can’t write a check He can’t cash! If He promised it, He will do it. “I will never leave you.” Over the years, I have personally seen people leave Him. But I have never seen Him abandon His own!
The Great Commission of the Son of God is more than a travel permit to all the countries you’ve ever wanted to visit. Missions is not another name for vacation! Jesus is commissioning us to take the light of the Gospel into the darkest places on earth, places long held in the enemy’s grip. Friend, whatever weaknesses you have in mind, body or spirit, the enemy will do his level best to exploit, and drive you out, if possible.
But, we are not orphans. We are not alone. We do not walk in our own light. And we do not depend on our own physical prowess or mental acuity. We depend on Jesus because He is dependable! It’s possible that at the end of my journey, I might have a few battle scars to show, and maybe a few surgery scars, too. But I can testify that the Lord is good, and He has not left me.
All believers are invited to join in ministry activities on some level in their surrounding areas. But there are some believers whom God invites to go into those areas of the world that have never heard the Name. Our job is to walk in the light of God, no matter where we are, invading those dark places in our hometown first.
You and I cannot manufacture that light. Either we have it or not. Either we are walking in it, or we are not. So, the question is: Are you? Are you walking in His light? Are you letting, or allowing, or even inviting the light of God shine down into your inmost being, to uncover the dark areas in your heart? Because that’s where it starts. Being a missionary doesn’t start on the mission field. It starts with the mission field of our own heart. Are you walking in the truth?
“As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”
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