JMA Newsletter Missions Mid-Month May 2024
The Great Commission in John, the Gospel of the Son of God
Part 3 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 in John as God the Son. There is a lot in this passage, and we've only picked out one sentence!
In the first two installments, we looked at our connection and purpose. Today we're looking at our anointing.
1. "As the Father has sent Me, I also send you."
Connection John 14:16-18 The promise of His presence
2. "As the Father has sent Me, I also send you."
Purpose Acts 9:6 The secret of finding purpose
3. "As the Father has sent Me, I also send you."
Anointing Luke 4:18-19 The power of the Father on us
Luke 4:18-19, 18"The Spirit of the Lord is on Me; because He has anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor; He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 19to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord."
In this context, Jesus is in His home town of Nazareth. He had just been in the wilderness 40 days being tempted by the devil. He comes home, goes into a synagogue, and reads this passage from Isaiah. And He finished up by saying, "This scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing" v21.
The point I want to make here is two-fold:
First, in this passage, Jesus is announcing the parameters of His earthly ministry and ours. It is far easier to lose focus of why we're here, and what we're supposed to be doing, than we want to admit! There's an old proverb that says, "It's hard to remember that your job is to clean out the swamp when you're up to your neck in alligators." So, we need to regularly remind ourselves of why we're here.
Preach the Gospel to the poor, the beggar, the financially and spiritually poor and needy.
To heal the brokenhearted, these words mean 'to cure' or 'to make whole' those who are 'shattered' or 'crushed completely' in heart, brokenhearted.
To proclaim liberty or deliverance to captives, those who are prisoners of spiritual strongholds, spiritual prisoners of war, or those in a literal, physical prison.
The recovery of sight to the blind, spiritual or physical blindness.
To set at liberty those who are oppressed, to open the gates of the spiritual prison and lead them out into the liberty of the sons of God.
"As the Father has sent Me, I also send you." So, this is our target ministry parameters. We don't always hit the mark, if we can be honest. But as Christian missionaries, cross cultural ministers, this is what we're aiming at.
I cannot tell you how many times a rural Pastor will enroll at one of our campuses, totally lacking any hope, ready to quit the ministry, and will have been telling God, "Ok, I'll give this once more chance, I'll try this one more thing, and if it doesn't work, I'm out." And as they go through the program, they find their hope has been restored, their faith is being renewed, their mind is encouraged and built up! The brokenhearted can be healed!
The second thing I want to point out is this. Christian missions is not based on human psychology or manipulative tricks for emotionally exhausted people. It's not hypnosis! It is not the promotion of one 'religion' over against another one, like a competition of some kind. It is normal people answering the invitation from a risen Lord to go, and teach, and baptize, and make disciples. And not in our own strength! No, we go in the strength of His calling, and His anointing. It is His anointing!
Jesus sends us and anoints us to do our calling in the same way that He was sent and anointed by the Father to do His calling. We are not the Healer! Jesus is the healer, and He is the anointer, and in the same way that the Father sent Him, He is sending us. We are called and anointed by Him to join Him in His ministry of healing, of restoration, and of reconciliation.
John 5:19, "Then Jesus answered and said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner." We also do what we see our Father doing.
This is the Great Commission!
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