We have been discussing our call to “Go proclaim the Kingdom of God and make disciples” @ Inner Metro Green for the past three weeks. Throughout, I have been making and emphasizing the point that we are compelled and called, as followers of Jesus of Nazareth, to announce the Good News of God’s incredible, all encompassing love and kingdom (or realm) to friends and neighbors all over our city. But it doesn’t end with the mere announcing of God’s love and kingdom; we are actually called to live according to the principles that this Kingdom is built upon (e.g. peace, non-violence, love, kindness, compassion, forgiveness, charity, understanding, sacrifice, repentance, confession, etc.). The Great Commission = announcing and living. We are not just called “to go,” we are also called “to live.” This is what a healthy church does.
And make no mistake, this Kingdom that we are announcing is radical. It’s radical because: 1. All are welcome; 2. Everyone is equal; 3. The playing field is level; 4. It is an oasis of social, political, religious, and gender egalitarianism growing in a world that is founded upon thick walls of separation; 5. It is supernatural.
Jesus’ Kingdom smashes dividing walls and replaces them with real and transformational relationships. There are neither Jews nor Greeks, slaves nor free people, males nor females, in Jesus’ Kingdom. We are all the same in Christ Jesus. And it’s about relationships, not rules. It’s about spirit, not law. It’s about freedom, not religion. That’s as radical as it gets. Life in the Kingdom of God is anything but boring.
Jesus was serious when he instructed his followers to go and announce this kingdom to everyone that we connect with during our daily journeys. He was so serious, in fact, that the Synoptic reflections about Jesus all end with a commission “to go.” The Gospel of John also includes a commission near its closing. Acts begins with a commission from Jesus.
“Then Jesus came 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 of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age’” (Matt. 28:18-20)
“And He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature’” (Mark 16:15).
“And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things” (Luke 24:47-48).
“Then Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace to you, as the Father has sent Me, I also send you’” (John 20:21).
“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
During the talk this morning, I emphasized the fact that none in our community need look for a special block of time that they can dedicate to this mission. No! That is as unnecessary as it is counter productive to this Gospel. We are all very busy and rarely do we have a significant block of time that we can dedicate to the mission. Instead, I suggested that we all start looking for opportunities for spiritual conversation during the every day journeys that we embark upon every day! God is already working in the lives of everyone we know and come in contact with everyday. Let’s pray, and look for opportunities to get involved with what God is already doing in the lives of all those people that we already and naturally come in contact with regularly, during our everyday journey in life. There is no need to “find time” to engage the mission. The mission is already occurring. The Spirit is already at work. We have already been invited to get involved! Let’s look for these divine opportunities and get seriously involved with the people we encounter every day, along the way! This is what is so great about the Great Commission! It’s not a call to disengage real living! It’s a call to intentionally live!
Isn’t it exciting to be involved with what God is doing in our world and working in the lives of our friends and neighbors? Isn’t equally exciting to see how God is working in our lives too! I said it many times and I’ll say it again: We are changed just as much as the people to whom we introduce this radical realm of God! We are all changed when we connect and attend to what God is doing in our lives. It’s beautiful.
Related posts:
“The Great Commission”:
“And The Messiah said unto them, Go into all the
world, and preach The Gospel to Every Creature.”
(Mark 16:15)
And then Paul testified that “The Great
Commission” was fulfilled…….
“Be not moved away from the hope of The Gospel,
which you have heard, and Which WAS Preached
to Every Creature which is under Heaven;”(Col 1:23)
And The Gospel(Good News) was:
“The Kingdom of GOD(Heaven) is at hand”…….
“Now after John had been put in prison, The Messiah
came into Galilee, preaching The Gospel of The
Kingdom of GOD, and saying, “The time is fulfilled,
and The Kingdom of GOD is at hand: repent and
believe The Gospel.”"(Mark 1:14-15)
Once again, Paul testified that the so-called “great
commission” was fulfilled…….
“And The Messiah said unto them, Truly I say unto
you, That there be some of standing here, who shall
not taste of death, till they have seen The Kingdom
of GOD come with power.”(Mark 9:1)
And The Kingdom of GOD(Heaven) HAS Come, IS,
and Has Been since the destruction of the earthly,
natural “kingdom” that was centered in Jerusalem
some 40 years after The Messiah’s testimony as
recorded in Mark 9:1.
And so it is that those who would follow The Messiah
on “The Way to The Truth of The Life” are exhorted
to “set their affections on things above(Heavenly)”
(Col 3:2) and not be liken unto those “whose god is
their belly…..who mind earthly things”.(Phlp 3:18-20)
So just what is it that “catholic’s” and “christian’s”
are preaching today?
Sadly, if you tell people lies often enough, and over
a long period of time, they then will believe the lies
and reject The Truth when revealed to them ;-(
Yet, while there is breath(spirit) there is hope!
For Miracles do happen!
Hope is there would be those who experience The Miracle that is “receiving a love of The Truth”.
And The Gospel(Good News) today?
“THY Kingdom” HAS “Come” and IS , indeed and Truth!
Peace, in spite of the dis-ease(no-peace) that is of this world for, “the WHOLE world is under the control of the evil one” indeed and Truth……. francis