His Commission is Our mission
Matthew 24:14
As a young believer on the campus of West Chester State, I remember how excited I was at the news that Jesus Christ was coming again. Even though I had been in church my whole life, I can honestly say that it never occurred to me that Jesus was actually going to return to earth, and that it could occur in my lifetime. I read with great eagerness books like Hal Lindsay’s classic: “Late Great Planet Earth”. I remember getting into long discussions with my bible study group on campus about who the anti-Christ might be. Most of us thought it was Henry Kissinger (something having to do with the number 666 and his name – which I can’t remember right now). We were convinced way back in 1972 during the Vietnam War, and the Cold War with Russia, and the 6 Day war in Israel that Jesus would certainly return by the year 1980. I even remember walking the campus and joking about Rapture practice (We would jump up and down).
Once again hope in the second coming of Christ is at an all-time high. The “Left Behind” series of books are best sellers on the NY Times lists of books. I just recently received the movie – and it is even better than the book. See me if you’d like to borrow it. Prophecy classes are well attended and there are workshops and lectures going on almost constantly. National and International events seem to be moving us closer and closer to a confrontation between Israel and the Arab Nations. Immorality is rampant in the west. Weird weather, weird science, and the shrinking globe all point to some kind of showdown.
But Jesus warned about trying to place dates on His return. He also challenged his disciples that our focus should not be on “Digging in” and “Holding out” for His return like some cult groups have done. Instead we are to be preparing ourselves through Holy Living, and through faithful witnessing. There is a mission He has given us to do, and He has said He won’t come back until that mission is completed.
Read with me the words of Christ found in Matthew 24 beginning with verse 1.
In this discussion with his disciples Jesus had two subjects in mind. One had to do with the destruction of the Temple (which occurred in 70 AD). The other had to do with the signs leading up to His return to earth. Like many other prophecies these two ideas are
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intermingled, much like mountains that are miles apart but appear to be joined together when viewed from a great distance.
In His description of the end times, He speaks of many signs that will occur as birth pangs. Events that will occur throughout the whole period of time, but which will increase in intensity and regularity as the time of delivery approaches.
The signs include:
- false prophets and messiahs
- wars and conflicts among nations
- famines, earthquakes, and great natural disasters
- persecution of believers
- growing hatred towards Christians
- growing apostasy from the church (people will walk away from the church in increasing numbers)
- hatred and animosity between Christians
- an increase in wickedness
- people will become callous and hart hearted
Now these things have existed in various degrees throughout history. The church has always had to deal with persecution, false teachers, and apostasy. The world has always had wars and famines and natural disasters. But no one can deny that these things have greatly increased over the last 100 years.
Half the people who have ever lived throughout recorded history are alive today. In fact the number of people alive is 30 times greater than the number of people alive during the time of Christ. Europe and the west have seen tremendous changes in the last 100 years. Atheism, materialism, and humanism have pulled many people away from the church. 2 World Wars have left horrible spiritual scars on the people in Europe. And the rest of the world has seen dictators who have killed millions. It is estimated that more Christian’s were martyred during the last 100 years than all the centuries combined before – nearly 100 million.
Even natural disasters seem to have increased with some of the greatest earthquakes, typhoons, and tornado’s ever recorded having occurred recently. Some of that is simply due to the fact that areas that once were uninhabited are now crowded with people.
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Never before has there been a push for a world united by money, industry, and even politics like there has been in the last 50 years.
The birth pangs are definitely increasing.
But that is not what I want to focus on today. I want to focus instead on the job that remains. Jesus told us in Matthew 28:19-20
“Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
In John 9:4 Jesus said: “As long as it is day, we must do the work of Him who sent me. Night is coming when no one can work.”
And in 2 Peter 3:9 we read: “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
There is a job to be done before Christ returns. It is the work of missions. But like the servants in the parable of the talents – will we use the resources God has given us to complete His work, or will we hoard our resources and hide them away? Christ’s commission is to be our mission.
Look again at verse 14
3 simple points this morning as we prepare to be challenged during our mission’s conference. Point number 1
I. The gospel of the kingdom WILL be preached.
Jesus didn’t leave any room for doubt in His statement, did He? It’s a done deal. This gospel of the Kingdom of God will be preached everywhere. Nothing will or can stop the message of God from spreading.
- persecution may come to the church (and it has), but that will not stop the word from being spread from town to town, and village to village.
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- The love of believers may grow cold (and that has happened particularly in the western world) but that will not stop the gospel from spreading. It has been interesting to watch recent developments in missions. Do you know that the fastest growing segment of missionary work in the world today is among 2nd and 3rd world people reaching the lost. Many countries are now sending their own missionaries around the world.
- At Amsterdam 2000, Billy Graham’s training event for world evangelists, a large number of them were from 2nd and 3rd world countries. In fact we have many missionaries being sent to this country now. In our own district we have Cambodian’s and Vietnamese, and Russians, and Haitian’s and Nigerians who have come to Eastern Pennsylvania to reach the immigrants who have come to this country.
- Even turmoil and division in the church cannot stop the gospel from going forth. The Christian world has been fragmented into hundreds of little groups, but instead of stopping the spreading of the gospel, it has furthered the spreading of the gospel.
- What is the point? Nothing will prevent God from accomplishing His work in this world. He is sovereign. His gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ will go out into the whole world. If we fail to be a part of it, God will use someone else. But we will have to give an account someday of whether or not we were a part of His Great Commission. Will we be a part of building His kingdom, or will we been like the lazy servant who buried His talent in the earth. Look again at what Jesus said to this servant in Matthew 25:24 – 30.
The gospel will be preached. Will we be found faithful in helping it to be preached?
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2. The whole world will be given a chance to hear!
In the first century we read in the book of Acts that the gospel spread throughout the then known world. They took the message everywhere that they went. We know from history that the gospel expanded in tremendous ways in the first century, reaching as far as India, Africa, Western Europe and the Northern Countries.
The work of every generation is to take the gospel to the world that is known. That was what motivated in part the exploration of the New World. The missionaries were among the first to come to this Hemisphere. Throughout the last few centuries missionaries have carried the gospel to every continent, every nation of the globe.
In this passage Jesus proclaimed that the gospel will be preached around the world as a testimony to ALL nations. There is NO definite article “THE” in this statement. That leaves some room for a variety of interpretations. We don’t know if Jesus meant all the political groupings of people, or simply all people groups. Political divisions come and grow, but it seems that national groups stay together. There are many nations of American Indians for example. Each tribe has it’s own culture, language, and way of doing things. Is this what Jesus meant? If it is, then we are closer today than at any other time in history in completing this task. As recently as within the last 100 years we have discovered hidden tribes of people deep in the jungles of the world, some of whom were living just as they had during the Bronze age. It is highly unlikely that any new people groups will be discovered. The world has shrunk. People all over the globe are in contact with one another through the Internet, Television, and radio. The gospel is being preached every day in new languages, and the bible is being translated into new dialects. More and more there is a witness being established in every tribe and tongue.
What did Jesus mean exactly? Did He mean every tribe must have believers? Every people group a church? Or did He mean that only the access to the gospel must be available to all? We aren’t sure, but one thing is clear. We are very close to achieving this goal today.
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Never before in the history of man or the church of God has the gospel been distributed to such a diverse and wide spread group of people. During the last century the center of Christianity shifted from the northern and western countries to the countries of the east and south. It has shifted from primarily white faces to yellow, brown, and red faces. It has shifted from the English and French and Spanish languages to languages as diverse as Hmong, Swahili, and Manderin. Today, the whole world is being given a chance to hear! We are very close to achieving the task Jesus gave to His church.
Our challenge is to finish the task. There still are languages to be translated, and people groups that need churches. No greater need exists than in the part of the world called the 10/40 window, that area between the 10th and 40th parallels that contain predominantly Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu peoples. In recent years much of the C&MA’s work has shifted to these areas. This week we will hear from Jim Patten about his work among the Muslim’ of the Ivory Coast.
We all have a part to play in this. What can you do?
Pray!
Go! (Short term missions)
Give!
Introduce the concept of Faith Promise Pledges! Be sure to talk about our part this year. 1999 we pledged a little over $4,000 and we raised most of that. In 2000 we doubled our pledges to $8,600. So far we have sent to our missionaries $11,500. This represents a little over 10% of our giving. I would like to see us increase that this year. My personal goal is that we would make a commitment as a church of at least $15,000 to the Great Commission this coming year.
#1 The gospel of the kingdom of God will be preached! Nothing can or will stop the work of God in the world today. If we are faithless, He remains faithful!
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#2 The whole world will be given a chance to hear the good news of the gospel. Every tribe, every people group, and every nation will have some form of witness, so that no one will be without excuse when the judgement comes.
3. The end will come when the work is done!
I believe that means that each day I am to have this kind of response. When I wake up tomorrow, my thought may be something like this. Jesus, you didn’t come back yesterday or last night. That must mean – there still are those who haven’t heard. There is work yet to be done. Help me today to be a part of your work. You’ve given me another day to be a witness for you. Another day to pray for those who still don’t know you. Another day to channel my resources to the completion of your Great Commission.
We don’t know if today’s the day. It may be another 1000 years before Jesus returns. Our hearts are to cry out, Maranatha – Come Lord Jesus. But our hands are to be busy doing the work our Master has given us to do.
Personally, I believe we are very close. I told you earlier that I was convinced the Lord was going to return during the 70’s. Now more than 25 years later, I am even more convinced the day is getting closer. The challenge is not to run to the hills and hide out until He comes. The challenge for each of us is to have our lamps filled with oil, our hands on the plow, and our talents richly invested so that when the Lord comes back like a thief in the night He will be able to say to each one of us: “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”
Are you ready to hear those words today?
