The Mandate
Chapter 2
And then he told them, "Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone, everywhere. Mark 16:15
Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Matt 28:19-20
People have hang-ups. Let’s face it, we can act super-spiritual if we like, but the reality is that we are all dysfunctional in one way or another. Thank God for grace. For this reason the Lord made things as simple as He could. If the gospel depended on man’s ability then we would all be in a world of hurt. The unfortunate part is that most of us have acted as though it did, and the results have been evident. God isn’t looking for better programs, He’s looking for men and women who believe and are yielded to Him. Our task is beyond human ability. This isn’t a bad thing, it’s a good thing. It doesn’t bother God when we reach our end and come to the realization that we can’t do it. We must remember that in the kingdom death always precedes life. If we could do it we wouldn’t need God. Jesus said unless a seed falls to the ground and dies it remains alone. What was different in the lives of the twelve disciples? Absolutely nothing! They knew that the supernatural didn’t depend on them. They were broken men. They had learned that all their abilities or lack of, didn’t make a bit of difference in they’re being used by God. Wow, there’s hope for us after all! Go into all the world. Make disciples. This is the mandate. God will go with us and accomplish through us what we could never do by ourselves. Not only has He promised to go with us, He has promised to show signs following to those who believe. It’s time to take God at His Word and go! Faith is the link to God’s power. The church has been successful at many things, but if we fail in our mandate to a lost world then we’ve missed the whole point!
Authority in the kingdom
"Yes," he told them, "I saw Satan falling from heaven as a flash of lightning! 19 And I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy, and you can walk among snakes and scorpions and crush them. Nothing will injure you. 20 But don't rejoice just because evil spirits obey you; rejoice because your names are registered as citizens of heaven." (Luke 10:18-20)
The Greek word for authority is, “daphaq” which means to knock; to press severely; to beat, knock, overdrive. What a word! Jesus has all authority and He gives it to us. Jesus stripped the dark world of all it’s power. This means there’s really no reason to be afraid. His authority gives us the right to represent Him in the marketplace. Our authority does not give us authority over men’s wills, but it does give us authority over the powers of darkness that control them. I don’t believe people wake up one day and choose to be lost. What a terrible feeling. When I was thirteen years old, I went hunting for the first time by myself. My uncle took me to a tree stand and said he would be back in a couple of hours to get me. I was okay until several hours went by. I started to get scared, so decided to get down out of my tree stand. The farther I walked, the more I realized I was lost. It was the worst feeling I had ever felt. I didn’t want to be lost, but at the time there wasn’t a whole lot I could do about it. I remembered my grandpa telling me that if I ever got lost to just find a fence and follow it. By this point getting a deer was the farthest thing from my mind; I just wanted to find a way out. It is the powers of darkness that blinds the minds of people so they can’t see. (2 Cor. 4:4) It’s important to remember that we are not fighting against people, but devils. We are fighting hell not people. So Jesus gave us authority over all the power of the devil. (Luke 10:19) Our feelings seem to lie to us about this reality sometimes. The good news is that the Word of God doesn’t hinge on our feelings, it hinges on our faith. Do you believe?
Let me give you an example. One day shortly after my conversion, I was walking in the mall in my hometown of Pensacola, Florida. I had just been reading about this same subject. All of the sudden I saw a young girl over by the water fountain that I felt a real compassion towards. So I decided to go over and see what would happen and maybe engage in a conversation. As soon as I walked up to her and she saw me her face started contorting. This was pretty weird and I got pretty scared. I didn’t really know what to do so I started trying to talk to her. I could tell that she was being tormented on the inside, and she began to walk away, seemingly against her own will. By this time I had kind of figured out what was going on but had been so startled by the incident that I didn’t respond. Looking back I realized that the Lord had led me to her because He wanted to set her free. The kingdom in me disrupted the devils that were in her. Although I was afraid, I remember the compassion I felt for this girl to be overwhelming. So what if I was scared? The issue wasn’t my feelings, but my faith releasing the supernatural. The devil is more afraid of you than you should be of him, but if he can get you to believe otherwise it can affect your faith. We learn how to walk in authority and the supernatural like anything else - by exercising it. It’s okay to mess up. God won’t beat you over the head. Jesus said that the Spirit of the Lord was upon Him to set the captives free, and this is the same spirit that rests upon us. Authority doesn’t require merit it requires faith and the sooner we learn this, the sooner we will walk in the authority God has designed for us.
The Command of the King
12 I command you to love each other in the same way that I love you. 13 And here is how to measure it--the greatest love is shown when people lay down their lives for their friends. 14 You are my friends if you obey me. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a master doesn't confide in his servants. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. 16 You didn't choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name. 17 I command you to love each other. (John 15:12-17)
A car without wheels doesn’t do much good. If the car is “Man” then love is his wheels. Love puts the reality of the gospel on the inside of us into action. Evangelism is an identity in every believer to be unlocked by faith. If we have been given the divine nature of God then the gospel is at the heart and soul of everything we do.
I believe another major reason evangelism has been ineffective is because we have failed in our command to love. There’s no way to fulfill the great commission if we forget the great commandment. Jesus said that in the last days lawlessness would abound and the love of many would grow cold. (Matt. 24:12) Loving others will cost you something. Love is the single most important characteristic in the life of the believer. (1 Cor.13) James writes that we do good when we fulfill the royal law in scripture; love your neighbor as yourself. (James 2:8) He goes on to explain in verse twelve that by the law of love we, as believers, will be judged. In other words, to the measure we deal out to others is the same that it will be measured back to us. If you want mercy then give mercy. If you want to be forgiven, then forgive. I felt liberated when I saw this for the first time because I had been dealing with a lot of false guilt and condemnation in my life. God was showing me His standard, something I could be accountable. Love is the measure. It’s so important that we see this.
Jesus gives a warning in the gospels on the subject of hypocrisy saying that many would come to Him on that day saying they had prophesied, cast out devils, and done great miracles, yet they would not enter the kingdom of God. (Matt. 7:22) Nothing against signs and wonders, but without love it all means nothing. Paul says if we have all wisdom, give everything we have away, and give our bodies to be burned but have not love we have nothing. What is love? God is. Paul exhorts the Galatians to bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. (Galatians 6:1) Many believers burden themselves with things that don’t matter. Keep it simple. How are we to show others God when we can’t live under the self imposed loads ourselves? Jesus said of the Pharisees that they put heavy burdens on the people that they themselves wouldn’t lift one finger to fulfill. (Matthew 23) Religion is not the ticket; love is. Jesus paid your debt, so pay yours and love. Remember what Jesus said, in the last days lawlessness would abound. So we could agree that lawlessness in lovelessness, if love is the standard by which we will be judged. Without love the spreading of the gospel is impossible. Without it we never get past ourselves. The Apostle John says that perfect love casts out all fear. Instead of being full of fear we need to love and see the fear melt away. You cannot reach what you do not love. Do you love homosexuals? God loved them so much He sent His Son to die for them.
So how do we know this love? God showed us how much He loved us by sending His Son to die that we may have life through Him. This is real love; not that we loved God but that God loved us and gave Himself for us. (1 John 4:9-10) God is love. (1 John 4:16) Think of that. As we live in God our love grows more perfect so that we won’t fear judgment, but face Him with confidence because we are like Him here on earth. (1 John 4:15-17)
So how are we supposed to love with this God-kind of love? God’s nature was imparted in us when we were saved; His nature or love has been imparted to us and poured out by the Holy Spirit. (Romans 5:5) Loving others fulfills God’s law to us. John says the commandment of the Lord is to believe in the one that He sent and Love one another as He had commanded.(1John 3:23) The apostle Paul said he owed no other debt but to love. This is so liberating, no more do’s and don’ts, only love. The next time the devil starts putting burdens on you remind Him of the cross and go love some nasty person. People aren’t looking for religion they’re looking for God. Go show them God by showing them love. Love will reach the hardest person because it covers a multitude of sins.
Do you want to catch on fire to the point you won’t even know it’s you? Then believe and start reaching out beyond your comfort zone and love those God has placed in your life. Stop worrying about religious demands and pedigrees and let God work through your love. Remember Love is not a feeling it’s an action. Your coworkers and neighbors are waiting for you. This is the door way to ministry. The writer of Hebrews also speaks of God of a consuming fire. So if God is love and He is fire, then to love those around us will cause the fire of God to rise up on the inside of us. The more we believe and reach out the more the fire will burn. It’s contagious like that. It feeds the nature of God inside of us. It was this kind of love and passion that sent Jesus to the cross. It’s this kind of love that compels us to let God love a dying world through us.
The Commission of the King
18 Jesus came and told his disciples, "I have been given complete authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:18-20)
Whose job is it anyway? Remember being at home when you were a kid and your mother telling you to take out the trash? This is how most view the gospel in the church today. The work of the gospel is not a trash job. It’s a heart job. Our love will compel us to do it. My brother and I had a lot of fun taking out the trash after we realized we could put gunpowder on the trash heap when we burned it. Ha! Desire is not enough.
So where are we supposed to go? Into all the world. Where’s that at, “the meanest biker bar in town?” It’s funny how we exaggerate things. Most people envision themselves sharing the gospel to a seven foot tall ‘biker dude’ with tattoos and earrings. We’ve defeated the purpose before we even begin. It doesn’t work that way! It comes from the inside to the outside. The love that exists in the heart of God is greater than the meanest of men. Men don’t look near as big in the light of God’s love for them. Nevertheless, God knows where we are and will open up the doors if we’re willing and believe. Say this with me, “It’s a faith thing”. The world is where you are. Home, work, school, etc. Don’t focus on the multitudes; focus on the few that are around you. Jesus said, “Don’t say that four months and then the harvest, He said look around you vast fields are ripe for the harvest now!”(John 4:35) Your harvest is in your lap.
Your reward in the kingdom is people. Many associate harvest with money, but money is a means, people are the end. God will give money to those who catch the fish. Jesus told Peter to go catch a fish and in its mouth he would find the money to pay the taxes. I have never seen a church pursuing the lost that wasn’t blessed. Prosperity is not in possessions, but in principles. God brings more than enough to those who make the gospel their number one priority.
Well, isn’t the gospel the Evangelists job? No, his job is to equip you for it. Imagine all the believers in America engaging in the marketplace to win souls. This has been God’s idea from the beginning. This is how the early church did it. The great commission belongs to the church. Again, we are Gods’ “Prophet to the nations.” We are God’s contact point to the world.
In the fall of 2001 the Lord spoke to me that people were waiting to hear. They are all around us. The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. I believe as I write this God is raising up laborers, those who see the vision and carry it to their generation. In Romans we read, “How can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? 15 And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" (Romans 10:14-15)
The Heart of God
18 My grief is beyond healing; my heart is broken. 19 Listen to the weeping of my people; it can be heard all across the land." Has the LORD abandoned Jerusalem?" the people ask. "Is her King no longer there?" "Oh, why have they angered me with their carved idols and worthless gods?" asks the LORD. 20 "The harvest is finished, and the summer is gone," the people cry, "yet we are not saved!" 21 I weep for the hurt of my people. I am stunned and silent, mute with grief. 22 Is there no medicine in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why is there no healing for the wounds of my people? (Jeremiah 8:18-22)
Let the heartbeat of these words in Jeremiah speak to you. God’s heart breaks for His church and for the lost. Israel had made idols and worthless Gods, and as a result the harvest was lost. Where is the church in relation to God’s heart? Have we made idols for ourselves? Anything can become an idol, if its’ use is not for the purposes of God. Why do we prophesy, why do we preach, why do we do all the things we do? Are they at the expense of those God died for?
Jeremiah was a Prophet to the nations. He saw the devastation of God’s people in thwarting the purposes of God and it crushed Him. He had the heart of God for his generation, the same heart God has intended for His church. A prophet announces the heart and mind of God to their generation. Our mandate today is not nearly as vague as it was in the days of Israel. It is clear now what God is after. We cannot afford another lost harvest. I believe the Lord cries over His church and this generation.
Jesus wept for Jerusalem. He foresaw the city taken captive as did Jeremiah because of their rejection of the purposes of God. (Matthew 23:37) Although Israel’s rejection brought our acceptance and the birth of the church, the mandate has not changed. Israel then, like the church today, is called to be a light (gospel) to the gentiles (nations). (Isaiah 60) Once again, God’s plan hasn’t changed. He wants a full house of sons and daughters running around. God doesn’t want slaves or servants, He wants Sons. sons are heirs to all that the father has. God has planned from the beginning to bring many sons and daughters to glory. (Matthew 25:34) God is raising up a generation of sons and daughters in this generation that have His heart for the world, those who will go where He went and love as He loved. To embrace the heart of God for our generation will alter everything we say and do. It will alter our priorities to fit His. It is time for us to throw our lives on what God wants and not our own agendas and merely what we want. Jesus came to do the will of the Father, regardless of what that would cost. For the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross. (Hebrews 12:2) Jesus is our pattern and example. We see Gods heart in the story of the great feast:
Hearing this, a man sitting at the table with Jesus exclaimed, "What a privilege it would be to have a share in the Kingdom of God!" 16 Jesus replied with this illustration: "A man prepared a great feast and sent out many invitations. 17 When all was ready, he sent his servant around to notify the guests that it was time for them to come. 18 But they all began making excuses. One said he had just bought a field and wanted to inspect it, so he asked to be excused. 19 Another said he had just bought five pair of oxen and wanted to try them out. 20 Another had just been married, so he said he couldn't come. 21 "The servant returned and told his master what they had said. His master was angry and said, 'Go quickly into the streets and alleys of the city and invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.' 22 After the servant had done this, he reported, 'There is still room for more.' 23 So his master said, 'Go out into the country lanes and behind the hedges and urge anyone you find to come, so that the house will be full. 24 For none of those I invited first will get even the smallest taste of what I had prepared for them.' (Luke 14:15-24)
What would happen if we laid aside our own methods and agendas and surrender to the will and heart of God? We can’t even fathom what would happen. Today the gospel abides ready in the hearts of men and the world awaits there coming. God has given us the mandate and a promise to those who will go. Eye has not seen and ear has not heard what God has in store for those who love him. (1 Corinthians 2:9) If we love Him, we will love the world He died for.
