Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 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 NLT
In December’s blog we engaged Scripture in seeing a brief overview of Jesus from both the Old and New Testament in sharing a small portion of the many prophecies of the coming of Jesus and secondly looked at the need of humanity in needing a Savior being Jesus. The goal of this month’s blog is to focus in on and share the impact of calling that Jesus in turn commissions every person who accepts Him as Lord and Savior. As such, I am focusing in on love and the Holy Spirit to further point to Kingdom building.
We gain a clearer picture of what this means when we engage Scripture and especially in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Being a Christian means being Christ like that we are to follow and reproduce the teachings of Scripture in living them out in our daily life. That through our actions, witness, and testimony, others would see that there is something different at work in our lives being Jesus and often that leads to those outside the Christian faith to assume or guess we are Christians.
The life Jesus lived out here on earth spoke volumes to those who saw Him or came into contact with Him. We read in the Bible of how people climbed a tree to see Jesus above the crowds, a woman who suffered from bleeding for 12 years who believed if she was just able to touch His robe she would be healed, to the faith of the Roman officer who believed Jesus could heal his young servant without having to physically be near to do this, and many more interactions people had with Jesus. People recognized that there was something different about Jesus. We see this in Matthew 7 after Jesus finishes giving His Sermon on the Mount to the crowds of people who came to hear His teachings.
When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, for he taught with real authority – quite unlike their teachers of religious law.
Matthew 7:28-29 NLT
It was not until I was 21 years old while in college at Ball State University that I realized the deep significance of a Christians witness by their actions, words, and how they in general carry themselves. The fall semester of 2014 I was in a music recording class and I had teamed up with a fellow classmate as we were challenged to record a song and present it before the class. So I asked one of my friends who was a musician/singer if he would like to have one of his songs recorded being an indie/pop/folk style secular song. When the time came to present our songs to the class the professor played the recordings to the class without having sharing which students recorded the songs up front.
One of my friends who was involved with Chi Alpha Campus Ministries was also in the class had teamed up with one of his friends and recorded themselves to the Christian contemporary song called, “The Great I Am.” When the song finished, multiple students I the class turned and looked at me and asked if I was the one who recorded the song, too which I responded “no it wasn’t me.” Then my friend revealed himself to be the creator of the recorded song and the classes’ attention turned to him. As I sat there, I started to asks myself, “Why did they think I recorded the song?” I had never outright declared to the class that I was a Christian or tried to evangelize to them, so why did they assume I recorded that song? That is when it hit me, they saw something at work within me, something different, they saw the witness of Christ I was humbly trying to live out. That is when I realized the deep significance of one’s witness as a Christian and I have worked to learn from that experience ever since.
In 1 Peter, after Jesus had already ascended to heaven, the apostle Peter one of the twelve disciples to follow Jesus, writes to Christians to encourage them to maintain a life of holiness in the midst of pressure created by the non-Christian faith, to pursue a lifestyle that embodies the values of heaven and not of the world, and also that believers have become a holy people because of Christ. In the second half of chapter 2, Peter addresses that Christians should accept the authority of those in higher positions and that included giving instructions to servants/slaves. He writes,
For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps.
1 Peter 2:21 NLT
While this is written towards servants/slaves, the nature of this verse makes it applicable to all believers. Jesus Christ is our example and we are to follow in His footsteps as Peter writes. Jesus came to seek and save those who are lost, from the greatest and least alike Jesus came for all. He understood His purpose and the calling God had placed on His life.
For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.
Jon 3:16-17 NLT
It was out of God’s love for His creation as Creator that He seeks to make all right with Him through His one and only Son, Jesus Christ. The truth that God loved the world is basic to Christian understanding and is a vital aspect to how Christians are to live out faith on a daily basis. The Pharisees once tried to trap Jesus with this question…
“Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?” Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”
Matthew 22:36-40 NLT
Jesus quotes both of these commands from the Old Testament and states that the entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based upon these two commandments. We are too genuinely and wholeheartedly love God and we are to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Love is a core aspect of the Christian faith, although sadly we can see the opposite from some Christians as well. Furthermore, neighbors is not just those immediately around us, it is all people. So much so, that in the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus “shows that true neighbors love even their enemies (Luke 10:29). Authentic spirituality is not based on ethnic identity or religious associations, but on love for God and for others” (NLT Illustrated Study Bible). I heard it once said, if all Christians were able to love God and love others, the world would be a much better place.
It is also from an immeasurable source of love that Jesus did not return to Heaven leaving us empty handed to follow the Great Commission that he gives the disciples and all believers today. Even though Jesus ascended to Heaven, the last words He exchanges with the disciples is this, “And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matt. 28:20b NLT). We are not alone in pursuing this commission as Jesus himself says I will be with you always, even to the end of the age.
In John 14 before Jesus’ death and resurrection, He promises that He will send another Advocate being the Holy Spirit to come to the disciples and all believers.
“If you love me, obey my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you. No, I will not abandon you as orphans – I will come to you. Soon the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Since I live, you also will live. When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.”
John 14:15-20 NLT
Luke who wrote the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts was a physician and sometimes a companion of the apostle Paul. In the opening versus of the book of Acts, Luke writes of the significance of the Holy Spirit. Jesus works through the Holy Spirit to give further instructions to the apostles.
In my first book I told you, Theophilus, about everything Jesus began to do and teach until the day he was taken up to heaven after giving his chosen apostles further instructions through the Holy Spirit. During the forty days after he suffered and died, he appeared to the apostles from time to time, and he proved to them in many ways that he was actually alive. And he talked to them about the Kingdom of God.
Once when he was eating with them, he commanded them, “Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised, as I told you before. John baptized with water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
Acts 1:1-4 NLT
From the two previous passages above, we see that Jesus equipped the disciples to be able to live out the Great Commission with another Advocate, the gift of the Holy Spirit that is for all who belong to Jesus. Jesus gives us the Holy Spirit for a reason because both the Father and the Son work through the Holy Spirit in believers lives to this day.
In the study notes of my Illustrated Study Bible, it shares, “The Spirit continues Jesus’ work by advising, defending, and protecting believers” and “maintains Jesus’ presence in the world, duplicating and sustaining Jesus’ work.” To discredit the Holy Spirit is to discredit Jesus. To discredit the Holy Spirit is to discredit both the Son and the Father.
Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit as the Spirit will teach everything recalling Jesus’ words and clarifying their meaning. In the words of Jesus in reading Scripture, Jesus himself was the first advocate and sent a second advocate being the Holy Spirit. Even after Jesus ascended to heaven, the Spirit would sustain Jesus’ own presence among the disciples and that continues to this day among all believers.
From this, we see that both the act of love and the gift of the Holy Spirit enables Christians today to fulfill the Great Commission to go out to seek and save those who are lost. Through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus we come to know of the Father’s love firsthand. Love isn’t something you keep for yourself, it is something you give. That in itself is a call on every believer’s life, to love God and love others.
Furthermore, through the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus equips every believer to go and do the same and greater works in being obedient followers of Him. It is by the gift of the Holy Spirit that works within our lives and sustains Jesus’ presence with us so that we are empowered as God’s people to pursue His calling in our lives. That together, we as Christians are to be people of love and recognize the gift of the Holy Spirit in our lives to see His Kingdom come. Also, we need to prayerfully reflect on how to emulate Christ like love and be willing to allow the Holy Spirit to work in our lives and the lives of others.
I am telling you these things now while I am still with you. But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative – that is, the Holy Spirit – he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.
John 14:25-26 NLT
Best Regards,
Derrick Shipley