The Great Commission...the Wayfarer 2/16/13

The Great Commission
2/16/13

“And Jesus came and spake unto them saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

Go ye therefore, and teach  all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”

(Matthew 28 : 18-20)

We shall, today, examine a scripture that is central to my belief and my concept of what Christianity consists of.

There are so many divisions among Christians that we have become at times our own worst enemies, demanding that denomination, or association, or local church be the only voice listened to in the attempt to reach those in need of the gospel of our Lord.

These divisions hinder the purpose of the Commission given us by Our Lord Himself as stated in the words at the end of Matthew.

By demanding that it is our way, or no way, we also violate the very teachings of Jesus that we are not to Judge one another as he stated in the sermon on the mount:

“Judge not that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brothers eye, but considereth not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye: and, behold a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye,

Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you. 

Ask and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you.
For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. 

Or what man is there of you , whom if his son ask bread, will he give him  a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?

 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

(Matthew 7: 1-11)

Christ is clear in His admonition that there is none who is worthy of judging his fellow man, and none that is capable of being so righteous to reach the kingdom without having accepted the condition of first purifying himself through repentance and actually observing the things that he taught us.

There is no excuse for those who would maintain that we are to approach life in a different manner from the way that we approach those of our own particular church group, or family than the way that we approach all of our fellow man in our dealings with them.

The admonitions given us to obey the law by, Christ applies to all of the law. It also applies to all of our fellow human beings that exist on this world which we inhabit.

There are those who will never accept the teachings of the gospel as given by him. Those we cannot ever reach, and unfortunately are the lost, who must and will spend eternity separated from the love of our God and our Savior.

They are recognizable in their refusal to accept the fact that Jesus is, in fact the only way to the Father, and the only hope in the resurrection. These we must vehemently combat daily!

The zeal that is often exhibited in contravening the various denominations that purport the practice of Christianity needs to be applied to  this and only this particular large majority of our world’s population.

As to denomination we need to look to Christ’s statement to his disciples found in Mark 9:

“But Jesus said, Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me,

For he that is not against us is on our part.

For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward.

And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck , and he were cast into the sea.”

(Mark 9:39-42)

In this world in which we find ourselves, there is no room for contention among the actual servants of our Lord. Denomination and old differences must be put aside.

What must matter is that the TRUE word of our Lord be taught to the absolute best of our ability to do so. This does not mean that we need embrace false doctrines that are so evident among so many of our so called churches, but that we MUST embrace all of our fellows who teach the teachings left us by our Master, no matter what  they may call their denomination.

We all have a common enemy in our fight for the souls of those yet in jeopardy. That enemy is not each other, who gather in the various chapels and churches within our communities, but those within those chapels and churches who profess to believe those teachings, but consistently prove their willingness to depart from them when it is convenient to do so, and justify it to themselves with the thought that the law does not apply to any but their own particular family or group of peers.

This is what the Pharisees and lawyers of Jesus’ time sought to falsely teach that required the sacrifice of our savior to begin with.

I beg  of each of those exposed to this particular writing to examine your dealings with those  in your lives, compare those dealings to the way Jesus taught us to deal with each other, and apply HIS, not my, teachings.

As I attempted to get across in a previous sermon, we are indeed, intended to be a peculiar people, who Christ may easily separate from others of this world.

That very peculiarity is exhibited by our willingness to forgo the teachings of our society of what is expedient and politically correct. It is exhibited by our willingness to cling to the teachings of our Lord and the one commandment that He gave us to Love one Another as He loved us. If we exclude any from that love, we fail in our attempt to be faithful to the very tenants taught by Him.

Our chief concern daily should be how we measure up to what He taught us while here on this ball of dirt, knowing that that ball of dirt will eventually perish and take with it those who refuse to accept His simple message of REPENTANCE by each individual and that each individual come to the understanding of the meaning of his teachings, without attempting to judge those around them by any standard of their own.

I have called attention in the past to a particular verse that continually haunts me in my efforts to proclaim His gospel as best I am able to do:

“Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else  I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.”

(Revelation 2:5)

Those first works must include cooperation between those who truly believe in that commandment given us to love one another.

What we must combat is that which defiles the teachings of our Lord, as is exemplified in the laws we allow to be passed that negate the very commandments of God, and the attempts that are so vigorous to silence those who would preach his Gospel.

What we must do, is to endure in his teachings, and in in His love as we are asked to do.

What we must do is to accept the necessity, not to simply stand by while others deny those teachings and slowly but surely silence those teachings in favor of the same ungodly political correctness touted by our politicians, and leadership which fails to understand the first and most important fact that we must honor only ONE Lord in our lives, but take any and all action to make known that He is our Lord!

If I have offended any with this particular message, I make absolutely no apology for having done so.

 I have only one Lord, and only One to whom I answer for all belief and actions in this life. It is only His opinion that matters to me, and should to those who are able to comprehend what his teachings encompass.

I salute all those who are able to say without doubt that they are truly children of the King. I do so in the knowledge that I am nothing more than a simple sinner saved by the grace of that same King through the faith in my lord, Jesus.

2 Timothy 1:12 ¹²For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day

AMEN and AMEN
the Wayfarer