Following the Master - Commission
Have you ever noticed that it is sometimes right at the point that we are hearing Jesus give "the great commission" that the whole feeling tone of the story can seem to change? Up to this point, following the Master has been all about discipleship - the process by which we carefully watch how Jesus does things, and then patterning our lives after His. We watch His interactions with people. We listen to His invitations to come and be with Him, to abide (or remain there), and allow the life we draw from our connection with Him to bear fruit in genuinely loving God and the people around us. We watch and learn "the unforced rhythms of grace."
But then, when we get to the great commission, it can feel like someone marched in and suddenly changed the metaphor from one that is primarily one about gardening to one that revolves more around marketing and sales. If that has ever happened to you, it can feel a bit disconcerting . . . and, somehow, I'm not sure that's what Jesus had in mind.
This week Pastor Jon concludes our series on Following the Master by inviting us to listen to the great commission, not as a grand shift in focus, but as the natural expression of all that has gone before. Jesus invites His followers to continue to do for others what they have seen Him do . . . what they have been a part of . . . the very things which formed the context in which their own lives were changed. If you would like to listen and reflect on the sermon once again (or hear it for the first time), you can click here to access our sermon library.
CONTEXT
What we would like to invite you to do is listen to these words of Jesus in the context of all that has gone before in His life and ministry - particularly as He brings it into focus for us during His last conversation with His disciples on the night before the crucifixion (recorded in John 13-17). As you allow the picture of the life of the Kingdom that Jesus paints there to take form in your mind, notice how that image gives shape and clarity to just what He is inviting us into when He says:
Matthew 28 (TNIV)
16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
Take a few moments to read through these selections from John 13-15, and notice how the context they provide gives shape and focus to the commission Jesus invites us participate in. (You may want to read the chapters in their entirety from 13-17 to get an even fuller picture)
John 13
12 When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. "Do you understand what I have done for you?" he asked them. 13 "You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16 Very truly I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. 17 Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
34 "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
John 14
1 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2 My Father's house has plenty of room; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going."
5 Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?"
6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him."
8 Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us."
9 Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.
John 15
1 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. . . 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. . .
9 "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because servants do not know their master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.