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Sunday 02/23/25
Title: Living Out the Great Commission Pt. 1
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Living Out the Great Commission
Last week we wrapped up Paul’s encouragement to Timothy found in the 4th chapter of his second letter to him. It contains solemn charge to Timothy and to all followers of Christ…
2 Timothy 4:1-22,
“(1) Before God and Christ Jesus, Who is going to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom, I SOLEMNLY CHARGE YOU:
(2) PROCLAIM THE MESSAGE;
PERSIST IN IT whether convenient or not;
rebuke, correct, and encourage with great patience and teaching.”
This is a call to both share the Gospel with those outside the kingdom as well as encourage other believers to live it out.
Paul goes on to say that
“(3) For the time will come when they will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will accumulate teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear something new.
(4) They will turn away from hearing the truth and will turn aside to myths.”
We ended our time last week with me mentioning the immediate connection these words have with the Great Commission Jesus gave His followers as well as the instructions the New Testament offers about doing the work of the Kingdom.
We summarized all the Gospel’s said about the Great Commission as…
- Preaching the facts about Jesus as Messiah AND Lord (all authority has been given Me in My name, THEREFORE, Go!)
- Preaching repentance for forgiveness in Jesus name.
- Baptize those who believe in the name of Father, Son and Spirit.
- Teaching them to be familiar with and obey what Jesus taught.
- BEING a witness to the truth of the message.
- Signs of the kingdom will follow those who believe:
- In My name they will drive out demons.
- They will speak in new languages.
- They will pick up snakes.
- If they should drink anything deadly, it will never harm them.
- They will lay hands on the sick, and they will get well.
- Remembering that we are NOT alone in this – Jesus in the person of the Spirit is with us always.
Knowing as we do, the very purpose of the Spirit within and upon is to establish the rule of Jesus in the human heart – which is just another way of saying, “to spread the message of kingdom of God and to increase the kingdom of God”. We are beginning to turn our attention to what the New Testament says about this.
As I told you last week, I had taken a good deal of time looking up all the occurrences of the kingdom of God in the New Testament and jotted down what the scriptures say are required of us as participants in the kingdom of God as well as those called to bear testimony to it before the world as living witnesses.
In other words, what is required of us as those the Spirit is within and those the Spirit is upon.
In my search I found, without surprise, harmony and consistency across the New Testament. The examples are in keeping with what we have otherwise discovered already, but I think they solidify for us from scripture what is in fact required of believers.
As for the Spirit within…
FIRST in priority for ALL believers is to live the lordship of Jesus and place His kingdom and rule above ALL OTHER INTERESTS!!!!
In today’s world among Christians or at least those who believe they are Christians and attend more popular “Christian” organizational churches… our faith is set forth as a way of managing the affairs of this life in a way that is consistent with one’s personal comforts and desires.
To make matters worse, the gospel is often manipulated to make it appear that that is why Jesus died and rose again. That living a healthy, happy and fulfilling life here on Earth as well as eternal enjoyment of the bliss of heaven was the whole purpose and point of His suffering and dying.
Making this possible is the little effort which is expended comparing these thoughts and teachings with the lives and teachings of the early church and its leaders.
A very well known teaching of Jesus presses on this point.
Matthew 6:33, “But SEEK FIRST the kingdom of God AND His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.”
It was no mistake that Jesus said this in the greater context of the concerns people have over this life – Food, clothing, housing…etc.
The way Jesus approaches this topic reveals how deeply relational God is with us and that He calls upon us to be with Him.
Now there is a greater context these words are spoken within, but I am deliberately reading them out of sequence to make a point.
Let’s begin with Matthew 6:25-34,
The fact that it begins with the words “(25) Therefore I tell you,” proves that these words were spoken within a greater context which we will circle back to in a moment.
He says,
“do not worry about your life,
what you will eat or drink, or
about your body, what you will wear.
Isn’t there more to life than food and more to the body than clothing?
(26) Look at the birds in the sky: They do not sow, or reap, or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
Aren’t you more valuable than they are?
(27) And which of you by worrying can add even one hour to his life?
(28) Why do you worry about clothing? Think about how the flowers of the field grow; they do not work or spin. (29) Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his glory was clothed like one of these!
(30) And if this is how God clothes the wild grass, which is here today and tomorrow is tossed into the fire to heat the oven, won’t He clothe you even more, you people of little faith?”
Now in our WoF days we misunderstood these words, interpreting them in keeping with our “focus on this life” theology. However, when Jesus said, “won’t He clothe you even more” He was not talking about clothing you in even finer, more expensive clothes than Solomon. This was a typical rabbinic argumentation – to move by illustration from the lesser to the greater. The idea here being that if God cares for the little things like birds and grass, surely He will care for the more important things like humans made in His likeness.
“(31) So then, don’t worry saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’
(32) For the unconverted pursue these things, and your heavenly Father KNOWS that you need them.
(33) But ABOVE ALL pursue His kingdom and righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
(34) So then, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.
Today has enough trouble of its own.”
So often what we get out of a passage reveals where our hearts truly are. Overwhelmingly when this is mentioned among believers or in teaching the focus is upon our needs being met and the call to not live in anxiety.
While these are no doubt truly addressed, it is NOT the focus of the passage.
The passage is about the knowledge and care God has for His creation and for us specifically. The call is an invitation to love. To respond to God’s solicitous care with trust.
Once we are assured of His watchful care, it frees us from pursuing self interests and invites us into a world bigger than our own where we can freely spend our energy and efforts on what delights God and on the furtherance of His kingdom.
This is a teaching about priorities. That relationship is more important than things and the most important relationship anyone could possibly have is the One they might have with their Creator. It is the MOST important thing!
Furthermore, we are assured that if we have our priorities straight, those things we so often exhaust ourselves in the pursuit of will be met.
One question which naturally arises is – what of desires? I know He addresses the bare necessities. The things we truly need to exist as creatures, but what of desires?
Well, THAT is the primary lesson. We so often live such superficial lives where our desires are more about things than people – than relationships. This is again an attempt to protect ourselves. If we can be satisfied with THINGS, then we are many times safer than if our satisfaction is dependent upon others. But this is NOT true in the kingdom nor with God.
Let’s read the previous verses to see the greater context in which Jesus gave these all important words of instruction. And please… PLEASE let these words fall on your ears afresh – with no baggage from the past and hear them as He actually spoke them.
Matthew 6:19-24,
“(19) Do not accumulate for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and devouring insect destroy and where thieves break in and steal.
(20) But accumulate for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and devouring insect do not destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal.”
Before we continue, what is actually being said here and HOW is it being said?
The phrase “do not accumulate” is a little technical from a grammatical position. In short it is a call to continually forbid the continuance of something you are already doing.
In other words, stop accumulating and don’t ever start doing it again.
The word accumulate means to lay up, store up or treasure goods for future use. In this statement Jesus is specifically addressing riches or money – though the context could easily include things – possessions.
What kind of possessions?
Well, He addressed this later when, in offering examples, He mentioned food and clothing. But the immediate context is money – riches.
He next issues a warning which offers an explanation for the command.
“(21) For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
So this is NOT a warning against BEING rich, but pursuing riches. The scriptures address this many times.
God is the One Who gives power to gain wealth. Sometimes He does this to set a person in a position of blessing others with the abundance they have. Other times He does this to place the feet of the ungodly in slippery places to empower them to pursue their own destruction.
The wisdom offered to us in scripture which directly addresses this teaching of Jesus is found in Psalm 62:10 which says, “Do not trust in oppression, Nor vainly hope in robbery; If riches increase, Do not set your heart on them!”
The rest of this psalm further addresses where Jesus went with this teaching. It says,
“(11) God has spoken once, Twice I have heard this: That power belongs to God. (12) Also to You, O Lord, belongs mercy; For You render to each one according to his work.”
When this parable is given in Luke 12 (which we will also look at) it is immediately after Jesus gave the parable of the man whose wealth increased.
This fictitious man in Jesus’ parable responded to an unexpected increase in wealth by tearing down his small barns and building bigger ones in order to store up for himself his crops and goods.
Jesus said he did this so that he could take it easy and eat and drink and be merry.
Jesus referred to him as a fool whose soul would be required of him immediately and his wealth given to others.
Jesus then said, “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
So against the teaching is NOT against riches per se, but on where the treasure of the heart is.
Remember Paul in his first letter to Timothy did not say “money is the root of all evil”, but rather that “the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil”. (1 Timothy 6:10)
Going back to our passage in Matthew 6, picking back up in verse 22…
“(22) The eye is the lamp of the body. If then your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. (23) But if your eye is diseased, your whole body will be full of darkness.
If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!”
And now we arrive at the crux of the matter…
(24) “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.
You cannot SERVE God and money.”
So our call to seek first the kingdom and rightstanding with God is about the treasure of our hearts.
I told you this teaching of Jesus was deeply personal and relational.
The call of the great commission requires FIRST that God is FIRST PLACE in your life.
I want you to know to what degree this is stated and tell me if you think it is consistent with the modern teachings within Christian circles.
Jesus offered the parable of the rich fool after a man came to Him asking Him to intervene on his behalf with his brother who had stolen part of his inheritance. Jesus replied,
“Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?” (15) And He said to them,“Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”
Again this was not a reprimand over possessions or receiving an inheritance, but about its value to you. Suggested here is that if your inheritance is more important than your love for even your natural sibling, then it is a dangerous idol.
A good test is this – If you possess things that if God told you to give it away, you would flinch or cringe due to your love of possessing it – it owns more of your heart and allegiance than God and is therefore a very dangerous idol. Truth is – if you have one, you probably have many.
Now lest you forget WHY we addressed these passages this morning is because they set before us the VERY FIRST STEP in keeping the Great Commission.
Jesus must be FIRST and preeminent in our hearts which requires us to place His kingdom reign in our own hearts above all other concerns and desires. This is coupled with seeking rightstanding with Him because one can hardly call Him Lord and Master if they do not obey His commands.
THIS is the Spirit WITHIN. Living this guards us against being the person who “has an external form of godliness, but who denies its power”. – 2 Timothy 3:5
The true power of godliness OR of the Kingdom OR of the New Birth OR of the Spirit within – is a transformed life which BEGINS with seeking first the rule and reign of Jesus in our lives – the kingdom of God.
We have not the kingdom of God within, we cannot encourage the establishment of it without.
In order for our testimony to be powerful it must FIRST be lived! Which introduces our next point which we will pick up with next week…
To live Jesus’ lordship!
Blessings!
Tri
