SHARING BREAD
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.”
Matt
28:18-20 (NIV)
Wow, how on earth does one do any justice in commenting on these
powerful verses? We are first told by our
Lord Jesus that “all
authority in heaven and on earth” has been given to Him. We are also told our greatest calling from
God is to “go
and make
disciples” in His powerful authority. And lastly, we are also thankfully told that the
Lord Jesus will never leave us as He firmly states “I am with you always”. This is the Great Commission.
In these concluding words of Matthew, our Lord sends His
guys forth (and His every other subsequent follower) with the firm directive of
“Go and make
disciples” in His all-encompassing
mighty authority. The key to this
commissioning is the authority of Jesus and the key to this authority is the disciple’s knowledge and worship of
the One whose name they bear. We cannot
give what we do not possess. We must make
it a daily divine appointment to be filled - enabling us to be spilled to all
we encounter that day. Like manna, we
are to collect the grace sufficient to meet our needs for the day. We cannot gobble up and hoard – it does not
work that way. Our God is relational and
desires to meet with us daily. Yet He is
a Gentleman and will never force Himself upon us. We are the great losers when we neglect to
meet with Him. His desire is to overflow
our cups empowering and equipping us to splash His grace upon all in our spheres
of influence. Abiding in Him is the only
way for the disciple to keep going forth in the proper direction which is God’s
profitable, pleasing and perfect way. God
will sovereignly engineer our goings from the neighbor next door to the child
in Ethiopia and everywhere in-between. He
stirs up the hearts of His disciples to disperse them throughout the
world. We do not have to sit around
scratching our heads wondering what direction to take. He will make it clear. We must be readied – prepared vessels for His
use going forth in Christ’s power and authority not in our own weak strength and
capricious decisions or else our works will be fruitless - not eternal. I am reminded of Paul’s prayer in Ephesians
regarding Jesus’ authority:
18 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened
in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of
his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe.
That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20 which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the
dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion,
and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the
one to come. 22 And
God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over
everything for the church, 23 which
is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. Eph 1:18-23 (NIV)
“In
short, the rod of Moses was a rod of power, a rod of authority. But it could not avail to hush the murmurings
of the children of Israel; nor yet to bring the people through the desert. Grace alone could do that; and we have the
expression of pure grace, --free, sovereign grace—in the budding of Aaron’s
rod. That dry, dead stick was the apt
figure of Israel’s condition, and indeed of the condition of every one of us by
nature. There was no sap, no life, no
power. One might say, ‘What good can
ever come of it?’ None whatever, had
not grace come in and displayed its quickening power. So it was with Israel in the wilderness; so
is it with us now. How were they to be
led along from day to day? How were they
to be sustained in all their weakness and need?
The answer is found in Aaron’s budding rod. If the dry, dead stick was the expression of
(our) barren and worthless condition; the buds, blossoms and fruit set forth
that living and life-giving grace and power of God on which was based the
priestly ministry that alone could bear the congregation through the
wilderness….Priesthood alone could supply what was needed; and bring fruit out
of a dry rod…..All ministry in the Church is the fruit of divine grace---the
gift of Christ, the Church’s head.” C H Macintosh
To be sure, this same power is made readily available to all
believers in the present day. We are to
make the command of Christ our rule as well.
As Jesus sends us out as His ambassadors, we go forth in His
credentials. He is the Lord of all. He has all power in heaven – He has authority
and power over the angels and He has the power of intercession with the Father
interceding not as One who appeals but One who desires. He has all power on earth as well by the
ministry of reconciliation. Paul states
in 2 Corinthians:
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new
creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself
through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in
Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the
message of reconciliation. 20 We
are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal
through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that
in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Cor 5:17-21 (NIV)
“All souls belong to Him, and to Him every heart and knee
must bow, and every tongue must confess Him to be Lord.” Matthew
Henry
11 It is written: “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every
knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.’” 12 So then, each of us will give an account of himself to
God. Romans 14:11-12 (NIV)
Lastly, we are sweetly reminded of His continual spiritual
presence. The Comforter abides with believers. He is with us – not far away. He is not against us rather for us. He is at our side and takes our side. He is our very present help. He bears us up and pleads our cause. His eye is ever on us. He is with us in all service and in all
sufferings – in all joy and in all sorrows.
He makes our ministry effective and triumphant. All this is a continual favor even to the end
of the world. His presence is constantly
with us – all day, every day without intermission. Amazing!
“The God of Israel, the Saviour, is sometimes a God that
hideth himself but never a God who absents himself; sometimes in the dark, but
never at a distance.” Matthew Henry
What I glean from this:
· All authority
in heaven and on earth has been given to Jesus.
· Jesus’ command
to me is to “go and make disciples”.
· Jesus will
never leave me nor forsake me.
