Luke 23:33 When they came to a place called The Skull, they nailed him to the cross. And the criminals were also crucified—one on his right and one on his left. 34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” When Jesus spoke these words He spoke to the reality of our world today. You may say, "How so?" As we see our world spiral downward, and if we look deeper we can see an evil plan that has been forming in the background of all of it. That plan is a result of an apathetic approach to the Great Commission as given by Jesus in Matthew 28: 18 Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations,[a] baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 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.”
What does this commission mean today? Does it mean, just sit around a campfire or in a warm building and sing Kumbaya or some other praise song and walk out and do nothing? Or is that "Great" Commission marching orders for believers? The disciples closest to Jesus learned great lessons from Him and saw many miracles performed by Him and what did Jesus tell "them" to do? GO, GO, GO!! In Luke 10: 1The Lord now chose seventy-two other disciples and sent them ahead in pairs to all the towns and places he planned to visit. 2 These were his instructions to them: “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields. 3 Now go, and remember that I am sending you out as lambs among wolves. 4 Don’t take any money with you, nor a traveler’s bag, nor an extra pair of sandals. And don’t stop to greet anyone on the road.
Jesus spoke of a harvest that needed to be brought in and that the fields were white with that harvest, which means that the time had` come to reap the result of all the planting, watering, and care. Paul understood what could happen if the Lord's church stopped going out and in his letter to the church in Corinth wrote the following. 1 Corinthians 3:1 Dear brothers and sisters, when I was with you I couldn’t talk to you as I would to spiritual people. I had to talk as though you belonged to this world or as though you were infants in Christ. 2 I had to feed you with milk, not with solid food, because you weren’t ready for anything stronger. And you still aren’t ready, 3 for you are still controlled by your sinful nature. You are jealous of one another and quarrel with each other. Doesn’t that prove you are controlled by your sinful nature? Aren’t you living like people of the world? 4 When one of you says, “I am a follower of Paul,” and another says, “I follow Apollos,” aren’t you acting just like people of the world? 5 After all, who is Apollos? Who is Paul? We are only God’s servants through whom you believed the Good News. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. 6 I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow.
What is the result of not following The Great Commission? We will become happy in our stagnancy and begin to worship our worship! This internal way of living feeds the apathetic mindset and satan will even make it seem holy. Believers begin to analyze their faith and their heightened worship draws them into a dark place and not a place of light. The moment we make our faith all about us we begin to lose sight of the "mission" and "we" become the focus and it comes couched in focusing more intently on God. We just get up to the tipping point and the church takes another step back to focus on "us." Jesus had to wake up His disciples from time to time and send them out, which was what he promised would happen in their initial calling where he said, "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men."
We must never get to the place where we don't even "throw out a line." The results of our inactivity lead the church to disunity and jealousy, and the internal attitude to make ourselves "feel good" becomes the very thing that keeps us from seeing true awakening. When Jesus said those emotional words from the cross I wonder if He was talking about those people who were crucifying Him or looking down through time to a church that continually crucified His mission on the crosses of indifference and apathy. If we are going to see awakening we must commit to the "COMMISSION" of Jesus to His church and wake up to the fact that we are to be winning and discipling new converts and not just trading church members. We must get to the "Tip." The last grain of the sand of indifference must be kicked to the side and let the church "be the church." This desire and commitment are ingrained in every born-again believer and the Holy Spirit aches in every born-again believer to be set free with the message of hope.
You may say "Are you saying I'm not a true believer if I don't have this burden for the lost?" I don't say anything that means anything on my own, but if God's word convicts then let that conviction have a result and God will show "you" the way to truth. I am just one beggar showing another beggar where to get bread. If evangelism is dead, then the church is dead! Greg Laurie said, "A church that doesn't evangelize will fossilize." Laurie also said the following "Jesus did not say that the whole world should go to the church, but He did say that the whole church should go to the world!" I believe Laurie has a valid scriptural point and we should heed these words of wisdom and the result will be a "church on mission."
Time to kick the final grain of sand away and ask for the glory of God to fall on His church and then send us out as never before. This will impact individual lives and yes, it will impact our world! We are at The Tip, so take one more important step and just STEP!
The Pilgrimage Continues
David Warren