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Famous Last Words – Jesus’ Great Commission

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Famous Last WordsWhen my son completes his final exams this week he will finish his first year of college. My husband and I are pleased with how he has done academically these last nine months, but we are especially proud of how successfully he has navigated his first year of independence.

We took him to campus the end of August and helped him get settled in his dorm. The morning we left him, I wanted to say so many things. I felt the need to impart last words of instruction and wisdom. Things like, “study hard,” “choose friends wisely,” “be careful with your money,” and “get enough rest.” As usual Mark just responded, “I know.” Well, it seems like maybe he really did!

Jesus’ Last Words

Last week we explored Jesus’ last words on the cross, His dying words. Today, we will consider His other last words, the ones right before His ascension. Jesus had spent forty days after His resurrection teaching and instructing His disciples. But these are the words He chose to share in His last moments with them.

 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, 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.” Matthew 28:16-20, NLT

The Great Commission

We refer to these parting words as the “Great Commission.” Our Savior commissioned us, His disciples, with the task of making disciples of “all nations.” The wonderful truth that our Lord has “all authority” should give us the desire and the confidence to go and share Jesus’ great salvation. And as we go, we know that Jesus will be with us.

I completely agree with the Great Commission. I know I should go. I know I should make disciples. I know I should teach them everything about Jesus and His commands. I know Jesus’ parting words, but I don’t always heed them. Often a large gap exists between my “I know” and “I go.”

Jesus’ parting words are for all disciples, including you and me. How are you doing? Do you just “know” or do you “go?”

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Strap on Your Sword – Monday Minute in the Word

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Are you facing any big challenges in your life right now? Is there a wall blocking your path or a Goliath taunting you to fight? Sometimes God intervenes in the circumstances of our lives and flings the obstacle to the side while we simply sit back and watch Him work. Other times He tells us to strap on our sword.

When the Israelites entered the Promised Land strong nations still lived there. Armies protected fortified cities. The people did not simply vacate their homes and walk away. Yet God told Israel the land belonged to them. So, Joshua led the people across the Jordan and camped near the first major obstacle.

Victory over Jericho

Now Jericho was shut up inside and outside because of the people of Israel. None went out, and none came in. 2 And the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor. 3 You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once. Thus shall you do for six days. 4 Seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. 5 And when they make a  long blast with the ram’s horn, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people shall go up, everyone straight before him.” Joshua 6:1-5, NLT

Battle of Jericho

photo courtesy of visualbiblealive.com

God declared victory over Jericho and its “mighty men of valor.” But He did not send fire down from heaven to consume the city. Instead God chose to use His people as His tool. He commanded the Israelites to fight. The battle was already won; it was a done deal in heaven. Joshua and the Israelite army merely acted on that reality.

Time to fight for God’s victory?

Sometimes we sit back in inactivity waiting for God to work when we should be fighting to take what God has already won. Yes, God still works in miraculous ways without our involvement. In those times we get to stand and watch His mighty hand from the sidelines. But other times, He calls us to strap on our sword and follow Him to victory.

Tell us about a time in your life when God has miraculously knocked down a wall or when He has called you to strap on your sword.

How can we know when it’s time to watch or time to fight?!

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Famous Last Words – Jesus on the Cross

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Famous Last WordsDarkness shrouded the city at noon. Even the sun mourned the imminent death of the Son. Although physically crucified by the hands of Roman soldiers, Jesus went to the cross willingly, in obedience to the Father. The Jewish leaders, their mock trial, and Governor Pilate were all just tools in God’s hands.

No one could take Jesus’ life without God’s approval. Jesus had the authority to not only lay down His life, but to take it up again (John 10:18). No one took Jesus’ life. He gave His life as act of obedience to His Father. Jesus’ last words on the cross accentuate this truth.

Jesus death, Jesus dying on Cross, Jesus' crucifixion

Jesus on the cross

44 It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, 45 for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46 Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last. Luke 23:44-46, NIV

Submitting to God

Jesus completely submitted His life and death into the Father’s hands. Jesus’ obedience provided the way of salvation for you and me. Jesus’ death provided forgiveness for our sins and opened a way for us to enter into God’s presence. Jesus’ last words on the cross have significance for every person who has ever lived. Because He was “obedient to death” (Philippians 2:8) we can have life.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16, NIV

Trusting God in every situation

Jesus fully trusted the Father. He walked in complete obedience – all the way to the cross. He trusted God with the process and the pain. He trusted God with the reason and the result. He committed Himself to the One worthy of trust.

Is there a situation in your life right now you need to commit to God?

What is it hardest to trust God with?

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Monday Minute in the Word – Life’s Purpose

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Why do many people who are successful by worldly standards still struggle to find fulfillment and contentment? This dilemma is as old as humanity itself.

Why am I here?

Israel’s King Solomon faced a similar struggle. Solomon pursued happiness and fulfillment in life through human means such as education and material things. And by human standards he was wildly successful. In fact, the whole world knew of Solomon’s wisdom and wealth.

But Solomon failed to find meaning in all his earthly pursuits (Ecclesiastes 1:2). After a lifetime of collecting people, wealth, power, and experiences Solomon discovered that man’s sole purpose is to “fear God and keep His commandments” (Ecclesiastes 12:13). He could have saved himself a lot of trouble if he had turned to God’s Word for the answer.

16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. Colossians 1:16, NIV

Bring all who claim me as their God, for I have made them for my glory. It was I who created them.’”

Isaiah 43:17, NLT

“His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us. Acts 17:27, NLT

Your life has meaning and purpose.

You were made by God and for God. He created you for His glory. God wants you to reach out to Him. Your purpose in life is to fulfill the role for which you were created – to glorify and worship the Creator in a relationship with Him.

Does your life feel meaningless?  Have you entered into a saving relationship with God?

If you know Jesus, does your life bring Him glory every day?

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Famous Last Words – Judas

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Names earn reputations. In deciding on a name for a baby, our feelings about a person affect our feelings about that particular name. We will reject or consider a name based on whether or not we liked that person.

For instance, would you ever name a child “Judas?” His name is synonymous with betrayal. We even refer to a traitor as a “Judas.” Judas Iscariot, one of Jesus’ 12 disciples, agreed to give Jesus over to the Jewish leaders for 30 pieces of silver, the same price set by Jewish law for a slave accidentally gored to death by an ox.

Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people made their plans how to have Jesus executed. 2 So they bound him, led him away and handed him over to Pilate the governor.

3 When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. 4 “I have sinned,” he said, “for I have betrayed innocent blood.”

“What is that to us?” they replied. “That’s your responsibility.”

5 So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself. Matthew 27:1-5, NIV

Remorse or Repentance

When morning came and the results of his actions came to light, Judas was “seized with remorse.” The Greek word in Matthew 27:3 translated as “remorse’ in the NIV, is not the same Greek word Jesus uses in Matthew 4:17 when He began to preach: “Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Jesus called for a change of heart that would result in a change of behavior. Judas simply felt regret. He did not go to God for forgiveness, he went to the Jewish leaders to make restitution. But unable to relieve his guilt, he ended his life instead.

Guilt or Forgiveness

Judas knew he had sinned. He knew he had betrayed an innocent man. Without God’s forgiveness, the guilt consumed him. If he had gone to God he could have found relief.

Is there a burden of sin you need to take to God today? You don’t have to live with guilt and remorse. Repent and turn to the One who offers forgiveness.

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