REMEMBER YOUR MISSION

By: Peregrino (Jun) Velasco Taccad, Jr.

Text:  MATTHEW 5: 13-16

You are the salt of the earth.  But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.        

You are the Light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.  Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.  Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Fisher of Men: Painted by Kip Decker

Introduction:

Being a believer of Christ is not enough to be called His disciple.  In John 8:31-32, Jesus explained that His true disciples are only those who follow Him and obey His commands.  SALT cannot be called salt unless it is salty, and LIGHT cannot be called light unless it glows.  The same way, CHRISTIAN can never be called Christian unless he follows Christ.  If we are really serious in our Christianity, we have to follow Christ.  To obey God is love for Him (John 14:15 and 1 John 5:3).

Once we claim to be Christ’s disciples, we also embraced the fact that we become a member of His Special Task Force by default, a special task force whose mission is to save mankind from eternal separation from God.

We are commissioned by none other than the Lord of lords and the King of kings, the Creator of the entire universe who is Jesus Christ. We must realize that our commissioning is supreme.  Is it not a great honor for us to be chosen as a member of this Divine Task Force out of billion people in the world?  Isn’t it that this commissioning is far nobler that being personally ordered by the president of a country to execute a presidential act?  We should be so excited to be in this Divine Task Force.  We should have the dead seriousness to take this mission no matter what.

An astronaut, before they take journey to the space, NASA makes it sure that: 

ü  They are physically and mentally healthy. No pre-existing medical conditions, fractured bones, history of malfunctioning or removed vital organs, and no infirmities in his sight, hearing and psychomotor coordination.

  

ü  They are emotionally stable, intelligent and full of positive thoughts.  No history of nervous breakdown.

ü  They have to be well-trained with the details and technicalities of the space craft.

ü  They have to learn how to survive by recycling waste materials.

ü  They have to be knowledgeable of the space environment.  They have to be aware of the hazards and dangers up there.They should familiarize the positions of the stars and planets.

Without these qualifications, they might not be allowed to take-off from the ground for fear of failing to perform the mission and might only lead to a disaster.

Like the one who is vying to be an astronaut, our God wants to ensure that we possess the required qualifications before He acknowledge us to be into the roll of Task Force Members.  Without such qualities, we can hardly follow Him and execute the divine mission.

  

OLD TESTAMENT COMMISSION

God does not change who He is.  He remains the same forever.   He desires the same thing from the conception of the first human being until the present generation.  His commission and expectations are also the same. 

His Vision that we should be putting into our hearts is, To see the His Kingdom multiplying and dominating over the rest, and that all nations streams to it and be blessed.  Study Daniel 2 and Isaiah 2:2-3.

Together with this Vision is our Mission to carry-out and realize the desire of the Almighty God.  We are His hands and no one else will do it except us.

I.   I. GOD’S DESIRE TO MULTIPLY MANKIND; TO RULE OVER ALL OTHER CREATIONS; AND, TO BE A SOURCE OF BLESSINGS TO ALL NATIONS.

First Commandment of God to Adam and Eve

Genesis 1:27-28

·         Be fruitful

·         Increase in number

·         Fill the Earth

·         Subdue it and rule over all living creations

God’s Commandment to Noah and his sons

Genesis 9:1-2 and 7

·         Be fruitful

·         Increase in number; Multiply on the earth and increase upon it.

·         Fill the Earth

·         Rule over all living creations

God’s Promised to Abraham

Genesis 12:1-3

·         I will make you into a great nation

·         I will bless you

·         I will make your name great

·         You will be a blessing

God’s Promised to Isaac

Genesis 26:4

·         I will multiply your offspring

·         In your offspring, all the nations will be blessed

God’s Commandment to Jacob

Genesis 35:11

·         Be Fruitful

·         Increase in number

·         Kings will be among your descendants

II   II.  GOD’S DESIRE TO SAVE HIS PEOPLE FROM BONDAGE AND SUFFERINGS

God Commissioned Moses

Exodus 3:10

·         Bring the Israelites out of Egypt (the land of Bondage and Sufferings)

·         To be subjected to Baptism through the cloud and crossing the Red Sea  (1 Corinthians 10:1-4)

·         To live in Canaan, the land where they can enjoy freedom, under God’s blessings and protection.

God’s Instruction to Joshua

·         Lead the people (the next generation of Israelites) to conquer and inherit the land  (Joshua 1)

·         To be baptized first by crossing the Jordan River (Joshua  3-4)

Jordan River is the same river where John the Baptist immersed Jesus.

·         Joshua taught the people to obey God (Joshua 23)

All these are God’s expectations since the time of Adam until today.  All these deliver the same message:  God wants to build and expand His Kingdom.  It is a kingdom where there is salvation, freedom and righteousness through unenforced obedience.  

NEW TESTAMENT COMMISSION

THE REQUISITES TO BE IN THE MISSION:

REQUIREMENT 1:  SERIOUSNESS

Christ’s Intention in Calling the First Disciples

Mark 1:16-20

•          “Come follow me and I will make you FISHERS OF MEN”
•          AT ONCE they left their net and followed Him. The FISH NET is used to catch fish and it is a very important instrument for Fishermen.  An instrument to sustain their families’ basic needs.  They left this important thing to follow Christ. 
•          They left their Father, a very important person, to follow Christ
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•  Like the first disciples, we should have the SERIOUSNESS to execute the mission

REQUIREMENT 2:  LOVE FOR OTHERS

The Great Commandments

Matthew 22:36-40

•          Love the Lord with all your Heart, Mind and Soul
•          Love your neighbor as Yourself
•          (1 John 4:7-12;19-21) Those two great commandments are linked with each other.  You can never say that you love God if you hate your brother.  Likewise, you can never say you can love all your brothers if you don’t love God. 
•          (1 John 5:3)  Love for God is Obedience to His commands and teachings.

John 13:34-35

•          A new command:  You should not only love your neighbor like you love yourself, but it should be just like how Christ loved us.  Jesus showed his love by laying down His life for us.  We must also love one another that way.
•          Only those who love like that can be called TRUE DISCIPLE.
•          The true show of love is to lay down our lives for the salvation of another.  That’s the true mission.

John 21:15-19

•          Jesus Christ asked Peter three times if he loves Him. His same answers were for the benefit of Christ’s believers: “FEED MY”, “TAKE CARE OF MY SHEEP” & “FEED MY LAMBS”
•         The measure of True love for Christ is the amount of your love for others.
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•  We should have TRUE LOVE for fellowmen to be fitted for the mission.

REQUIREMENT 3:  HOLY SPIRIT’S PRESENCE

The Great Commission

Matthew 28:18-20

•      It is called Great Commission because it is as important as the Last Words of a departing love one.  It is with such great importance that it should be implanted into the hearts of every true disciple and be taken with great care and seriousness.
•           All Authority is now with Jesus Christ.  He is our Great Commissioner.  He is the ONLY ONE who can give us these orders and we should obey, being one under His authority.

-       Go and Make Disciples of all Nations (Multiply and fill the earth)

-       Baptizing Them in the Name of the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit  (Lead them out of  Egypt - Moses; Lead them in crossing Jordan River - Joshua)  In, Acts 2:38, Peter discusses this with simplicity but with hard-line profoundness - Repent and Be Baptized.  For what?  For the FORGIVENESS OF YOUR SINS and TO RECEIVE THE GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 

-       Teaching them to obey everything I had commanded you.  Let us give emphasis on the whole command line, "TEACH THEM TO OBEY", not only teach them.

Acts 1:7-8

•          The Holy Spirit is the promise of God’s presence, power, comfort and strength (Matthew 28:20). 
•          The Holy Spirit is the One who gives us things we need in order to fully execute the Mission.  The Holy Spirit will also change our lives so we will show good testimony to all men.  A perfect example of a life changed by the Holy Spirit is Apostle Paul.  He, who used to execute Christ’s followers, turned Missionary for Christ and died following Him.  He made significant contributions and great impact in the history of Christianity.
•          We shall be witness to:

-       Jerusalem (Our Family and People Close to Us)

-       Judea (Our larger community and friends)

-       Samaria (Our Enemies and Strangers)

-       Ends of the Earth (Wherever you go)

•  We should have the HOLY SPIRIT to be victorious in our MIssion.

Challenges: 

a)  GO AND MAKE DISCIPLES:  Start inviting people to BS and Share the Gospel with your friends and colleagues. Set goal to bring at least one soul to Christ every month.

b)  Learn how to share faith from our Leaders.  Sit with them to gain insights and practical applications.

c)  TEACH OTHERS TO OBEY:  First, be knowledgeable with the Word of God.  Have your daily quiet times and Read the Bible.  Learn from the sermons and take note.  Share what you are learning to other disciples and be a blessing and encouragement to them.

d)    Pray more and be filled with the Holy Spirit always.

e)   Be a disciple always, inside or outside the gathering of the Saints.  Model out a life of a true Christian.