Category: the Great Commission

John 7:37,38                                               Flowing, Living Water

“On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.  Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.’” (NIV)

 

Jesus’ brothers had suggested to Jesus that He go to the festival in Jerusalem with them.  According to Matthew Henry, their reason, ostensibly, for asking Jesus to go up to Jerusalem with them was two-fold.  If He were to gain the support of the people and the Jewish leaders, they could bask in His popularity, but if He were to be disbelieved, they could disavow Him and not be tainted by their relationship with Him.

Jesus refused to go with them, but He did leave shortly after they did.  He went not to gain popularity or to justify Himself in the eyes of the Jewish leaders.  He went to walk and talk with the people until His appointed time had come.  The time had come at the end of the Festival of Tabernacles when Jesus stood and said in a loud voice the words of John 7:37 and 38.  To be sure, the time had come, the people were gathered, and He could speak the words of God to the most people without any preamble by the Jewish leaders.  The words would not be diminished by any comment the leaders would have made or questions they would have asked before He spoke these stirring words of calling people to Himself.

If we thirst, Jesus has the water that will satisfy thirst and, at the same time, give a desire to drink more and more of the water He offers.  Those who drink it will not only be satisfied, but they will become a conduit of the same water, a conduit that calls others to the source, God the Father and God the Son.  This living water is the gift of the Holy Spirit who dwells within us to lead us, guide us, and direct us in the ways of our Lord.  Be encouraged.  Not only do we receive this living water, we can also be the way by which others receive it.  We fulfill the desires of our God when we help bless others in this way.

Luke 10:20                                                             Those he Sends

“All the same, the great triumph is not in your authority over evil, but in God’s authority over you and presence with you.  Not what you do for God but what God does for you—that’s the agenda for rejoicing” (MSG).

 

Jesus sent seventy or seventy-two workers into the field in pairs before Him to the towns and villages He planned to visit.  (Seventy or seventy-two depending upon the translation.)  He sent them to prepare the harvest, and He gave them authority over demons and sickness.  He also warned them that they would be going as lambs among wolves.  There would be opposition to the good news they carried.  He also told them to pray that the God of the Harvest would send more harvest hands.  He made their assignment clear in verse four as He told them not to engage in small talk, but to keep to the task.  Their job was to spread the Good News, not to socialize.  I found verse 16 astounding:  “The one who listens to you, listens to me.  The one who rejects you, rejects me.  And rejecting me is the same as rejecting God, who sent me.”  In essence, Jesus told those He sent that they would be speaking in the name of God, the God who spoke through Moses and the prophets.  What a responsibility they had!  They had been taught that the priests, scribes, and Levites were the ones who spoke for God.  This was a BIG deal, and because of what they said and because of the authority they used to say it, they would be in opposition to the religious leaders of the day.  For them to go was a sign of complete faith in Jesus.  They had to believe everything He had taught them, and they had to believe that they were prepared to pass that information on.  Did they have to believe that Jesus was the Messiah?  I believe they would have been reluctant to go and ineffective when they did go if they had not accepted Jesus as Messiah.

 

Okay, so where does that leave us?  It leaves us right there in the midst of those being sent.  If Jesus had not enlisted the twelve and then the seventy, He would have been able to minister only to places He could reach Himself.  It would have left most of the world unreached.  The impetus of the Great Commission is to spread the Good News by the great enlargement of the numbers of those being sent.  Does not the Great Commission apply to us all?  Are we not all to be building and spreading the Kingdom of God?  Once we have accepted Jesus as the Christ and our Savior, it would be most selfish of us to keep it to ourselves and not tell others about it.  The very personal question for each of us is, Am I prepared to speak for God as Jesus told the seventy in Luke 10:16?  It’s a little daunting to know that those who reject us reject Jesus, and if they reject Jesus, they reject salvation.  We have to be sure that we are speaking or writing or acting the Good News as given by Jesus Christ.  As daunting as that may seem, I believe that God will guide us in the spreading of the Word if we will draw close to Him and both ask for and accept His guidance and direct help when needed.  The important thing will be to keep ourselves, especially our egos, out of the message, and to let the joy and love of the Lord flow through us to those we meet.  We are tools in the hand of our God, and the best tool does nothing without the direction of a knowing hand.  It just lies on the workbench.  But, once the tool is picked up by one who has mastered its use, it can perform wonders.  Let us be useful tools in the Hand of God.  Let us do wonders in His name.  Praise be to God!  Let us rejoice in what God does for us!