# 52 2015 Devotional, Mt.28:19-20. The purpose of these devotionals is to draw closer to God by memorizing selected passages of Scripture. Further, to view the passage in context and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living. All passages are taken from the NIV.
Matthew 28:19-20
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.”
Chapter 28 is about Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. He is the first to rise from the dead. When we believe in Jesus as the risen Son of God who gave Himself for us we also rise with Him to new life, a new creation. This is a story of faith and a great command but also a great deception. The men, Jesus’ disciples, were in hiding. In their defence we know that the religious leader would be looking for them since they were determined to stop what they saw as a heretical sect that disregarded their laws. But the women did not have those restrictions, no one paid any attention to them except for Jesus.
Early in the morning the women went to the tomb to embalm the body of Jesus. They did not find Jesus there but saw an angel. When the women saw him they where afraid but they talked with him. The angel told the women everything they needed to know but as they were on the way back, Jesus, out of love and compassion showed Himself to them. The guards were not so blessed, at the sight of the angel they were terrified and fell down like dead men. Once the women and the angel departed they revived and ran to the religious authorities to tell what happened since they asked for the guards to be placed at the tomb. The leaders bribed them to tell a blatant lie: “The disciples stole the body while we slept”. That lie is still believed today. It is hard for us to understand why they insisted on that lie when they knew that Jesus had risen! That is the contrast, the very opposite of what Jesus says and what those under the control of Satan say. One says; go tell a blatant lie, Jesus says; “go make disciples”, go and tell the truth!
That takes us to the verses of the week 19, 20, but they point back to verse 18b. “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Therefore go”! We go in the power of Jesus, He prepares the way. We make disciples by our words and our deeds but we must live intentionally for Christ. In other words, are we different from non believers around us and do people see the difference? Do we seek relationships with our neighbors, co-workers, acquaintances Christian or not? I am afraid that we are comfortable in our Christian community and that non church people are so culturally different from church people that there is hardly any point of contact. Yet, there must be contact because we all are sinners, true, we are forgiven sinners but others need to be forgiven as well. That will only happen if we reach out and cross the gap between us! Christ makes his appeal through us, after all, and that is why He has called us (2 Cor. 5:14-21).
How do we do it, where do we begin? Begin with prayer for the person and ask for the guidance of the Spirit. Also, show the grace of Jesus, not condemnation. We may not agree with the lifestyle but instead of condemning we walk along side and show a better way. This takes time and commitment as Paul says in I Thess. 2:4-10 we are approved to bring the gospel, we loved you, shared our lives with you, worked hard and lived holy lives among you, like a father and mother we treated you like our own children, “encouraging, comforting and urging you to live a life worthy”. We do not do this on our own of course, Jesus is with us but so is the Christian community, to baptize and to teach all Jesus has taught us. Churches need to be intentional as well, have Christ like humility, love, grace, and acceptance. This is the Gospel. What a blessing it is for those (us) previously lost and what a blessing it will be for those not yet saved. The Great Commission is a challenging ending for 2015, we thank God for a year filled with His blessings and look forward to what God will do in 2016. Praise the Lord!
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