Are You Creating Chaos or Making Disciples?

Go into all the world,” Jesus said, “and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 28:19)

“For God so loved the world,” Jesus said, “that he gave his only Son so that everyone who believe in him may have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

“But you will receive power.” Jesus said, “when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

“Into all the world.”

“God so loved the world.”

“To the ends of the earth.”

This is the word of the Lord to those who believe in him.

Some Christians are more concerned with creating chaos that they are in making disciple.

Some Christians have set aside “God so loved the world,” and replaced it with “God so loved people like us.”

Some Christians are unwilling to be witnesses to their communities, much less to the ends of the earth.

It is the author of 1 Peter who reminds us, “But the time has come for judgment to begin with the household of God…” (Peter 4:17)

Do you really want to do something about the divisions in the country? Then Christians need to be Christian, follow the teachings of our Lord—if Jesus is Lord, there can be NO other—learn from the word of the Lord, and be willing to be led by the Holy Spirit. When Christians join in the vitriol, selfishness, greed, and hate being espoused by the voices of the world, we are not proclaiming a life-changing gospel, but are espousing the edicts of evil.

Christians cannot share the truth that sets people free by joining in the lies and deceptions of the world.

Jesus spoke of those who, “seeing they do not perceive, and hearing they do not listen, nor do they understand.” (Matthew 13:13)

This, Jesus said, is a fulfillment of the prophesy of Isaiah:

“You will indeed listen, but never understand,

and you will indeed look, but never perceive.

For the people’s heart has grown dull,

and their ears are hard of hearing,

and they have shut their eyes,

so that they might not look with their eyes,

and listen with their ears,

and understand with their hearts and turn—

and I would heal them.” (See Matthew 13:14-15 for Jesus’ quote from Isaiah.)

Over two and a half millennia have passed since Isaiah declared those words, and two millennia has past since Jesus reminded us of their truthfulness, and yet we are still “there.”

Some choose to listen but not understand.

Some choose to look but nor perceive.

The hearts of some Christians have grown dull.

The ears of some Christians are so full of the noise of the world they cannot hear the word of the Lord.

The eyes of some Christians are blinded by the desire for worldly power.

So, they are not looking with their eyes but with their desires, and they’re not listening with their ears but with their fears.

When John was given the Revelation and shown the throne room of God in heaven, he was struck with the majesty and power of the Almighty—the One on the throne. And he was shown not only the holiness of God, but the continuous praise given to the One on the throne, and also to the One who appeared in the throne room of God looking like a Lamb that had been slaughtered.

The scroll containing the ultimate plan and purposes of God was in God’s “right hand.” (We must understand that John was using symbolic language/apocalyptic language to describe for us the vision given him. We have to “see” the meaning of the signs and symbols of the Revelation, and this must be done under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.) The Lamb—Jesus, the risen Christ—is the only one found worthy to open the scroll revealing the ultimate plan of God. (See Revelation 5.)

When he took the scroll, before he opened even one of the seven seals that held it closed, the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures in the throne room of God began singing:

“You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals,

for you were slaughtered and by your blood you ransomed for God

saints from every tribe and language and people and nation…”

Later in the Revelation, John will be shown those who are redeemed out of the tribes of Israel (7:4-8), and then…

“After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. They cried out with a loud voice, saying,

“Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb.” (7:9-10)

“Go therefore into all the world…”

“God so loved the world…”

“You will be my witnesses…to the ends of the earth.”

“You ransomed for God saints from every tribe and language and people and nations.”

“A great multitude…from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages.”

Let the church remember…

Let Christians never forget…

There is power, not in the ways of the world, but in the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

And, lest we forget… If Jesus is Lord, there can be NO other.

Join us Sunday morning at 11:00 at Greenfield, 384 Fairmont Road, Gretna or on Facebook Live on the Greenfield Baptist page.

blessings.