Friday, February 1, 2019

2019 - Post #2 - Commissioned in a Hurting World

Hi Friends!

Jesus Christ instructs His followers to lead others to follow Him - in other words: with the privilege of being called Christian comes the personal and collective responsibility of the Church to go and make disciples of Christ in all nations - we are commissioned as Christ followers to seek and save souls in a hurting world (see Matthew 28:18-20).

The translation of the word "go" reads more accurately "as you are going" - the significance of the actual tense is huge: the idea is not that we pack our bags once for a day trip but that we continually unpack them as part of our daily journey - everyone we meet, greet, and know should know that we are Christians by our love (see John 13:35).

The Bible validates many virtues but confirms that the most excellent way is unconditional compassion for God and for all people (see I Corinthians 13:1-13) - said another way the most excellent virtue is Jesus - because the healing needed for every heart in a hurting world is only found in His love for God and for others.

Truth is the Bible asks and answers the question of help in a hurting world (see Psalm 121) - it tells us to look up to hills not because the hills hold the hope but because the Maker of the hills gives hope to all people on Golgotha: a hill called Calvary (see Matthew 27: 35-44) - this is where the journey begins for any that would follow Jesus.

And there is no higher calling in the world than to follow Jesus - no higher commission in the world than to share the hope, to share the faith, and to share the love that lasts forever - and the greatest of these is love because "love crucified arose" (Michael Card) and covers the multitude of sins in the world and the stench of death in the world (see Romans 6: 1-23).

I encourage you to follow the link below to a music video by King and Country - you may want to watch the video several times and reflect on the images at different points throughout the day, or week, or beyond - the video does not camouflage the hurt people experience in the world but rather confirms that the best help for the hurt in the world is Jesus (mature content).

We'll be renewing our focus on being commissioned in many of our future worship and study times at Connections - we want to be careful to continue to keep our eyes on Calvary, on the cross, on the hill where we find our help, our hope, our faith, our love - we don't want to just talk about helping people in a hurting world but to tangibly touch people with Jesus (love) as we daily "go" into the world.

God's Peace and my Prayers,
Jeff

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfiYWaeAcRw