That Is How I Send You
Preaching
What Jesus Did:
The Answer To WWJD
In my third year at seminary, as I was doing my morning devotions and Bible reading, I came to John 20:21 (NIV). "As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you." That is interesting, I thought. How did the Father send Jesus? I went through John's Gospel. I found 39 references to Jesus being sent from the Father. It is perhaps the major descriptive word for Jesus' mission in the Gospel of John -- sent by God. From that little Bible study, I did my Ph.D. dissertation. This is my favorite commission out of all of them because it is so comprehensive and expansive.
In the Greek you can't water this down in any way: Just as the Father sent Jesus, in the exact same ways that the Father sent Jesus, so Jesus sends us. The mission Jesus had while on earth has now been transferred to the Church. We are sent by Jesus. The verbs for send are apostello and pempo. They are nearly the same in meaning. Most scholars hold that apostello carries a little more weight, but John seems to use them interchangeably. The sending makes us ambassadors for Christ. We are representing the kingdom of God in this world. We are a foreign embassy in hostile territory. We have been sent by God as his messengers and representatives.
• What are the major duties of political ambassadors? How can that relate to our ambassadorship for Christ?
The sending implies that we have the authority of the Father as we travel. Jesus says, "Those whose sins you forgive are forgiven; those whose sins you retain are retained" (John 20:23). Jesus was sent to forgive sins. We have been authorized to forgive sins, but before we get carried away, remember, we are representatives of the One who can forgive sin. We extend this forgiveness as we preach the Good News of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. As people respond to our preaching, our witness, and come to Jesus Christ, they are forgiven. If they refuse to come to Jesus Christ, their sins are retained.
Based on Jesus' teaching from the other Gospels, our authority extends over Satan and his kingdom. Jesus said, "I give you authority over every power of the evil one" (Luke 9:1). We have been sent, as Paul was sent, to preach so that people will turn from the darkness of Satan to the light that is the kingdom of God. Jesus says, "Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven" (Matthew 16:18 NRSV). It is our job to storm the gates of hell and liberate the prisoners Satan holds captive. We are sent to pray, to preach, to witness, and to testify through godly living that Jesus is alive and has the victory.
• Do you believe you have authority over Satan? What do you think these verses mean?
Jesus says that God sent his Son into the world to save the world, not to condemn the world (John 3:17). Condemning the world is easy. There is so much wrong with it. Instead, we need to confront the world with its sin, as Jesus did. In John 9, Jesus says he came into the world as a judgment against those who claimed they could see. He confronted them as a way to lead them to God, not to condemn them. Judgment is Jesus' job. We have been sent by Jesus to help him save the world.
Jesus says in John 5 that he was sent to do God's will. Guess what? We are sent to do God's will. We must not compromise with the world or start thinking that holy living is not a necessary ingredient to our Christian life. We are called to do God's will.
How can we do all these things, and all the others I don't have time to expound on in this short chapter? John records that Jesus breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit" (John 20:22 NRSV). We need the breath of Jesus to come and fill us with the Holy Spirit. When Jesus came to earth, Paul says in Philippians 2 that he laid aside his divine power and took on the form of a human being. How then did Jesus do all the miracles and conquer so definitively? He did them in the power of the Holy Spirit. The same power Jesus had is available to us. The fine print? We must be obedient.
Jesus says in John 14 that we will do greater works than he has done. How? Through the Holy Spirit. It is time for us to stop being ignorant about the Spirit of God and learn how to submit and cooperate with the Spirit so we can have the power we need to live the Christian life and accomplish the mission that Jesus has given us. The Holy Spirit of God is inside us right now. Yield and surrender to him. Let us cultivate an active prayer life so we can communicate with him and know his voice. Let us keep reading our Bibles so that we can remind ourselves of how he works in various situations.
• What greater things has Jesus been doing through you in the power of the Spirit?
John's commission is the most challenging. We are sent like Jesus was sent. We are sent to save the world, to be light, so that people will know God, to challenge sin, to bind Satan, to preach the Good News. If we try to do that in our own strength, we will be defeated. Only as we do that in the power of the Holy Spirit will we have the victory, just as Jesus was victorious.
WWJD -- Find a ministry you can participate in that will be a part of the greater things we do in Jesus' name.
In the Greek you can't water this down in any way: Just as the Father sent Jesus, in the exact same ways that the Father sent Jesus, so Jesus sends us. The mission Jesus had while on earth has now been transferred to the Church. We are sent by Jesus. The verbs for send are apostello and pempo. They are nearly the same in meaning. Most scholars hold that apostello carries a little more weight, but John seems to use them interchangeably. The sending makes us ambassadors for Christ. We are representing the kingdom of God in this world. We are a foreign embassy in hostile territory. We have been sent by God as his messengers and representatives.
• What are the major duties of political ambassadors? How can that relate to our ambassadorship for Christ?
The sending implies that we have the authority of the Father as we travel. Jesus says, "Those whose sins you forgive are forgiven; those whose sins you retain are retained" (John 20:23). Jesus was sent to forgive sins. We have been authorized to forgive sins, but before we get carried away, remember, we are representatives of the One who can forgive sin. We extend this forgiveness as we preach the Good News of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. As people respond to our preaching, our witness, and come to Jesus Christ, they are forgiven. If they refuse to come to Jesus Christ, their sins are retained.
Based on Jesus' teaching from the other Gospels, our authority extends over Satan and his kingdom. Jesus said, "I give you authority over every power of the evil one" (Luke 9:1). We have been sent, as Paul was sent, to preach so that people will turn from the darkness of Satan to the light that is the kingdom of God. Jesus says, "Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven" (Matthew 16:18 NRSV). It is our job to storm the gates of hell and liberate the prisoners Satan holds captive. We are sent to pray, to preach, to witness, and to testify through godly living that Jesus is alive and has the victory.
• Do you believe you have authority over Satan? What do you think these verses mean?
Jesus says that God sent his Son into the world to save the world, not to condemn the world (John 3:17). Condemning the world is easy. There is so much wrong with it. Instead, we need to confront the world with its sin, as Jesus did. In John 9, Jesus says he came into the world as a judgment against those who claimed they could see. He confronted them as a way to lead them to God, not to condemn them. Judgment is Jesus' job. We have been sent by Jesus to help him save the world.
Jesus says in John 5 that he was sent to do God's will. Guess what? We are sent to do God's will. We must not compromise with the world or start thinking that holy living is not a necessary ingredient to our Christian life. We are called to do God's will.
How can we do all these things, and all the others I don't have time to expound on in this short chapter? John records that Jesus breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit" (John 20:22 NRSV). We need the breath of Jesus to come and fill us with the Holy Spirit. When Jesus came to earth, Paul says in Philippians 2 that he laid aside his divine power and took on the form of a human being. How then did Jesus do all the miracles and conquer so definitively? He did them in the power of the Holy Spirit. The same power Jesus had is available to us. The fine print? We must be obedient.
Jesus says in John 14 that we will do greater works than he has done. How? Through the Holy Spirit. It is time for us to stop being ignorant about the Spirit of God and learn how to submit and cooperate with the Spirit so we can have the power we need to live the Christian life and accomplish the mission that Jesus has given us. The Holy Spirit of God is inside us right now. Yield and surrender to him. Let us cultivate an active prayer life so we can communicate with him and know his voice. Let us keep reading our Bibles so that we can remind ourselves of how he works in various situations.
• What greater things has Jesus been doing through you in the power of the Spirit?
John's commission is the most challenging. We are sent like Jesus was sent. We are sent to save the world, to be light, so that people will know God, to challenge sin, to bind Satan, to preach the Good News. If we try to do that in our own strength, we will be defeated. Only as we do that in the power of the Holy Spirit will we have the victory, just as Jesus was victorious.
WWJD -- Find a ministry you can participate in that will be a part of the greater things we do in Jesus' name.
