Perspectives Notes - L4: Mandate for the nations
Lesson 4: Mandate for the nations - Jonatan Toledo (2/10/14)
Notes by Lana
Mandate for the Nations
· Evan Almighty movie clip: Evan got to meet God, & he was puzzled why God chose Him, he didn’t know what God’s plan was; what changes the world is one act of random kindness at times
· Barabbas movie clip: The boldness of the soldier, he has not seen Jesus vs. Barabbas, who personally has encountered Jesus but remained passive. Thrown in jail because of their faith.
· Matt 28:19-20: Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, & of the Son & of the Holy Spirit, & teaching them TO OBEY everything I have commanded you. & surely I am with you always to the very end of the age. (Without “TO OBEY”, it becomes the Great OMMISSION)
· To live under a mandate is to be entrusted with a task of lasting significance. Mandates are not commands. By direct commands we assign small errands or daily chores. A mandate, on the other hand, releases authority & responsibility to pursue endeavors of historic importance. God has entrusted to Christ, & with Him to THE CHURCH, a mandate to fulfill his purpose
The Greatest Mission
· The mission Jesus accomplished by launching a global mission among all peoples that He Himself is continuing & will certainly fulfill!
· A mission involving:
1. A higher purpose
2. Obedience
3. Perseverance
4. Others
· This was a mission to change the world! – Together we can change the world – BE. GO. DO
· A movement to bring salvation to every part of the world……….while empowering the world!! Empowering the people that we are serving!!
· Everybody wants to change the world but nobody wants to change! We need to change ourselves first!!
· Change begins when we allow God to change us first!
· Many of times when we are on a mission trip, we put our “christian hats” but when we get home, we don’t think twice about living a life that doesn’t bring glory to God / not pleasant to God
· Be the change you want to see in the world – Mahatma Gandhi (Living what you are preaching)
· But be doers of the word, & not hearers only, deceiving yourselves – James 1:22
· The first thing that we need to do / work on is to tackle the issues that we struggle in our lives
· Change also has to do with you & the way in which you see yourself!
· We also need to see the way how the others (eg. the locals / nationals) who have been commissioned by God
· Sex trafficking example – it is impossible to save everyone, but by saving one girl, you are changing the world for her
· Dorretta Brown – Time Ministries
· We have a clear mandate to complete world evangelization
a) Mark 16:15-16 - And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
b) Luke 24: 46-49 - and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”
c) Acts 1:8- But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
d) John 20:21-23 - Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”
Zooming out
Matt 28:18 - The Jesus came to them & said, “All authority in heaven & on earth has been given to me. Therefore go & make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father & of the Son & of the Holy Sprit, & teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.
All nations to be discipled?
· All peoples
· People groups vs. Nation- states vs. Gentiles
· Root word: Ethnos – People groups (majority of the time); in the NT: sometimes referred as gentiles; OT: people groups outside of Israel
· People groups defined by language, lineage or tribal boundaries
· Our task: Evangelism (what we do – an activity) vs. Evangelization (our goal – we evangelize to achieve evangelization)
· All peoples to be discipled
Make Disciples
· Jesus was all about developing others!
· Jesus is all about developing YOU!
All nations to be discipled - How long will it take?
· Completing the total task will required that in every single people group, at some point in history, there be a movement of baptized & obedient disciples capable of evangelizing their entire pole, until there are such movements in every people, we have not completed the mandate Christ has given us!
· This is a finishable mandate!
I am with you
· Always
· All the days
· To the very end of the age
· John 20:21-22
Jesus’ Mission
To his own & to all
• Jesus developed his disciples & sent them out (Matt 10:1) but not without a plan (v.5-6)
• Initial ministry to the Jewish people
- To the lost sheep of the house of Israel
- Acts 1:8; Rom 1:16; 2:9-10
- It was part of his plan
• He then sent a group of 70/72
Mission to the Gentiles
· How far should we go?
· Reaching out to the non-Jewish
a) Those most Jewish people despised
b) The outcast of the society
· Who are the Gentiles of our time?
· Second class citizens?
· Implications for us? Go out of these 4 walls!!!!
· Reaching out to the Gentiles
· Empowering them to serve!!
Case Studies
· The Samaritan Women
· The Canaanite Women (Mt 15:21-28)
Church members vs. non-members
· The Centurion (Matt 8:5-13)
· Food for thought (Luke 7:4-5) – And when they came to Jesus, they pleaded with him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy to have you do this for him, for he loves our nation, and he is the one who built us our synagogue.” [We sometimes help those who helped us; what if they nothing to offer us? Do we still care for them?]
Facing Rejection – the good, the bad & the ugly!
· A Samaritan Village – Luke 9:51-56 (Deserving disciples?)
· Rejects & rebukes……why?
Not to bring judgment
Not through threat
Jesus on Leadership Development
· Jesus was not concerned with programs to reach multitudes but with men whom the multitudes would follow. Jesus started to gather these men before he organized and evangelistic campaign or even preached a sermon in public ~Robert Coleman
· These men didn’t have to be smart, but loyal
Together in the Harvest – A relational way of sending “I am with you”
· Statement by Blackaby & Willis
· Apply to our lives: We revealed ourselves to others so that they can know us personally. Then, we initiate a relationship with them & invite them to join us. As we reveal ourselves to them they would often experience a crisis of belief that calls for major adjustments in our lives so that we can “relate to one another “ and one mission. As we make the adjustments & obey the Lord, He moves us into the middle of His activity, in order to experience Him & to enjoy the astounding significance of being on mission with God & with one another
Pluralism
a) The problem
· We seem to have believed & accepted those pluralistic lies……
· We seem to have lost our cutting-edge commitment
b) An approach
· Christian Cultural Renewal: Our challenge – speaking the truth in love
· Embracing a shameless & joyous conviction that Jesus Christ is Supreme & therefore Unique
c) Jesus as the Truth
· Miracles as evidence to support the claims of Christ
- Jesus & the paralytic (Mark 2:8-11)
- Jesus accused of blasphemy (John 10:33, 37=38)
· Knowing the back stories
- Going back to go forward – remembering the one True God!
- Exodus 3
d) God, the One & Only
a) Joshua draws the line (Joshua 24:16-18)
b) The forgotten God (Judges 2:10)
c) Knowing God vs. knowledge of God (Isaiah 1:3)
· Each new generation must be taught
· There is only one true God
· People don’t really know God until they have a personal encounter with God
· The religious pluralism with which we contend is not simply an institution, one but, as in Isaiah’s Judah & Jerusalem, a contest for the heart & mind ~ William Carr
· My conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot & will not recant anything, for to go against our conscience is neither right nor safe ~ Martin Luther King
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