"Wait ... what's the Fairly Good Commission?" you may ask. Well, first let's look at the Great Commission and see if you have it.
And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age" (Matt 28:18-20).Okay, that's the standard "Great Commission". Got it? So let's check your commission against this one.
1. "All authority in heaven and on earth." Have you been commissioned by the Master of the Universe? Further, are you carrying out your commission by His authority? That concept has two sides. First is the level to which you obey. If He has all authority and you don't follow it, that's not good. Second is your level of difficulty, so to speak. If you think that you're facing insurmountable obstacles, then it cannot be that you've been commissioned by the one who has all authority, right? I mean, if He had all authority, then no obstacle would be insurmountable.
2. "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations." (Note the "therefore". That is, "Based on the fact that all authority has been given unto Me, I'm sending you.") Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, as you are going, you should be making disciples. Are you? Note that it is "disciples" that are to be made, not just "converts". We are to preach the Gospel, but that's just the start. We are to "make disciples" (which is a major investment of time) as well as teach them "to observe all that I have commanded you." That's not quite the same as "Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation" (Mark 16:15). I mean, that's a start, but that's not the Great Commission.
So what kind of commission did you get? Did it come by way of the authority of Christ? If so, are you obeying it? Are you running into insurmountable obstacles or is the One to whom all authority has been given in charge? Is the commission to make converts or to make disciples? Does that include the necessary involvement to actually teach what Christ taught, or is that the job of someone else? You see, it's pretty easy to nod and point to the "Great Commission", but it is my sad suspicion that most of us only got a "Fairly Good Commission" and are missing out on some pieces of the actual command Christ gave. Some, I suspect, even got a "Pretty Poor Commission" that had little authority, offered little authority, didn't call on you do to much, and is generally passed off to others. So which are you?
4 comments:
Hello Stan!
Are you interested to no what the historical Jewish Messiah of Nazareth taught? He was called Y’hoshua.
In order to determine what he really taught we must know that he claimed to be the Jewish Mashiakh – Messiah. He indeed was the Jewish Mashiakh and thus, according to the Messianic prophecies, must have taught his followers to keep and teach Torah [Documentation: Link].
This is what the Torah teaches:
As stipulated in Devarim [Dt.] 6:4-9,11:13-21 one is required to keep all of the directives of Torâh to one’s utmost—viz., “with all one’s heart, psyche and might [lit. "very"]“—”for the purpose of extending your days and the days of your children… like the days of the heavens above the earth” (i.e., eternal life). According to the Tan’’kh -Yekhezeqeil ["Ezekiel"] chapter 18 et.al – the Creator confer His atonement in His loving kindness to those and only those turning away from their Torah-transgressions and (re)turning to non-selectively Torah-observance to their utmost including mishpat.
First century Rabbi Y’hoshua of Nazareth was a Pharisaic Rabbi [Documentation] and the Jewish Mashiakh and thus his teachings about forgiveness must have been in accordance with Torah. This logically implies that he didn’t teach Christian ‘salvation’, since Christian ‘salvation’ subtracts from and adds to Torah, which is prohibited in Torah – D’varim [Deuteronomy] 4:2, 13:1-6. This also logically implies that he didn’t teach to make people ‘Christians’ or the words in the current MSS of Matthew 28:18-20.
I hope this information helps! Following the teachings of Rabbi Y’hoshua leads oneself into Torah-observance; which includes an immensely meaningful relationship with the Creator.
Have a nice day!
Anders Brandeud
Some think that the commission is to convert people to Democrats; that that's the most loving thing that can be done, and that once it is done, as long as they adhere to the principles of the Democrat party why they will be the most loving people to boot.
How we get here from there is beyond me.
Anders,
Then what you are saying is that those who observe the Torah are saved? (Beyond that I'm curious -- have asked and never gotten an answer from Jew or otherwise -- about how one would observe the Laws regarding sacrifices and all. But I don't expect an answer on that from you.) Good to know that you're right and all of Christianity wrong, though. Paul (a devout Torah observer) was wrong. All the Jewish writers of the Gospels and accompanying epistles were wrong. And all of any hope for Christians is pointless. Thanks. That's helpful.
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