Genesis 1:1–5, Genesis 1:26-2:4a
2 Corinthians 13:11–13
Matthew 28:16–20
I have not done this before but today, I want you to pull out pens or pencils and write something on your bulletins. Write it in a place that you can see, so you can take this with you, maybe even tape it to the bathroom mirror to be reminded of daily. Okay, here we go, I want you to write down the name of the sermon today:
Greatest Commandment + Holy Spirit = Great Commission
I have been very interested in mission development and recently have been reading some books that have been recommended to me by someone at my Synod office. When I look at the texts from today, especially 2 Corinthians and Matthew, there is a correlation to what Paul was doing as a church planter / mission developer and what Jesus commissioned all of his disciples to go do.
This commissioning is also known as the Great Commission. The commissioning applies not only to the eleven disciples present but to us too. When Jesus speaks to the disciples about making other disciples, he is speaking to each and every one of us. This great commission goes beyond a request but is a command and it is through this command to make disciples and teach them “…to obey everything that I have commanded you.” that this commissioning applies to us. For some of you, this may be exciting. For others, this may be very scary. Either way, we are all commanded by Jesus to make disciples.
A few might be thinking, I cannot make disciples of other people. I don’t know the Bible that well. I don’t know how to speak with people. Being part of discipleship takes on many forms. It does not always mean reading Bible verses, preaching, leading a service and a married of other things that so many think is out of their comfort zone. Oh, by the way, when you are out of your comfort zone, that is when the Spirit of God is taking over for you and you get the opportunity to grow through the Spirit. Mission development cannot be done by us alone.
Paul the church planter and mission developer, worked with people from all walks of life, from different worldviews. We, as mission developers in the Great Commission, contend with even more diversity in worldviews. Scrolls and travel made the assimilation of other worldviews much slower in Paul’s day. Radio, television, movies, internet, email, Facebook, Twitter and now Instagram, all provide more information than ever from a wider diversity than Paul would have ever faced, thereby allowing quicker assimilation of other worldviews today. Thus, we are dependent upon the Spirit for discipleship. A Christian worldview is different than say; an atheist, Buddhist, and on and on.
When we hear Paul in his greeting and benediction in 2 Corinthians, he is projecting a Christian worldview based upon the greatest commandment, or as we really know, which is two commandments. The story of the greatest commandment is told in Matthew, Mark and Luke. In Matthew the story goes as follows when a lawyer says to Jesus, 36 “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest”, 37 He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the greatest and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” [1]
Now listen again to what Paul says in 2 Corinthians; 11 Finally, brothers and sisters, farewell. Put things in order, (God First, Neighbor and yourselves second) listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. 12 Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you.
13 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you. [2] Paul is appealing through the greatest commandment, to Love God fully, wholly without exception and in doing so, love one another the same. No longer does Paul want people drawing lines in the sand and having people at odds with one another.
We have been hearing over the last few weeks, much about the Spirit of Christ Jesus and how the Father is in Jesus and Jesus is in the Father. We have also heard about the Spirit coming to the disciples of Jesus’ time but also how that same Spirit is with and in each and everyone of us.
I had a professor who said in class one day, anytime that someone draws a line in the sand, that separates themselves from others over whatever the issue may be, that is when Jesus is standing, not with the person who drew the line but the one that has been casted out because of the line. Think about it for a minute and it will become clear how this happens.
Remember, the Jews, are suppose to and now Christians as well, are to lookout for the Least, the Last, the Lost. We are not to be separated from those who have been cast out and who live on the margins of society. We are to love them as ourselves, not just our neighbors. We are to love all of God’s children as ourselves, not just the ones that are easy to love.
The “Lines” often get blurry for so many. Just what does drawing the line look like? Maybe it is not being inclusive to outsiders, unless they conform. It could be withholding ones gifts from the church that they attend, in hopes that it sends a message to conform to their way of thinking or whatever the reason. Loving our neighbor as ourselves, the neighbor who has the Spirit of Christ in them, transcends race, religion, sex or sexual orientation. There are all sorts of things that are drawing lines in the sand and thus not living out the greatest commandment.
So far I have spoken about the Commandment and Commission. What is import to know is that sometimes we rush to make disciples of all nations before we Love God and Neighbor. In our rush to bring the Gospel to others and sometimes to fill the pews, we can turn the Great Commission into the Greatest Commission; forsaking the commandments that Jesus gives us.
God sent God’s Son into the world, not to forsake it but to save it. The Father sent the Spirit of Christ to be with us always. We can do all things in Christ, in God with the Spirit.
God and neighbor first, then mix in the Holy Spirit and with this combination; we can now carry out the Great Commission. Even in the issuing of the commission, Jesus tells us that he has been given authority to issue this commission, by the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is, none other than, Christ Jesus himself. The connection is shown again, when Jesus tells says; “I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
What an unbeatable combination.
Greatest Commandment + Holy Spirit = Great Commission
[1] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989), Mt 22:36–40.
[2] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989), 2 Co 13:11–13.
I think there might be error here in saying that the Holy Spirit is Christ. Then how could there be a Holy Trinity of One God in three distinct Persons? The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father. The Roman Church added the so-called filioque question. That is to say the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father AND the Son. This possibly heretical statement was retained in the creed by the protestants. Yes, Christ said He would be with the Church (the people) always, but this is with the assistance of the Holy Spirit, the Life-giver, the Comforter.
It is often said that the Holy Spirit is the forgotten member of the Holy Trinity. This is a shame, because everything that exists is through the power and sustainability of the Holy and Divine Being of the Holy Spirit. As mere human beings theologians from the beginning have tried to define and understand God as Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer of life. Regardless if it is Basil the Great or Thomas Aquinas we will never fully understand the Natures of the God-head, nor how the Trinity operates as One God in three distinct Persons, nor the loving relationship that exists from all eternity among the Holy Three.
It is just best to accept it and not try to define or re-define this the Great Mystery.
I am not excluding the Spirit as one of the persons of the Trinity, simply stating what Jesus did, when he breathed upon the disciples to give them the Spirit but since the Spirit of Christ is also the Spirit of the Father and the and the Father is in Christ and Christ they are all the same yet one, the Trinity. I am sorry if I was not making clear that there is the Triune God, which there is. Father, Son and Spirit, each separate yet all the same in one God. All fully participating at all times with each persons of God yet all each a person of God. Just as Jesus was Human and divine, separate from each other but both fully participating in each other wholey.