KEEPING THE GREAT COMMISSION Matthew 28:18-20 We are all under assignment to expand Gods rule (Kingdom) throughout every nation (ethnos). Matthew 28:18-20 what we commonly call the Great Commission has been misrepresented as Jesus instruction to go preach the gospel of salvation throughout the nations of the world. But under closer examination the instruction to His disciples who would be apostles is that they would not only go throughout the world and make disciples baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost (these are Jesus words, not mine), but He also sent them to teach. These apostles were to teach every nation all of the things that Jesus taught them which must have certainly included what Jesus had taught them concerning the Kingdom of God. I want you for a moment to get a picture of missionaries traveling to far away places to win countries to Jesus. They went preaching the gospel of salvation and taught about how Jesus saves but they quite possibly, for the most part, I would say even, most likely did not teach what Jesus taught the disciples about the Kingdom of God. Think about it. Look over your last several years of Sunday School Lesson plans, whether its COGIC or PAW or Baptist, Methodist, it really doesnt matter. Go dust them off or find this months Sunday School lesson plans. What you will not find is a thorough teaching on what Jesus taught concerning the Kingdom of God. For those of you who ascribe to present truth theology concerning apostles and prophets have you noticed that while there is a lot of kingdom language, there is not the specific teaching that Jesus taught the disciples on the Kingdom of God and instead the emphasis have been on the gifts and Malachis prophesy about restoration of fathers to sons? Jesus said of those who are gifted, that He was not impressed with the fact that they cast out devils in His name or prophesied or did many mighty works. Jesus was impressed if you obey the instructions of His Father and certainly Jesus instructions were the instructions of His Father so Jesus says of the gifted, depart from me, you who are iniquity to me, I dont know you intimately and never knew you. (Matthew 7:21-23 Paraphrased) So what weve done in the place of what Jesus commanded us to do was travel the world preaching the doctrines of men and their misinterpretations of Jesus instruction that we would make disciples of all nations and teach them the all things that Jesus taught the disciples. From Catholicism to the protestants founded on the theology of Martin Luther, to the teachings of Calvin and Knox every group have missed Jesus instruction to teach the all things that Jesus taught His disciples so consequently every so called reformation movement to include the Welsh and Azusa revivals missed Jesus preached doctrine of the Kingdom. And sadly, the purveyors of these movements having omitted Jesus preached doctrine of the Kingdom built monuments, colleges, universities and seminaries as testimonies to the varied theologies. The unfortunate reality that no one likes to hear is that your university degree in theology, whether it be a Masters Degree or Phd did not afford you the instructions Jesus gave to His disciples concerning the Kingdom of God. So while family members came to celebrate your academic achievement which indeed was noteworthy the great unrealized tragedy was that you did not learn the Kingdom of God as Jesus preached it yet felt totally qualified as we all did, to do ministry. In large part your belief system has been built around a combination of accepted theologies and your experiences with God but have not been built around what Jesus has expressly said concerning the right now presence of the Kingdom of God. In effect weve been tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine but they just didnt seem like winds of doctrines to us, because we thought we were on solid ground believing in the integrity of our leaders, spiritual fathers and mentors. Yet many of them were no more than the blind leading the blind. Jesus warned His disciples of the teachings of false prophets and apostles and teachers just as Paul also warned more than 50 years later. The fact of the matter is that the greatest tragedy that hit the Church was the death of the apostles prior to the emergence of the early Church fathers. The early Church fathers did not necessarily continue in the practice of preaching what the apostles preached before them, but instead became apologist who gave more attention to explaining scriptures, establishing creeds and coming up with dogmas but didnt preach the same Kingdom message Jesus preached and did not teach the Kingdom and its culture as Jesus and the apostles did. Now in the 21st century the only way to emerge out of this ditch to which many blind men have led us no matter how well meaning they were, is for all of us to become like children again, no longer laying claim to doctrines of Calvinism or any other such theologies but begin from where we are rebuilding our theology first and foremost on everything that Jesus said and not just what Jesus did non the cross. Now for most of you, this is going to be too hard for you to do because you cannot fathom that it would even be possible to be saved and yet be wrong about your chosen theological preferences, the very truths that youve staked your salvation on. Well if you are a genuine apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher, bishop, elder, deacon, or even a trustee of the Church, or a member, you owe it to yourself to come back to Jesus and learn the Kingdom from Him and if you are a leader the authenticity of your ministry is not in your experiences with God and how Hes used you, but in your becoming as a child again and making yourself to be a servant and refusing to allow your present level of knowledge to cause you to be puffed up. The word Kingdom occurs in both the Old and New Testaments nearly 300 times in the Scriptures. However, frequency is not the only determinate. As you read through all these Kingdom verses you begin to pick up that the Kingdom was and is actually central to all that Jesus said and did. If you are really interested in the truth, from Genesis to Revelation the whole of the Bible is about a King, His Kingdom and His royal family. The Bible is not a religious book but religious men stole it and cherry picked their doctrines and presented those doctrines as the doctrines of God. By now I either have your attention or have put you to sleep. On the chance that you are still with me I want you to know that Jesus first and continual message was the Kingdom. Jesus traveled from city to city and village to village and in the synagogues preaching the Kingdom and healing the sick. Now I think Ive made Gods case for you rethinking your theology and at least considering that your experiences with God nor your biblical academics were ever intended to be the barometer of Gods approval of what you are believing and living. If Ive succeeded so far, then let me leave you with this......From Jesus preaching the Kingdom, to teaching the attitudes that we are to be having as having become Kingdom citizens, it is vitally important to understand that every word that has come out of the mouth of Jesus is still alive today. He is the living word of God and therefore whatever Jesus taught concerning the hypocrites, those who seek the chief seats, the ones who make broad the borders of their robes, those who love to be served under a guise of serving, are all real people and religious cultures that Jesus condemned to hell. So the same Jesus who came not to condemn the world that through Him the world might be saved is the same Jesus that condemns religious hypocrites. Humble yourself and study the Kingdom of God out of the mouth of Jesus. Dont concern yourself with who my covering is or how did I get to teach such truths from the word of God, but instead, settle it in your heart that if you dont know Jesus preached doctrine of the Kingdom of God, and that as a result you cant obey the great commission and teach all things that Jesus taught the disciples, let that reality be good enough for your to repent of your learned theologies and resulting religious ways and make the commitment that you will submit to Gods right now presence of His Kingdom and that you will make His Kingdom and righteousness your number one priority according to Matthew 6:33. I promise you, it will be like getting Born Again, again because youve made now priority what Jesus said to make priority rather than making the ideas of dead men to become your number one priority. If you will believe me, and will ask the Holy Spirit to teach you just as Jesus promised He would, then the Holy Spirit will indeed lead you and guide you into all truth and again become the unction of the Holy One within you who empowers you to live the truth of the Kingdom. Now when it comes to the Great Commission, you will have a greater appreciation for Jesus instruction that you would go throughout the nations of the world, every ethnos, making disciples and teaching them all things that Jesus had taught the disciples. I can promise you, Jesus will be with you in ways that you would have never imagined, ways that are only revealed as you are obedient to the fullness of His instruction in Matthew 28:18-20. Ambassador, Dr. Leonard Robinson 267-357-9816
Posted on: Thu, 21 Aug 2014 02:20:09 +0000
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