Great Commission & Great Command

“…and God, take anything away from me that is stopping me from loving you more.”  Those words cut me so deeply when I heard them.  I asked, “Did you really mean what you just prayed?”  I was not talking to a theologian or a scholar or a long time Christian saint or even to myself.  I was talking to my ten year old daughter after she prayed for our morning family devotion.

Often times we complicate things, but in reality they are very simple; so simple a child can understand.  The terms Great Command and Great Commission are often used throughout Christian circles, but do we truly understand them and do we rightly follow them?  The simpler the form we can speak it; the better we can usually understand, remember, and follow it. 

The Great Command can be found in Matthew 22:34-40, Mark 12:28-34, and Luke 10:25-28.  Jesus declares that all the laws found in the Old Testament Scriptures, along with all the demands of the prophets, can be summed up in two commands.  “Love God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.  Love your neighbor as yourself.” 

The Great Commission can be found in Matthew 28:16-20, Mark 16:14-18, Luke 24:44-48, and Acts 1:8.  This is God’s plan to let people know about Jesus’ birth, life, death, resurrection, ascension into heaven, and his eventual return to gather his people.  I want to give you one sentence that I hope will better sum up all these verses.  “Proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ to everyone, everywhere.” 

These verses and simple summations are the basis for living out our daily lives here on earth as Christians.  They are balanced on the cross of Christ.  More importantly, Christ desires that they are balanced in our lives.  The question still remains, “Can we understand, remember, and follow them?”  Maybe we can, but I would like to further simplify these summation sentences into single words in order to help it remain balanced in our day to day living. 

The word to remember for the Great Command is “Love.”  The Bible states that “God is love.”  We read that Jesus showed his love for everyone when he died on a cross for all our sins.  Before Jesus died, he commanded that we love.  He was the living and dying example of love.  Now we are to love God and love those around us.  The Great Command is “Love.”

 If we are going to love as Jesus told us to, then we have to also follow his Great Commission.  The word to remember for the Great Commission is “Proclaim.”  Proclaim means to announce, declare, broadcast, and make known.  We are all called by God to “proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ to everyone, everywhere.”  The Great Commission is “Proclaim.”

We are to “Love” and we are to “Proclaim.”  To further help us all to understand, remember, and follow the Great Command and the Great Commission and keep them balanced in our lives; let’s simply put them together.  “Proclaim Love.”  Let us understand, remember, and follow this; “Proclaim Love.”  “…and God, take anything away from me that is stopping me from loving you more.”  Let me “Proclaim Love.”

 

In Christ Alone and continuing in prayer,

 
Chad Hensley (Senior Pastor, Henderson General Baptist Church)

www.HendersonGeneralBaptistChurch.org
www.facebook.com/hgbchurch
www.PastorChadH.blogspot.com

ASH Wednesday

ASH Wednesday is the first day of the Lent season and was this week.  As Protestants, we Baptists rarely do much with Lent; but it does not mean it should remain that way.  Lent is a time to change our focus from ourselves onto the Lord in preparation for the Easter event.  During Lent many people will do a modified fast from such things as sweets, colas, fast-food, TV, etc. to draw themselves closer to God as Easter approaches.  Many will also go to a church service specifically for Ash Wednesday where the priest or pastor will place burnt ashes, usually burnt palm leaves from the previous year’s Palm Sunday service, on their foreheads.  These ashes signify the people’s humility towards God and repentance for their sins.

However, people also have a tendency to fast for the wrong reasons and simply go through the motions when it comes to church attendance.  The prophet Isaiah expresses this better than I can in Isaiah 58:1-14 that I hope you will read today before going to bed.  Isaiah says some mighty strong words in this chapter such as the following: “Yet they act so pious!”  “Do you really think this will please the Lord?”  “It’s because you are fasting to please yourselves.”

Last year I gave up chocolate for Lent, and found it very difficult.  However, every time I wanted chocolate it reminded me of the Lord and drawing closer to him.  May we be reminded today of who God is and what he has done in such a way to bring us to true repentance from our sins with humility before the Lord.  Choose to draw closer to God with right ways and right motives.  Ask God some or all of these following questions.  However, when you ask them, be prepared to honestly listen to what God says back to you through the reading of his word.  Know that the Bible says knowledge puffs up.  To have knowledge of what is right and wrong is not the final destination on our journey we call life.  Proper action on the knowledge we get from God’s word is what will be most pleasing to the Lord.

Here are a few questions to use to start your conversation with the Lord today.  What am I doing externally that has the appearance of being good, but internally I have the wrong motivations?  Show me how to better seek you and your ways with a pure mind and a pure heart.  Lord, what would you have me fast from over this season of Lent?  Lord I want to draw closer to you, what in my life is stopping this from happening.

In Christ Alone and continuing in prayer,

Chad

Senior Pastor, HGBC

HGBC Facebook Page
Online giving to HGBC