Gridlock

Matthew 28:18-20

(Use the link below to read the verses.)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2028%3A18-20&version=NIV;NLT

 

 

There are a lot of things that can keep us from taking action. Fear, feeling overwhelmed by an impending major decision or lack of confidence, just to name a few. Also high on that list is the loss of a family member or a close friend.

 

Any of these can send us into an emotional tailspin that can take hours, days, weeks or even months to recover. In the meantime, we remain motionless at best or even going backwards at worse. It’s as if our decision making ability, even our instincts to survive, are frozen in time. We’re in a personal gridlock.

 

The disciples were faced with a similar situation following the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus. They had lost their leader. They were afraid. What would happen to them? Where would they go? What would they do?

 

These verses in Matthew 28, are some of the last recorded words that Jesus spoke to his disciples telling them in no uncertain terms that they were to go and make disciples; that he would be with them always.

 

It seems simple doesn’t it? Yet, apparently more was needed. In Acts 1, as the disciples were looking up into the sky where Jesus had just disappeared, apparently leaving them forever; they were unable to make a decision… unable to take action. At that point, two men dressed in white spoke to them.

 

¹¹ “Men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking into the sky?”    NIV

 

In other words, “Get up off the couch and get going. You heard Jesus promise you power from the Holy Spirit. Nothing’s going to happen when you aren’t doing anything. So do something and watch him work”. That isn’t in the Bible, but they could have said those words to the disciples… and to you and me.

 

Matthew 28:18-20 is well known as the Great Commission. It’s often quoted and used as a teaching tool for evangelism. It’s Jesus’ call to action. However, Acts 1:8-11 is also his call to action. Following this call, the first thing the disciples did was to pray.

 

So, why are you standing there looking up into the sky? Reading this devotional? Get going! Do something! Get involved! Break out of your gridlock! Pray!

 

 

⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” ⁹ After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. ¹⁰ They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. ¹¹ “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”         NIV

 

 

 

Whom Shall I Send?

Matthew 28:16-20

(Use the link below to read the verses.)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2028%3A16-20&version=NIV;GNT

  

Do you remember where you were on September 11, 2001? I do. I was in a meeting when one of the members got word of a plane flying into the World Trade Center. According to the History Channel website, President George W Bush spoke to America that night from the Oval Office declaring:

 

“Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shatter steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve.”

 

Later, in a reference to the eventual U.S. military response he declared, “We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them.”

 

As a result, the United States military was sent to oust the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and destroy Osama bin Laden’s terrorist network. With the authority of President Bush, our men and women engaged in this mission.

 

¹⁸ Jesus drew near and said to them, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹ Go, then, to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples: baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you.     GNT

 

With these words, Jesus sent his disciples into action; into battle really. He could do this because all authority had been given to him. It was with that authority, that the disciples turned the world upside down.

 

Being “sent” is a very familiar concept in the Bible. God sent Abraham to a land he had never seen. God sent Moses to Egypt to lead His people. The prophets were sent to speak God’s word. God sent Jesus to bring salvation. In turn, Jesus sent his disciples to make disciples. And now, God sends you and me.

 

He sends us to our work place; to our neighborhood; to our church; to our community; and to our family. Wherever we are, there we have been sent to make disciples with the promise that Jesus will be with us always.

 

⁸ Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”                       Isaiah 6:8 NIV

 

 

It’s time for us to go now. For we have been sent.