By: Dale Weckbacher
Mark 16:15
And he said to
them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the
whole creation.
(ESV)
The closing of the buildings in
which the church gathers should not be an excuse for believers to sit on the
sidelines. Jesus’ instructions to the
eleven before ascending to be with God the Father do not include a building but
are instructions to all believers in Christ to spread the news of the
Gospel. The early church heeded these
words of Christ the world accusing of turning their world upside down (Acts
17:6). The question for the church is
would the world accuse them of turning their world upside down or view the
Church as trying to get along with the world so as not have the world view the
church as offensive. If revival is to
come to our world, it is time for the Church to become offensive to the evil in
the world and like the early church focus on its mission.
Unfortunately, many reading Mark
16:14-20 quickly read through Mark
16:15-16 and focus on the signs listed in Mark
16:17-18. Like all portions of
scripture, the reader must view the text in context, which in this instance is
the Great Commission of Christ for believers to go into the world and spread
the good news of the Gospel. In this
context, the signs are not the object of the text but instead demonstrations of
the power of God at work in those spreading the Gospel as they represent an
extension of what occurred in the ministry of Christ, pointing people to the source
of the miraculous sign, Jesus Christ.
After receiving the baptism of
the Holy Spirit and delivering the church’s first evangelistic message (Acts
2), Peter and John enter the Temple and encounter a man lame from birth (Acts
3:1-3). Peter and John are not wealthy
men and have nothing for the man materially, but they do have something far
more valuable, access to the healing power of God through Jesus Christ. Peter honestly tells the man he has no silver
and Gold and gives him what he has, healing and orders the man to get up and
walk in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth (Acts
3:4-6). At this, Peter takes the man
by his right hand and the man leaps up completely healed and begins to praise
God (Acts
3:7-9). Recognizing the healed man
as the one who regularly sat at the Beautiful Gate of the temple asking for
alms, the people were filled with wonder and amazement (Acts
3:10).
What happens next indicates the
missional focus of the Disciples on spreading the good news about the Gospel
and not having people begin to worship them as the ones that made the man
walk. If we put ourselves in the position
of Peter, it would have been tempting for Peter to have the people running to
see him in Solomon’s portico lavish praise on him and John as some great
prophet who, like Jesus was coming along to help them. However, Peter had experienced the sorrow of
rejecting Jesus in his greatest time of need and also experienced His
forgiveness (John
21:15-19). Peter had also seen Jesus
after his resurrection and was present with the 11 when Jesus ascended to be
with God the Father (Mark
16:19). Peter had also experienced
the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and witnessed 3,000 people coming to Christ when
he shared the Gospel message as he left the Upper Room. Even the temptation to have people lavish
praise on him and potentially large amounts of money could not make Peter deny
it was the power of God within him and not his own goodness that caused the
miracle of healing for the lame man at the Temple (Acts
3:12).
Unfortunately, Church history is
full of charlatans who have profited from signs and wonders performed in their
ministries by allowing the lavishing of praise upon themselves instead of using
the sign to point people to Jesus. This
does not mean that signs and wonders cannot occur in the church today but a
word of caution not to focus on the signs but to use them as an opportunity to
point people to Jesus, the source of any miraculous sign occurring in ministry. This is especially true in the digital age
where word of some miraculous sign can quickly spread globally with people
lavishing instantaneous praise on the ministry in which the miracle occurred. Any ministry experiencing instantaneous
praise must like Peter be quick to deflect any praise lavished on them to Jesus
through digital media to stay on the mission of spreading the Gospel.
Matthew
28:19-20 records the other mention of the Great Commission in Scripture and
add the commission to make disciples of all nations. However, if someone in ministry instead makes
disciples of themselves by lavishing praise upon themselves instead of pointing
people to Jesus, they are not fulfilling the Great Commission of Christ. Instead, those in ministry are to spread the
message of the Gospel and lavish praise on Christ for any signs and miracles
that occur in their ministry. Beginning
next Wednesday, we will begin a study of the Book of Acts as an example of how
the church can be a transformative force in a fallen world. It is time for the church today to, like the
early church, begin becoming a transformative force for good in a fallen world,
and instead of using digital media to lavish praise on themselves, use it to
lavish praise on Jesus. Please invite your
friends and family to begin following this blog next Wednesday to begin
following the example of the early church in turning the world upside down for
Christ.
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