Go Spread the News

By:  Dale Weckbacher

Text:  Mark 16:14-20

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.