Proclaim the gospel
So, let us look at the commission of God's Kingdom. Just before Jesus left Earth during the ascension, He gave His disciples an important assignment. A task that is still valid today and will last until Jesus returns. Let us read the various texts that describe this moment.
And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying: All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen. (Matthew 28:18-20)
And He said to them: Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover. (Mark 16:15-18)
Then He said to them: Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. (Luke 24:46-47)
(…) But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. (Acts 1:8)
This is the critical commission of God's Kingdom. When we read the section on the blessings of the Kingdom, we observed blessings for ourselves. God wants to bless us in abundance, and ideally, God wants to bless everyone. However, many people don't know this, so Jesus sent us all to tell the world the good news. We cannot do this alone because Jesus and the Holy Spirit will be with us daily. The Lord Jesus will empower the gospel we bring so that everyone will see that we are speaking the truth. He does this through healings, deliverances, supernatural protection, and the power of the Holy Spirit, among other things. We receive blessings from God to distribute in the world and bring hope to all people. God's Kingdom has a great commission. Will you join us in completing this? After all, it is our responsibility to be a witness of Jesus in the world.
You cannot dissect Jesus' commission. One goes with the other. Yet, we are going to do it to keep this study practical. In this section, we will cover the following parts of the commission.
- Preaching the gospel and being a witness.
- Healing the sick and casting out demons.
- Discipleship and baptizing people.
- The Holy Spirit: encouraging each other through spiritual gifts.
- Fighting against the Kingdom of Darkness as victors.
Of course, the Lord Jesus may ask us other things we failed to include in the list above. But if every believer started with the list mentioned above and Jesus confirmed our work, the world would already improve significantly, and everyone would know that Jesus lives. One last thing: the above list doesn't have to be done in that order. For example, it is possible that someone might be healed of a disease first and then the gospel of God preached.
Proclaiming: Tell What Jesus Does
Let us start by proclaiming the gospel of God. It is tremendously valuable to tell people about Jesus' outstanding work and what Jesus wants to do for them. It is often said that we should be a testimony and that no words are needed. I believe we should be a witness in our lives and actions, but it should not be at the expense of proclaiming the gospel.
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 28:19)
Jesus said, “Go and make disciples.” Jesus didn't say, “Live well, and people will automatically come to you to ask why you live well. Then say it is because of Me, but don't push it too much either.” Our job is to preach His gospel to our fellow human beings and the world. Of course, not every believer manages to communicate personally to the whole world that Jesus lives. That is why the church of Christ is one body, and the body helps each member-part to achieve this critical purpose. It is everyone's mission to proclaim the gospel, except for a Japanese in Japan, a Brazilian in Brazil, and a Dutchman in the Netherlands. (Or, of course, you are a missionary.) Proclaiming the gospel is also not just for the Billy Grahams, Reinhard Bonnkes, etc., but for every individual believer. Everyone was tasked with reaching out with the gospel of the Kingdom. The gospel is so good and contains many blessings, so why keep it to yourself? Why are we sometimes so hesitant to spread the good news? Jesus says: “Go and do.”
The first thing we may proclaim is everything the Lord Jesus commanded and taught the disciples. We may share these blessings and commands of Jesus with our family members, friends, acquaintances, colleagues, neighbors, and all others. Knowing the Bible and what Jesus taught His disciples and people are essential. We also use this message to preach the gospel. That is the beauty: we don't have to fabricate our gospel or method; we may directly copy the words, phrases, and actions of Jesus and the disciples. The question is often asked: 'How can we reach people with the gospel of God?' Even I sometimes wonder. The answer is directly in the gospels and the book of Acts. We may use everything Jesus and the disciples did to reach people in their time to achieve the goal of reaching people today. Sometimes, our thoughts and methods can be very creative, and we invent modern ways to preach the gospel. Think, for example, of Christian movies on YouTube. I am very much in favor of using technology and creativity to proclaim the gospel, but at the same time, this should be an addition to the book of Acts and the methods of Jesus, not something that has replaced it. If Jesus had not arrived two thousand years ago, but today, He would have done the same thing. He might have used technology and media channels, but the message and the working out of the message would have remained the same.
Preaching and proclaiming the gospel can seem foolish to the world. However, this isn't something that only applies to this age, as Paul also says in his Corinthian letter.
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (...) For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. (1 Corinthians 1:18-24)
When we proclaim the gospel of the Kingdom to the world, we don't need to fabricate all sorts of things to make it look wise. We may 'just' tell the gospel, where the Lord Jesus died to make atonement for the world. This is terrific news because anyone can proclaim the gospel. You don't have to take four years of theology or Bible college to receive wisdom to proclaim the gospel; you may start preaching the gospel as early as day one of your faith life with Jesus. Sometimes, it is better not to be wise according to the worldly definition of wisdom. Tell very simply what the gospel of God means and that Jesus brings reconciliation between people and God.
Testimony: Everyone has a Unique Story
(…) But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. (Acts 1:8)
Every believer has a story about how they got to know Jesus and what Jesus is doing in their lives. It is essential to testify about the miracles and signs Jesus has performed in our lives. People must see that Jesus wasn't just a Man from two thousand years ago who lived well, but that Jesus is today, living and establishing a personal relationship with people. We are privileged to be witnesses and proclaim to people the amazing things Jesus accomplished for us.
In Acts 1:8, the Lord Jesus instructed the disciples to be His witnesses. After all, they had seen Jesus and saw with their eyes that He was alive. They often proclaimed this gospel to the people of the world.
This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. (Acts 2:32)
The disciples saw Jesus for themselves and were qualified to be a witness to Him. They told everyone what they saw Jesus do. Even though we don't see the Lord Jesus with our physical eyes, we, too, can be His witnesses. We do this by telling what Jesus did for us and showing how Jesus saved us from our problems. For example, consider a drug addict who quit his addiction overnight, a blind man who can see again, or a woman who is set free from depressive thoughts. Trust the promises of God so that you can be a witness of faith and be an example to the world. We see this in the heroes of faith in the book of Hebrews. None of the heroes of faith experienced Jesus' life on earth, yet they were all witnesses of faith and served as examples for us. This is because they trusted in faith in the promises God gave to them.
Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us (...). (Hebrews 12:1)
Through their faith, the heroes of Hebrews 11 still bear witness to God's goodness today. May we, through our faith and God's grace, be a testimony to God and an example to the world.
Be a Testimony
In conclusion, it is important to tell and be a testimony. It is vital that people can see from you that Jesus lives in you. We do this through the blessings God has given us, such as sanctification and the power of the Holy Spirit. Through these, we show the world who Jesus is and what Jesus does. When Jesus walked on Earth, everyone could see the character of God. Jesus was the visible form of an invisible God.
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. (Colossians 1:15)
Currently, the world is unable to see Jesus’ face to face, and people have yet to learn who Jesus is and what Jesus does. It is wonderful to walk in Jesus' footsteps and see what Jesus is like! Just as Jesus was a picture of the invisible God, may our lives be a picture of Jesus's life. Just as God sent Jesus to show the world what God is like, Jesus now sends us into the world to show who He and God the Father are.
So Jesus said to them again: Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you. (John 20:21)
James discusses the faith we have and the works associated with it. James teaches that faith without works is a dead faith.
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? (James 2:14)
The moment we come to faith; then new fruit grows. We have tasted God's goodness and grace, causing our minds to be born again. As a result, we have repented and changed our minds. An important implication of our conversion is that we are given a heart of love. The two most significant commandments in the Bible are love for God and love for our fellow man. During conversion, a (small) fruit develops with love for each other and God. This tiny fruit must grow increasingly, creating more and more love in our hearts. What is the consequence of this love?
But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked. (1 John 2:5-6)
When we observe all the words and commandments of Jesus and walk in Him, our love becomes perfect. This is a point we may grow towards—throughout our lives. The first issue that makes us witness is when we do what Jesus says, making the whole world experience God’s love. The second point is when we have works that are consistent with love. Here, you can think of caring for people experiencing poverty or helping those in need. James elaborates on this.
If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. (James 2:15-17)
It is imperative to do good deeds. How else can people know who Jesus is? In the section on proclaiming the gospel, we discovered the importance of preaching the Word, which we cannot replace with good habits or our works. When we study the Bible, preaching and doing good works is vital. We see this in the lives of Jesus and the apostles. They taught people about God's Kingdom and practiced it through their works. Here, we can think of 'normal' works, such as feeding the hungry or supporting the poor, and 'supernatural' works, such as healing the sick and delivering people from demons. We must believe and express our faith through the works and fruits we produce.
But someone will say, "You have faith, and I have works." Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. (...) Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? (James 2:18-22)
Do you remember the chapter featuring the two hostile Kingdoms? By proclaiming the gospel of the Kingdom, we tell the inhabitants of the Kingdom of Darkness that there is a better King and a better Kingdom. Our testimony, both in Word and deed, shows that this isn't a fictional story but a reality. God wants to free as many people as possible from the Kingdom of darkness and transfer them to the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. Preaching the Word and being a witness are essential tools to achieve that.
Summary
The first task of the Kingdom we discussed is proclaiming the gospel. It is crucial to reach people with the good news of God and proclaim the things we have personally experienced with God. We may be witnesses to the world around us, both in Word and deed. James says that work matters and that believing and taking proactive actions work well together. As a result, we may share the good news with many people.