The Sanctifying Word Concluding Exhortations Three specific points of application demand our attention. Firstly, this commission is our commission. Have you realized that each of the four Gospel accounts contain a distinct record of what has been referred to as the "Great Commission?" The most familiar is found in the Gospel of Matthew: . . . 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 the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age (Matt. 28:18-20). Mark records the words of Jesus as follows: "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation" (Mk. 16:15). The Gospel of Luke contains a historical-redemptive emphasis: Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and rise again from the dead the third day; and that repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things (Luke 24:46-48). Finally, in the fourth Gospel, the Great Commission appears in its most brief form: " . . . as the Father has sent Me, I also send you" (John 20:21). It ought to be noted that even the book of Acts opens with an additional mention of this commission: It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth (Acts 1:7-8). It becomes quite obvious to the reader that the Divine Author of the New Testament allows no confusion at this point. The Great Commission is Christ’s mandate to His Church. "But," someone may assert, "this commission was originally given to the eleven. Perhaps some secondary application of this can be made to those whom God calls to a preaching ministry. Nevertheless, this commission was assigned to the original disciples." Such an interpretation fails miserably for several reasons. For the sake of brevity consider the two most obvious: 1) it would imply that all of the blessings and responsibilities attached to the Great Commission were also for the original disciples only (the ordinance of baptism in the name of the Triune God, the ministry of instruction, the presence of the glorified Christ, the indwelling Spirit as the source of power); and 2) it fails to reckon with the fact that following the appearance of our Lord to some disciples on the road to Emmaus, Luke records that they arose that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found gathered together the eleven and those who were with them, saying, ‘The Lord has really risen’ . . . And while they were telling these things, He Himself stood in their midst (Lu. 24:33-36). To be sure, the original Apostles were a group of men possessing the unique privilege of speaking and writing the Spirit-inspired Gospel. They were endowed with special gifts to authenticate the divine origin of their proclamation. It is also true that, throughout the history of the Church, God has sovereignly called men to the preaching ministry; moreover, that the ascended Christ has given gifted evangelists to the Church. However, these facts in no way diminish the responsibility given to every believer, namely, to be a witness for Jesus Christ in this world. This commission is our commission. Secondly, the sphere of our mission is the world. A brief consideration of church history would indicate that the people of God have repeatedly fallen prey to two errors at this point. The first has been compromise with the world. Often cloaked in the guise of "winning" the world, the Church has become like the world. The world’s values and objectives and attitudes have become those of the Church. Evangelicals have embraced popular culture rather speaking prophetically to it. This compromise, without question, poses the single greatest threat that faces the Church of Jesus Christ at the present moment. Consider the cultural messages that are before us. For years Nike has promoted the all-too-familiar: "Just do it!" (In other words, don’t think about it and don’t allow anything to stand in your way of doing it). Burger King has said: "Sometimes, you gotta break the rules." Bacardi Black Rum, which advertises itself as "the taste of the night," goes on to say, "Some people embrace the night because the rules of the day do not apply." Easy Spirit shoes promises a shoe that "conforms to your foot so you don’t have to conform to anything." Ralph Lauren Safari celebrates "living without boundaries." And Nieman Marcus encourages its customers to relax, because as it says, "There are no rules here." Has the Church withstood this cultural influence? Not hardly. People from all corners of evangelicalism have been challenging the Church to throw off the shackles of historic Christianity and now say to the world: "You deserve a break today." "Come, and have it your way." "How may we accommodate you?" "What are your felt needs?" "We promise that we will never alienate, convict, offend, or bore." George Barna, a leading voice in the Church Growth Movement, has contended, "It is critical that we keep in mind a fundamental principle of Christian communication: the audience, not the message, is sovereign."11 In his penetrating analysis of this condition David Wells has captured the shallowness of this new medievalism: Designer religion of the 1990’s allows itself to be tailored to each personality. It gives but never takes; it satisfies sinners needs but never asks for repentance; it offers mystery and asks for no service. It provides a sense of Something Other in life but never requires that we stand before that Other.12 One of the errors to which the Church has repeatedly fallen prey is the desire for integration with the world. This inevitably results in the occurrence of a great inversion for the people of God: that of being of the world, but not in it. A second error to which the Church has repeatedly proven susceptibility is that of withdrawal from the world. "We will never allow the world to get at us," becomes the attitude of many. So instead, the Church isolates itself away from the contemporary culture. As it is, many Christians do not have non-Christian friends. Some Christians boast that their places of employment are staffed exclusively with other Christians. A few Christian parents actually believe that the primary aim of Christian parenting is to take whatever steps necessary to keep their children away from any and all contact with the world. The problem with all of this is that the stated sphere of our mission is the world. This should not frighten Christians. It should fill us with eager anticipation. It is a great moment in history to know the Gospel. We are in possession of the sole message that can conquer any perplexity of modernity. Perhaps Charles Dickens summarized it best when he penned those familiar words that are most apropos to our own time: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair ... 13 This our day. This is our time. This our world. We have been commissioned to enter into it with the life-transforming power of the Gospel. We must not lose our nerve at this critical moment in history. The sphere of our mission is the world. Thirdly, our effectiveness will be determined by the extent to which we are sanctified by the truth. If we are to take our mission seriously, then the most pressing need of the hour is to be sanctified by the truth of the Word of God. To meet the challenges of the world with our own "sanctified" wisdom is to place ourselves in a position of ultimate weakness. Our effectiveness will rest in our conviction to be prophetic, and the conviction to be prophetic will be steeled by our knowledge and experience of the truth. The need of the hour is the same for us as it was for those first-century men: to be sanctified by the truth of Holy Scripture. It is this that is indispensable to the success of our mission. This book contains: the mind of God, the state of man, Endnotes: 1 It is necessary to say at this point that the purpose for this article is not to attempt a thoroughgoing study of the doctrine of sanctification. Rather, its purpose to consider the meaning of the words of our Lord in John 17:17-19. 2 Dieter, Melvin E., Hoekema, Anthony, Horton, Stanley M., McQuilkin, J. Robertson, Walvoord, John F., Five Views On Sanctification. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1987), pg. 61. 3 Carson, Donald A., The Gospel According To John. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1991), pg. 566. 4 Hendrikson, William, The Gospel According To John. (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1953), pg. 361. 5 Hoekema, pg. 63, cites Eph. 5:25-26 as another example of this dual usage: "Though used in various senses, this word often describes believers’ sanctification, as in Ephesians 5:25-26 ("Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her," RSV). In this sense, holiness in the New Testament means two things: (1) separation from the sinful practices of this present world and (2) consecration to God’s service. Contrary to popular opinion, therefore, holiness means more than doing certain good things and not doing certain bad things; rather, it means being totally dedicated to God and separated from all that is sinful." 6 See Abbott-Smith, G., Manual Greek Lexicon Of The New Testament. (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1981), pg. 54; and Brown, Colin, ed., Dictionary Of New Testament Theology. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1981), vol. 1, pp. 126-137. 7 The Apostle Peter, though deeply devoted to Jesus Christ and greatly used of God (preaching the Gospel on the Day of Pentecost, introducing the Gospel to the Gentiles, the writer of two epistles, the apostolic influence standing behind the Gospel of Mark), was not beyond the possibility of hypocrisy (cf. Ga. 2:11-14). The Apostle Paul, arguably the greatest of all Christian theologians, is portrayed on one occasion as intolerant and divisive (Acts 15:36-40). The most effective way to neutralize the Gospel is to put it into the hands of an unholy minister. 8 While it is true that God is the author of sanctification (a work ascribed to each member of the Godhead: the Father, Jn. 17:17; Heb. 12:10; the Son, Eph. 5:25-27; Ti. 2:14; the Holy Spirit, Ro. 15:16; 1 Pe. 1:2), it must also be said that the Bible describes sanctification as a synergistic work, involving the responsible participation of the believer. 9 For the distinction of usages of agiazw in this context see Abbott-Smith, pg. 5. 10 Ross, Charles, The Inner Sanctuary: An Exposition Of John 13-17. (Edinburgh: The Banner Of Truth Trust, rep. 1992), pp. 225-226. 11 Barna, George, Marketing The Church: What They Never Taught You About Church Growth. (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 1988), pg. 41 12 Wells, David F., "Our Dying Culture," pg. 19, The Formal Papers Of The Alliance Of Confessing Evangelicals’ Summit. 13 Dickens, Charles, A Tale Of Two Cities. (Morristown: Silver Burdett Company, rep. 1982), pg. 2. |
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