Commissioned

When I was fresh out of college, the ink on my Marketing diploma still fresh, I began looking for jobs. I simply could not imagine myself sitting in a cubicle in some corporate environment, so I sought out a job in fire equipment. I took the best job offer and planned a meeting with my new sales manager to see the tasked which I had received. My task was to take a brand new territory-- one which had never been covered by a full time sales rep-- and make it productive. The equipment we sell is of the highest quality in the world, so I was given much training to show the legitimacy of what we sell. While we rarely are the lowest bid, fire departments can typically justify the additional expense due to the overwhelming quality or feature benefits over the competitors. I have never believed in a going with the lowest bidder without justification-- my Toyota Tundra and iPhone prove it. I also don't believe in spending money that is NOT justified, as I believe wasteful spending is simply a form of greed.

All that being said, I took on my task with great excitement. I had a sales territory that had never seen some of the wonderful products we represent. In short, I had been commissioned, and the road in front of me was open and promising.

I was baptized when I was 12. Not much was shared with me at that point, but as I have grown in faith over the years-- the periods of my life with less faith are for another post-- I have realized that I have been given a task, just as I was given during my initial meeting with my boss. That task is lined out in Matthew 28, commonly referred to as the Great Commission.

"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

It reads like a job description. As followers of the man named Jesus, we are to follow the words of this task. Let's break it down. First of all, he states his authority. Just as my boss shared with me in my opening paragraph that he is my boss and that he would be my resource for how I would conduct my work, Jesus shares that he is not only authorized to be my resource, but upon that designation, he is sharing a task for me. Moving forward, we should make disciples (followers of Jesus)of all nations by baptizing and teaching (leaving a few things out for brevity.) Finally, he closes with a promise that he will be with us always.

Why do I always come back to the Great Commission? The Great Commission has now appeared in quite a few of my posts. The truth is that I, like many, harbor a few issues with the state of our current brethren. As a missionary, I am unabashedly biased, and view much of the Christian life through that lens. While, I could share with you my viewpoint that all followers of Jesus are "missionaries," I think I will save that for another day. Today, I simply intend to share that I firmly believe the body of Christ is suffering in many contexts simply because they fail to get back to the basics and see the task for which we have been commissioned. In the context of this post, I would like to point out the landscape Christ was viewing when he tasked his followers with sharing his story.

Much like my sales territory of my job, the world didn't know the man Jesus. Some of the places I visit have seen the brands we represent in trade magazines and at various shows around the country. In the same way, many people in Christ's time were expecting him because of the words they had read in the Scriptures... they had a general knowledge of the Messiah, but they had no idea of the story about being part of the body of Christ. What Christ did was task his followers with sharing his story to people who did not "know" Him. The truth is, people in that time were excited about sharing this. They had been granted a task of sharing the greatest story of mankind, and the were anxious to tell the world. Many of them eventually gave their lives sharing this story.

Fast forwarding back to the current landscape: the Body of Christ is still tasked with sharing this story. I firmly believe we have lost that fervor, that excitement, in sharing the gospel. My friends and brothers, please realize that we may have heard this story for much of our lives, but there are people in this world who are yet to hear of the man named Jesus. If we lose our excitement in sharing this story, we fail to live up to the foundation of our task.

We have been commissioned, and the road in front of us is still open and promising.

Surely He is with us always, to the very end of the age.