According – to faith, to commandment

When Paul introduces himself in his letter to Titus, he introduces himself as an servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, not based on his own works, but according to the faith of God’s elect (Titus 1:1) and according to commandment of God his Savior (Titus 1:3). Unfortunately, today we see many who claim to be “called” to serve God, but in their modus operandi reflect little to no faith, in word or action, or any obedience to God as a response to his commandment to be his ambassadors of reconciliation (Matthew 28:19-20; 2 Corinthians 5:20).

Points to ponder:
When we function as servants of God and apostles of Jesus Christ, let us make sure that it is not motivated because of some personal emotion or on our works, but let it be according to faith, in God, which makes God our Savior and let it be according to the commandment of commission that we receive from God and God alone. It is impossible to please God without faith (Hebrews 11:6) and obedience to be commandment.

Titus 1:1-3 (KJV)
¹ Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness
² In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;
³ But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour;

Discipleship Series :: The Commission

The commission that is given by Jesus for his disciples is to go and teach and baptize in the name of God the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19-20). The word “teach” here is used in the context of “making disciples”. In fact, many versions of the Bible render this commission as “Go and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.” In other words, the commission of a disciple is to make disciples.

Apostle Paul taught for a year, the teachings of Jesus in Antioch and the people there came to be known as disciples of Christ Jesus (Acts 11:26). Paul was commissioned to make disciples and that is what he did. The same is true for all of us, who believe in Jesus. We are disciples of Jesus and our commission is to make other disciples of Jesus. This means that we teach with our lips and our lives, that there is only one Master and Lord, who is to be followed and that Lord and Master is Jesus.

Point(s) to ponder:
The question is not, “Are you/I a disciple of Jesus Christ?”, but “Are you/I a disciple of Jesus Christ, that makes disciples of Jesus Christ?”

Matthew 28:19-20 (KJV)
¹⁹ Go ye therefore, and teach (make disciples) all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
²⁰ Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Trinity of God :: In the Commission

The question that is asked in heaven is “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” (Isaiah 6:8). Notice, how the word “I” and “us” are used. This establishes both the Oneness of God (“I”) and the Trinity of  God (“us”). It further demonstrates the fact that the commission that is given to mankind is by the Trinity of God; by God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Jesus affirmed this when he gave the great commission by commanding, “go ye and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:18-19).

Points to ponder:
If you hear the voice of God asking you today, “Whom shall I send, who will go for us?”, what is your response going to be? Will it be, “Here I am God, Send me!”

Isaiah 6:8 (KJV)
⁸ Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

Matthew 28:18-19 (KJV)
¹⁸ And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
¹⁹ Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

Christian Acronym :: Y.M.C.A

Many are familiar that the acronym YMCA stands for Young Men’s Christian Association, which was founded in 1844 by twenty-two year old George Williams and 11 other friends as a refuge of Bible study and prayer for young men seeking escape from the hazards of life on the streets. Sadly today the far reaching objective of the founding fathers, has been replaced by one that is myopic to help people and communities to learn, grow and thrive, with no reference published in their objective to the Bible as the original fathers intended. Social responsibility over soul responsibility seems to be the focus.

As a Christian acronym, what could Y.M.C.A stand for? To be inclusive of the elderly and the non-male gender, Y.M.C.A as a Christian acronym could stand for YHWH’s Missionary Christian Association (Y.M.C.A). First, we are YHWH (pronounced Yahweh’s) i.e., we belong to the Almighty Omnipotent, Omniscient and Omnipresent God (Exodus 20:3). Second, we are all Missionaries on a mission, both men and women, young and old (Matthew 28:19-20). Third, we are Christians. To be a Christian is to belong to Christ i.e., Christ-Ones (1 Corinthians 3:23). And Finally, we are an Association. We are to be grafted (associated) with Christ first (John 15:1-8) and second with all others who are believers, united in one accord (1 Corinthians 1:10).

Are you and I in YHWH’s Missionary Christian Association?

Matthew 28:20 (KJV)
¹⁹ Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
²⁰ Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

1 Corinthians 3:23 (KJV)
²³ And ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s [YHWH's].

1 Corinthians 1:10 (KJV)
¹⁰ Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

Urbi et orbi – Mission Field

The Latin phrase, ‘Urbi et orbi‘ literally means ‘to the city and to the globe’. Essentially, this phrase can be used to describe the mission field of a Christian. The commandment commission was given for all who believe in Jesus Christ, to be his witnesses and to go and teach all nations, baptizing in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe ALL the commandments of God (Matthew 28:19-20). But how do we go to all nations? Acts 1:8 gives us the pattern. It states, ‘But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.‘ This describes the mission field of a disciple of Jesus Christ. It starts with the city (Jerusalem), then the region (Judaea), then cross-cultural geographies (Samaria) and finally the globe (uttermost part of the earth). In other words, all nations can be reached by reaching locally, regionally, cross-culturally and globally, i.e., Urbi et orbi is our mission field.

Are you/I on the mission as commanded? We can start with our city! To the city and to the globe; Urbi et orbi.

With great power comes great responsibility and …

When bitten by a genetically modified spider, a nerdy, shy, and awkward high school student, Peter Parker gains spider-like abilities that he eventually must use to fight evil as a superhero after tragedy befalls his family. Well if you haven’t already guessed it, the movie whose synopsis is given above is ‘Spiderman’. The tagline in the movie is ‘With great power comes great responsibility’, which is what Ben, Peter’s uncle upon being shot, tells Peter as his last words.

Apropos this well recognized tagline, the Bible has something to say as well. Acts 4:33 reads “And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all”. With great power does come the great responsibility of the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20), which is to be the apostles (messengers sent forth) of the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ, but unlike the Spiderman tagline, it doesn’t end there. According to the Bible, with great power comes great responsibility AND great grace. A grace that is sufficient for each one of us (2 Corinthians 12:9) as we take on our responsibility with the power of the Spirit of Jesus (Galatians 4:6) a.k.a the Holy Spirit of God sent in the Name of Jesus (Acts 1:8; John 14:26), with whom we can do anything, as He gives us the strength to. (Philippians 4:13).

With great power comes great responsibility and great grace.

Acts 4:33 (KJV)
³³ And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.

Time to have an EGO

Visiting Pastor Samuel Chacko from North India challenged the members attending the Austin Christian Fellowship of India Church to fix their eyes on Jesus (Hebrews 12:2). One particular statement that germinated a thought in me was , “IF YOU LOVE PEOPLE, IF YOU REALLY LOVE PEOPLE, THEN YOU WILL NOT ALLOW SATAN TO TAKE THEM TO HELL”. What a statement  – “love people”, “really love people”, “not allow satan”. I must admit that this triggered a response in me to want to be a witness for Jesus, to love people and not let satan have anyone, no not one. But for this to happen, I realized that I must first look unto Jesus and second be obedient to His commission, which is to be His witness (Acts 1:8, Matthew 28).

To fix my eyes on Jesus is to learn of Him for His word (The Bible) and have a renewal of my mind to conform to His image (Philippians 2) and to be obedient to His commission is to have an EGO mission. Now is the time to have an EGO, i.e., a mission in which EACH GETS ONE. Acts 6:7 states that the number of disciples multiplied. To multiple means that 1 becomes 2, 2 becomes 4, 4 becomes 8 and so on… With Each Getting One (EGO), the 12 disciples multiplied to 24 disciples, who in turn got 24 more and the word of God increases, snatching people from under the bondages and clutches of satan so they can be free.

Jesus said, you will be my witnesses (Acts 1:8). The word used for witness in Greek is interestingly ‘Martyr’; we must be martyred to self, and to sin and be willing to be martyred for Jesus Christ. Our mission should be EGO, reflecting obedience to the faith and a means by which we can say that we love people, we really love people.

Acts 6:7 (KJV)
And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.

Post-Resurrection until Return

When one thinks about Post-Resurrection of Jesus, three questions that surface are

1. What happened after the resurrection of Jesus?
2. What will happen when the resurrected Jesus Christ returns? and
3. What are we to do until the return of Jesus?

The events that occurred after the resurrection of Jesus are APPEARANCE (Acts 1:3; 1 Corinthians 15:3-6), ASCENSION (Acts 1:9) and ANNOUNCEMENT of his imminent return (2nd Coming) (Acts 1:10-11)

The events that are to happen until the return of Jesus Christ is for each one of us who know Him as Lord and Savior is to be faithful to the ASSIGNMENT (Matthew 28:18-20) given unto us.

The event that will occur when Jesus returns is ACCOUNTING, wherein each one of us will have to give an account unto God (Romans 14:12).

As we await his second coming, how are we doing on our assignment? When He returns will He find us faithful of the assignment given us? This is a question that none of us can take lightly … Let’s try to live in such a way that it can be said of us, that for us to live is Christ and to die is gain (Philippians 1:21); as those who fight the good fight and who have finished the race. This determines the answer to the question – How will our account stand up, a.k.a., when the account is tallied, how do you think you will fare?

Romans 14:11-12
¹¹ For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.
¹² So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.

Labor day in heaven

We celebrate Labor day in the United States, the first Monday in September as a tribute to the American worker.

But have you ever wondered as to whether labor day is celebrated in heaven.
Each and every time there is a sinner who is snatched from the clutches of Satan and turned from his road to hell, when he or she believes that Jesus Christ is LORD and calls on THE NAME of  Jesus, there is rejoicing in heaven (Luke 15:7), in tribute to the labor of a Christian worker who was faithful to THE COMMISSION (Matthew 28:19-20). In other words, one can say labor day is celebrated in heaven every time a sinner repents.

The laborer is in fact a co-laborer with God (1 Corinthians 3:9), i.e., we work in God’s vineyard, but it is the Holy Spirit God that convicts the world of righteousness, sin and judgment (John 16:9) and it is God who gives the increase (1 Corinthians 3:7).

What is more is that there is not only rejoicing in heaven, but a reward set aside as well for it is written that the laborer is worthy of his reward (1 Timothy 5:18).

However, there are many passive spectators and inactive laborers in God’s kingdom business today (and I am many times one of them). We forget the word’s of the Master laborer, Jesus Christ, who finished the work of redeeming from sin unto Salvation and who has commissioned us to tell this sole glorious Truth unto others, when He expressed that truly the harvest is plenteous but the laborers are few (Matthew 9:27). God is seeking to partner with laborers for his work of reconciliation of men and women to God.

Labor day in heaven is a tribute to the Christian worker, who is a partner (co-laborer) with God.
So the questions that remains are

1. Are we willing to be active co-laborers with God?
2. What is the tribute you / I will be commemorated and honored for?
3. Are you / Am I the reason for labor day celebration in heaven?

Tell no one that Jesus is the Messiah

Doesn’t the great commission require that we should be witnesses of Jesus, sharing with those who do not know him, that Jesus is the Messiah (the Christ or the Anointed One), and that his name means – Savior, for He shall save His people from their Sins (Matthew 1:21)? Then why would the title of this article read – Tell no one that Jesus is the Messiah? These are not my words, but the words of Jesus himself as expressed in the gospel according to Mark, in chapter 8.

Christians (present company included) are quick to profess their faith and recognize Jesus to be the Messiah, the Christ, as Peter his disciple did, but find it difficult to tell others as to why Jesus came, which was to suffer, be rejected and die in the hands of men, and be raised to life again, so that man need not suffer or be rejected and die in the hands of God but be raised to life when they believe in Jesus. This is exactly what Jesus started to teach the disciples (vs. 31) after he had charged them not to tell anyone that He was indeed the Messiah, the Christ  (vs. 30).

Point(s) to ponder:

Tell no one that Jesus is the Messiah, until you know what he came to do and you are willing to tell that to them too.

Mark 8:29-31 (KJV)
²⁹ And he saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Peter answereth and saith unto him, Thou art the Christ.
³⁰ And he charged them that they should tell no man of him.
³¹ And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.