The Monday Memo from John Stanko

879: Go and . . . Make Disciples

This is it. This is absolutely, positively the last in the "Go and . . ." series, which we began last July. I have already compiled each entry into one document, which I will edit in December and put into production for a book in January. It should be available in February. I asked last week about a title and here are the responses I received:

1. Responding to God’s Call to Action
2. When God Says Go and Do ... You Had Better Go and Do
3. What Part of Go Don’t You Understand?
4. God’s Bias for Action
5. Obedience to God’s Call for Action
6. God's Call to Action

Write me and let me know which on you life, or suggest another option.

For this last entry, let's look at Jesus' last words found in Matthew 28:18-20:

“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."

I thought I would do a point-by-point presentation for this last entry, so let's see what we can learn from these famous words regularly referred to as the Great Commission.

WHAT PART OF GO DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND?

Go is a two-letter word that has serious implications for us. Go implies motion, leaving where we are and heading someplace else. Go is open-ended, for we may go across the street or 2,000 miles away. Go is a command without any other specific instructions, which indicates we are expected to figure it out along the way. Go ushers in change that may involve new relationships, assignments, or scenery. The disciples heard these words from Jesus Himself, yet they did not go, lingering in Jerusalem's comfort zone for many years. Some never were able to overcome their bias against Gentiles and their preference for Jewish home cooking and culture, so they stayed -- until persecution and divine intervention forced them to go.

Here are some things to consider about this Commission called Great:

1. Jesus has the authority to send you to do whatever He chooses. God will not apologize for what He asks you to do. It is a privilege to serve Him, but it is important to do so willingly. God is not interested in hostages or slaves; He wants volunteers. Will you volunteer to go and do? Or is fear causing you to shrink back?
2. Jesus expects His followers to make other disciples. He did not say, "You go and I will make disciples." You may want God to initiate, direct, supervise, develop, and empower your purpose. It's safer and less risky if you put the onus of going and doing on Jesus. You are then simply along for the ride. That is not what "Go and . . ." represents. I have worked to make purpose disciples since 1991. It's what I teach and why I write and publish. What is your strategy to impact, train, and raise up others to do what you do?
3. Jesus demands that you overcome any bias you have for other people groups. That means the world is your stage, as Shakespeare wrote. That is a scary proposition and may mean you have to abandon the safety of your shoreline for foreign ports of call, or at least places in your own country you would not usually frequent. I often see people act out this prayer: "God, I'll do whatever you want me to do -- as long as it's in my country, in my state, in my area, with my people, in my town, in my church, on my street, on Sundays from 7 to 9 or Wednesday from 4 to 6, and as long as my child doesn't have a recital or I don't have to work overtime. But God, You know I will do whatever it is You want me to do." If you put restrictions and limitations on God's will, don't be surprised if He is not moving in your life our using you for His purpose. When that happens, you can settle for being a good church member, doing God a favor when you attend and even give some money
4. Jesus wants you to take what He teaches you and find a way to share it with others around the world. That is one reason why the Internet is so exciting to me. it is something God wants us to use to disseminate His will and teaching, giving us all an outlet for our testimonies, which will help us and others overcome the evil one.
5. Jesus promised that He would be with you no matter where you went or what you did. You are in partnership with God! Be careful, however, and keep in mind Paul's admonition: "As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. For he says, 'In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.' I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation" (2 Corinthians 6:1-2).
   

There you have it. We have looked at 19 examples of God's commands that included the words "go and." Whatever I choose to call the book, I hope it does not diminish the urgency God is conveying to you as you find and express your purpose and creativity. You are God's hands and feet, and if you don't go and do, then no one will go and do. The good news is that Jesus goes with you when you go, but does that mean He does not stay with you when you stay? That's a scary thought, so i will continue to go and do as best I can, taking Jesus at His word that He will never leave or forsake me to the end of the age. I hope to see you along the "Go and . . ." road. Have a blessed week!

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THANKSGIVING OFFERING: Thank you for responding to my appeal for a special Thanksgiving offering for the orphans. We were able to raise $1,200, which I will be distributing this week. I will be back with a yuletide campaign titled, "Give a Kid a Christmas." Stay tuned.

ISRAEL 2020: I am planning another trip to Israel in April 2020. Watch this five-minute video and then write to let me know if you want more information.

ALASKA 2019: I am also planning a ministry vacation to Alaska in August 2019. Watch this four-minute video and then check out the website to get more info or to download a brochure.

878: Go and . . . Do not Hesitate

We are almost there. After this Memo, there is only one more week in our "Go and . . ." series (although yesterday in church, I thought of another entry, but I am going to let it pass by without picking it up). I have already compiled the past entries into one document and will edit and publish them. Here are possible titles for the book: 1) Coming and Going: God's Call to Action or a Biblical Call to Action or 2) What Part of Go Don't You Understand? God's Bias for Action. What do you think? Perhaps you have one to suggest? 

This week's focus is on the story of Peter's call to go to the Gentiles in Acts 10. Peter was praying on the roof as he waited for his meal and had a vision of a sheet being lowered with all kinds of unclean animals in it. He was commanded to eat, which he refused to do because he kept a kosher diet, and this is what the Spirit said to him:

While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon’s house was and stopped at the gate. They called out, asking if Simon who was known as Peter was staying there. While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Simon, three men are looking for you. So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them" (Acts 10:17-20).

Let's unpack these verses to see what we can add to our growing understanding that God wants us to be going and doing.

STOP PRAYING AND MEDITATING

Peter went up on the roof to have a quiet time with the Lord. The Lord interrupted his devotions to impart the next phase of his ministry purpose Jesus had introduced in Matthew 16:

“Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven" (Matthew 16:17-19).

Peter had the keys to the Kingdom and he had to go to the Gentiles to open their door. The problem was that Peter didn't want to go! He was a good Jew and even though Jesus had personally told him and his comrades to go, they were still hanging around Jerusalem and its environs as good Jews who did not like the Gentiles. The Gentiles were unclean, had strange customs, ate foods forbidden by the Law, and were idolaters -- not to mention Judah's military overlords.

God told Peter to leave his comfortable rooftop perch and without hesitation accompany the men who had come to lead him to Cornelius' home. God was not interested in Peter's prayers or his solitude. God was interested in the gospel reaching the Gentiles and it was to start with Cornelius, and Peter had to be the one to go.

THE LESSONS

All my life, I have watched believers retreat into the comfort and safety of their "prayer closets." As a Catholic, I had a relative who was a Franciscan priest. I had regular contact with monks, some who were priests and others only brothers. Then when I found the Lord, I ran into many people who defined their ministries as "intercessors," some praying alone while others conducting prayer walks with others or solo. And why wouldn't they?

The prayer closet is quiet and secure. The environment in the prayer closet can be controlled by the one praying. It is a place of study and solitude, meditation and reflection. The problem is that many of these intercessors never came out of their closet, except to refresh and retool to go back in again. There was no messiness of interaction with others and no danger of the prayer agenda being interrupted--except by the Lord. It is all too easy to block out the Lord in the very place we have gone to meet Him, however, as Peter did in this story. God was telling him to do something and Peter said no three times. There are two words that never go together and those words are Lord and no. If the Lord is beckoning, the response is always yes.

Are you on the rooftop praying? Is God interrupting your alone time and asking you to go? Go write a book, go take a missions trip, go back to school, go volunteer to help the homeless or youth or the elderly? When you sense any of those, do you run down the stairs from your rooftop perch or do you return the next day and the next and the next, waiting for confirmation or for the Lord to reveal more than He already has? I encourage you to go to your closet but when you sense the Lord speaking, say what Eli taught Samuel to say in a similar situation: "Speak, for your servant is listening" (1 Samuel 3:10b). Then when He speaks, and God is always ready to reveal His will if you are listening, get up, go downstairs, and allow others to lead you to the purpose God has for you. Have a blessed week and don't forget to let me know what you think about the title for this series book.

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THANKSGIVING OFFERING: My heart is burdened for the 100 plus orphans we have a relationship with in Kenya. This week in America, we will consume more food than many of those children will see all month. What's more, the Stanko family welcomed a new addition this week, a brand new baby boy named Benjamin. I want to give an offering of thanks to the Lord in honor of my grandson, and I invite you to join me. Every penny you give will be forwarded to our partners in Kenya, who desperately need our help to feed the children. You can give your Thanksgiving offering through my website or by sending a check to PurposeQuest, PO Box 8882, Pittsburgh, PA 15221-0882. Thank you and Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends!

877: Go and . . . See the Wicked Things

I have never written anything about the prophet Ezekiel, nor have I ever preached a message about him. His book has not been a focus of study or attention for me over the years. In fact, I realized as I wrote this entry that I have purposely avoided Ezekiel. He always seemed so eccentric, the epitome of the Old Testament prophet, and I was afraid I would not understand what I read if I dug into him and his story too deeply. All that will change this week as I continue the "Go and . . ." series, with two more after this before the series is done -- I promise.

In Ezekiel 8, Ezekiel saw the Lord, "his waist down he was like fire, and from there up his appearance was as bright as glowing metal" (8:2), who "stretched out what looked like a hand and took me by the hair of my head" (8:3), and instructed Ezekiel to “go in and see the wicked and detestable things they are doing here" (8:9). Then in the verse 12, Ezekiel witnessed the elders and leaders of Israel doing abominable things offensive to God. It was so bad that the Lord later said, "Therefore I will deal with them in anger; I will not look on them with pity or spare them. Although they shout in my ears, I will not listen to them" (Ezekiel 8:18). Why would the Lord tell Ezekiel to go and see the wicked things even though the Lord was angry with His people? I'm glad you asked, but to find out, you will have to read on.

FACING REALITY

God would not allow Ezekiel to be His prophet in isolation. Ezekiel could not be a hermit or go into hiding to protect himself from the messy situation his nation was experiencing. He had to face the reality of his peoples' depravity and evil, and see them like God saw them as the abomination they were. Even the leaders had abandoned their oaths of obedience and were carrying out secret, sinful practices they believed no one saw, even the Lord. This reminds me of what Jesus prayed for His disciples:

“I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified" (John 17:13-19).

The world is a nasty place but we must balance on the tightrope of living in the world but not becoming like the world. God would not allow Ezekiel to look away or ignore the reality of God's fallen creation. He will not allow you to ignore the condition of the world either.

THE LESSONS

We in the church tend to desire a nice, safe, predictable place where we can withdraw from the world. We have done so under the guise of staying holy and pure, but when we withdraw from the world, we deprive the world of any hope of escape from their depraved dilemma. We must follow in the footsteps of Joseph, Daniel, David, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Paul, and even Jesus Himself, who were all clean but got involved in the unclean business of human existence.

God wants you to express your purpose in churches that have abandoned their role as salt and leaven, in businesses that serve not much more than profit, in government that is looking to use God and His people for their own purposes, and in causes saturated with selfishness and greed. As you immerse yourself in these entities, you cannot become more loyal to them than you are to Him. In other words, you will have to face their abominable practices while you serve them at God's behest. They will want your obedience and fealty, but you cannot give it to them while you serve them, as Daniel did with Nebuchadnezzar.

You must fulfill your purpose as Timothy did, among imperfect people who argued and practiced evil as a hobby. Paul's instructions to him are the same instructions the Lord gives us today: "And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will" (2 Timothy 2:24-26). Have a blessed week as you serve a holy God in an unholy society.

876: Go and . . . See the Land

We go back to the Old Testament for this week's installment in the "Go and . . ." series, which has already gone on about two months longer than I thought it would—and I have three more planned before we close (then I will turn all these posts into a book). In Numbers, the Lord spoke to Moses as he was about to die:

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go up this mountain in the Abarim Range and see the land I have given the Israelites. After you have seen it, you too will be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron was, for when the community rebelled at the waters in the Desert of Zin, both of you disobeyed my command to honor me as holy before their eyes.” (These were the waters of Meribah Kadesh, in the Desert of Zin) (Numbers 27:12-14).

This story is a mix of human failure and God's grace, so let's examine it more closely to see what we can learn that will help us in our pursuit of purpose and productivity.

THE FAILURE

In Numbers 20, we read why Moses was not permitted to enter the Promised Land with his people:

So Moses took the staff from the Lord’s presence, just as he commanded him. He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?” Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank. But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them (Numbers 20:9-12).

What was so wrong with what Moses did when he struck the rock? In essence, the Lord told Moses to speak to the rock and water would come forth. Instead, Moses struck the rock, which we learn later was actually Christ: "They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ" (1 Corinthians 10:3-4). Moses made it appear that God was angry (He was not) and also made it look like it was Moses, through his act of striking the rock, who was bringing the water forth. For this misrepresentation of God's intent at a time in his life when Moses knew better, he was barred from entering the Land.

THE GRACE

God did not completely banish Moses, but instead allowed him to see the land he was unable to enter, and that was an act of God's grace:

All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them (Hebrews 11:13-16).

When Moses saw the land, he welcomed the promise of God and in a sense, he entered into the joy of the Promised Land as if he was in it. It didn't stop there, however, for centuries later, he paid another visit to a mountain in that same land, this time to encourage and strengthen Jesus: "Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem" (Luke 9:30-31). Moses came back to see the most important promise of God, which was not about a physical land, but a spiritual restoration to be accomplished through Christ's death and resurrection. Moses' failure could not stop God's grace when he was alive and even after he was gone.

THE LESSONS

What is God showing you? Can you receive it in faith and thank Him for it, even though it has not come to pass? I have written a verse-by-verse commentary on the entire New Testament, and it has sold very few copies. It has been on my website for years, free of charge, and I don't know how many people in the world have accessed it. Why did I do it (it took me nine years) and why do I take pains to publish it (requiring another five years at my own expense)? I do so because one day, perhaps after I am gone, God can and will use those commentaries. They are part of a "Live the Word" series, and are presented in a devotional format to not only help people understand the Word, but also to apply it to daily life. I have seen the promise and welcomed it from afar, and in a sense, my books are a gift to God to use (or not) as He sees fit.

God has probably already taken you up to a high place to see your Promised Land. I encourage you to enjoy and savor the view, but realize it is not just to be a spiritual experience. It is to be a reality to be cherished now and in the age to come. Have a blessed week!