Because He Came, We Must Go

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Friday, October 8. Whether it means traveling to a remote part of the world or inviting a neighbor to dinner, a believer's motivation should be summed up in today's podcast title, Because Jesus Came, We Must Go.

What is the greatest good that you can give to someone else? Well, that's what I want to talk about in this message, and I want you to turn, if you will, to John chapter 20. And in the Gospel of John, toward the end of this book, he gives us an account of something that is so very significant. And this is one of those passages of Scripture in which probably one of the most distorted, misinterpreted verses of Scripture in the Bible. Not only that, in this particular passage, two of the smallest words in the Bible are the most significant in this entire passage.

So beginning in verse 19 of John Chapter 20, here's what happens. When, therefore, it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, Peace be with you. And when he had said this, he showed them both his hands and his side. The disciples, therefore, rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus, therefore, said to them again, Peace be with you.

As the Father has sent me, I also send you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them.

If you retain the sins of any, they have been retained. I want to talk about two things in this passage of scripture, two very important things. And the reason I want to spend some time talking about Jesus being sent is because what happens to him and what he said here is the basis of how God desires and does operate in your life, in my life. So with that in mind, let's talk about, first of all, the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's not my purpose to talk about the fact that he was virgin, born and so forth.

I want to talk about the fact of his coming. And the Bible says in this particular passage that he says he was sent by the father. Now, what does he mean when he says sent? That word is the word that is apostolo, from which we get our word apostle. And so we say, well, apostle is one who is sent in the New Testament. That word sent as Jesus used it here means to be sent for service into the kingdom of God, under the authority of God, the father. Jesus uses this particular word here to emphasize the fact of the authority by which he was sent.

He was sent by the authority of the father. And so when we think in terms of Jesus coming, the first thing I want to simply say here is that Jesus came, sent by the heavenly father. The second thing is this, and that is that he came as a servant. One of the most important passages of scripture in all the Bible about Jesus is found in Philippians chapter two.

Look at that for a moment. The second chapter of Philippians. Here is the verse of scripture that speaks of God's incarnation. That is the incarnation of Christ, that when Jesus Christ came, he came God in the form of a human being, in the form of a man. So he says, Paul speaking about our attitude, says here in verse five of Philippians two, have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus. He said, this is the attitude of the son of God, who also he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as a thing to be grasped and held on to.

But emptied himself, taking the form of a bondservant and being made in the likeness of men, being found in appearance as a man. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Very important passage in the light of who Jesus Christ is now.

So Jesus makes it very clear. He says, I'm coming as a servant. Jesus Christ came into this world sent by the father. He came as a servant. But not only that, a third thing I want you to notice, and that is he came. Listen, he came with a very clear mission.

What is it? Why is it that he came? The first reason is he came to reveal the father. The only reason you and I know God the father is because Jesus has revealed him to us as a loving, heavenly father who loved us enough to give his only begotten son that you and I might be saved.

When you read what Jesus says about the father and there are so many references in the gospels Jesus made to his heavenly father, there's awesome oneness and intimacy that they had with each other. First of all, he came to reveal the father. The second part of his mission was to die for your sins and mine. That was the primary reason that he came, revealed the father and to die for our sins to make it possible that you and I might be saved.

The third reason being that he came to save. He says to seek and to save that which is lost. And the fourth part of that mission, he says in John Chapter 10, is that you and I might have life and have it more abundantly, that even though we would go through difficulty and hardships and trials and tribulations in our life, we would have a sense of peace. We could have a sense of joy. We could have a sense of assurance. We'd have the power of the Spirit of God working and living on the inside of us so that our life is an abundant life.

He doesn't give anything skimpy. He gives an overflowing life that is an abundant life, a life that has joy and fullness and meaning and purpose and power and all the rest that comes with knowing Jesus Christ as their personal savior. So when he came, he came with a very clear mission. He came to reveal the father. He came to die for your sins and mine. He came to save us from those sins and to give us an abundant life.

So his mission was very, very clear. Not only that, he came with the authority of the father. Notice he says, as the father has sent me, so sinned I use. So he came under the father's authority. Now, over and over and over again, Jesus underlines the fact that he was sent and he was sent with authority. And if you notice, he says he has authority over all mankind, which means that God the father gave to Jesus. And he still has authority over all mankind. There are many of the verses, for example, he says, for example, that he has authority over demons. He has authority to forgive sin. He has authority to heal. He has authority to execute judgment. That is, Jesus has been given all authority over all mankind. That's who Jesus is. He was sent by the father. He came as a servant.

He came with a very clear commission and he came under his father's authority. But it's also important to realize that he came with a very simple message. What was the message Jesus Christ came to give?

This is the message. God loves you. Secondly, God will forgive you of your sin.

And thirdly, God will give you the gift of eternal life. Jesus came with a simple message, so simple. This is why a six year old or five year old child can understand that. Somebody says, well, child that young, they can't understand it.

Yes, they can. Both my children were saved at the age of five. They've never doubted that. Many of you were saved very, very early in life. You didn't understand what justification, reconciliation, sanctification, redemption and glorification. You don't understand those words.

Never even heard of them. Jesus didn't come saying, I want to tell you about sanctification, glorification, reconciliation and all of these things. No, he said, God loves you. Forgive you of your sins.

You can have the gift of eternal life. Jesus came sent by the father. He came as a servant on a very clear mission under the father's authority with a very simple message.

So that anybody young and old alike could understand that the father does love them, that they will be forgiven of their sin and they can have the gift of eternal life. Jesus would never have made that complicated so that you'd have to go to school or have to have long instruction on how to be saved. A person is saved by accepting the simplicity of that truth and applying it to their heart and receiving the person of Jesus Christ as their savior.

And the moment you do that, your life will be transformed. God sealed you as one of his children in those moments. Not only that, he came, the Bible says, in the power of the Holy Spirit. Go back, if you will, to Luke, chapter four, because again, there's a real emphasis here on the coming and the work of the Holy Spirit. You recall that Jesus had been baptized and the spirit of God came upon him. And chapter four of Luke, verse one says, Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, was led by the spirit into the wilderness. So he goes out to spend time with the father. Now that he's beginning his ministry while he's there, Satan attacks him.

And so part of that chapter there deals with the temptation. And Jesus says, the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he is anointed me to preach the gospel of the poor. He sent me to proclaim release to the captives, recovery of recite to the blind, to set free those who downtrodden to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. He came in the power of the Holy Spirit, which should certainly say something to us about our labor and our work.

So I want you to think about something for a moment. We don't question the fact that Jesus came. But what I want you to remember is that he was sent by the father. That is, he was sent by the father into the kingdom of God to serve the living God. And he was sent and enabled by God. And his emphasis on being sent apostolo was that he was sent and given the words and the work by his father.

He was working under living under the authority of his father. Now, you say, why in the world do you spend all that time talking about all that? Go back to John Chapter 20 and let's look at our passage here now. Over 30 times, Jesus said, sent by the father. He sent me, the one who sent me, sent by the father. Look at this 21st verse now. Jesus, therefore, said to those apostles up in that upper room and those others who would gather with them. Peace be with you. As the father has sent me, I also send you. Very important. You listen carefully, especially from this moment on.

Listen to what he said. As the father sent me, so sinned are you. Now, in this verse, he uses two different words for sin.

The first one is apostolo, sent into the kingdom of God to serve the father under the father's authority. And in submission to the father's words and work. So that is the emphasis and that's the reason Jesus keeps hammering away and being sent by the father, sent by the father, sent by the father.

What is he doing? He is declaring the authority by which he is among men and doing the work he's doing and saying the things he said. That is, he came from the father, sent by the father.

He is the father's missionary to the earth. Now, Jesus, look at this verse now. Then Jesus said, as the father sent me, apostolo, I also send you.

Pimpo, whole different word. Why does Jesus use a different word than he used about himself? Because the emphasis that Jesus is making first in the first word is the authority by which he comes, which has got the father.

Settle that issue. Now, the emphasis is on the fact that I'm sending you, I'm sending you, I'm sending you, sending you, I'm sending you. And he says, as the father has sent me, what does it mean? As in the same fashion, in the same manner in which the father has sent me, I also send you.

The father sent me. I'm under his authority. He is the ultimate authority. I am here by his authority. My words and work are by his authority.

He sent me. Now, I'm sending you the same authority that sent me, that by that same authority, I send you. So now the emphasis on the fact that we are sent.

Now, with that in mind, let's look at this for a moment. Jesus did not simply say, as the father has sent me, I so send you to a group of eleven or just that particular group. But he said it to all those who were there.

Now, why? Because God only had and still only has one plan. You cannot limit what Jesus said, as the father has sent me, so send I you.

He didn't say that to stop at those eleven because the work would never have gotten done. He says, as the father has sent me, so send I you. I'm sending you out to make disciples of all nations. What is a disciple maker? A disciple maker is a person who shares the truth of the gospel, who shares the truths that Jesus has taught us, who shares the truths that the apostle Paul and Peter and James and others have taught us.

And we pass that on to others. That's what a discipler is. That's why he said, make disciples of all nations. He didn't simply say, well, you just go out there and do it.

And when you finish, it's all over. And so Jesus says, as the father sent me, I'm sending you. So it didn't stop there because it was his desire and his plan that those apostles would do what?

That they would teach others also. Because when you come to the Book of Acts and you find out what's going on here after Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit comes and places the church in the body of Christ, here's what you find happening. The scripture says in the second chapter, after they were saved, they would continue devoting themselves to the apostles teaching and to the fellowship and the breaking of bread and prayer. And everyone was giving and feeling this awesomeness in the second chapter and verse forty two. So what we find going on here is that they're already doing exactly what the apostle Paul said later on in Second Timothy, chapter two.

A very important passage. Second Timothy, chapter two. Here's what he told Timothy to do. He said, Timothy, verse two. You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that's in Christ Jesus and the things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses. These entrust the faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Before the apostle Paul ever said that, that is exactly what the apostles were doing in that early church following Pentecost. They were meeting together and they were instructing those believers in the things of God.

Jesus said, as the Father sent me, he said, so send I you. You see, here's what we do. We're so used to it. We've heard so much gospel. We've heard so many sermons. We take so much for granted.

We just you know what? We can just walk by people. We can live around them. We can work around them.

They can be our friends and we can talk about a thousand different things and somehow never stop to ask them the question. Have you ever trusted Jesus Christ as your personal savior? Do you know that you're going to heaven when you die? Have you ever been forgiven of your sin? Do you know that God has forgiven you? Are you sure of what's going to happen to you when you die?

If you were to die today, what would happen to you? Why don't we do that? Are we ashamed?

Are we too busy? Why is it that we who hold such awesome eternal truth burning on the inside of us? How is it that we could not stop, not share the only message that will get a person from this globe into glory?

It's the only message that will get them there. Dad, here's where you start. You start with your children. Mom, you start with your children. It starts in my family. It starts in my home. And then it goes as far as God will give me direction.

Listen carefully. That commission must be interpreted according to the word of God, but also on the basis of God's personal will and purpose and plan and scope for your life. Therefore, none of us can escape.

On the other hand, none of us can say, well, you ought to go here and you ought to go there. Listen, the only person who can send somebody to the mission field is Almighty God. The only person who can send any of us is Almighty God. My purpose for preaching this message is not to send anybody anywhere. It is simply to say, I have an obligation.

The Bible says that Jesus said, as the Father sent me with a very clear mission, sent me with the spirit of a servant, sent me with a simple message, sent me with authority, sent me in the power of the Holy Spirit. So send I you. Therefore, where do we start?

We start at home. Son, here's what this means. Sweetheart, here's what this means. Here's what God is saying.

And what happens? Every father is the discipler. Dad, listen, you cannot afford to fail to be a discipler in your home. If you don't disciple your children, the things of God mark this down. The devil's crowd will disciple them in things that will destroy and wreck and ruin their life for all eternity.

You've got to get that one down in your heart. If you don't disciple your children, the world is full of discipleship. Watch the television, all the things that are on TV that are doing what? Sending truth, sending error, sending it mixed so that they cannot discern what is right. Oftentimes what is wrong.

What are they doing? Programming the mind to disciple someone is to program their thinking, to program their thinking that Jesus Christ is the sinner in the core and the heart and the soul of their very being. And life is to emanate from the person of Jesus Christ. I am responsible to God. You're responsible to God. Whatever influence he's given you, wherever you are, as the father sent me.

So send I you. I cannot escape that. I wonder how many times you've read a passage that God had something to say to you and you and I just read right over it. And so when we come to this verse of scripture, he says, as the father has sent me, so send I you. What does that mean? Here's what it means.

That in your scope of influence, in your sphere of influence, wherever it is, here's what he says. You to be there as a servant. You to be there with a simple message that God loves those around you.

He will forgive them and he will give them the gift of eternal life. I'll tell you where, when and how. But I'm sending you.

I'll show you what to do, but I am sending you. And I simply ask you this question. Am I willing to go wherever God wants me to go? And I want to say again to fathers and mothers, I can tell you where to start. You start with your children. And then see what God does through you and through your children as a result of your faithfulness to him. Thank you for listening to Because He Came, We Must Go. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.