“And
behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Jesus in Matthew 28:20
“None of us has a long time here on planet Earth. It’s kind of a staging ground. It’s our split second in eternity when we have an opportunity to invest our lives, our time, our talent and our treasure to help fulfill what our Lord came into this world to do and commissioned us to do. In fact, His last words before He ascended to be with the Father were: ‘Be my witnesses.’” (Bill Bright, from the World Wide Challenge tribute magazine, “A Life Well-Lived”)
“Christians need to be committed to great causes, not great comforts. I pleaded with Christians to dream a dream bigger than themselves and their families and their churches.” (John Piper, World Magazine, February 23, 2002)
The very essence of
our faith is communion with God. Our
greatest joy is not a pain-free life of, fame or wealth. Our greatest joy is to have God himself. The Psalmist said, “The nearness of God is
my good,” (Psalm 73:28, NASB). Paul even
said that he counts “everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of
knowing Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:8).
As we end Matthew’s
gospel, we have this glorious promise from Christ: “And behold, I am
with you always, to the end of the age,” (v. 20). With this promise we know we will be unified with
our Creator forever! But this promise
was not given just for our comfort; the promise of Christ’s presence is essential as we obey the Great Commission.
Taking the gospel to
“all nations” (v. 19) requires that believers leave family, friends, home
culture and all that is familiar. It
also requires that some will die. In
our world today, the easy places have already been reached with the gospel. What are left are the hard places, where
Christians are hated, persecuted and even killed. We hesitate or don’t even consider about
going to such places. I understand
that. But the Great Commission is
sandwiched by two great promises: “All
authority has been given” to Christ (v. 18).
And he will be with us “always, to the end of the age,”
(v. 20).
If earthly life is
short and heaven is forever, if the greatest treasure we can give away is the
gospel, and if our Savior is worthy of the worship of every human being, then
why do we not go to all nations? Paul says, “For if we live, we live for the
Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die,
we are the Lord’s,” (Romans 14:8, NASB).
It is our great
privilege to be called as his ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20). There is no higher calling on earth, no
political office or earthly fame, that can supersede His calling to the “ministry
of reconciliation,” (2 Corinthians 5:18).
On June 6th,
1944, during World War II, Allied forces invaded the beaches of Normandy in
Northern France. But the Nazi occupiers
were ready. They fired down to the
beach from the lofty bluffs onto the defenseless soldiers. Death was everywhere. It looked hopeless for the Allies. Suddenly a captain here, an infantryman
there, over there a lieutenant, all came to the same conclusion: “I will die on this beach today. I can die fighting or I can die hiding.”
Soldiers began to
emerge from behind the dead bodies of their friends, from behind burned out
tanks or rocks on the beach. They rushed
to the base of the bluffs. They began
climbing. Many were shot but some made
it to the top. There they neutralized
the Nazi machine gun nests. Soon the
Allies had complete control over those beaches.
It was the first domino that fell
marking the defeat of Nazi forces. If
those men had treasured their lives and hid on the beach, the invasion would
have been pushed back out to sea. And
the war would have grinded on and on.
To treasure our lives
is to not live in total abandonment to the cross (see Mark 8:34-36). But for
the Christ-follower, Jesus’ “lovingkindness is better than life,” (Psalm
63:3). This is why Paul said passionately, “For I am
sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor
things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all
creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our
Lord,” (Romans 8:38-39).
Dream big dreams; take
great risks for the sake of the gospel.
Jesus is with us always, even to the end of the age!
