Commissioned and Empowered
Central Thought: Every believer is a commissioned officer in the Lord’s army.
Text: Mark 16:15-18; Matthew 10:1; Acts 1:7-8
The Lord Jesus had twelve men in His ‘inner circle’ while He was on earth, which were called Apostles. Before their recruitment, they were busy in different professions with some as fishermen (Peter, James and John the sons of Zebedee), tax collectors (Matthew), political activist (Simon and Zealot) and other callings which are not mentioned by the scriptures. When the Lord Jesus called Peter and his partners, He told them, ‘Follow me, I will make you fishers of men’, Matthew 4:19. They may not have fully understood what was being demanded of them. Nevertheless they chose to follow Jesus.
For three solid years, the Lord taught and instructed them, in public and in private, by parable and by plain speech and most importantly by personal example. Their lives were so impacted that later in Acts 4:13, when they stood before the Jewish council, they could not but take notice of the fact that these were unlearned men who had been with Jesus. While still with them, He sent them on mission outreaches giving them opportunities to put into practice what He had taught them. Soon it was time for the Lord to return to the Father. He called the Apostles and formally commissioned them saying ‘Peace be unto you; as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you’, John 20:21. After His resurrection, He unfolded to them what He was sending them to do, Mark 16:15-18. They were being sent as missionaries and Kingdom ambassadors to the world, with the message of the gospel. The gospel is God’s offer of salvation to those who believe and also a warning to those who refuse to believe. Knowing the terrain they were to operate in, He gave them power and authority over the power of the devil: power over serpents and poison and power to heal the sick. The backing of the Lord, Matthew 10:1, gave them recognition in heaven and authority on earth. The believer today is also called to be a partaker in this commission and to exercise the divine authority backing this commission.
Questions and Answers
1. What does it mean to be commissioned?
Commissioning is the act of assigning a duty or a task to an individual or a group of persons with the mind of achieving a defined goal or purpose. To ensure success in achieving the mandate, the commissioned person receives the enabling backing or authority from the commissioner. In the case of the Apostles, the Lord had spent three years teaching them about God’s plan of salvation. How He, Jesus was to die for the sins of the world and thereby reconcile the world to God. The Apostles’ mandate was for them to take this good news to the whole world, with the promise of pardon and salvation for those who believed. The message also included the fate or damnation of those who refuse to believer, Mark 16:16. Supernatural abilities were also promised those who believe: to cast out devils in Christ’s name, speak with new tongues, take up serpents and if they drank any deadly thing, they would come to no harm, when they laid hands on the sick, recovery was guaranteed, Mark 16:17-18. Thus we see that their commissioning both carried and mandate and a divine backing. These divine seals must be present even today in anyone laying claim to the Lord’s commission.
2. Who is qualified for the commission?
There may be individuals who are specifically called of God for a defined work in God’s vineyard. Apostle Paul for example was called to take the message of the gospel to the gentiles. Over the years, there have been other people with similar mandates to reach certain people for the Lord. The initial mandate of Mark 16:15 may have been given to the Apostles, these have since finished their course and have been received into glory but the mission remains to be completed. If the empowerment for the commission was for all who believe, then it stands to reason that the commission is for all who believe. Every believer in Christ is commissioned for the work. The professional, the artisan, teacher, lawyer, doctor, trader, whatever our vocation, we all have been enlisted into the Lord’s army to bring the gospel to the ends of the earth. We need not go to distant mission fields. The Lord expects us to stand in for Him just where we are! There is however room for missionary work in distant lands. There are many nations today where Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Shintoism still hold sway over the lives of the people. These too need to be reached and won to the Kingdom and Lordship of Christ.
3. What is the purpose of the commission?
There is a purpose in every commission. The purpose of the divine commission is tied to the purpose of Christ’s coming into the world. The scriptures record in John 3:16-17, ‘For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved’. Christ came to bring salvation to the world and our commission is to bring this good news to the world. God desires the salvation of all mankind, both the savage and the civilized. Romans 3:23 summarizes it this way, ‘For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God’. All have sinned and all need salvation. Nobody is excluded.
The commission has challenges. The strategy for reaching people with the gospel differs from place to place. The challenges in closed and hostile territories surely differ from those in open and deceptively receptive societies. Whatever the location we find ourselves, our task is to bring men to the saving knowledge of Christ. We need to prayerfully ask the Lord how He would have us approach our assignment in each location. This way, we can continue to have open doors even in the midst of hostility and success among those who because they are friendly are mistaken for saved. The need for prayer and carefully listening to the Holy Spirit for direction cannot be over-emphasized. The decision to use either ‘join the chariot of the eunuch’ on the desert road, Acts 8:26-30, or some other Spirit directed innovation must come from the Lord, if we are to make a success of the commission.
4. What is the nature of the empowerment given to the believer for the execution of the commission?
Empowerment for the execution of assignments comes in different forms. It could come financially to enable mobilization and procurement of necessary resources; it could also be informational, that is, giving access to a body of knowledge from which the un-enlisted are shielded. Irrespective of the form in which it is given, the commissioned is thus empowered for success.
The commissioned believer is empowered for unqualified success by two divine provisions: the first is the Name of the Lord Jesus while the second is the power of the Holy Spirit. In Mark 16:16-18, we are told of the signs that will follow those who believe. The Lord said, ‘In my Name, they shall cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues, they shall take up serpents and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick , and they shall recover’. All these are possible if we do them in the Name of the Lord Jesus.
What is in a name, someone may ask. A lot is in a name. In our society, where influence peddling is very rife, the mere mention of the name of a certain personality can open countless doors. The Lord Jesus is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. He is the only potentate in the universe. His Name is revered in Heaven and dreaded in hell. This is the Name above all names. At the mention of His Name, every knee bows and every tongue confesses Him as Lord, Philippians 2:10. By this Name, the believer is given power and authority to do exploits, surmount obstacles and deliver men from the captivity of the devil. This is the Name that has been entrusted to us as empowerment for fulfilling the commission.
Before His ascension into heaven, the Lord admonished the Apostles to tarry in Jerusalem until they were induced with power from on high, Luke 24:49.
Furthermore in Acts 1:8, he said ‘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 Judea, and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth’. Inducement with power at Pentecost transformed the Apostles. The power of the Holy Spirit turned these men who had hidden themselves for fear of the Jews into fearless witnesses. Peter’s power-packed sermon on the day of Pentecost won 3,000 men into the Kingdom. The Church that Christ birthed at Pentecost can only be sustained by the power of Pentecost and can do further exploits only by the power of Pentecost. So, every believer that is still committed to fulfilling the great commission must seek a personal Pentecost and the power of the Holy Spirit imparts. Only then can we hope to take the whole gospel to the whole world, before the Lord returns.
Daily Living Application:
The church is God’s commission army on earth. Every member of the church is a commissioned soldier in the army. We have been commissioned to preach the gospel to all men in every nation. As long as there is still someone who has not heard the gospel or someone who has heard but is yet to yield to the Lordship of Christ, we have work to do.
This lesson is therefore another reminder as to who we are and a reminder of the task that has been committed to us. God has no alternative strategy for bringing men into His Kingdom. It can only be done by preaching the gospel. In Romans 1:16, Apostle Paul submitted that the gospel is ‘the power of God unto salvation’. This task of preaching is committed only to men and not angels. While it is a task committed to the body of Christ, the individual member has a responsibility to fulfill. The Lord Jesus is that nobleman who has journeyed to a far country to receive a Kingdom. On His return, we shall individually give an account of our stewardship. What will your account be? All that the church needs to fulfill the great commission has been given to her. We have been given the authority in His Name. Any declaration we make in His Name for the furtherance of His Kingdom has His divine backing. We have been given authority to bring all opposition to His rule under captivity, Psalm 149:6-9. According to verse 9, ‘his honor has all His saints’, and that includes you.
Since the day of Pentecost when the Holy Ghost was poured out on the church, the Spirit has been on earth convicting men and giving them grace for salvation, wherever the gospel is preached. He waits on us to move an only then does He move. He yearns to demonstrate God’s power through us but most often He finds us unprepared and uncommitted; this greatly restrains Him. If we can return to Him in repentance and renewed commitment, we can witness another chapter in the Acts of the Holy Spirit.
Memory Verse
Mark 16:15 – “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.”