Jesus gave an ultimate mandate to Christians: to go into the world and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Teaching them to obey everything He has commanded, for He is with us to the end of the age (emphasis mine) – Matthew 28:19–20. These were the last but important words of Jesus to His disciples before reuniting with the Father in heaven.
From the above command, it is clear that discipleship is the essence of this great commission, encompassing all spheres of influence – business, family, economy, schools, etc. According to 2 Peter 3:9, the Lord is not willing to lose a soul but desires them to come to a place of repentance. This is supported by Jesus’ statement in Luke 19:10 that He came to seek and save the lost. For this reason, He issued the great commission, which has now become our responsibility and mandate to tell the world about Jesus’ finished work on the cross.
The successful execution of this mandate and commission is anchored on the power released by the Holy Spirit when He comes upon you. As the word of God says, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” – Acts 1:8. It is on the basis of this power from on high that you are being unleashed to witness to the world, transform it, and possess it to the glory of God. The coming of the promised Holy Spirit has made you an unlimited, immeasurable, and surpassing powerhouse, which when unleashed, will positively transform the world.
With the unleashed mandate and the tremendous power locked up in us, we are being admonished in this day, time, and era to willingly embrace the unleashed mandate to save our generation and transform the world.
The Bible gives an account of a Prophet named Jonah, who initially refused to embrace his God-given mandate. The Bible records that Jonah, a prophet of God with the power of God at work in him, was reluctant to embrace his unleashed mandate to save the people of Nineveh. It reads, “The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it because its wickedness has come up before me. But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish…” – Jonah 1:1–3.
This is the case for many of us. We pride ourselves as Christians but turn to run from our core mandate of going into the world to proclaim Christ and save the very people we claim to love from condemnation. With a lot of excuses, we run away from the task, leaving the battlefield unattended, with no empathy for the millions of precious lives perishing and heading to eternal damnation. Will we continue to stay unconcerned? Will we be quiet about the truth and see people perish because they do not know Christ? Will the systems of economies get better if you fail to possess them with the values and principles of the kingdom of God?
The answer is NO!
We are being unleashed into the ends of the world. That is our field of operation, but unfortunately, we limit the word WORLD to earth. Earth refers to the physical dirt, animals, trees, soil, stones, and others. With WORLD, we are referring to all SYSTEMS like schools, politics, religion, media, entertainment, business, family, etc., and not necessarily physical planets. The Greek word for the world is kosmos, meaning systems or order. So, Jesus came to save the systems and orders in place and not physical planets. This is the more reason why, after His death and resurrection, He commissioned us to lead the systems (world) as light of life and arrow-heads. Humanity is built around systems that determine the rise and fall of mankind. These systems are supposed to be taken over by kingdom-minded people or people of heavenly light to bring order and champion the agenda of God on earth and not run away from it or limit ourselves to the boundaries of the church.
In Romans 10:14-15, Paul asked a simple but very important question: “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’”
Arise, you sleeping soldier, heed the unleashing agenda, move into your sphere of influence, and ultimately transform your world. Let each one transform his or her world; together we transform the world. The great city of Nineveh, with about a hundred and twenty thousand (120,000) inhabitants, received mercy from the Lord after the Prophet had embraced his mandate and caused the people to repent accordingly.
Jonah 3:6 – “When Jonah’s warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat down in the dust.”
Jonah 3:10 – “When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.”
In Conclusion, know that the light is to the world, to everyone under the influence of darkness. Now that we are representatives of Jesus and as long as we are here in this world, we are the light of the world, just as Jesus stated in John 9:5, we are to embrace the unleashed mandate willingly and joyfully. For on that strength, we can move in faith, into the world, to save our generation from the darkness of eternal condemnation and, by extension, transform the systems (education, family, politics, business, religion, media, entertainment, etc.), demolishing arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ – 2 Corinthians 10:5.
God bless you as you avail yourself of this godly agenda of being unleashed. AMEN
Written by Elder Owusu Sampah (Odikoman District)