Make disciples of all nations

As Jesus is leaving his disciples, they are given a mission, recorded in the book of Matthew. “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.”

Go and make disciples of all nations? Remember that Jesus was talking to fishermen and tax collectors. Most of them were uneducated and poor. They did not have any forms of modern transportation or communication. And they were supposed to turn the world upside down?

This would have been an impossible mission if the disciples had been counting on their own resources. But then the day of Pentecost came, and suddenly everything changed with the gift of the Holy Spirit.

The power of the Holy Spirit is still available to us today. Jesus never expected his followers to live lives under our own power. He never expected us to go out and spread the good news to the ends of the earth with our own human abilities. The Holy Spirit has the power to encourage fearful hearts, and strengthen a weak faith. The Holy Spirit provides the fuel upon which the Christian faith runs. There is no reason for a follower of Jesus Christ to live a defeated life. God has provided the power and the means to face any situation.

The Christians in the Early Church faced poverty, persecution, and the threat of death almost every day. The Holy Spirit gave them the strength to spread the good news of Jesus Christ, and to gather together for regular worship and fellowship.

Someone once drew up a profile of what the First Church in Jerusalem was like:

Most people looked on the members with scorn and ridicule. They didn’t have a building in which to meet. They were limited financially – most of the members were poor and the church was constantly having trouble meeting its budget. The members of the church were not trained for the jobs they had to do. Their membership was small. Their leader (Peter) had a way of putting his foot in his mouth and was constantly making people mad at him. There were divisions among the members. The one thing the church did have was the power of the Holy Spirit. And with all of these problems, there were 3,000 converts after its first revival service.

By all rights, the Early Church should have failed. And it would have, if it had been operating under its own power. But then came Pentecost – God’s awesome, holy power poured out on his people. And that same power is available to us today, bringing with it transformed lives and an empowered church.