Demand #50: Make Disciples Of All Nations, For The Mission Cannot Fail

I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth . — Matt. 8:11-12


But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake. This will be our opportunity to bear witness. — Luke 21:12-13


They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. — Luke 21:24


Excerpts from book

Page 369 - We must not stumble over God’s unusual way of pursuing the nations for the glory of his Son.

Page 370 - But he did not intend to bring the kingdom the way they thought. His intention was to suffer and die for their sins before he would reign as their king. This was their only hope of eternal life. Jesus focused his mission on the Jews, giving them every opportunity to know him and believe in him.......And at one point he said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt. 15:24).

We may think this a roundabout way to reach the nations. But God has his reasons. There are lessons the nations must learn from the failure of Israel to trust God and welcome a suffering Messiah......In the Jewish Scriptures that Jesus knew and loved, the prophecy was clear: The Son of God would one day inherit the nations.

Page 371 - Again and again in these Scriptures we read the promise that all the nations would one day bow down and worship the true God, and that his Servant-Son would be a light to the nations....When Jesus came as the light of the world, though his focus was on Israel, he began to make it clear that the kingdom he was bringing through suffering would bless the nations and that Israel herself would be, for a season, left to the side.

The mystery is opening. Gentiles—the nations—are going to inherit the blessings of Israel. Jesus had signaled this in his very first sermon in his hometown of Nazareth.

Page 372 - More and more it became clear, for those who had ears to hear, that Jesus had come to save all the nations as well as Jews.....There is no maybe here. The mission that he gives to his followers to go and make disciples of all nations will come to pass. “I will build my church” (Matt. 16:18). “I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice” (John 10:16).....The mission to make disciples of all nations will succeed.


Page 373 - So even though God focused his redeeming work on Israel for many centuries, everything was preparation for the global mission to the nations. This was there from the first promise to Abraham....This is the promise that is coming true in Jesus’ command, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.”... This is what Jesus meant in Matthew 21:43 when he said, “Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you [Israel] and given to a people producing its fruits.” That new “people” is the church gathered from
all the nations.

His Final Demand: “Make a Global Claim on My Behalf” Jesus’ final demand is that we never lose sight of the global scope of his claim on the human race. He is not a tribal deity. He is the Lord of the universe. Every knee will one day bow either willingly or unwillingly (Matt. 25:31-32). All judgment is given to him (John 5:22). The demand is that his followers reach the nations with “all that he has commanded.”.

Page 374 - The certainty of success is guaranteed (Matt. 24:14). Jesus will see that it gets done. But it is in our hands to do it. We do it by prayer and by the word and by suffering for others. Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the
Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Luke 10:2). We must earnestly pray that God will do what he promised he would do. Promises do not make prayer superfluous; they make the answer certain.

Then we must open our mouths and speak the truth of Jesus to all nations..... And don’t be ashamed.....Finally, in all our praying and speaking we must be ready to suffer....Jesus was sent to suffer. We will not be able to make disciples of all nations without taking up our cross and following Jesus on the Calvary road of sacrificial love (Mark 8:34). This is the light of Jesus that the world can most clearly see (Demand #48).

Jesus does not call us to an easy life or an easy mission. “They will lay their hands on you and persecute you,......

Page 375 - .....This will be your opportunity to bear witness” (Luke 21:12-13). There will be no wasted suffering. In the short run, it will always be an occasion to speak and show the reality of Jesus. In the long run, it will lead to eternal life.....Therefore, in all your suffering for the advance of Jesus’ mission you are increasingly rewarded.

That reward is the enjoyment of the inexhaustibly glorious Jesus forever and ever.

Demand #49: Make Disciples Of All Nations, For All Authority Belongs To Jesus

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. — Matt. 28:18-20

The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. — Matt. 9:37-38

Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. — Luke 14:23

I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. — Luke 15:7

As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you. — John 20:21

Page 363-364: Before Jesus demanded that his followers go make disciples of all nations, he gave the justification for this seemingly presumptuous mission.

Authority refers to the right and the power to hold sway in a given relationship. So a father has authority over his children, but not necessarily over his neighbor. An army lieutenant has authority over his platoon, but not over the company commander.....We see a picture of the meaning of authority in the story of Jesus’ encounter with the Roman centurion. This officer wanted Jesus to heal his servant but did not feel worthy to have Jesus come into his home. .... (Matt. 8:8-9). In other words, authority is the right and power to have your subordinates do what you choose for them to do. That is the authority Jesus has over everyone and everything.....Therefore, everyone and everything is subordinate to Jesus. Every human. Every angel. Every demon. The devil himself. And all the natural world and what happens in it.

We see this illustrated even during Jesus’ earthly ministry. (Mark 2:7-12). We see it in the way he taught the people and the way he handled the Jewish Scriptures: (Mark 1:22; Matt. 5:17-18). We see it in the way he rebuked the devil (Matt. 4:10) and commanded unclean spirits: (Mark 1:27). We see it in the way he commanded the forces of nature by healing all kinds of diseases (Matt. 4:23) and turning water into wine (John 2:9; 4:46) and calming the storm:(Mark 4:39).
He raised people from the dead (Mark 5:41-42; Luke 7:14-15; John 11:43-44) and ruled over his own death and resurrection: (John 10:18). And he holds full sway in the final judgment. He said that God the Father “has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man” (John 5:27). And God has “given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom [God has] given him” (John 17:2).....there is nothing outside the authority of Jesus. He has the right and the power to demand allegiance from every soul that exists. ..... The way Jesus pursues this universal claim on every soul is by sending his followers to make disciples from all the nations. After saying that all authority in heaven and earth is his, he says, “therefore . . .” This word shows not only that his universal authority is the basis of his universal claim on every person, but also that the way he lays claim to those persons follows in the next verse.

Page 366: He lays claim on people through his followers. He laid down the principle while he was still here: “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever
receives me receives the one who sent me” (John 13:20; Matt. 10:40). Yes, he is doing it himself. But he did not mean that he would do it directly from heaven without emissaries. We know this because when he prayed for the future church in John 17:20, he described them as “those who will believe in me through their word.”

Jesus builds his church and gathers his flock from the nations of the world through the word of those he sends......The words “to the end of the age” show that the mission should last till Jesus comes back.....The mission lasts as long as the mission-sustaining promise lasts. And that
promise is:.....“to the end of the age.”

This implies several things. First, it implies that Jesus’ exclusive claim will be made not just by him, but by his followers.

Page 367: A second implication of Jesus’ universal mission is that Jesus cares for all ethnic groups and intends to have disciples from every “nation.”

Page 368: There is no partiality with Jesus in this mission. He is not western, and he is not eastern. He is utterly committed to ethnic diversity and unity in the truth of his supremacy. In fact, the word from which we get “ethnic” is the word for “nations” in Matthew 28:19, e[qno~.
It has not always seemed as though God were pursuing all the nations. At times he seemed to be committed to his people Israel, but not the nations. His way has been indirect and at times
inscrutable. How shall we understand this roundabout way toward a global church of worshipers from all the nations? That is what we turn to in the final chapter.

Demand #48: let Your Light Shine Before Others - The Joyful Sacrifice Of Love In Suffering

Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in
heaven. — Matt. 5:11-16

Excerpts from book (free download of book at link on right):

Page 356 - In the previous chapter we focused on the supreme passion of Jesus, his Father, and the Holy Spirit.....Which brings us now to the demand, “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 5:16).

Page 357 - What people see from the outside is our “good works.” But that is not who we are. The good works have a light source from inside. The key to understanding what the light is that shines out through good works is the aim of the works, namely, that people see and give glory to God......What Actually Is the Light That People See? So what does it mean then that we are the light of the world? How do good deeds grow from who we are in such a way that they make God look glorious?

Page 358 - Therefore, I conclude that what is most salty and bright in this insipid and dark world is the almost incomprehensible joy of Jesus’ followers in the midst of persecution
and the hardships of life.......In order to waken people to consider God as an explanation for our good works there generally must be an obstacle of suffering that would ordinarily cause them to be angry or despairing, but does not have that effect on us. Rather they see us “rejoice” in hardship....this hardship does not make us self-centered and selfpitying and mean-spirited......they see our joy and wonder what we are hoping in when ordinary props for hope have been knocked away. The answer.......we have great reward in heaven (Matt. 5:12) ......when persecution take natural pleasures away, we still have Jesus......joy......when our good works get their flavor from this salt and glow with this light, the world may well be awakened to taste something they have never tasted before.......the glory of God in Jesus.

Page 359 - The supremacy of the value of the glory of God is seen in the way Jesus makes the demand of Matthew 5:16......He explicitly says that our aim in doing good works for others is that they might glorify God......people who talk much of love but are not God-centered the way Jesus is say things like, “If you do good to people to get them to glorify your God, you are not loving them, for you have ulterior motives.” This kind of criticism results from a failure to experience the glory of God as the greatest gift and highest joy imaginable.

In his darkest hour he let his light shine most brightly in a “good work.”

Page 360 - From beginning (John 2:11) to end (John 12:28) Jesus let his light shine—did his
good works—to vindicate and display the glory of God.......This was the final, greatest, and most satisfying gift obtained by Jesus in the “good work” that he did on the cross. This will make no sense at all to a person who does not see and savor the glory of God above all other gifts. But for those who have renounced all that this world offers (Luke 14:33) and set their heart on the “great reward” in heaven, namely, the enjoyment of the glory of Jesus, Jesus’ purchase of this reward at the cost of his life will be the greatest act of love imaginable. When Jesus calls us to let our light shine that others may see our good deeds and glorify God, he is calling us to join him in the work he came to do.......Jesus simply takes it for granted that his disciples will make God look good in the way they die. The only question is, how will we die?

Page 361 - In other words, if God rules over how the birds die, how much more surely will he govern your death..........The final great historical display of Jesus’ shining light—and ours—
happens at his second coming. ......What about for us? What will his second coming mean for us?
It turns out that letting our light shine will be our eternal vocation. We will never cease to have this calling. This is why we were created: to be so satisfied with our great reward, the glory of God in Jesus, that we reflect his infinite worth in acts of love that cause others to see and savor and show more of the glory of God.....This is our final destiny. Beholding the glory of Jesus (John 17:24), we will shine with the beauty and the love that he has.

Page 362 - Jesus’ demand to the world is that all human beings find in him the all-satisfying glory for which we were made.....that we turn from trusting in anything else and bank our hope on the great reward of everlasting joy in him.....that we let that light shine in sacrificial good deeds of love, so that others will see and savor and spread the glory of God.

Demand #47: Let Your Light Shine Before Others That They May Glorify Your Father Who Is In Heaven

You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your
Father who is in heaven. — Matt. 5:13-16

Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another. — Mark 9:50

Exerpts:

The demand that we let our light shine before the world has a goal: that people might give glory to our Father who is in heaven. So ultimately, the demand is that we seek to glorify God by
letting our light shine.

Page 351 - The first thing that Jesus demands that we pray is that our Father’s name be hallowed. (Matt. 6:9). In saying this, Jesus signals that his first passion is—and our first passion should be—the manifest holiness of God.....the Greek word behind “hallowed be” is built on the word for “holy” (ag{ io~)...when you turn the word “holy” into a verb like this, it means to “show
yourself holy”—hence the idea of manifest holiness....another way to speak of the manifest holiness of God is to speak of his glory.

Nothing in the universe is more valuable than the glory of God. Seeing the connection between the hallowing of God’s name as the first passion of Jesus and the glory of God as the supreme value in the universe shows that there is no conflict between these two.

What Is the Glory of God? God’s glory is the radiance of his manifold perfections. Those are
poor words for the richest reality of all....God’s glory is the outshining of the infinite value of all that God is....It is visible to the physical eye only as the glorious created world points to its invisible but more glorious Maker. “Consider the lilies of the field. . . . "

Page 352 - It is meant to get our attention and waken us to a glory of which lily-glory is only a likeness. We love to look at glory. We were made to enjoy seeing it. This is why Jesus came into the world. He came to reveal the glory of God more fully than nature ever had (John 1:14)..to die in our place so that we could be saved from God’s wrath...to awaken in us a desire for that glory... Jesus consciously aimed to reveal the glory of God. His actions and words were designed to fulfill prophecies...(Matt. 4:16)...(John 9:5; cf. 8:12)....he revealed the brightness of God’s glory as never before and by this light put everything in truthful perspective.

How Jesus Glorified God Jesus displayed the glory of God in accomplishing what God had
given him to do..... So he prayed to his Father at the end of his life, “I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do” (John 17:4). That work included many miracles during his life and the great final work of redemption when he died and rose
again....when Jesus did his first public miracle by turning water into wine, John says, he “manifested his glory” (John 2:11)....When Jesus healed a paralytic and forgave his sins, “the crowds saw it [and] were afraid, and they glorified God” (Matt. 9:8). When the people saw “the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, the lame walking, and the blind seeing . . . they glorified the God of Israel” (Matt. 15:31). When ten lepers were cleansed, one grateful man “turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice” (Luke 17:15, NASB). When a woman who was bent over for eighteen years was touched and straightened, “she glorified God” (Luke 13:13).

Page 353 - Everything Jesus did was done with a view to making God look great. His work was to display the greatness and the beauty of the full range of God’s perfections. But the greatest miracle of all was Jesus’ death and resurrection so that we might be redeemed from the guilt and power of sin (Mark 10:45) and have forgiveness (Matt. 26:28) and eternal life (John 3:14-15). In this great act of substitution—the guiltless for the guilty—Jesus displayed the glory of the wrath of God and the glory of the love of God.

God’s wrath is a glorious wrath (Luke 21:23; John 3:36). He could have no other kind. And God’s love is a glorious love. When Jesus came to die, as the climax of his earthly work, there was a huge sense that this was the moment of greatest groaning and greatest glory.... The glory of Jesus was manifested both in the suffering and in the triumphal resurrection afterward. (Luke 24:26). The sufferings were the pathway to glory.

But they were not just the path. They were an essential part of his glory. (John 13:31)....God is shown to be gloriously worthy in Jesus’ willingness to die so that God would be just to remove the wrath that rightly falls on sinners. And when the Father is thus glorified in the Son, he then
undertakes to glorify the Son with a mighty display of approval in the resurrection.

Page 354 - Back and forth goes the work of the Father and the Son in glorifying each other in the act of salvation. If we have seen that the Son glorifies the Father, and the Father responds by glorifying the Son, the reverse is also true. “Father,” Jesus says, “the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you” (John 17:1; 12:27-28). When Jesus is glorifying the Father in his death, it is the Father at work glorifying the Son as well; and when the Father glorifies the Son in his resurrection and exaltation, it leads to the Son glorifying the Father as well. This mutual display of the glory of God in the work of the Father and of the Son is the supreme passion of their hearts.

And the good news is that this is the very essence of their love for us. They are displaying their glory not only to make it visible for the enjoyment of soul-hungry creatures like us who were made to find ultimate satisfaction in it, but also in a way that pays for our failures to treasure God’s glory so that we can escape judgment (John 5:29).... He gives us his glory, and he pays
for it with his Son’s life. There is no greater gift than God himself in all his glory. There is no greater price than the death of God’s Son. Therefore, there is no greater love than God’s glorifying himself in the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Page 355 - The central work of the Spirit is to continue the great work of glorifying the Father and the Son. He does that by opening our spiritual eyes to see the truth and beauty of who Jesus is and what he has already done in his life and death and resurrection (John 3:3, 8; Matt. 16:17).

Now, in view of the passion for God’s glory, what does it mean to “let your light shine” for the glory of God? That’s the focus of the next chapter.

Demand #46: Do This In Remembrance Of Me - Baptize Disciples And Eat The Lord's Supper

If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. — Matt. 18:15-17

And [ Jesus] said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” — Luke 22:15-20

Excerpts from the book:


Page 344 -In addition to providing his church with the Spirit and the word ......Jesus also provided guidelines for how to handle sin in the flock. In one sense, all of his teachings do this. They are the charter for how his followers are to live in the church and in the world. But he gave more specific guidelines for what has come to be called church discipline in Matthew 18:15-17.

Page 344 - The word “church” signals the fact that Jesus is preparing his followers for the ongoing fellowship of his band of followers in his absence. The implication of the teaching is that persistent, unrepented sin—a refusal to take sin seriously and make war against it in our own lives—will mean we are not really followers of Jesus. In other words, even though Jesus knew that the church would always have false believers in it (Matt. 13:30, 48), nevertheless he made provision for a kind of careful, loving, patient discipline that would not tolerate blatant unwillingness to repent. Treating an unrepentant “brother” like a “Gentile and tax collector” did not mean treating him with hostility. Jesus had said plainly that such people are to be loved: ..... (Matt. 5:47). ..................This would include not sharing, for example, in the Lord’s Supper together.

Page 345 - In other words, part of becoming a disciple or a follower of Jesus is being baptized. This is the outward mark of the inward change that has happened to bring one under the lordship of Jesus as a forgiven sinner...................... Therefore, already in John’s baptism we see how it functioned to distinguish true believers from mere descendants of believers. Now Jesus chooses this sign as the mark of his own followers in his absence.......... My simple point here is that this act, practiced by almost all Christian churches today, was not invented by the churches. Jesus put this in place before he left...

Page 346 - ....This is part of becoming his disciple and becoming a part of his church. The other ordinance that Jesus provided for his church is the Lord’s Supper. I am calling baptism and the Lord’s Supper ordinances to signify that Jesus ordained them. That is, he established the pattern of their observance....... Jesus did not give this ordinance a name....... Since everything about Jesus’ last evening and the following trial and crucifixion was planned by God and followed
obediently by Jesus, it would be folly to think his last supper was only coincidentally a Passover meal....... Therefore, it is not surprising that the earliest Christian document that refers to this ordinance not only calls it “the Lord’s Supper” (kuriako;n dei`pnon; 1 Cor. 11:20), but also refers to Jesus as “our Passover lamb” (to; pavsca hJmw`n; 1 Cor. 5:7).

Page 348 - Therefore, it seems wise to understand the words “this is my body” and “this is my blood” to mean: “The cup and bread represent my physical body and blood offered up for you in death as a sacrifice for your sins.”

Page 349 - What we have seen in this chapter is that the church is not an afterthought created by the followers of Jesus because his message of the coming kingdom did not materialize. No, the church did not replace the kingdom. The church is created and sustained by the kingdom. The church was planned by Jesus, and he provided for her in every way. “I will build my church” is the banner that flies over the gatherings of Jesus’ followers today. He is building his people. He is gathering his flock. He is fulfilling his promise to be with her to the end of the age. He is teaching her by his Spirit and through his word. And he is marking her off from the world through the sign of baptism and by making himself remembered and known and enjoyed in the
Lord’s Supper. “Do this” is a demand of the Lord that calls us today to be not just individual followers but a flock, a gathering, a community, and a church.

Demand #45: Do This In Remembrance Of Me, For I Will Build My Church

[ Jesus] said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. — Matt. 16:15-18

Make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. — Matt. 28:19

And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. — Luke 24:49

Excerpts from book

Page 336-337: Jesus promised to build his church. By “church” he did not mean a building. That is never the meaning of church (ekj klhsiav ) in Greek. He means he will build a people. He will gather a people who trust him as their Lord (John 13:13; 20:28) and Savior (John 3:17; 10:9) and who love each other (John 13:34-35) and their enemies (Matt. 5:44). Jesus describes himself as “the good shepherd” who gathers his sheep into a flock. “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I
lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd” (John 10:14-16).

Page 337: Jesus knew and taught that between his first and second coming to earth there would be a lapse of time................(Luke 20:9). This is one of the clearest statements indicating that Jesus expected the time before his second coming to be substantial. He knew that he would be away from his “flock,” and therefore he made provision for them while he is gone.

Page 337-338: This provision includes the sending of the Holy Spirit, the preservation of inspired truth in the writings of his apostles and their close associates, guidelines for how to handle sin in the flock, and the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Jesus was keenly aware of what it would mean to leave his “little flock” (Luke 12:32) in a hostile world and return to the Father.


Page 338: How were they to live without his physical presence?..... Who would teach them? Who would guide and protect them? How were they to live in his absence? ...............“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you” (John 14:18)..................he would send the Holy Spirit and that this Spirit of God would be his own presence among them........................(John 14:16-17).........
“He dwells with you, and will be in you.” .........Jesus comforts his followers with the truth that he himself will be present in the church by the Spirit whom he sends in his place.

Page 338: Jesus intends for these promises to give strong encouragement to his followers when he leaves. (John 14:27). Therefore, even though the church is destined for trouble in a hostile world of unbelief (John 15:20), they should be encouraged because Jesus promises to send the Holy Spirit who will help them and will, in fact, prove to be a manifestation of the presence of Jesus himself.

Page 339: “But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:18). Therefore, in view of this crucial role of the Holy Spirit in Jesus’ absence, Jesus demands that his followers wait for the Spirit and
not blunder ahead into ministry without this gift.

Page 339: Not only does Jesus provide for his flock after his departure by sending them the Holy Spirit, but also by preparing for the preservation of inspired truth in the writings of his apostles .....The fact that there were twelve apostles—just as there were twelve tribes of Israel—and that the word apostle carries the implication of special authority to represent him suggests that Jesus intended for the apostles to be the foundation for the true Israel,the church.....This new “Israel” would have its foundation in the twelve apostles. They will represent Jesus’ authority as they lay the foundation for this new people. To secure the future truthfulness of the teaching of the Twelve,Jesus promised to send the Spirit of truth to preserve his teaching and lead them into crucial truth that he had not yet given them.

Page 340: Speaking to the eleven apostles, after Judas had left them on the night before he was crucified, Jesus said:.....(John 16:12-14).....John 14:26)

Page 341: This is Jesus’ way of caring for his flock after he is gone. He provides an authoritative band of representatives and then gives them the assurance that in their teaching office they will have divine assistance to provide the church with the truth it needs for all of life and godliness. He intends that the teaching of these authoritative spokesmen be preserved for later generations.

Page 342: In this way Jesus has provided for his church both the Spirit and the word. His Spirit and his teaching are inseparable. He would be critical of any who try to separate the word and the Spirit. The objective teachings of Jesus, brought to memory by the Spirit and recorded for following generations, are the standard for the church. Any attempt to abandon or distort this objective, historical, once-for-all deposit of teaching will go astray from what Jesus demands and teaches and promises.

Page 342: But it is also true that without the Spirit, no one will receive, or properly grasp, these historical teachings. By nature we are all simply human with no spiritual life. But without spiritual life we do not have eyes to see truly what Jesus taught. The remedy for this blindness and spiritual deadness is to be born again by the Spirit.

Demand #44: RenderTto Caesar the Things That Are Caesar's As An Act Of Rendering To God What Is God's

Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle [ Jesus] in his talk. And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying . . . “Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” — Matt. 22:15-21

Excerpts from the book:

Page 329 - I said in the previous chapter that Jesus demands absolute allegiance to himself and his ownership and authority. All other allegiances are warranted and limited and shaped by this supreme allegiance to Jesus as the King of kings. We have seen how they are warranted. Now we turn to see how they are limited and shaped.

Page 329 - All our earthly allegiances are limited by what God’s supreme authority accomplished through Jesus (see John 5:27; Matt. 28:18).

Page 330 - Rendering to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s does not include rendering obedience to Caesar’s demand that we not render supreme allegiance to God. God’s supreme authority limits the authority of Caesar and the allegiance we owe to him.

Page 330 - All our earthly allegiances are not only warranted and limited by the supreme authority of God but are also shaped by that authority. In other words, even the duty we properly render to Caesar is rendered differently because Caesar is not absolute.

Page 330 - We view all our serving of Caesar as serving his owner and Lord, Jesus. There is, therefore, no whiff of worship toward Caesar. He is stripped of his claim to divinity in the very act of submitting to his laws. Even our submission is therefore seditious toward rulers with pretensions of deity.

Page 331 - Jesus illustrates this shaping of submission by the supremacy of God’s authority in Matthew 17:24-27.

Page 331 - The principle is this: There are at times reasons to submit to an authority that arise not from the intrinsic right of the authority, but from a principle of freedom and what would be for the greater good. So, applying this to Caesar, the principle would go like this: God owns Caesar. God has absolute authority over Caesar. This all-authoritative God is our Father. We are his children. Therefore, the demands of Caesar to fund his government are not absolutely binding on us. Our Father owns the government. We are free. In fact, the whole earth is ours as heirs of our Father, and we will one day inherit it completely (Matt. 5:5).

Page 332 - How Jesus’ Authority Shapes Our Disobedience to Caesar: That shaping effect of Jesus’ supreme authority extends even to the way we disobey Caesar. That is, even our disobedience, when it must be, is not indifferent to the proper authority of Caesar. Even our disobedience will be shaped by Jesus’ supremacy over, and endorsement of, the perverted authority of Caesar.

Page 332 - Jesus modeled and demanded some civil disobedience. And it is his life and teaching and authority that shape what that disobedience looks like.

Page 332 - We have already devoted whole chapters to Jesus’ demands for servanthood (Demand #17) and love of our enemies (Demands #28, 29, 32, 33, 34) and care of our neighbors (Demand #21). These and other demands will profoundly shape the way Jesus’ followers engage in civil disobedience.

Page 332 - Shaping Civil Disobedience by the Demands of Jesus: Matthew 5:38-48 contains strong words about non-resistance and active love for your enemy (see Demand #30). What we saw, and now see again, is that non-resistance and active love are not always the same.


Page 333 - All of those demands call for compliance to one who mistreats you or asks you for something. This looks like the opposite of resistance. But then, in the flow of Jesus’ sermon, comes something a little different in verses 43-48, namely, more active love rather than non-resistance.

Page 333 - Here a different note is struck. The emphasis falls on seeking the good of the enemy. Love your enemy. Pray for your enemy—presumably that he would be saved and find hope and life in Jesus. Do good to your enemy the way God does with rain and sunshine.

Page 333 - Now this raises the question of whether the non-resistance and compliance of verses 38-42 is always the best way to love others and do them good as prescribed in verses 43-48. One focuses on passivity—don’t retaliate, be willing to suffer unjustly. The other focuses on activity—seek to do good for your enemy. Is passivity always the best way to do good?

Page 334 - ....how do you love two people if one is the criminal and the other is the victim....? Is love passive when it is not only your cheek that is being smacked but someone else’s—and repeatedly? Or what about the command to give to the one who asks? Is it love to give your coat to a person who will use it to strangle an infant? And how do you go the extra mile (lovingly!) with a person who is taking you along to support his bloodshed? Do you go the extra mile with a person who is making you an active accomplice to his evil? The point of these questions is this: In these verses Jesus is giving us a description of love that cuts to the depth of our selfishness and fear. If selfishness and fear keep us from giving and going the extra mile, then we need to be broken by these words.........

Page 334 - The Greatest Battle Is to Be Brokenhearted in Our Resistance: What guidelines are there, then, for how a follower of Jesus will perform civil disobedience? The words of Jesus rule out all vindictiveness.....................expediency of personal safety.......cuts away our love for possessions..........love for convenience. That’s the point of Matthew :38-42. Don’t act merely out of concern for your own private benefit, your clothes, your convenience, your possessions, your safety.

Page 335 - ..........The greatest battle we face is not overcoming unjust laws, but becoming this kind of people.