To Encourage You

John 20:21-23 “Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.’And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.’”

Everyone is under authority in one way or another, be it an employee under an employer, an employer under a board of directors, or a board of directors under the stockholders.  Seldom can someone do anything they want in this world without being answerable to someone above them.  The Bible warns as much with these words:  “Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man,knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free.Masters, do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their Masterand yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him” (Ephesians 6:5-9). 

Did you hear that?  Bondservants (i.e., employees in this day and age), are answerable to their master (i.e., supervisor or boss), but both the employee and the boss are ultimately answerable to God, for He’s the Lord and Master of all.  And just as everyone is under authority in one way or other, they have also been given authority in some way. 

In my career with the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission I experienced this in many ways.  I was given various jobs to do and therefore I was authorized to do them. I was given the authority to use equipment that was the property of the Fish and Boat Commission, to drive the Commission’s vehicles, and to go wherever I had to in order to do the job. As a supervisor I was authorized to tell others what to do in a job, within the limits, that is, for which I had been authorized to delegate tasks to them. 

As Christians, we are under the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, and as His ambassadors we have been authorized to do some awesome things.  First and foremost, as we are told in the verses above, we have been authorized and commissioned to go into all the world and preach the gospel.  This is one of the reasons that God the Father sent His Son into this world, and in turn, Jesus told us in the words above “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”  He said this in recognition of the fact that He had just risen from the dead and would soon return to heaven, leaving us to carry forward the task He had begun.  And we have been authorized to “go” with an incredible message.  We have been authorized to tell people the message of the gospel that they can be forgiven of all their sins if they will believe the truth of Jesus’ death and resurrection that makes that forgiveness possible.

Conversely, we have been authorized to tell people that if they do not believe, they will be eternally condemned.  We have been given the authority, as Christ’s ambassadors, to tell them His very words, like these from John 3: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” 

It is an incredible responsibility to share this message which Jesus Himself has authorized us to give.  And He’s not only authorized us with this responsibility, but He’s given us His Holy Spirit to equip and enable us to share it.  So, if you’re feeling timid about sharing these truths, if you’re feeling like “who am I to tell anyone if they can be forgiven – or not?”  remember the incredible authority you’ve been given to do so, and the responsibility to obey the One Who has so authorized you.  He’s made it very clear what He expects of us, and although we might face opposition from others who don’t what to hear this message, we are to fear God rather than man, for it is Jesus Who is the Lord and King of all.