Jesus Died for You.

Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the world.” Jesus Christ

Jesus gave the Apostles an explicit mission statement. 

Go.

Make disciples of ALL nations.

Baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Teach them all the commands I have given you. 

Jesus did not say “I want you to become powerful in government. I want you to change the laws. I want you put powerful politicians in place of me to do my will by force of law.”  

When our Risen Lord commissioned the Apostles to go out and do His work, He told them to 

1. Convert all the people of the world, 

2. Baptize the converts, and 

3. Teach them His commands

When satan offered Jesus all the kingdoms of this world, Jesus refused by saying “Be gone Satan. It is written, you shall worship the Lord your God and serve only Him.”

Our Lord suffered the horrors of His Passion to redeem us from our sins. He was mocked, beaten, tortured and murdered so that we could have eternal life. 

Jesus didn’t have to do that. He laid down his life willingly. No one takes my life from me, I give it up willingly, He said.

Jesus — God in human flesh — consented to the torture of the cross. For us. 

This sacrifice is our faith. It is our only hope. It is the assurance of forgiveness, the manifestation of God’s love for us, the reality of healing that we cannot find anywhere else except at the Cross. 

The Cross of Christ, the transforming power of Our Lord’s Passion, means everything to me. I cling to it daily as I grapple with the existential horrors and random terrors of this life. It is the antidote for all fear and the healing balm the transforms our brokenness into His purpose. 

I do not understand it when I see Christians debase the Cross and the Passion of our dear Lord. I don’t understand how they can do this. 

There is something deeply wrong with people who do this. Their values and understanding of where we stand in the created order of things is way off. 

Christians without reverence for the Cross are nothing. We should all strive to live out the commandments of Christ in whatever place we find ourselves. But doing that requires absolutely straight priorities. 

When you bend the teachings of Christ, and subvert them and misapply them and use them as a club to gain points in political battles, you are not following Christ and you most certainly are not applying your faith to your actions. 

The truth is, genuinely following Christ  is a costly and painful exercise. It does not benefit you. It costs you. No one who is truly following Christ can follow anything else. That means true followers of Christ will often walk alone and be attacked for doing it. 

When someone twists the teachings of Christ, they are serving satan, not God. 

This can easily become a kind of idolatry of power. And it can lead to some of the most crass, vulgar sacrilege imaginable. 

Just for the record, you follow Christ when you follow Christ. There is no substitute. 

Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the world. 

That is the commission Jesus Christ our Lord and God gave to the Apostles and to all Christians for all times until He comes again. That is what we are supposed to be doing with our lives. It is our vocation and we are supposed to live it wherever we are and whatever else we do.