Before Jesus ascended unto the Father, He gave instructions to His disciples. Why did He give these instructions? Our Lord gave these directives because He wanted us to know what our purpose is as the church. He didn’t want us to get sidetracked from that purpose. Jesus knew that we could get so busy doing good things that we would possibly neglect doing the really important things.
In Matthew 28:18-20, we see that disciples of Christ were charged to evangelize a lost world. That evangelization is to be carried out aggressively. We are to go into the world and not wait for the world to come to us. Evangelizing a lost world can be as simple as relating how God freed us from the clutches of Satan. If we share the Gospel, God will anoint our efforts, and we will see some of our fellow men come to know Christ as Savior. Then, we are commanded to baptize those who receive the good news and acknowledge Jesus as the Son of God and Savior. The new believer is to be baptized as an act of obedience to have his sins washed away by the blood of Christ. When the new believer is baptized, and he is added to the body of Christ, which is the church, by Jesus (Acts 2:47). Another command Jesus gave preceding His ascension was to teach “them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” Notice that Jesus commanded us to observe all things which He has taught. There is no way we dare leave this command out of our lives in Christ.
Jesus also commanded us to love one another. “This is My commandment, that ye love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12). If we love one another, it will reveal itself in the way we treat one another. Loving one another will enable us to fulfill the rest of the “one another commands” in the Bible. If we love one another, we will bear one another’s burdens. We will confess our faults to one another and pray for one another. We will forgive one another. If we love one another, we will edify or build up one another. Paul said the entire law is summed up by loving your neighbor as yourself. Jesus gave us this command because He knew that the world would know that we are of Him if we love one another.
Further, Jesus commanded us to be faithful. He wants us to be faithful in our devotion to Him. Our Lord rebuked the church at Ephesus because it had allowed its first love for Him to cool. The church at Laodicea was condemned for its half-hearted, lukewarm devotion to Christ. The world constantly demands that we turn from a love for Christ and turn to a love of the world. Satan will always put hardships in our path, which are designed to cause us to doubt God’s love for us. Yet, Jesus’ command is still to love Him with all one’s heart, soul, mind and strength.
Jesus wants us to be faithful in the duties that He has assigned us. It is required that we be found faithful stewards, faithful to family duty and responsibilities, faithful in sharing our faith, faithful in our church responsibilities as elders, preachers, deacons, teachers and members. Jesus wants us to be diligent to obey what He has said in His Word.
How are we to carry out these commands? Paul gave the answer in 2 Timothy 2:2 when he penned, “what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.”
