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Fw: SHOULDER TO SHOULDER #175 ---- 5/14/01

Posted by: lifeunlimited <lifeunlimited@...>

May 14, 2001

Here's your S2S #175.

Bob Tolliver
Life Unlimited Ministries
E-mail: lifeunlimited@myexcel.com
Do You Get "Shoulder To Shoulder"?
----- Original Message -----
From: Bob Tolliver
To: shoulders@welovegod.org
Cc: Robert Tolliver
Sent: Sunday, May 13, 2001 9:53 PM
Subject: SHOULDER TO SHOULDER #175 ---- 5/14/01

Standing Shoulder To Shoulder With You In The Trenches
As We fight The Good Fight In This New Millennium

SHOULDER TO SHOULDER #175 ---- 5/14/01

Title: "Fightings And Fears . . . . Within"
(Part Four ---- "Losing Commission Focus")

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My Dear Friend and Partner:

How I praise God for you today. God has reminded me lately of thew vast partnership that brings the network of ministers together all around the world. This past week I have received letters not only from people in the U.S., but also from folks in Austria, Bosnia, Croatia, Ukraine, Costa Rica, Australia, France, South Africa, Russia, and Indonesia. God's mighty army is vast, indeed.

Isn't it refreshing to know you're not in this alone! There are brothers and sisters around the world who are faithfully lifting high the Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ wherever they are. The prophecy of Jesus Christ is progressively being fulfulled that the Gospel will be proclaimed to every nation before the end comes. Can you think of any other product, any other endeavor, that has such a guarantee to it? There is none.

. . . . Which leads me directly to my theme today.

"Losing Commission Focus".

THE COMMISSIONED:

If you are one who has read my letters for any significant period of time, you know something of the distress I feel over the condition of the institutionalized, polarized, bogged down arm of the church. Much like the Church of Laodicea in Revelation 3, it has a form of godliness that leads it to the false conclusion that it is prospering and successful in its task.

Now, some ministers are quite comfortable, and rightly so, in the setting of the highly structured, activity laden church of modern society. Others, like me, constantly are fighting the trappings and restrictions of that church, trying to break loose into free flight much like a hostage bird captured by a tether around its leg and tied to a post.

Regardless of whether your are one who has been called by God to serve the institutionalized church, called to strive for liberation from the rigidity and lethary of spiritual atrophy, or captured by the seemingly insurmountable maze of fruitless religious activity, you and I have one grave danger of which we must beware and which we must fear ---- losing our focus on the Great Commission.

As I scan the pages of ministry past in my own life, I see specific episodes when I lost such focus, and began to concentrate on things other than the Great Commission. I remember the building campaigns I had to coordinate, the financial budgets I had to help create and then fulfill, the special promotions and programs that had little or nothing to do with the proclamation of the Gospel; rather they were nothing more than human attempts to exalt the name of our church, our denomination, or our own agendas.

How could I settle for such trivial things? How could I lose Biblical focus on the Great Commission? How do we do that? Well, obviously there are many ways, but I think they can be summed up as follows:

1. Through Distractions: For me this has probably been one of the most significant ways of losing focus. My giftings, formal training, and life's experiences have all created me into a guy who loves to have his fingers in many pots. Many times I found myself, like Martha in John's Gospel, being "distracted by many things", most of them good. I, too, have let many "good" things keep me from the "best" thing.

Frankly, this preoccupation with often valid religious projects and duties has kept me from being about the Master's business simply because of ministry busyness. Maybe you've been there as well.

2. Through Dissatisfaction: There are certainly many things that can make us dissatisfied in the realm of ministry ---- the lack of commitment among church members, the lack of results to our ministry, the absence of joy in our service, the hard laborious work of our efforts, . . . If you're not careful, being dissatisfied with things as they are can subtly lead you to dissatisfaction with Who He is, and with what He has called you to. We maybe need to be reminded of that great old song, "There's No Disappointment In Jesus".

3. Through Disillusionment: We've both probably been ambushed from behind by a fellow minister who tried to steal our idea or our sheep. We've been betrayed by one whom we thought was a friend and confidant. We've had the rug pulled out from under us with such shock and surprise that we lost all sense of understand, and we allowed bitterness to creep in.

Sometimes such disillusionment has brought us even to anger and bitterness toward God because we felt He could have protected us and He didn't. There's no greater feeling of betrayal than to think you were betrayed by God himself.

4. Through Discouragements: When all our efforts seem useless and our ministry appears fruitless, it's certainly easy to get discouraged. Sometimes we feel like an oarsman straining with every ounce of energy trying to bring the boat to shore only to look around and find ourselves further away than ever because while the waves were rolling in, the tide was going out.

It's easy to forget Jesus' command . . . . "Be of good courage!"

5. Through Defeats: Finally, it's easy to lose focus on the Commission because we have lost too many battles and have suffered to many injuries.

It's a mean world out there, my friend, and it's a real war we're in. Maybe we forgot that, and assumed it was an exciting game instead of a grueling protracted war for the souls of men.

And, when we experience enough defeats, we put in for a new assignment behind the lines where we can play religious war games and tell everyone we "served" on such and such front and participated in such and such campaign. We can even display our medals, thus hiding the pain of our defeats.

Of course, when you remember the battle is the Lord's and not ours, and that He is the One who has already conquered, the likelihood of defeat is minimal.

Then through all of this, we need to remember something about the "Commissioned". The Commission means nothing if we forget the Commissioned. If I do not clearly understand my commissioned status, I will lose perspective as to the importance of the commission.

As one who has been commissioned, I am, first of all an Ambassador, representing One Who is in highest authority. Paul calls us that in II Corinthians. Accompanying that act of commissioning there are several things, which I will address shortly.

I am also a Messenger delivering a most urgent and potentially life changing message. I am also a military office declaring freedom, and fighting to deliver freedom to those in captivity.

And then I am also a member of a royal family with all the resources and name behind it.

Finally, I am a priest standing before God in behalf of the people, pleading as an intercessor on the one hand, and explaining as a teacher on the other the way to God.

Whether I am vocationally a missionary, a pastor, an evangelist, a lay minister (a non Biblical term that we must use), or any person caught up in the life and ministry of the Church, I have been commissioned. And that commission is the loftiest of all ever given; therefore it cannot be treated lightly.

Sometimes you and I forget that the Great Commission has been given to ordinary people graciously commissioned. Let's act like who we are ---- Commissioned ones!

THE COMMISSION:

Now let's look at the Commission itself. Jesus said, "All authority is given to me in heaven and earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Mt 28:18-20)

Again, He said, " . . . you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth." (Acts 1:8)

Potent words, wouldn't you say!

Earth shaking assignment to be sure. Awesome, intimidating, stunning, . . . . frightening, in many ways.

Now you and I both know the Great Commission, and we know its content and its purpose. But ---- do we know its characteristics. If we don't, then the Great Commission will never fully become the Great Commission to us. It will either be the "great omission" at worst, or the "great suggestion" at best.

It is the characteristics of the Great Commission that make it workable. Let me mention seven that I see in the above scriptures.

1. It Is Assumed: It is not optional. This clearly indicated in the word, "therefore". That simply means that what Jesus is about to say is based on what He has earlier said. My dad used to say, "when you see a 'therefore' there, you need to ask, 'why for is that 'therefore' there for?"

The answer is simpler than his statement. Because all authority, both celestial and terrestrial, has been given to Jesus, and we are His disciples, the Great Commission is logically assumed. Nothing else and nothing less should be expected from one who calls himself a Christian.

Therefore ---- the Great Commission is an assumed end result. So . . . . . let's assume the undertaking of it with all vigor and determination.

2. It is Essential: The Bible is filled with references that the entire world will see the glory of the Lord, will hear the Gospel. Jesus Himself told us that the "Gospel will be preached to the whole world, and then will the end come."

If that is going to happen, the Great Commission will be essential.

He also commanded us to "make disciples". That makes the Great Commission again essential. Remember this? ---- "how can they believe in whom they have not heard, how can they hear unless they be told, how can they be told unless someone is sent?"

There is no doubt, dear friend . . . . the Great Commission is essential in order for the world to hear, and in order for us to make disciples. If it's not to be essential, then why be here in the first place? If the Great Commission is not essential, then not only do we not have a reason for our ministry, we don't even have a reason for our existence still here on planet earth.

If it is essential to the Church, then it is also essential to your ministry and mine.

Just a curious question ----- how much of your ministry centers on the fulfillment of the Great Commission?

3. It is Integral: As you well know, the Greek rendition of "Go therefore" simply means "as you are going" or "while you're on the journey".

To some people that implies a passive approach to sharing the Gospel ---- sort of a "when you happen to think about it" approach. However, I see it differenly. I see it as being a lifestyle. It's not a program or a plan; it's a way of life. If I were saying it with my own words, I'd say, "wherever you go, whenever you go, whatever you do, make disciples of all nations".

To me it explicitly declares two things: First, the Great Commission is to be a fully integrated philosophy and mind set in every fiber of my attitudes, my personality, my disposition, my activities, my aspirations and goals. Like the apostles in Acts, I must recognize that "in Him I live, move, and exist". If the Great Commission is not part of the very fiber of our being, then I wonder why we're even Christians. It is integral.

It's also integral in terms of our relationships. In other words, as I am "going" in my home, school, at work, at play, in relationships, the Great Commission is to be the very motive of all I do, think, and say. As Paul told the Philippian believers, "whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do all as to the Lord."

4. It is transferable: Jesus, by His unique use of specific words, clearly declared that we are not to make just disciples, but rather we are to make discipl-ERS. The Greek text, as you certainly already know, is telling us that as we are going, we are to make disciples who make disciples who make disciples who . . . . ad infinitum.

Paul illustrated this in his second letter to the young pastor Timothy in II Timothy 2:2 ---- "The things which you have heard from me among many witnesses, the same commit to faithful men who will in turn teach others also." When you look at that, you see four spiritual generations of converts ---- Paul, Timothy, faithful men, and others.

If all you're doing is leading people to Christ without equipping them, you're making a tragic mistake. Your ministry will be so much less than it could have been. We, the "older" are to teach the "younger". Today we have a special modern word for discipling disciplers. It's called mentoring.

Recently while our five grand children from Russia were with us, the oldest, Roma, asked me to do something that really brought me up short. He came to America just over a year ago. Last December 23, he invited Jesus Christ into his life. Now nearly fifteen, he said, "Grandpa, would you write me some letters on e-mail and teach me about God.?"

How about that?!!!? Talk about an opportunity to make the Great Commission transferable! You'd better believe I'm going to do just that. Not that I don't have anything to do, mind you . . . . but you can be sure I will make time for that special project.

Why? Because he's my grandson?

Well, partly so.

But more importantly, I know that our daughter and her husband have prayed that God would not only save their five special kids entrusted to them, but that He would also make all of them into strong witnesses for Christ, and that He might also send some of them back to their homeland as missionaries and witnesses to the Russian people.

I wouldn't miss this for the world!

5. It is also Continual: There is no end in sight until either the day Jesus returns, or the day you die, whichever comes first. Jesus said, "I am with you alway/s (lit. "all of the days all of the ways") . . . . "even to the end of the age."

Dear friend, no matter how tired and weary you become, no matter how distracted, disillusioned, or discouraged . . . . or even disenfranchised . . . . you become, carrying out the Great Commission is an ongoing task. I remember my uncle telling me that there were no days off as a farmer. A restauranteer friend told me the same thing about his business.

Well, I'm here to tell you there are no days off from carrying out the Great Commission ---- as you are going, wherever you are going, whenever you are going, whatever you are doing.

6. The Great Commission is also Focal: Verses 16-20 give us eight words regarding the real focus of the Great Commission. It's not about our church, our denomination, or our experience. It's not about gifts, doctrine, or all the "do's and don'ts". It's not about methods and techniques or a weekly scheduled day for witnessing.

It's about Jesus. Everything revolves around Him. There are three proper nouns and five personal pronouns that all point to Jesus as the focal point of the Great Commission.

Somewhere we have erroneously concluded that the Great Commission is about us . . . . our kingdoms, our abilities or lack thereof, our techniques, our schedules, our convenience, . . . .

It's not about us; it's about Him! It's not even about the unbelievers; it's about Him! Jesus said it clearly, "If I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto Myself!"

To neglect the Great Commission is to neglect the Lord Jesus Christ. It is to be a sower without seed; it is to be one of the virgins with no oil in the lamp; it is to be an axe with no handle. To place the focus on anything else other than Jesus when sharing the Gospel is to commit a great insult against the One who loved us and gave Himself for us.

If you talk about your church, you can be ignored because of its lack of sensitivity to needs. If you talk about your beliefs, you can be ridiculed as a fanatic. If you talk about your worship styles and practices, you can be laughed at for either your deadness or your circus antics. If you talk about your own life, you can be mocked for its inconsistencies. If you talk about heaven and hell, sin and punishment, you can be labeled an out of touch idiot. If you talk about social issues, you can be accosted and skewered as a hypocrite.

But, if you talk about Jesus, there is no argument.

Jesus alone is the focal point of the Great Commission.

7. Finally, the Great Commission is Conditional: In order for the Great Commission to effectively carried out, there are certain criteria to be recognized and conditions to be met. For example, there is the principle of . . . .

1) Spiritual Authority ---- (Matt 28:18). Someday I hope to write to you about spiritual authority. It is astounding. In the meantime, let me simply say that Jesus made it clear that all authority . . . . both in heaven and on earth . . . . had been handed over to Him. As a result He had the right to do two things ---- exercise it in any way He saw fit into the purposes of His Father Who gave it to Him, and also delegate some of it to whomever He chose.

In beginning that wonderful discourse by pointing out that fact, He clearly was telling us that this same authority has been delegated to His followers. If you're an ambassador with no legal authority from your superior, you're nothing but a tourist . . . . a sight seer operating under a false premise.

Fulfillment of the Great Commission is conditional in that spiritual authority must back up the message. When you preach or witness, do you do it with that type of authority? Or do you do it with carnal anger or with timid words, or with polished phrases of academia?

Spiritual authority is better.

2) Power ---- (Acts 1:8) The word, as you know, is "dunamis". Supernatural power is necessary to break through the hard shells of men's souls. It is necessary .to dislodge the demonic powers of darkness. It is necessary to strip away the blinders set in place by the god of this age. It is necessary to open deaf ears to the message. Whether projected through "dynamics", "dynamite", or a "dynamo", the awesome supernatural power of God must permeate the presentation of the Gospel. Otherwise it will be nothing more than a catch little phrase, a slick little booklet, or a polished little speech.

3) The Holy Spirit ---- (Acts 1:8, John 14:16-18; 15:26-27). "Only a naive untaught person, a theological ignoramus or a presumptious idiot would ever think he could help fulfill the Great Commission without the Holy Spirit." Those words by a recognized preacher speak hard but true words to us. Since it's the Holy Spirit who convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgement, since it's the Holy Spirit who guides us in all truth, since it's the Holy Spirit who develops His fruit in us, since it's the Holy Spirit who gifts us and anoints us, since it's the Holy Spirit who opens doors for us, since it's the Holy Spirit who enables us to have a ready word when called on to give an account of the hope that is in us, . . . .

it seems reasonable to heartily agree that the Holy Spirit in His manifold works is absolutely essential to the effective carrying out of the Great Commission . . . . . no matter how good we may think we are on our own.

4) A Message ---- (Acts 28:19-20; Acts 1:8). Not only do we have authority, power, and the work of the Holy Spirit, but we also have something to tell people. Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Sometime when you get a chance, study all the times Jesus said, "I have come that . . . ." Read His own words as He publically announced His ministry in Nazareth's synagogue.

There is a message in the Great Commission! God wouldn't send us on such an assignment with nothing significant to say. Sometimes we forget there's a message . . . . even when we use one already prepared for us in a tract or a systematic "plan" of salvation.

God's plan is simple ---- He "so loved that He gave . . . ." Paul said it well ---- the Gospel is "the power of God unto salvation to all who believe . . . ." Jesus' message of thorough ---- He came to give "life abundantly", "set captives free", "bind up broken hearted", etc.

Remember, my friend, the success of your efforts with the Great Commission depend also on the message. Don't make up your own.

5) Gifts ---- (Romans 12, I Cor 12, etc.) These special equippings by the Holy Spirit are tools God gives us to enable us to carry out the Great Commission. Therefore, the presence and use of those gifts are conditional to the sufficient articulation of the Gospel on your part and the reception of the Gospel on the part of the unbeliever. Space won't allow development of this crucial area.

6) The Word of God ---- The Bible, as you certainly are aware, is the bedrock text book of all that is true about God. It is the source from which you draw truth, and it is the validation to be used when making your case in behalf of our Christ. No other printed source is of greater value to the fulfillment of the Great Commission than God's Word. You can certainly remember, as I can, stories of how people who had never heard of Jesus were suddenly converted simply by reading a portion of scripture. Great missionary stories often include such events. People have come to Christ by simply picking up a copy of the Bible in a hotel room. Others have been saved because some unthinking business man, angry at God, used pages from the Bible as packing paper when shipping a product to someone in India.

It is true ---- "The Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart." (Heb 4:12). To think you can carry out the Great Commission apart from the Word of God, or by thinking it's not His divinely inspired truth to us is absurd.

7) Prayer ---- Recently I asked a congregation how many of them knew of at least one specific person who had been a prayer major influence in their coming to Christ. About 90% of them raised their hands. Someone once said that no one has ever been converted apart from someone having prayed for them. I don't know if that is literally true, but I suspect it may be.

Corrie Ten Boome wrote in one of her books that prayer was perhaps the most significant force for evangelism that ever was. E. M. Bounds in one of his books on prayer indicated that evangelism was simply picking up the spoils of warfare already fought and won in the closet of prayer.

If you notice the book of Acts, you find that virtually every major evangelistic effort was preceded by intensive, prolonged, prevailing prayer.

So, it stands to reason, dear friend, that if you're going to be serious about carrying out the Great Commission, your efforts must be borne on the wings of prayer.

As you can see, the Great Commission is conditional ---- proportionate to these seven elements ---- authority, power, the work of the Holy Spirit, the message of salvation, spiritual gifts and fruit, the Word of God, and prayer.

FINALLY:

What brings "fear" to your heart, friend? Is it, as I have written in the previoius three letters, "being overwhelmed by God's call on your life", "irresponsible conduct" that might disqualify you, or "watering from a dry well" trying to minister to people out of your own parched desert? Or maybe it's the fear of failing to carry out the Great Commission. What a frightening thought . . . . to get to heaven and realize we failed miserably in getting the message of the Gospel to every person possible. How heart breaking to consider the possibility that someone is standing in judgement before God simply because we never made a serious effort to get the good news to him before he died. Instead we played church with our buildings, our games, our pet projects, . . . .

Losing commission focus is almost unthinkable, and yet it can so easily happen. Take it from me . . . . I know from personal experience what it's like to preach when there is no burden for the lost. I know the feeling of not really caring for the eternal destiny of an unbeliever. Like Jonah, I know what it's like to have my anger toward a people override my compassion for their souls. Like Martha, I have often found myself crowding out the need to share the Gospel simply because my calendar was too full of committee meetings, article writing, problem solving, and building campaigns.

I wonder of there can be any greater sin for a minister of the Gospel than to lose his focus on the main reason he even exists ---- carrying out the Great Commission to the ends of the earth.

How sinister and diabolical the tactics of Satan are!

Even worse ---- how gullible some of God's servants are!

Whatever your fightings and fears within may be, friend, God understands. He knows, He loves you, He's glad you recognize those frailties, and He's immediately present to help you avoid those fears. It's true ---- God has not given us the spirit of fear, and perfect love does indeed cast out fear.

Fear of any kind . . . . including fears within the sphere of ministry.

So . . . . fear not! Abandon yourself to Him and allow Him to rekindle the passion for the Great Commission that once burned in your heart. May the two of us experience a passionate resurgence of spirit to declare the message of the Gospel to every place God's plan may take us.

This week I will minister locally, concluding next Sunday with my final services in the church where I have served for five months as interim. The following Sunday I will stand in the pulpits of several churches in and around Sarajevo, Bosnia . . . . a city of 400,000 people with less than 200 known believers. The Sunday after that I will preach in little towns like Novi Travnik half of it populated by Croats and half by Muslims. Mid week I will be in Dubrovnik, Croatia . . . . a city of 40,000 with only 22 known believers. The next week I will be in Rijeka Croatia, and the final Sunday I will be in Karlovac, Duga Resa, Plaski, and Blata, Croatia.

The proclamation of the Gospel is still the order of the day. The fulfillment of the Great Commission is yet to be accomplished.

How about the two of us . . . . you and me, friend . . . . permitting the Holy Spirit to give us a renewed focus on the Great Commission.

May it be so for the cause of Christ and the salvation of the lost.

Have a good week . . . . . focusing on the Great Commission. I'll see you one week from now.

In Christ's Honor, and For His Glory,

Bob Tolliver ---- (Rom 1:11-12)
Copyright May, 2001. All rights reserved.

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