All Power Is Given Unto Me

2014-09-22

“And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” (Matthew 28:18-20)

Fifteen years ago, I gave my first sermon ever. I preached the gospel to a room full of college students that were mostly not religious in any way. I have no idea what sort of fruit ever came about because of that, but it was an awesome opportunity, one I wish I had more often.

Gospel preaching and missions is something that we as Christians see as an imperative, but often shy away from sharing the gospel ourselves. How do we get the courage to talk about Jesus? We think of the missionaries that have given up all comfort to see people get saved around the world. How do they do it? How can we tap into that power? How do we get opportunities to share Christ?

We often emphasize the “go ye.” Other preachers have argued that the idea is “while you are going” you teach others about Christ. However, neither is the emphasis. There are two things that we must be bold enough to believe in order to be that witness for the risen Christ.

“All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.”

Jesus said that he was given all power. He is all-powerful. He has no shortage of ability to accomplish whatever he wants. If he commands us to teach all nations, we need to trust him that he can and will accomplish this through us, as feeble as we may be. If we believe he has all power, he will accomplish this in our lives. This is not the believing in the sense that we pay lip service to Biblical inerrancy and evangelical doctrine. This is the sort of believing that, in our innermost thoughts, when the folks at church are not looking, and you are trembling with fear at how inadequate you are, you know his omnipotence as fact.

“I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.”

It is not just that Jesus is all powerful; he is always with us. He is omnipotent and omnipresent, attributes that only God has. But he is with us. We truly believe, in our pathetic, sinful weakness, that Jesus, with all of his power, is with us. Remember Matthew 1:23?

“Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.”

Who actually ever called him Emmanuel? We call him Emmanuel, God with us, when we believe this scripture. Maybe we would be like the desperate father, crying to Jesus, “help thou mine unbelief” (Mark 9:24) that we can dare to believe this radical teaching. Or perhaps we need to settle it in our heart right now that he indeed is God-with-us, so the world can be saved.