Sent Out with Power

Lesson #330

We ended the previous lesson with a command from Jesus: “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” This was a command to his disciples, but as they go and make disciples, then those disciples are to make disciples and thus we are to go and make disciples. Jesus knows them, and us, will need help in being a witness and so he provides that help.

“And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22 ESV). In Genesis 2:7 (ESV) “the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. Here Jesus breathed on them, possibly to suggest a new creation as in 2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” That new is very special because of what it is and who dwells in it. In 1 Corinthians 6:19 (ESV) we find out what that is: “. . .  do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?” God used to dwell in a temple of stone built by men, but now God dwells within this new creation in Christ. We are a new creature, empowered by the Holy Spirit, setting us apart from unbelievers, able to understand spiritual things, which are foolishness to those without the Spirit. With this understanding and power, we are equipped to go and share the gospel and make disciples of those who believe. The question is, “Are you willing to be obedient and Go?”

The instruction Jesus gave to the disciples had another part to it. He said: “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld” (John 20:23 ESV). What did Jesus mean by this statement? One thing is clear from Mark 2:7 that only God can forgive sins. If we say we can then we are guilty of blaspheming. So then, what is the meaning? “The expressions ‘they are forgiven’ and ‘it is withheld’ both represent perfect-tense words in Greek and could be translated, ‘they have been forgiven’ and ‘it has been withheld’, since the perfect gives the sense of completed past action with continuing results in the present.” (Footnote on John 20:23 in the ESV Study Bible, copyright 2008 by Crossway Bibles). The idea is that as the gospel is proclaimed, those who believe and are born again are forgiven their sin, but those who do not believe remain in their sin, unforgiven, under the wrath of God. Since we are chosen by God the Father before the foundation of the world, and then through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, our being forgiven or not has already been determined. Our part in this is to share the gospel to find these lost sheep who are granted forgiveness. I pray this gives some understanding.

Prayer

Father, I find it interesting that in the creation of man, Jesus breathed life into that physical body and here with the disciples he is breathing spiritual life into them, and thus us, as a new creation in Christ. It is that second breath that is so critical, for without it we are left spiritually dead. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and that life is breathed into us as the Father causes one to be born spiritually. That breath is the gift of eternal life. Father, thank you.