A Display of God's Glory on Earth

                              

One of golf’s immortal moments came when a Scotchman demonstrated the new game to President Ulysses Grant. Carefully placing the ball on the tee, he took a mighty swing. The club hit the turf and scattered dirt all over the President’s beard and surrounding vicinity, while the ball placidly waited on the tee. Again the Scotchman swung, and again he missed. The President waited patiently through six tries and then quietly stated, “There seems to be a fair amount of exercise in the game, but I fail to see the purpose of the ball.

The book of Acts chapter two records the beginning of the Church. At the ends of the chapter we are told that those in the church were “praising God and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47).  This Church was influential, having favour with all the people. The Church was an attraction to the multitudes. People were amazed and perplexed by what was happening and they came close to inquire. There Church was growing numerically daily.

At this point Jesus had gone. But, before leaving he gave his disciples a commanded “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always to the very end of age" (Matt. 28:16-20).  The implementation of this command commenced on the Day of Pentecost  when the Church held the first crusade and Peter preached the first sermon.

About three thousand were added to the Church that day (Acts 2:41). How did Luke know the number? When people are won to Christ, follow-up should be done to know the new believers and to establish them in faith. Jesus’ command is not fully obeyed until deliberate “teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you “is done. Paul told the Corinthians,“I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase” (1 Cor.3:6).  If seeds are planted and the seedlings are not watered, they die prematurely.

To establish those joining the church daily in faith, the early church was devoted to the apostles’ teaching (Acts 2: 42). Conversion is a one moment act but it’s only the first step of spiritual growth. It must be followed by a lifelong sanctification process, where the person is step by step transformed into the Image of God (2 Cor. 3:18). The young believer is trained to put off the old self and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness (Eph. 4 :21-24).  

Jesus prayer for the disciples was “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth”  (John 17:17). All scripture is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Tim.3:16-17). When Paul heard about the Colossians faith that they received as the gospel was  bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world , he started praying for them continually. He also wrote a letter to them.

He said “since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience (Col. 1:9-11).

Jesus was now in heaven but we see him in Acts continuing to do, through his Church what he had “began to do and to teach” (Acts 1:1-2) while on earth. Before he left the world, he told his disciples, “most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to my Father. And whatever you ask in my name, that I will do” (John 14:12-17).

Jesus was leaving but his work would continue on earth. He expected those who believe in him to carry on His work in the world. He expected his disciples to carry on His work in even greater magnitude. “The ‘greater works’ of which he spoke to them would still be his own works; accomplished no longer by his visible presence among them but by his Spirit within them.”

Jesus did not mean that the individual believers can and should do more spectacular works than he did. We are yet to see greater works than walking on water, calming storms with a word, multiplying food for thousands and raising people from the dead. By greater works, Jesus meant that the apostles would spread His kingdom to more people and more places than he ever did in His life.

Jesus prayed for his disciples before he left them. He prayed “Father, the hour has come…  I have glorified you on the earth. I have finished the work which you have given me to do… I have manifested your name to the men whom you have given me...they have kept your word… None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction... I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.

My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one … As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world…My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, …I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one... so that they may be brought to complete unit..Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am and to see my glory”(John 17).

Jesus was going out of the world; what could have been greater love than to take his disciples with him? How could the “full measure of my joy within them” be found in a dark wicked world? Heaven is the land of joy; in God’s presence there is fullness of joy and eternal pleasures (Ps. 16:11).  What is more delightful than going to heaven where God will “rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing” (Zeph. 3:16-17)?

Jesus speaks of God as taking his people out of the world. It’s very comforting to know that a child of God does not die because death snatched him away; he is taken out of the world by God’s hand. He is taken out when“ the hour has come” and he has “finished the work”. God’s children stay on earth until their appointed time to be taken out of the world. Job 5:26 says “You shall come to your grave in a full age, as a shock of corn comes in in his season.”

God knows the right time to harvests his corn. The “full age” is different for people and only God knows when a person has reached “full age”. Some people have a shorter assignment than others on earth. Job 14: 5-6 says “A person’s days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed. So look away from him and let him alone, till he has put in his time like a hired laborer.  

David said “all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be (Ps. 139:16). God’s children will never die too soon or too late. Those he takes at ninety are not more at “full age” than those he takes at twenty. John the Baptist was in his early thirties when he was taken; Prophet Anna was a very old woman who never left the temple but worshiped night and day (Luke 2:36-38). God does not harvest premature corn and neither does he leave it in the field past its season to rot.

The Lord left his disciples in the world so that they may be the means of the salvation of others. He said “Just as you have sent me into the world, even so I have also sent them into the world.” The reason the Lord is keeping any of us here is that we may play our role in the fulfilment of the Great Commission. We should either be planting seeds or watering what others have planted. Let us ensure that we serve the purpose of our continued existence on the earth.

The Lord also keeps his people here so that he may exhibit in them the power of divine grace. He said “I have given them the glory that you gave me”. His people remain here as a display to the world the beauty of a spirit filled life (1 Cor. 5:22-23). They are stars shining in darkness, holding firmly the word of life (Phil.2:15-16). They are shining stars leading many to righteousness (Dan 12:3). They implore people on Christ behalf to be reconciled to God (2 Cor. 5:20). They are salt, preserving the world from destruction (Gen. 18:22-32; 19:18-24).

In his prayer Jesus ascribes to the father the protection of the saints from evil. Their persevering in righteousness is accomplished in them by the Father’s hand. When you get so near to God and believe that he is always present with you, you are in the state and condition of heart which will give you courage in time of danger. When conscious of God overshadowing you, you are ready for whatever may come your way.

Jesus was clear about what had driven him in life and now led him even to the cross. He said “I have glorified you on earth; I have manifested your name; I made known to them your name” (John 17:4, 6,26). Jesus dedicated his life making his father known to his disciples. He lived and spoke in a way that his Father would be clearly revealed. Then, as he departed he passed to his disciples the mantle to make him known to the world.

Jesus not only modeled our highest calling; He also explicitly draws his people into this pursuit with him. He was the very “image of the invisible God” (Col.1:15). He modeled for us what we were created to be and do, which is to display God’s glory and make him known. The more we are conformed to Christ, and winsomely display him to the world, the more we fulfill that great purpose for which we were made. Our chief mission on earth is to know God and to make him known. How much time and energy do we spend on this?