Are You Eating Your GO Sandwich?

Submitted by Jennifer Power

I would like to share with you this week a summary of our Saturday night SHiNe time lesson from this past week as we closed out our GO! sermon series.

During this coming school year, our Saturday night SHiNe time will focus on the works and words of Jesus. The word Christian means follower of Christ. In order to follow Jesus, we must learn from Him, live like He would live if He were us, and obey Him.

When I was growing up, “WWJD” (What Would Jesus Do?) was all the rage. WWJD bracelets were everywhere, and while I appreciate the idea (when facing a decision or situation, think “what would Jesus do, then do that), the problem with asking WWJD is that Jesus did not live our lives – He lived (and continues to live) His life. We must therefore endeavor to figure out what He would do if He was in our shoes. In order to figure that out we need a few things:

The Holy Spirit
Knowledge of Jesus (what did He do? What did he say?)
A Living Relationship with Jesus (available through the Holy Spirit, enabled by Jesus work on the cross, strengthened by knowledge and grown through prayer, worship, sacrifice, obedience, etc.)

When we have the Holy Spirit, when we have knowledge about Jesus, and when we have a relationship with Him, we can begin to “hear” His voice in our lives and learn to live how He would live if He were living our lives.

We focused Saturday on the last words of Jesus as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, often referred to as the Great Commission.

There is a part of the Great Commission well known by many which says “Go and make disciples of all nations.” There is, however, more to the Great Commission, and it is worthy of our careful attention. Before we get to the Great Commission as a whole, let me share with you an exercise we did as a class on Saturday night.

I told the kids, “Let’s play a little game. I am going to give you instructions which I want you to obey. Ready? Okay!…

And then I said, “On your mark…get set…GO!!!!!!!”

I gave them no further instruction.

I repeated several times: “On your mark…get set…GO!!!!!!!”

You maybe can imagine what happened.

I then gave them a different, more specific instruction. It was much less chaotic, and for the most part, they did what I told them to do.

I think sometimes, we as followers of Jesus can feel like those kids who were told to go, but were not given further instruction. Some of us probably go a little crazy while others of us do nothing much at all.

This is where the three things I mentioned earlier come into play (Holy Spirit, knowledge, relationship), but when we look more closely at the Great Commission, we can also find wisdom there which helps us be further equipped to carry it out in our daily lives.

In Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, a book by Kenneth Bailey I read recently, he talks frequently about middle eastern writing styles and structures – particularly how the climax of a piece of writing can often be found in the center, supported on both sides in various patterns. I find a simple example of such structure in the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20 and explained it to the kids like this:

Let us imagine the Great Commission is a sandwich. In a sandwich, the middle is what is most important and how the sandwich typically gets its name. For example, we do not say “bread sandwich” but “peanut butter and jelly sandwich.” This is why the Great Commission is often remembered for what is at the center “Go and make disciples of all nations,” but the two pieces of bread on each side are crucial for our best understanding and application of this command from Jesus.

We broke up the passage and had three different kids read the three main sections as follows:

Matthew 28:18-20

(First Reader): Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

(Second Reader): Therefore 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.

(Third Reader): And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

Look carefully at the connection between these three sections. It might be helpful to read them in a different order for fresh perspective:

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me and surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. Therefore 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.

Do you see it now?

I think we sometimes miss the tie between all authority being given to Jesus and the Great Commission, but when we read it in this order, it can be easier to see. We GO because Jesus has been given authority over the entire universe and He. Is. With. Us.

Always.

Not only is He with us; Not only does He have authority, but He is with us AND He has the authority. It is ALL in His hands. It is with THIS confidence that we GO.

We have the confidence to go because He has authority over everything and is with us, and because we have the Holy Spirit, as we learn about Him, and as we cultivate that relationship with Him, we will learn to better hear His voice and obey.

And it does not stop there.

As we obey we find God is with us, and we receive the promise blessing of LIFE which is really LIFE.

Are you eating your GO Sandwich? Are you going out into the world for the Kingdom of God with the full assurance Jesus is with us and has been given authority over all things in heaven and on earth?