WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.520 The vast body of apostolic instruction to the church is focused on living out daily 2 00:00:05.520 --> 00:00:08.320 lives in the character and the ways of Christ. 3 00:00:15.440 --> 00:00:20.880 Welcome back to Kingship Reformation. This is class number seven and the title is The Greater 4 00:00:20.880 --> 00:00:27.840 Commission. So in the last class we talked about greater people and greater works and, 5 00:00:27.840 --> 00:00:34.320 you know, taking that from greater people from Jesus's incredible statement in Matthew 11 11 6 00:00:34.320 --> 00:00:39.440 where he basically says that anybody who's born into the kingdom, whoever's least in the kingdom, 7 00:00:39.440 --> 00:00:43.840 so that qualifies me because I know I'm down there near the bottom somewhere, I'm at least 8 00:00:43.840 --> 00:00:48.720 the least in the kingdom, he said is greater than John who he had just said was greater than anyone 9 00:00:48.720 --> 00:00:54.000 ever born of a woman prior to John. So I hope you will take time to really meditate on that and ask 10 00:00:54.000 --> 00:01:00.000 the Holy Spirit to shine some light on exactly what Jesus means by this greatness. But let's 11 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:05.360 spend the rest of our lives mining that out. And then the greater works, Jesus said that 12 00:01:06.640 --> 00:01:11.920 we would do great, we would do the works that he did, but then even greater works would we do 13 00:01:11.920 --> 00:01:16.320 because he goes to the Father. And again, my premise there is because when he went to the 14 00:01:16.320 --> 00:01:20.800 Father, it was to be coronated as the king. He didn't walk the earth as a king, he walked as 15 00:01:20.800 --> 00:01:28.640 the sacrificial lamb. But when he defeated the devil at the cross and resurrection, he went and 16 00:01:28.640 --> 00:01:34.000 ascended into heaven and received his kingdom there. You can see that in Daniel 7 that he 17 00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:39.520 comes up to the Ancient of Days and he's given a kingdom and a dominion that will never end. 18 00:01:39.520 --> 00:01:45.520 So it was when he was king that we were kinged. So we are seated with him in heavenly places and 19 00:01:45.520 --> 00:01:50.720 that's on thrones. We have a place of reigning and ruling on the earth. So today I want to 20 00:01:50.720 --> 00:01:56.160 talk about the greater commission. So we'll start with, I'll just read from Matthew 28, 21 00:01:57.200 --> 00:02:02.720 and I'm going to not read the whole passage, but 16 through 20. And this is what we call 22 00:02:02.720 --> 00:02:07.200 typically the great commission. It might even say that in your Bible above that passage. 23 00:02:07.200 --> 00:02:12.480 Of course, that's not scripture itself, but it's codifying that part of scripture. So it says, 24 00:02:12.480 --> 00:02:18.240 then the 11 disciples went away into Galilee to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. 25 00:02:19.200 --> 00:02:24.800 It goes on to say, and Jesus came and spoke to them saying, all authority has been given to me 26 00:02:24.800 --> 00:02:31.920 in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them 27 00:02:31.920 --> 00:02:37.520 in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all 28 00:02:37.520 --> 00:02:43.680 things that I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. 29 00:02:43.840 --> 00:02:50.000 And there's so much in that. So we'll start off. So what I'll do is I'll talk about the 30 00:02:50.000 --> 00:02:56.720 great apostolic commission, because this really was a commission to Jesus' apostles, literally 31 00:02:56.720 --> 00:03:03.600 his 11 commissioned apostles. And Jesus instructed them to go make disciples and specifically 32 00:03:03.600 --> 00:03:08.640 through gospel conversion, that's where he says baptizing them, and then by teaching them how to 33 00:03:08.640 --> 00:03:14.720 live as followers of Christ. So teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. 34 00:03:15.840 --> 00:03:20.960 So it's also an implied ongoing apostolic commission, because obviously we still 35 00:03:20.960 --> 00:03:27.120 have people going and planting and sent ones or apostles that go into different geographies 36 00:03:27.120 --> 00:03:33.040 and establish kingdom outposts there. So he gave it to these original 11 apostles, 37 00:03:33.040 --> 00:03:40.800 but then of course Saul later got commissioned into that gig. And then the apostolic ministry 38 00:03:40.800 --> 00:03:44.640 continues. So I think we're all pretty square on that. So that's what we call the great commission. 39 00:03:45.360 --> 00:03:51.520 But drawing from Jesus' parable of the wheat and tares, what he essentially commissioned 40 00:03:51.520 --> 00:03:56.240 these apostles to do was to begin planting the sons of the kingdom. Remember, Jesus said that 41 00:03:56.240 --> 00:04:02.320 the wheat or the good seed are the sons of the kingdom that Jesus was planting in the field, 42 00:04:02.320 --> 00:04:08.080 which was the world. So this commissioning was a planting, a sending and planting commission. 43 00:04:08.800 --> 00:04:15.040 It was and is an apostolic commission in that the apostles are the sent ones who do the planting. 44 00:04:15.040 --> 00:04:19.440 So I would challenge you to read through the epistles that were written to the general 45 00:04:19.440 --> 00:04:25.040 church body. Now I'm not talking about the pastoral letters like to Timothy, but the epistles 46 00:04:25.040 --> 00:04:31.440 that were written to the general church body and list all the times that they or we are instructed 47 00:04:31.440 --> 00:04:38.000 to go somewhere or even to preach the gospel. The vast body of apostolic instruction to the church 48 00:04:38.000 --> 00:04:43.840 is focused on living out daily lives in the character and the ways of Christ. For instance, 49 00:04:43.840 --> 00:04:49.520 in Ephesians, husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church. It's a very practical teaching 50 00:04:49.520 --> 00:04:54.240 on living out the kingdom. And I think we get, we've gotten a little bit tripped up at times, 51 00:04:54.240 --> 00:04:58.880 and especially with young people, we get them, maybe this has been in the last several decades, 52 00:04:58.880 --> 00:04:59.760 we get people. 53 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:01.680 saved or born into the kingdom. 54 00:05:01.680 --> 00:05:04.560 And the first thing we want to do is send them out to the nations and say, 55 00:05:04.560 --> 00:05:09.280 well, if you want to be a great commission, a saint, this is what you have to do. 56 00:05:09.280 --> 00:05:13.600 And the reality is very few people are actually called and commissioned in the 57 00:05:13.600 --> 00:05:19.400 apostolic way, or even as evangelists, but we all as disciples of Jesus are 58 00:05:19.400 --> 00:05:22.920 commissioned to live out that, that, uh, discipled life. 59 00:05:23.280 --> 00:05:29.680 So, um, so what I want to say is there, there is another commission that's 60 00:05:29.680 --> 00:05:33.080 hidden between the lines of what we call the great commission. 61 00:05:33.560 --> 00:05:38.080 And it's wrapped up in the instruction, teaching them to observe all 62 00:05:38.080 --> 00:05:39.960 things that I have commanded you. 63 00:05:40.600 --> 00:05:43.080 So I call this the great all saints commission. 64 00:05:43.080 --> 00:05:46.000 So we have the great apostolic commission, which again was to the 65 00:05:46.000 --> 00:05:50.160 apostles and continues to be to the apostolic ministries, but then we have 66 00:05:50.160 --> 00:05:52.760 the all saints or the disciples commission. 67 00:05:53.160 --> 00:05:54.760 And what would that commission be? 68 00:05:54.760 --> 00:06:00.200 So, so that the apostles were instructed to teach them or us to 69 00:06:00.200 --> 00:06:03.160 obey or observe certain things. 70 00:06:03.160 --> 00:06:06.480 Well, what are those things that the disciples instructed us? 71 00:06:06.840 --> 00:06:09.760 I mean, it makes sense to me that we would find those in 72 00:06:09.760 --> 00:06:11.320 the apostolic writings, right? 73 00:06:11.320 --> 00:06:14.680 So again, back to the Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Galatians, 74 00:06:15.000 --> 00:06:17.000 the instructions to the church at large. 75 00:06:17.040 --> 00:06:22.280 These are the things that the apostles were teaching these new 76 00:06:22.280 --> 00:06:24.960 converts to observe or to obey. 77 00:06:25.520 --> 00:06:31.160 So I was meditating on this one day and it brought me back to Acts chapter 78 00:06:31.160 --> 00:06:37.360 one, where it mentions that in the 40 days between Jesus's resurrection 79 00:06:37.360 --> 00:06:40.240 and his ascending to the throne, ascending to the right hand of the 80 00:06:40.240 --> 00:06:46.200 father, it says that he gave the apostles commandments and he also spoke of 81 00:06:46.200 --> 00:06:48.280 things pertaining to the kingdom of God. 82 00:06:48.720 --> 00:06:53.080 And I, it's just one of my, I can't wait to, to maybe they, maybe they 83 00:06:53.080 --> 00:06:57.000 videotaped these things, these 40 days, but we're given very little information 84 00:06:57.000 --> 00:06:58.760 about exactly what Jesus taught them. 85 00:06:59.040 --> 00:07:03.960 But by implication, I would say that the things that he, that he taught them 86 00:07:03.960 --> 00:07:10.880 about the kingdom were then what he gave them to teach the disciples to observe. 87 00:07:10.880 --> 00:07:14.960 So if you think about this from a kingdom perspective, Jesus was launching 88 00:07:15.440 --> 00:07:17.280 this outpost of earth called earth. 89 00:07:17.280 --> 00:07:20.520 He was launching his kingdom blueprint on planet earth. 90 00:07:20.520 --> 00:07:24.080 And so the way that, that he came up with to do this was I'm going to take 91 00:07:24.080 --> 00:07:29.280 these apostles, these sent ones, these, these planters, and I'm going to tell 92 00:07:29.280 --> 00:07:33.280 them to go into these different geographies and to start winning converts 93 00:07:33.280 --> 00:07:37.000 and then discipling them and teaching them to observe a certain way of living 94 00:07:37.320 --> 00:07:40.960 that then if those individuals, and that's all of us, would begin to live 95 00:07:40.960 --> 00:07:45.160 that way, the leaven of the kingdom would spread in all of these different, 96 00:07:45.640 --> 00:07:48.640 not only geographies, but, but spheres of life as well. 97 00:07:49.160 --> 00:07:54.240 So I believe it was Jesus's worldwide kingdom expansion blueprint that, that 98 00:07:54.240 --> 00:07:56.640 was what he launched with the great commission. 99 00:07:57.240 --> 00:08:03.320 So the bottom line is that as we, the disciples of Jesus live out our lives 100 00:08:03.320 --> 00:08:08.240 according to Jesus's kingdom blueprint, where we're planted and in every place 101 00:08:08.240 --> 00:08:10.880 and sphere of influence, the leavening power of the kingdom 102 00:08:10.880 --> 00:08:12.440 will transform the whole world. 103 00:08:12.720 --> 00:08:15.240 I believe that was, that's Jesus's takeover plan. 104 00:08:15.600 --> 00:08:19.160 Again, I've said it in previous classes that Jesus did not come 105 00:08:19.720 --> 00:08:21.480 primarily as a rescue mission. 106 00:08:21.480 --> 00:08:22.960 He came as a transformation. 107 00:08:22.960 --> 00:08:26.600 He came to redeem us, to make us kings and priests, to reign on the earth. 108 00:08:26.600 --> 00:08:31.200 It really was regime change when he, when he disarmed the principalities 109 00:08:31.200 --> 00:08:33.200 and powers and he bound Satan. 110 00:08:33.559 --> 00:08:36.799 And then he, he put all things under his feet and he's given his head 111 00:08:36.799 --> 00:08:38.520 over all things to us as church. 112 00:08:39.120 --> 00:08:42.120 So this is why I call it the greater commission. 113 00:08:42.120 --> 00:08:45.760 I'm not trying to be irreverent to take anything away from the apostles. 114 00:08:46.160 --> 00:08:50.840 But I think, again, it's, it's like we can be so focused on the big and the 115 00:08:50.840 --> 00:08:55.880 high and the mighty and the lofty that we, that we forget the everyday power 116 00:08:55.880 --> 00:08:58.440 of the commissioning of we as disciples. 117 00:08:58.760 --> 00:09:01.800 So I believe, I believe it's the greater commission for two reasons. 118 00:09:01.800 --> 00:09:04.320 One, it's given to every Christian. 119 00:09:04.320 --> 00:09:06.280 It isn't just for the select few. 120 00:09:06.600 --> 00:09:09.880 We are each and all commissioned to live out our daily lives as 121 00:09:09.960 --> 00:09:13.880 disciples of Jesus in an intentional and a missional way with faith. 122 00:09:14.480 --> 00:09:16.960 So again, we go back to the teachings of Jesus. 123 00:09:16.960 --> 00:09:19.000 He says, we are the salt of the earth. 124 00:09:19.000 --> 00:09:20.640 We are the light of the world. 125 00:09:20.960 --> 00:09:24.360 We're the leavening agent that's been mixed into the dough 126 00:09:24.360 --> 00:09:26.200 of the world to affect change. 127 00:09:26.760 --> 00:09:30.960 This commissioning includes doing the works that Jesus did. 128 00:09:30.960 --> 00:09:34.960 You can remember from, from John 14, 12, that Jesus said that 129 00:09:35.480 --> 00:09:38.240 the works that he did, we will do. 130 00:09:38.680 --> 00:09:42.640 He says, but then greater works we will do because he goes to the father. 131 00:09:42.960 --> 00:09:46.840 So, but the commissioning includes doing the works Jesus did under the anointing 132 00:09:46.840 --> 00:09:48.880 and the power of the Holy Spirit. 133 00:09:49.960 --> 00:09:53.400 But then the second reason I call it the greater commission, and I just kind of 134 00:09:53.400 --> 00:09:57.800 tip, tip my hand on that one is because we're called to do the greater works, 135 00:09:57.840 --> 00:10:00.000 which Jesus did not do. 136 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:04.760 Again, he did not do those, he didn't do the works of reformation. 137 00:10:04.760 --> 00:10:10.720 These are the works of cultural reformation, which we read about in Isaiah 61, 3-4, that 138 00:10:10.720 --> 00:10:16.640 we spoke of in a previous class, and it talks about the rebuilding, restoring, and repairing 139 00:10:16.640 --> 00:10:18.240 of the ruined cities. 140 00:10:18.240 --> 00:10:23.760 This really is a greater commission, and when we embrace it with faith and an expectation 141 00:10:23.760 --> 00:10:28.680 that it's really going to work, I mean, I don't think Jesus came to launch a failing 142 00:10:28.680 --> 00:10:33.160 enterprise that he would have to once again come back and give us an upgrade. 143 00:10:33.160 --> 00:10:39.280 So I like to refer to us that are sons of the kingdom, daughters of the kingdom, that 144 00:10:39.280 --> 00:10:44.120 we who have been born into the kingdom of God, born of the spirit of God, I call it 145 00:10:44.120 --> 00:10:51.360 human 2.0, just like there was Adam 1.0, and Jesus was the last Adam, so he's Adam 2.0, 146 00:10:51.360 --> 00:10:55.040 and the final Adam, we are human 2.0. 147 00:10:55.040 --> 00:11:00.200 We have been redeemed and elevated to this place of reigning and ruling on the earth, 148 00:11:00.200 --> 00:11:04.960 and anything that Adam was given to do, I can't imagine us being commissioned to do 149 00:11:04.960 --> 00:11:11.680 anything less considering the price that Jesus paid to establish his kingdom on the earth. 150 00:11:11.680 --> 00:11:18.320 So I'll just close with a little story, or a little way, a metaphor maybe, of thinking 151 00:11:18.320 --> 00:11:21.560 about this kingdom, this greater commission. 152 00:11:21.560 --> 00:11:26.720 It's a teacher that I used to listen to a lot, and I just want to give him a shout-out. 153 00:11:26.720 --> 00:11:30.800 His name is Dennis Peacock, and he was one of the early pioneers, first talking about 154 00:11:30.800 --> 00:11:36.960 things like the kingdom of God outside of the walls of the church, and marketplace ministries, 155 00:11:36.960 --> 00:11:39.480 and really kingship in so many words. 156 00:11:39.480 --> 00:11:45.840 But he referenced this plan, this kingdom expansion plan, and again, he was addressing 157 00:11:45.840 --> 00:11:48.240 business people in this context. 158 00:11:48.240 --> 00:11:53.840 So just like Jesus, when Jesus gave parables, and he was addressing an agricultural society, 159 00:11:53.840 --> 00:11:59.440 so a lot of his parables are agricultural, we Western 21st century Christians, sometimes 160 00:11:59.440 --> 00:12:03.780 we have to learn a little bit about agriculture to be able to really get the gist of some 161 00:12:03.780 --> 00:12:05.100 of his parables. 162 00:12:05.100 --> 00:12:10.600 So Dennis Peacock gave, he didn't call it a parable, but I will, to business people 163 00:12:10.600 --> 00:12:16.880 or marketplace people, and he dubbed it Almighty and Sons, and he spoke of the kingdom of God 164 00:12:16.880 --> 00:12:19.040 as being like a franchise, okay? 165 00:12:19.040 --> 00:12:25.100 And so the franchisor, or the owner of this company, he's the one who has, who's developed 166 00:12:25.100 --> 00:12:31.540 and has the goods and the services that this franchise is going to bring to the earth. 167 00:12:31.540 --> 00:12:36.080 And so the products of the franchise, the kingdom of God franchise, the products would 168 00:12:36.080 --> 00:12:43.040 be righteousness, justice, peace on earth, you know, these kinds of things that the whole 169 00:12:43.040 --> 00:12:44.040 world wants. 170 00:12:44.100 --> 00:12:47.680 The marketplace wants these things, whether they know it or not. 171 00:12:47.680 --> 00:12:55.400 But so he's the one that designed the product, he gave us the product and described it and 172 00:12:55.400 --> 00:12:59.880 defined it, and then he gave us the operating system because a franchise does that. 173 00:12:59.880 --> 00:13:04.600 A franchise says, okay, we've got this recipe, we've got this product that we believe the 174 00:13:04.600 --> 00:13:10.540 earth people are really going to want, and so also there's an operating manual and there's 175 00:13:10.540 --> 00:13:12.120 an operating system. 176 00:13:12.200 --> 00:13:17.320 And so the franchisor provides all of those things, the products, the goods and services, 177 00:13:17.320 --> 00:13:23.160 and the operating system, and the brand name, and then we, the franchisee, we provide the 178 00:13:23.160 --> 00:13:24.680 local outlet. 179 00:13:24.680 --> 00:13:26.680 So we're the planting of the Lord. 180 00:13:26.680 --> 00:13:32.800 So if you are born of the Spirit of God and you live in Colorado Springs, Colorado, you 181 00:13:32.800 --> 00:13:37.760 have a kingdom of God franchise, and you don't have to go create or invent the product and 182 00:13:37.760 --> 00:13:38.760 service. 183 00:13:38.760 --> 00:13:43.480 You just have to live the life per the operating manual, the way it instructs, again, those 184 00:13:43.480 --> 00:13:45.080 apostolic teachings. 185 00:13:45.080 --> 00:13:51.080 And if you live your life in faith, in your local community, and in your spheres of influence, 186 00:13:51.080 --> 00:13:54.940 your product will be desirable by the people around you. 187 00:13:54.940 --> 00:13:58.520 People really do want to live good lives. 188 00:13:58.520 --> 00:14:02.680 People are in a quest to find rest in their soul, and the psalmist said, only in God is 189 00:14:02.680 --> 00:14:03.680 my soul at rest. 190 00:14:03.680 --> 00:14:08.000 Well, the world doesn't know that, and they don't know how life works, and there's a lot 191 00:14:08.000 --> 00:14:12.240 of confusion out there today, and there's a lot of all the wrong voices trying to teach 192 00:14:12.240 --> 00:14:13.240 people. 193 00:14:13.240 --> 00:14:14.240 It's an inferior product. 194 00:14:14.240 --> 00:14:16.000 It's a franchise that's declining. 195 00:14:16.000 --> 00:14:18.160 That's the world system franchise. 196 00:14:18.160 --> 00:14:22.360 It's really bad ideas, some of the really bad ideas about gender and things like that. 197 00:14:22.360 --> 00:14:23.360 Think about it. 198 00:14:23.360 --> 00:14:24.360 They're not sustainable. 199 00:14:24.360 --> 00:14:26.120 They won't last very long. 200 00:14:26.120 --> 00:14:31.440 But the kingdom of God product and service is real peace and real joy on the inside. 201 00:14:31.440 --> 00:14:32.640 It's the way life works. 202 00:14:32.640 --> 00:14:37.400 And if we'll live that out, if we'll establish that franchise, our product, our Father's 203 00:14:37.400 --> 00:14:41.760 brand will grow until it ultimately fills the earth. 204 00:14:41.760 --> 00:14:45.240 So this is kingship reformation, guys. 205 00:14:45.240 --> 00:14:47.480 This is what we are signed up for. 206 00:14:47.480 --> 00:14:49.080 This is what we've been redeemed for. 207 00:14:49.080 --> 00:14:51.840 We get to be the franchisees. 208 00:14:51.840 --> 00:14:57.520 We get to be the ones that go into our communities, our families, our spheres of influence, and 209 00:14:57.520 --> 00:14:59.800 bring the character, the ways, the praises. 210 00:15:00.500 --> 00:15:06.000 This is an unbeatable, undefeatable franchise, 211 00:15:06.000 --> 00:15:10.000 an undefeatable commission that we've been given. 212 00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:14.000 So embrace it and go for it with faith. 213 00:15:14.000 --> 00:15:18.000 Until next time, we'll see you in the next Kingship Reformation class. 214 00:15:18.000 --> 00:15:19.000 Thank you.