SOME THOUGHTS ON CHRISTIANS AS THEY OUGHT TO BE

Have you ever thought about these two verses:

As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.

Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”

We are told that believers are to busy themselves until the Lord returns (Luke 19:13). The question is, what are believers to be busy at? The answer is found in the two verses that constitute our text: As the Father sent the Son, so the Son as sent His followers—after the same manner, and for the same purpose—into the world. If we would see our true relationship to the world as “sent ones,” let’s consider how the Father sent the Son.

1. He was sent as One who did not belong to the world. Think of the irony: He created the world, but the world did not know Him. He came as the Son of God, born as a man, yet He was rejected by those He came to save. Mary was told that her Child would be called the Son of God; God testified for all to hear that Jesus, when He was baptized, pleased the Father. Jesus told His followers that as the Father sent Him, so He was sending us. John said that followers of Christ were indeed the “Sons of God,” in 1 John 3:2. The irony of ironies: God saved us out of the world, separated us from the world by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, only to be sent right back into the world as witnesses against it and as ambassadors for God. “As the Father sent me, I am sending you.”

2. He was sent in love to save the world. Nothing could be clearer than the words of John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son.” It was love for the perishing that constrained the Father to send His Son to His certain death. “As the Father sent me, I am sending you.” The love of the Father still burns in the heart of His Son. In Mark 16:15 are recorded the words of Jesus to His followers to go into the whole world to preach the Gospel to every single creature. Let me ask you this: Does this same love constrain us? Is the love of God shed abroad in our hearts? Do we have the same motives for serving God that Christ had? Would we be equally zealous in our Christian work if we received no wages or applause for your labor? “As the Father sent me, I am sending you.”

3. He was sent to reveal the character of God, John 17:6. The Son of God and God the Father—one in nature, likeness and purpose. “As the Father sent me, I am sending you.” Does the world see Christ in us? Can we say, “If you have seen me, then you have seen Jesus”? This was the essence of what Paul meant when he wrote the powerful words: “For me to live is Christ!” And again in 1 Corinthians 11:1 Paul urges believers to follow him because he is following Christ. And once more time Paul wrote: “It is not I who lives, it is Christ who lives in me,” Galatians 2:20.

4. He was sent to declare the Word of God to man, John 17:8—14. God found His Son completely faithful. Jesus spoke the life-giving Words of God to dying sinners. “As the Father sent me, I send you.” How are we doing on that? Are we declaring the whole counsel of God as Jesus Christ did? I love the words of Acts 4:20 concerning Peter and John: “We can’t help speaking about what we have seen and heard!” Does this describe how you feel about the Word of God and what Jesus has done for you? “As the Father sent me, I send you.”

5. He was sent to give His life as a ransom, Mark 10:45. “As the Father sent me, I send you.” Are we willing and ready, as Jesus was, to give our lives wholly for the glory of God the Father? Our Lord came as a servant of men; He lowered Himself to lowest position He could take and was obedient even though that obedience ended in His death. Are we serving as Christ served? What a privilege is ours to give our lives that we might minister the things of God to the lost, the lonely, the weary, the perishing souls all around us.

6. He was sent empowered from on high, Matthew 3:16. God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit that He might preach, teach, heal, deliver, etc., Luke 4:19. He was empowered by God to do the work He was commissioned to do. “As the Father sent me, I send you.” Acts 1:8 spells it out: “But you shall receive POWER.” If the sinless, perfect, Savior of Man and Son of God could not accomplish the will of God without the power of the Holy Spirit, how can we?

Are you sowing to the flesh, or to the Spirit? Christ’s way of service must be ours—through the power of the eternal Holy Ghost.

“As the Father sent me, I send you.”