ETERNAL MEMBERSHIP

While there are similarities in terms of community and commitment, there are some fundamental differences between becoming a disciple of Christ and joining a fraternity or sorority. What’s the difference?

In this series of lessons, we will look at the love of God and his plan (his mission) in bridging the gap between us and him and bringing us back into a relationship with him. In his bridging the gap between us and Him, he calls for us to become disciples, and he commissions us to make more disciples. How should we carry out his commission?

Review our past and present videos at SabbathSchoolDaily.com or visit my YouTube Channel, Sabbath School by Dr. Brenda Ware Davis

You also may obtain the study guide for this series at Sabbath.School or ssnet.org at no cost to you. (Split)

Let Us Inviting God’s Presence:

Father, thank you for accepting us into your family. Help us to do all that we can through the power of your Holy Spirit to help carry out your mission.   In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

When you look at a fraternity or sorority, it seems that they have some similarities to Christian discipleship. They have strong similarities when it comes to community, service, commitment, and loyalty.  However, the fundamental difference between a fraternity and Christian discipleship is that often, the pursuits, purposes, and values are distinctly different.

When Jesus left this earth, he commissioned his disciples, saying in Matthew 28:19:

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19).

Fraternities and Sororities are temporal. Our membership in them is temporary, but becoming a disciple of Christ is eternal.

The theme of God and His mission to be in an eternal relationship with us is threaded throughout the Bible. The Bible outlines human history, and it demonstrates God’s purpose for His creation.  It is a divine revelation of God with its main focus on God restoring His image in His fallen children as expressed in Colossians 3:9, 10; 1 John 3:2 

Colossians 3:9-10 tells us:

9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds,

10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him,

I John 3:2 let us know

2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.

So, when we read the Bible, it helps us understand that God wants to be in our lives. He wants to be in a close relationship with us. Yes, there is no doubt sin separates us from God. This what Isaiah 59:2 says

2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you So that He will not hear. (Isaiah 59:2) 

But God’s desire is not to leave us in that condition. His aim is to fix the broken relationship with His children caused by sin. Through His mission, God continues to work at restoring the broken relationship with humanity. He will continue His mission until the moment when the declaration found in Revelation 21:5 is realized:

Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.” (Revelation 21:5, NKJV).

In the meantime, God continues to show Himself to us in special ways to help us understand His love and his mission to save us. His aim in showing us these things is to draw us to him, to come to know him, and for us to have a genuine relationship with Him.

In the process of loving him, we become disciples of Christ. Thereby uniting with his eternal family. As members, he expects us to share with other people our experiences with God and His love. Thus, in the Bible, God reveals to us what His saving plan is and calls for us to become disciples of Christ and carry out his mission. (Split)

But from whom do we obtain our mission, God or Jesus? To find out, Continue to Segment 2 of this video: The Triune God: The Origin of Mission

God’s Mission, My Mission (Lesson 2)

‘God’s Mission to Us: Part 2

Segment 2: The Triune God: The Origin of Mission

When we accept Jesus, we are saved to become a member of the eternal family of God. We become disciples of Christ. Thus, we are inducted into the family of God. As a member of God’s family. We are, therefore, given the mission of enlarging our family by recruiting more disciples so that they can be saved and become a part of the family of God.  

We learn from the Bible that Jesus is at the center of God’s plan to save us. Jesus announced in John 14:6: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

Did you notice? The only way to the Father is through Jesus Christ. In other words, we as humans have lost our worthiness to come to the Father. But through Jesus and what he has done for us, we can reclaim the right to go to the Father.

It is Jesus, the Son, who helps us understand how much the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit work together to fulfill the mission, God’s plan to save us.

In other words, everything Jesus did was for us and came from His Father in heaven. This we see in the following scriptures:

John 4:34

34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. (John 4:34)

John 5:30

30 I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me. (John 5:30)

John 12:45

45 And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me. (John 12:45)

We must, however, remember that Jesus’ mission to save us didn’t start when He came to this earth. As a matter of fact, God the Father chose Jesus as our Savior before the creation of the world. Notice what it says in the following scriptures:

Ephesians 1:4

4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, (Ephesians 1:4)

I Peter 1:20

20 He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you (I Peter 1:20)

So, God’s plan, his mission to redeem or save us, was made before He made this planet. Therefore, after we sinned, God intentionally became part of human history in order to accomplish his mission of saving us so that we could be in an eternal relationship with Him and live eternally with Him.

Thus, Galatians 4:4 says that at: “the fullness of the time” (NKJV), God showed us His love. He gave us His Son according to John 3:16, 17, which says:

16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. (John 3:16-17)

So Jesus, God’s Son’s mission for coming to this world was to save us humans.

He died on the cross, and He woke up from the dead to gain for us victory over sin and death.

But it did not end there. John 14:26 and John 16:7 tell us that God the Father sent the Holy Spirit to help us.

John 14:26

26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. (John 14:26)

John 16:7

7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. (John 16:7)

For God’s Son to die to save us lets us know how seriously bad sin is. John 16:8–11 tells us that God, the Holy Spirit, helps us to understand how bad sin is, and He convicts the world of sin.

8 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:

9 of sin, because they do not believe in Me;

10 of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more;

11 of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. (John 16:8-11) (Split)

Hence, Today, though Jesus went back to Heaven to manage God’s plan to save us, the Spirit continues God’s saving plan for us on this earth. This is the point that John 16:13, 14 makes.

13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.

14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. (John 16:13-14) (Split)

By now, you may have noticed that there are three persons working on our behalf to save us.

It becomes more evident in John 20:21, 22

21 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”

22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. (John 20:21, 22)

Besides God the Father and God the Son working on our behalf. We also have God the Holy Spirit working to save us.

These verses let us know that we are not working alone. We have the Father, Son and Holy Spirit working together to save us. We are commissioned by them to recruit disciples of Christ. Our work belongs to Them because it originated with Them. It was before the world was created, and continues to be their mission to be in a relationship with us and to have us become eternal members of the family of God.

You may have heard the terms trinity, triune God, or the three-in-One-God. They imply that there are three persons performing: God, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

Though the “Three-in-One-God” or the word trinity is not written anywhere in the Bible, there are many verses in the Bible that indicate that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are working together to save us.

After Jesus was raised from the dead, He appeared to His disciples, His followers. He promised them in Luke 24:49

49 Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.” (Luke 24:49)

 In this one verse, we see the mission, the saving plan of the Three-in-One-God: the Father’s promise, the Son’s assurance to keep the promise, and the promise itself, the coming of the Holy Spirit. We see also the promise of the Holy Spirit in Luke 3:16

16 John answered, saying to all, “I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. (Luke 3:16)

We see its fulfillment in Acts 1:4-5 and 8

4 And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me;

5 for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” (Split)

8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:4-5, and 8)

The plan to save us humans was made before the world was created. This plan was designed to continue God’s mission of having a relationship with us humans. Thus, a plan was put in place just in case man sinned and yielded his power to Satan. (Split)

For those willing to be redeemed back to him, He gave His son to be our substitute to ransom us from the penalty of sin so that we could again become members of the Family of God.

Showing the work of the Godhead before creation, it is said that: The Godhead was stirred with pity for the [human] race, and the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit gave Themselves to the working out of the plan of redemption. In order fully to carry out this plan, it was decided that Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, should give Himself an offering for sin.

Thus, we learn that this mission to save humanity is now ours; however, we have been called into the family and commissioned to recruit others to become a part of the family. But, the work of saving us humans belongs to the Three-in-One-God, the Triune God.

Knowing that our eternal membership in the family of God does not hinge on us but on the three-in-one persons or triune God, we can be sure that the plan to save us will not fail.

The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are working on our behalf. As members of the family of God, we have been commissioned to make disciples. (Split)

Is this mission optional? Read Mathew 28:16-20 then Continue to Segment 3: Making Disciples: The Focus of Mission

God’s Mission, My Mission (Lesson 2)

‘God’s Mission to Us: Part 2

Segment 3: Making Disciples: The Focus of Mission

In reading Matthew 28:16–20, we read about Jesus’ final instructions to His followers, His disciples. He tells them to make more disciples.

Jesus’s final orders to His disciples, found in Matthew 28:18–20, is called the great commission. In Jesus’ commission, he commands His disciples to go far and near and make new disciples for Him. Jesus commands His disciples to teach others about their faith and invite them to join with them in fellowship. Read Mark 16:15, 16; Luke 24:44–49; John 20:21–23; Acts 1:8 to learn more about this commission  Mark 16:15-16

15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. (Mark 16:15-16)

Luke 24:44-49

44 Then He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.”

45 And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.46 Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day,

47 and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

48 And you are witnesses of these things.

49 Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.” (Luke 24:44-49)

John 20:21-23

21 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” (John 20:21-23)

Acts 1:8

8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8) (Split)

There are four basic components to Jesus’ final orders to his disciples.

(1) Jesus commands His followers to go to Galilee to be with Him in Matthew 28:16, 17.

(2) Jesus announces that God gave Him control over everything in heaven and on earth in Matthew 28:18.

(3) Jesus commissions His disciples to do a special work in Matthew 28:19, 20, namely, make disciples for Him.

And finally,

(4) Jesus, in Matthew 28:20, promises to be with His followers until the end.

Making disciples for Jesus is the main focus of the Great Commission. It is, in fact, the most important part of our work for God.

Therefore, after Jesus announces that God gave Him control of everything in heaven and on earth, He tells His disciples in Matthew 28:19, 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, (Matthew 28:19).

Do you see the word “Therefore”? The word, Therefore, provides the foundation for what Jesus has presented in Matthew 28:18. (Split)

His point is that He controls everything now. He has all power, authority, and sovereignty. Why? Because He died for our sins and woke up from the dead.

His authority and power are the results of His resurrection. In his resurrection, He obtained the victory over sin and death.

So, how do we make disciples for Jesus? What does this work entail?

Jesus tells us. He wants us to teach and baptize. He wants us to share His teachings with the entire world. Jesus wants us to make more disciples. This is the most important work that God has commissioned us to do. Here, Jesus is clearly directing His disciples toward one purpose: making disciples.

And in Matthew 28:16–20, His commission ends with promising to be with His disciples always.

Of course, this Great Commission was not just intended for his first disciples. This Great Commission has been given to us. His command is to go to “all nations.” His commission is universal.

Every follower of Jesus is expected to be engaged in making disciples. His message is intended for the whole world. It has no geographical, social, racial, or ethnic limitations.

 Different from fraternities or sororities, the Gospel of Jesus is not limited. It is for everyone on the entire earth. Moreover, we are offered eternal membership in the Kingdom of God.  How can we obtain eternal membership in this Kingdom? Find out in my next video: Segment 4, The Eternal Gospel: The Message of Mission

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