“And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.'” -Matthew 28:18-20
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” – Acts 1:8
“And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria…” – Acts 8:1
This next stage of our story can be called a commissioning…a mission. Jesus, Himself gives us the specific assignment of telling our story to everyone we can. A silent Christian is not an obedient Christian. We are commanded to tell our story.
This does not mean that we are to know the Bible backwards and forwards. It does not mean that we have to be well versed in answering any possible theological question. We are simply asked to tell our story. Like the blind man healed by Jesus in John 9, “I was blind and now I see”. The question is, “What does Jesus mean to you?”.
The first thing we should realize is that we don’t have to rely on our own strength to tell the story. Jesus says above that “all authority” has been given to Him…not us…Him…and that He would be with us always. It is our proximity to Jesus that inspires us to tell our story. after all, our story is His story.
Another thing we must see is that we are to “Go” and tell. We are not to wait for others to ask about our story, though some may do that, we are to take the initiative…to anyone…anywhere. All of the above verses have a global goal. “All nations”… “end of the earth” In other words, God wants our story to be a best seller. He wants everyone to hear it and to be a part of it!
In the Book of Acts, where we are in our journey today, it is the record of how the church (the people of God) began to carry out this commission. It records successes and failures…recognition and persecution. Unfortunately, not everyone wants to hear the story. They don’t want to hear that the God who loves them has a design for their life and that only in a relationship to Him can they become all they were created to be. So, people were arrested, tortured and sometimes killed for telling the story.
Even the disciples world was expanded through the persecution of the church. They were sharing the story with those in Jerusalem and many people were responding but they were not getting out of their comfort zone. Even though Jesus had said “Go into all nations” they were enjoying the growth of the church right where they were. However, God used the persecution of the church to “scatter” them further.
There are times when we are tempted to keep our story to ourselves. We will share it if someone asks us but only then. This is not our commission. We must be a people who are willing to share. Will you be persecuted or ridiculed? Probably. Many have endured the same suffering so that you would hear the story and be a part of it. Remember that they were persecuted because they “told” the story…not the story. The instruction from the authorities was…”keep it to yourself”. “Stop telling the story of Jesus”.
Have you shared your story lately? You are called to spread the news about the greatest story there is. Don’t hide it.
Just tell your story!