Easter was Phase 1, now for Phase 2 …

It’s Monday morning, and many Christians will awake in an afterglow of awe and praise following a day of worshiping the Lord for the wonder of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, which we celebrated on Easter Sunday yesterday.

All of human history hinges on Jesus rising from the dead, for if death would have defeated Him, it would have defeated us all. Yet, through one Man, sin and death were forever vanquished!

“So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God’s wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord,” Romans 5:21.

During the days preceding Easter, we recount an ugly picture of Jesus being betrayed by one of His disciples, beaten almost to the point of death, then mocked as He slowly died a public death through crucifixion. But behind those ugly scenes, God was doing a great work …

“And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ … For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them …” 2 Corinthians 5:18a and 19a.

God had masterfully worked out Phase 1 of His grand plan to reconcile sinful humanity back into a right relationship with Himself, but now comes Phase 2. In just a matter of days after Jesus was risen from the dead, just prior to His ascending back to the Father, He would issue to His church a great Commission that would continue His mission until the day He returns for His church …

“Jesus came and told his disciples, ‘I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age,’” Matthew 28:18-20.

In Phase 2 of God’s great plan of redemption, you and I — the saved and adopted children of God — are now appointed as Jesus’ representatives to carry on the mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul tells this great story succinctly in 2 Corinthians 5:18-20 …

“And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, ‘Come back to God!'”

Phase 1 of God’s plan of redemption was all God’s work, there was absolutely nothing we could do, and nothing we could contribute, to saving ourselves from sin and death. Christ, alone, could provide a sacrifice wholly satisfying and acceptable for sin, and only He could defeat death in our place. But in Phase 2, we’re fully in the game!

It seems like Phase 2 surprises Christians almost as much as Scott Foster was surprised when he was told to suit up

as a goalie for the Chicago Blackhawks last week, when he was put into the game as an emergency goalie when the team’s regulars were felled by injuries.

How did he do when pressed into service before 20,000 cheering fans?

Fox News reports, “Foster is part of a group of recreational goalies who are on hand for Chicago’s home games in case of emergencies for either team. Any normal day, Foster has a meal and sits in the press box to watch the game. He was needed Thursday because the team was down Anton Forsberg and Collin Delia … Foster stepped in between the pipes for the Blackhawks and stopped all seven shots he faced in the final 14 minutes of the team’s 6-2 win over the playoff-bound Winnipeg Jets” (you can find the Fox News story by clicking here).

Foster made a major contribution to helping his team win that night. In a like manner, now that Jesus has gained the victory over sin and death for us, we are now “put into the game” as ambassadors to continue the victorious mission of Christ by making disciples of the whole world!

How are we doing?

Well, according to one report, not very well. Christianity Today revealed in a story just last week that, “More than half of American churchgoers have not heard of ‘the Great Commission’ in which Jesus called on his followers to ‘go and make disciples of all nations,’ famously in Matthew 28:18-20, according to a study by Barna” (you can find the story in Christianity Today by clicking here).

The great mission Jesus began by coming into the world He created isn’t over yet! There are billions of people on this planet who have never heard of Jesus and have no understanding of what He has done to save them from their sins. It is the Commission of the church to tell these people the Good News of Jesus Christ, and to make disciples of Him among all the nations.

How can it be that more than half of American Christians have never heard of this Great Commission given to the church? What are we teaching to the disciples of Christ today? What are we doing when we gather as the body of Christ? And how are we living each day in this world as we await the return of our Lord?

This is Phase 2, that time in which as Christians we’re to be Christ’s ambassadors, imploring people to turn back to God and explaining how they can do that through Jesus Christ.

You’re in the game, what kind of contribution are you making?

Scotty