God’s Invitation: Invited to Go
Matthew 28:16-20
16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
In the last six weeks we have explored different ways in which Jesus invites us into a relationship with God. We have seen how we are invited to blessing, invited to rest, invited to relationship, invited to self-denial and invited to intimacy. We finish things off by looking at the passage we have just heard and thinking about how we are invited to go.
The fact is, all the amazing invitations that Jesus has issued to us aren’t just to be kept to ourselves. We can and should enjoy them for ourselves but we shouldn’t be selfish with them. We should let others know about the invitation of Jesus in response to the fact that we have received them ourselves. We’re not meant to hoard the invitations to ourselves we’re meant to share them with others. However, this can be a tricky thing to do. Talking to people about our faith and about Jesus can be tricky. This is why, in this passage, we’re told to go and tell others about Jesus with God and with others.
In our passage, Jesus says something very simple but very striking. He says that he will be with us to the very end of the age. He does this by his Holy Spirit. Jesus sends his Holy Spirit on all who know and trust him meaning that we can know that we’re never alone. We always have him with us. This changes everything! When we walk into a difficult meeting at work, God is with us. When we have a tough conversation with a friend, God is with us. When we feel like no one else understands us and our situation, God is with us. As we go through life and witness to Jesus in different situations, we do it knowing that God’s Holy Spirit is with us. As we go about the work of sharing God’s invitation with others, we do it knowing God is with us!
However, as well as knowing God is with us, we also see that we not only go with him but we go together. Christianity is a corporate religion. It’s not something that you can do on your own. You do it with others. This means that, as we hear about what is going on in different people’s lives, we can support, advise and empathise with one another. More than that, we can be praying for one another that we would know God with us in the midst of whatever we face. We are sent as a group. As a church. We are sent out into the world to extend God’s invitation to others knowing that we’ve got each other’s back and are there for one another.
Richard Barber
