Daily Devotional For Friday, May 31, 2024

Well, you made it to Fantastic Friday. You are hours away from the long awaited weekend. We all remember famous movie lines whether we saw the movie or not. For example:

• From Jaws, “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.”
• From Casablanca, “Here’s look’in at your kid.”
• From Top Gun, “I feel the need for speed.”
• From Love Story, “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.”
• From Spiderman, “With great power comes great responsibility.”
• From Field of Dreams, “If you build it, he will come.”
• From Dead Poets Society, “Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys.”
• From Star Wars, “May the force be with you.”

In addition to these, we all have heard songs that impacted the world. Do you remember the song, “We Are The World”? It was the biggest collaboration of singers ever — over 45 artists from every genre and style of music sang this song to help raise money for people dying of famine and starvation in Africa in 1985. It raised over $60 million for this cause. 

There have probably been times where a line from a sermon or a devotional stuck with you. Sometimes it is something repetitive that sticks with you. At Southside, Pastor Hunter leads us at the end of every service to recite our mission statement together: “Our mission is to simply Make and Mature Disciples of Jesus Christ. We strive to do this by Studying God's Word, Praying diligently and Serving with the love of Christ, and sharing the Gospel in the world.” This is who we are. Why is this our mission statement? Great question! Just before Jesus ascended to heaven He said these words to those standing around Him in Matthew 28:19-20:

“Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. (20) 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” (NLT).

If you could read Greek, you would read it this way in the Greek New Testament, “As you are going, I command you to make disciples of all ethnic groups. Baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach all these new disciples to obey all that I have commanded you . . .” Notice that nowhere does the text say those standing around had any formal evangelism, or mission, or witnessing training. Why? They didn’t need it. 

Why? They were eyewitnesses to the resurrected Jesus. No one else could tell their story with Jesus but them individually. No one can tell your story of your experience and relationship to Jesus Christ but you. Just like these 1^st century Christians, though not everyone might accept their message, no one could deny their experience and testimony of being with Jesus. What was true of them, is true for you also.

A church that is not doing this is not a New Testament church. It is not a Christian church. Of all the things Jesus could have said to His disciples, standing around Him before He ascended back into heaven, these were His final words above in Matthew 28:19-20. In other words, as you are going to work, make disciples. As you are going to school, make disciples. As you are going to the grocery store, make disciples. As you are going on vacation, make disciples. This command was not given just to pastors, because when Jesus said this, there were no pastors. This command was given to every believer in Jesus at that time, which means, you and me.

Jesus said, “Make disciples.” He didn’t say, “Try to make disciples, but make disciples.” Jesus didn’t say, “Give it your best shot to make disciples, but make disciples.” There is a difference in attempting something and actually doing it. As Christians, we have to decide are we personally going to be in the mission mode or a maintenance mode. By maintenance, we add to the church our children, grandchildren and etc. Enough to keep it going and leaving the doors open. If we truly believe people die and go to hell every second of every day, then, it is Jesus Christ’s opinion that states we must be in a mission mode. Let me share this illustration with you that I think realistically makes this point through an actual historical event:

Did you know there were two boats that responded to the Titanic when it was sinking? One boat, the Californian, was about 20 miles away. They turned off their radio about ten minutes before the Titanic hit the iceberg. They saw rockets and flares shoot off in the distance. They couldn’t figure out why another boat was shooting rockets and flares, but they didn’t turn on their radio, and they didn’t investigate. They saw the boat’s light turn off, but thought it was just turning its light off for the night. The crew of the Californian were so in maintenance-mode with what they were already doing, they couldn’t imagine the Titanic sinking. For the rest of their lives the crew members of the Californian had to wrestle with why they didn’t go.

But there was another ship, the Carpathia. It was 58 miles away. But its radio was on, and when it got the call that the Titanic was sinking it powered up all its engines and headed straight for the Titanic, navigating around icebergs in the night. It ran full-power ahead for 3.5 hours. When the crew showed up at the scene of the disaster, many had already perished, but they saved 705 lives from the life boats” (Source: Adapted from William Hull, Strategic Preaching: The Role of the Pulpit in Pastoral Leadership (Chalice Press, 2006), pp 209-213; “RMS Carpathia,” Wikipedia (Accessed 9/14/21); “Stanley Lord,” Wikipedia (Accessed 9/14/21).

The California was on a maintenance mode and hundreds of lives died. The Carpathia was on a mission mode and saved 705 lives. 

Questions To Consider

1. What are some Bible verses or quotes from Jesus or others in the Bible that have stuck with you? Why have these stuck with you and what has been the impact of them on you?
2. Are you committed to making disciples? Why or why not?
3. Would Jesus Christ say you are in a maintenance mode with your faith or a mission mode with your faith? Why?

Scripture To Meditate One: Mark 16:15-16, Jesus said, “And then He told them, `Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone. (16) Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned’” (NLT).

Prayer to Pray: “Dear Jesus, I really do not want anyone to die and go to hell. I do not want to be in a maintenance mode, but a mission mode. I have the best news in the world to share. I am not the same person due to You and want others to know that. Please give the gratitude for all You have done for me take a step of faith and share that with others. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”

I love you Southside!—Pastor Kelly