Commissioned

Nearly two weeks ago Time to Revive commissioned 16 missionaries into the "field" from several states. These missionaries traveled from their homes in Indiana, Ohio, Minnesota, and Texas to spend three days training and then on the fourth day we commissioned them from Dallas Bible Church. As I was in the church service I began to ponder on the word “commission” and what it meant; I wondered if there were some common attributes you could apply to a commission and if there were events in our lives where we are commissioned but may not even realize it. 

I needed to find out what the word actually meant. If you’re like me, you would know the word and know what it generally means in context but, if you’re like me, you couldn’t define it.

The english word commission comes from the latin root of commissio (I guess we just added an ’n’) which means “to entrust.” As a noun the definition is 'an instruction, command, or duty given to a person or group of people’ while as a verb the definition is 'order or authorize (a person or organization) to do or produce something.’ 

Okay, I have absolutely been entrusted to something and been given a command. So I guess I have been commissioned.

What does scripture have to say? Oh yes, The Great Commission! That's a softball. We'll get to that one.

There are examples in scripture of commission and they don’t even have a section heading in the Bible. For example, Jesus was commissioned. We know this through his prayer to the Father in John 17:4. He says “I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do”. God, the Father, sent Jesus here on earth to bring a fallen world back into community with the Father. He came here to fulfill the law. He came here to once and for all provide an remedy to eternal death by absorbing the punishment due to us from our sin. 

So, Jesus was commissioned by the Father. Jesus himself also commissioned. In Matthew 10, Mark 6, and Luke 9 the Gospel writers document when Jesus trained his 12 disciples how to go out to the lost and find them. He gave them the authority (entrust) over unclean spirits, and to heal every sickness and affliction. Basically, to find people and point them back to the Father (God) through His Son (Jesus) by demonstrating the power of Jesus.

Then there’s the Great Commission - as our Bibles have so called it by the heading that often appears over the collection of verses found starting in Matthew 28:18. Its not only there, though. We see parts of this commission in every Gospel. Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:15-18, Luke 24:45-49, and John 20:21-23. We even seen a final parting instruction from Jesus in Acts 1:8. Go and make disciples. Go and be my witness. Go and demonstrate the my power and might.

Obviously our move to Texas was a part of us fulfilling a part in the Great Commission. We help believers do this every day in cities all over the US and beyond. Erica and I share our faith with our neighbors, with people walking the street in our community and in cities where we travel. We have been commissioned by Jesus and are do our best to be faithful to that call.

The Great Commission is found nearly two-thirds of the way through the Bible, though. It lead me to want to find earlier examples of commissioning. Well, I did. Its sometimes referred to as the First Commission. The first time God entrusts something to someone else.

Genesis 1:28 says “And God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”” So God says be fruitful and multiply…

Well, here’s what I know. Erica and I have been faithful to the Great Commission - making disciples. We were faithful to the First Commission - we had Nicole. We are excited that we are returning to the First Commission again and having another baby! Our due date is April 7th. We have not decided if we will find out if its a boy or girl. Nicole has yet to grasp that she will be a big sister but we expect that she will soon. 

Thank you for praying for us. Please keep us in your prayers. 

Shawn and Erica