Pastor Joynt's Devotionals

Your Church, God's World - Day 31

MATTHEW 5:13-14 | You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot. You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid.

Do you see a gap between Jesus’ worldwide vision and the capabilities of his little band of followers? Right from the start, this discrepancy did not seem to bother him. In his sermon the Mount, way back at the start of his ministry, he was already identifying his disciples as the salt of the entire earth and the light of the whole cosmos!

Not the salt of Galilee or Palestine or the Mediterranean area. Not the light of Jerusalem or the Middle East. Wow. And yet, as I write today, the Bible has been translated into 2642 languages! In 1920, there were 600 million Christians. In 2010, 2.3 billion! There are believers in every country in the world.

Have you ever worshipped in a different country?

What sort of experience did you have?

Your Church, God's World - Day 30

MATTHEW 28:16-20 | Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 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 nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Jesus insisted, despite the odds, that his smaller band of disciples would have a worldwide impact. In the great commissioning, at the end of Matthew’s gospel, the Risen Jesus commands his followers to make disciples of all nationals, all peoples. He claims to have authority that spans, literally, heaven and earth. They will go as representatives of a cosmic king and are expected to spread his allegiance across every boundary of geography, culture, language, and race.

Take a moment to ponder the sheer scale and complexity of this endeavor.

Do you think of Jesus’ authority in these terms?