“… All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.   Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” – Matthew 28:18-28

“Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.” – John 20:21

Peace settles things.  It allows right order and relationship and brings vision into focus.  It is absolute well being and it is the gift of the Risen Christ. 

His peace does not merely calm the soul; it enlivens the spirit and prepares us for a calling.  In our vision of the resurrected Lord, is a clear and compelling message from God: As the Father sent Jesus into the world, so Jesus is sending us.  He came as a servant, we have been sent to serve. 

He came in the power of the Holy Spirit, we go forth in that same power.  He came to do great works, we have been sent to do greater works because He indwells us.  He came to die, we die to self that we may live to Him. 

This commission is neither symbolic nor optional.  It is not an addition to His promise of peace, it a result of it and reason for it.  It cannot be realized by proxy.  We have been commissioned. 

We are sent.

It is not a matter of preference. We are subject to God’s call.

When Jesus declares all authority in Heaven and earth, that is our signal to submit. Our only options are false and presumptuous.

His desire is for a great company of reproducing disciples who will follow Him in obedience and teach others to do the same. His promise of abiding presence is the means by which all that He desires will be accomplished.

The act of going is built into the equation, but the new element is that all of our comings and goings through life are now purposeful. Everything we do is with new purpose and significance and a new awareness that He is always with us, even to the end of time.