As The Father Has Sent Me

VERSE OF THE DAY: ~John 20:21-23 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”  And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.  If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

Naturally, the first question I have is; “For what purpose did the Father send Jesus into the world? Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians, encourages believers that we are created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. (Eph 2:10) The second question I ask is; Could this statement from Christ “…I also send you” be in any way connected to His other grand promise… “The works that I do he who believes in Me will do also and greater works than these will he do because I go to My Father”? (Jn14:12) Today we will only have time to answer the first question in part because the idea of why Christ was sent into the world is huge!

He came to seek and save that which was lost:

Luke 19:9-10 ~ And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham;  for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” My opinion of this statement is that Jesus came to restore a fallen people and a fallen world from the losses incurred when mankind turned away from God bringing the knowledge of evil into our world.

He came to take away our sins:

1 John 3:5 ~ And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin.” Jesus took away our iniquity that is the character defect that leads us to willful sin. If/when a person falls they can immediately confess and be forgiven. (1 Jn 1:9)

1 John 3:8 ~ He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. We are sent to destroy the works of the devil!

Christ came for reconciliation:

2 Corinthians 5:19-21 ~that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. I will pick up with this one in tomorrow’s devotion “We Are His Co-laboring Ambassadors”

We can’t get into all the reasons Christ came in one article. But those were a few from the Bible which also describe why Christ sends us…

PRAYER: “Thank You Jesus for entrusting us to do Your work until You return. Continue to empower us and give us wisdom and love to carry out Your great commission. Enlighten our hearts to understand Your word more thoroughly and thank You for giving us the grace to live it! For with men it is impossible but through You ALL things are possible In Jesus’ name, amen.”

VERSE FOR FEARLESS LIVING!  ~ Joshua 10:25 Then Joshua said to them, “Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed; be strong and of good courage, for thus the Lord will do to all your enemies against whom you fight.”