Series “GOVEMBER” – Sermon: “The Mandate”

Impact Church London Podcast

Sermon Notes – The Mandate
Nov. 13th, 2022
Impact Church London

Recap: The Method — Tree climbers are all around you! Be Aware – Share – Prayer – Care. Tree climbers are looking to see Jesus!

Intro : The Mandate

“An official order or Commission to do something.”

Matthew 28:18-19 (NIV)
“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

This Great Commission is the restoration of the original Commission given to humanity.

Genesis 1:26-28 (NIV)
“Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” 27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. 28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

They failed! But “when they fell they didn’t loose a religion, they lost their place as rulers “ (Ps. Karl).

Now instead of ruling and reigning, because of the guilt, shame, and destruction of sin humanity became subservient to the very things we were supposed to rule.

The authority humanity had, by coming under the lie of the devil and exchanging God’s truths for his lies, that authority was lost and given to the devil.

Luke 4:6-8 (NIV)
“And he said to him, ‘I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. If you worship me, it will all be yours.’ Jesus answered, ‘It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”

Adam and Eve lost dominion because the image of God in them was marred, they lost authority to rule because they gave it away, and they lost their confidence and standing before God because of their sin. They didn’t lose his love. He set about to restore them, but they did lose their spiritual and eventually their physical lives as well. Death came by sin!

Jesus came as a human to restore what humanity had lost.

Matthew 9:6-8
“‘But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.’ …’Get up, take your mat and go home.’ …When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to man.”

John 5:27
“And He has given Him authority and granted Him power to execute (exercise, practice) judgment because He is a Son of man [very man].”

Hebrews 2:14-15 (NKJV)
“Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”

This is where the great commission comes back into play. Because Jesus freed us from being dominated by devil and death, sin and curse, and has restored to humanity that authority we gave away, that is now the basis for the new commission, reconnecting us to the original commission.

Matthew 28:18-19
“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
This commission to teach people to obey all that he has commanded is not a call to institute a religion but to align ourselves with the wisdom and values, and light and life of God in Christ Jesus in all its manifold expressions.

Ephesians 3:10-11 (NKJV)
“…that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, 11 according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord,”

Habakkuk 2:14
“For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.”

That’s not just filled in terms of geography, that’s filled in terms of there is no place or space, area or department where your life and being does not know the glory of God.

Dominion, rule, and the wisdom of God is not contained and expressed through rules, regulations, and a new religion. It is expressed in a new life. Fallen humanity doesn’t have the capacity to rule, only Christ does. Fallen humanity is still enslaved to evil, dominated by its power, captive to the devil, bound by curse and sin.

Ephesians 2:1-3
“And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.”

To be free from trespasses and sin, the course of this world, the power of the prince of the air, to begin to be able to manifest the wisdom of God in our lives and release his glory in every area of who we are and what we do, we must first be made alive.

We must, through the realities presented in baptism, understand ourselves to have died with Christ, our old selves buried, and be raised up into new life with Christ. Only that resurrected life is capable of manifesting the wisdom of God, and walking in the authority of God to make his rule known again in all the earth. You must be born again!

Luke 14:26-27 (NIV)
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. 27 And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.”

Hate your own life? Hate = miseó: (μισέω) It is a measurement word and a comparison word. It means “to detest (on a comparative basis); hence, denounce; to love someone or something less than someone (something) else, i.e. to renounce one choice in favour of another.”

Why hate your own life (psuché) in favour of embracing his (zóé) divine life?

There is no way to be a disciple, and no other way to make disciples.

That is why the mandate goes beyond the power of positive thinking and psychology and it is engaged in the realm of spiritual power.

Romans 12:1-2 (NKJV)
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Brian Simmons on Metanoia:
The Greek word for “repent” is metanoia and means more than simply changing one’s mind. It means “to take another mind.” Every believer needs to turn from his or her error and take “another mind,” the mind of Christ.

This is why education and a better way of doing things is not the answer, and why politics and religion are both so inadequate. The mandate is not to educate or create legislation.

One of the greatest delusions in the world is the hope that the evils in this world are to be cured by legislation. Thomas Brackett Reid

Our mandate is teach people to observe all that God commanded, to bring lives back to the obedience of faith that by living again in ways that express God’s nature and wisdom in every area of human experience, we might fill this earth and our lives with the knowledge of his glory and make his manifold wisdom known.

How does this relate to GOVEMBER?

GOVEMBER – The Mandate

Two fold mandate as seen in Genesis 1 and Matthew 28

To have domain and to rule. Religious humanity can’t do that, but neither can humanity disconnected from the Life and Wisdom of God in Christ. This is about Christ’s domain, life, and wisdom working in you and making you a witness.

Acts 1:8 (NKJV)
“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

To multiply and fill the earth…. To reproduce according to kind. Not religious people obsessed with rules, but people who happily embrace the wisdom of God for our lives, who willing embrace the king’s domain, people who have embraced his authority and life and can lead others to that same experience, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost… and all that means.

GOVEMBER… go into all the world and make disciples of all people!