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Sent with Purpose

“Shout and be glad, Daughter Zion. For I am coming, and I will live among you,” declares the Lord. 11 “Many nations will be joined with the Lord in that day and will become my people. I will live among you and you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you.” — Zechariah 2:10-11 NIV

I find this to be one of the most astounding Old Testament prophecies about not only the coming Messiah, but the nature of God. Did you catch it? The Lord is sending the Lord. Read it again. Who promises twice to come and live among us? The Lord. And who is sending the Lord to live among us? The Lord Almighty. The Lord sends the Lord — the Father sends the Son — in perfect unity and with glorious purpose: to gather us from the nations and join us to Himself as His own people. And so He has. It is finished.

We often think of eternal Son’s incarnation from our own perspective — our need, our relief, and our gratitude. Today, let’s view His coming through the lenses of the Father who sent the Son and the purposes for which He sent Him.

Sent to deliver us from darkness into light. “And Jesus cried out and said . . . ‘whoever sees me sees him who sent me. I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.’”1

Sent to spread good news. Jesus said, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God . . . for I was sent for this purpose.”2

Sent to save the world. “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”3

Sent to give us eternal life. “God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.”4

Sent to make us His own again. “God sent forth his Son . . .  to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”5

Sent to deliver us from evil. “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.”6

Sent to glorify the Father. Jesus prayed: “I glorified you [Father] on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.”7

Sent to send us. Jesus said, “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”8

So now we go: listening, praying; trusting, obeying. This is His plan for us; He sends us with purpose, His purpose.

Father, thank You for sending Jesus to fulfill Your plan. Be glorified in Your church, and fill us with Your Spirit, that we would be equipped for the divine plans You have for us. Send us. In Christ we pray. Amen.

1 John 12:44-46 ESV
2 Luke 4:43 ESV
3 John 3:17 ESV
4 1 John 4:9 ESV
5 Galatians 4:4-5 ESV
6 1 John 3:8 ESV
7 John 7:4 ESV
8 John 20:21 ESV

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“Where Did This Man Get This Wisdom?”

True story. The crowds were abuzz over Jesus’ teaching and His works. “Surely this man is the Prophet,”1 some said. “He is the Messiah,”2 countered others. Either way, the chief priests and the Pharisees had had enough: Send the temple guards to arrest the man. Sometime later — perhaps days — these enforcers returned to their leaders emptyhanded! Let’s listen in.
Pharisees: “Why didn’t you bring him in?”3
Temple guards: “No one ever spoke the way this man does!” 4
Hysterical! And ironic, for it was not scholars and leaders who recognized otherworldly wisdom when they heard it, but the gatekeepers, “the muscle.”

Wherever He went, Jesus amazed the gathered crowds: “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works?”5 A great question, wisely asked. “By [the Son] all things were created,”6 says Paul, and Solomon reveals the manner in which He did so: “By wisdom the Lord laid the earth’s foundations, by understanding he set the heavens in place.”7 So the Father’s Son possessed wisdom since before the beginning of time; in fact, it is His nature — “in [Christ] are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”8 Moreover, Isaiah foretold the Messianic incarnation in like terms: “The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.”9 No wonder Jesus’ teachings — divine truth, every word — resonated so deeply among the people. No wonder they stir in us still today!

There is, by contrast, a glut of faux wisdom in the world — baseless, Christless, worthless. It tickles our ears but blinds our eyes. Laments Jeremiah of its purveyors, “Since they have rejected the word of the Lord, what kind of wisdom do they have?”10 And Paul warns us, “the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight.”11 Human wisdom, according to James, is “earthly, unspiritual, demonic.”12 (How sobering! Be careful!) The apostle continues, “But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.”13 All of this because it is true.

Resisting the evil one’s temptation, Jesus spoke Scripture: “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”14 May we also live entirely on God’s Word, for it is wisdom, and He is true.

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”15 — Jesus

Father, please fill us with Your wisdom, and lead us in the truth; your word is truth16. In Christ we pray. Amen.

1 John 7:40 NIV
2 John 7:41 NIV
3 John 7:45 NIV
4 John 7:46 NIV
5 Matthew 13:54 ESV
6 Colossians 1:16 ESV
7 Proverbs 3:19 NIV
8 Colossians 2:3 ESV
9 Isaiah 11:2 ESV
10 Jeremiah 8:9 NIV
11 1 Corinthians 3:19 NIV
12 James 3:15 ESV
13 James 3:17 ESV
14 Matthew 4:4 NIV (see also Deuteronomy 8:3)
15 Matthew 7:24 ESV
16 John 17:17 ESV

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“Who Gave You This Authority?”

My boss, Don, stopped in one afternoon and said, “Bob wants to see us in his office.” Being summoned by the President was not routine, but seeing no signs of concern in Don’s face, I donned my suitcoat and we strolled together into C-Suite terrain. Bob wasted no time: “Paul, we’re promoting Don to Vice President, and we’re making you an AVP over commercial lines [business insurance].” Smiles and handshakes all around. “I accept!” As we turned to leave, Bob asked me to stay behind. “Paul, I want you to know that, from now on, your voice is 10 times louder.” I knew exactly what he meant: Your words and actions now carry greater authority; choose them carefully.

Underlying Jesus’ words and deeds was the matter of authority: the people were amazed at it and the Jewish leaders were threatened by it. “By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority to do them?”1 demanded the chief priests and their posse. Indeed, the incarnate One’s authority was given — “All things have been handed over to me by my Father,”2 Jesus once declared. Yet His authority was also innate as the Son of God, “For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities . . .”3

Then let’s glimpse the eternal authority of the Son and its expression among us.

Truth. “The people were amazed at [Jesus’] teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law.”4
Life. Jesus prayed to the Father, “You have given [the Son] authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.”5
Forgiveness. Jesus proclaimed, “That you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic—“Rise, pick up your bed and go home.”6
Healing. [The paralytic] rose and went home. When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men.7
Evil. “[The people] were all amazed . . . saying, ‘What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.’”8
All things. “God has put all things in subjection under [Jesus’] feet.”9

The Son, in turn, authorizes us. “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, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”10

Our words and actions carry great authority; choose them confidently.

Father, You have given Your Son all rule and authority, and filled us in Him.11 Send Your Spirit to guide us in His will and power. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

1 Mark 11:28 ESV
2 Matthew 11:27 ESV
3 Colossians 1:16 ESV
4 Mark 1:22 ESV
5 John 17:2 ESV
6 Matthew 9:6 ESV
7 Matthew 9:7-8 ESV
8 Mark 1:27 ESV
9 1 Corinthians 15:27-28 ESV
10 Matthew 28:18-20 ESV
11 Colossians 2:10 ESV