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Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:16-20
In parts one and two of this series on understanding the Great Commission, I started with the fact that just about all of us have heard the term, “THE GREAT COMMISSION.” It has to do with a direct commandment from Jesus to “go and make disciples.” Clearly, Jesus had something in mind when He spoke these words, and clearly His disciples knew what He meant by them. The question is, do we understand what He meant? And can we do what the early Church did in fulfilling it?
When we look at the early church we see boldness, clarity, and power. We see a dynamic faith that impacts individuals, communities, and nations. We see a Gospel that transforms, and we long for that same power and presence in and through our churches today. They were dealing with a lost pre-Christian culture where the Gospel was unknown. We are dealing with a lost post-Christian culture where the Gospel is often unknown.
In trying to preach an unknown Gospel, what did the early church do, and how did they understand the Great Commission?
As we look at the biblical account, we can quickly identify four major components:
1. DISCIPLESHIP
2. EVANGELISM
3. HEALING
4. CASTING OUT DEMONS
We have already looked at the first two major components listed above for us to recapture and actually “do” the Great Commission for the sake of the lost in our times. In this article, we will look at the third and fourth major components: healing and casting out the demonic, both of which go hand in hand.
Healing The Sick
One of the difficult sayings of Jesus was, “Heal the sick”. He did not say, PRAY for the sick. There was a definitive expectation of God’s power to heal and His coming Kingdom. We know that healing is not absolute; it’s always up to God. However, what we see today is so much different from the early Church. Most of us don’t expect that power to come; we don’t see healings take place or expect that they will. We may have healing prayer teams in many of our churches, which is wonderful, but it’s often considered a ministry that’s “off to the side for people who are kind of into that charismatic stuff.” This is not the normative expectation that existed in the early church.
Many of us despair over the fact that the current culture has largely rejected truth claims as absolute. In a culture where truth is seen as relative, it’s often hard to do evangelism simply by telling people about Jesus. People want experience. How much more powerful is it to demonstrate the Gospel through healing, which can break through people’s preconceived ideas?
As a church, we should pray for greater expectation for healing before we begin to pray for healing. Our faith must grow! As we grow in faith and begin to pray, we should develop a healthy theology of healing to avoid abuses. We must continue to live our lives in the world with credibility, to be known as people of faith by those around us. The local church is the hope of the world, where local people need to experience the humble and heartfelt ministry of healing by people of humble and heartfelt faith. It must become a normal part of being born again and living in the Kingdom of God! May we embrace and make normal the healing ministry of the Gospel consistent with the record of the early Church, and may we learn again to minister in power to actually heal the sick.
Casting Out Demons
Mark 1:24-26 is the record of Jesus’ first public ministry in a synagogue in Capernaum. While Jesus was teaching with authority, a demon manifested itself and said, “What do we have to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who You are – the Holy One of God!” Jesus rebuked the spirit, saying, “Be quiet and come out of him!” The scripture describes the spirit throwing the man into convulsions and screaming as it came out.
There are several things to note in this dramatic passage. First, demons afflict people. This is a man “with an unclean spirit”. In the biblical worldview there was no doubt that spirits exist, including evil ones. In our modern Western world, this is constantly in doubt. While other cultures around the world currently embrace this spiritual reality, the cultures that rely on science to explain their worldview reject it. We must think through this and deal with it as we go out to minister to sick and oppressed people. Second, the demonic knows and recognizes Jesus as the Holy One and as the one who has come to destroy them. This brings us hope as we go in the name of Jesus to bring restoration to many who may come to us for help. Nothing is too strong for Jesus to handle! This brings us to the third important point of the passage: Jesus has the authority to cast out demons.
The public ministry of Jesus exposes and reveals the operation of Satan and the forces of evil in the world. Jesus identifies Satan and the demonic as the source of:
• disease (Luke 13:16)
• mental illness (Mark 5:1-15)
• demonic possession (Matthew 8:28–34)
• spiritual blindness (II Corinthians 4:4).
In fact, in John 10:9, Jesus calls Satan a thief and one who comes only to “kill, steal and destroy.” He is called the father of lies, the adversary, the accuser of the brethren, and the source of all that is in rebellion and opposition to God. In Acts 10:38, Peter declares, “You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the Devil; for God was with Him.”
This was the main mission of Christ. He came to put an end to the Devil’s misery. And while physical diseases may not be directly caused by evil spirits all the time, the two worlds of sickness and the demonic are closely linked; they are both results of the reign of the Devil in this world. That’s why healing ministry and deliverance ministry often go hand in hand. But the good news is that just as Jesus defeated Satan at every level and cast out the hold that he and his demons had over humanity, we get to walk in that same spirit as His body on earth. He gave the same authority and power to His church and to each of us, in all our various giftings, to bit by bit dismantle the Kingdom of Satan, one lost soul at a time. Jesus expects us to minister freedom and deliverance in His name, and He gives us the power to do that.
These last two major components of the Great Commission are perhaps somewhat unnerving to many in the Church. Through Pentecostalism, the charismatic movement, the rise and fall of many leaders in those movements and abuses that arose from them, there is a lot of baggage with the terms “healing” and “deliverance”. Nevertheless, an honest reading of the Bible clearly communicates these are to be normative in the Kingdom of God as it breaks out into the world.
Note: I wanted to touch upon these topics here, but there isn’t enough room to go into the details of how each can be properly sought and pursued in the church, especially in the Anglican way! At Anglican Revitalization Ministries, our ministry and teaching weekend called Renew touches on how to embrace the power of the Holy Spirit in a biblical way that leads to healing, health, and personal renewal. If you and your church would like training and equipping in these areas, please reach out to us to learn about the resources we’ve developed through Renew. You can email the Rev. Clancy Nixon, Director of Renew, at cnixon@americananglican.org or schedule a call with me by going to www.churchrevive.org and clicking on “Schedule a Call”. I’ve also included a link to our free teaching series Fire in the Fireplace, which covers all these topics from an Anglican perspective.
