Great Commission Report - Dec. 2024

Remembering who we were, who we are, and whose we are!

By Dr. Se J. Won 

Christmas is a good time to reflect and remember our Lord Jesus, whose birthday we celebrate. As we do this, we should ask some hard questions with lasting consequences.  Who do we please?  And, Who do we fear?  At first, it may seem like these questions don’t have much to do with Christmas, but in reality, it sets everything we do or not do in motion. These questions are important because they are the mode of operation in our lives! The two questions are the two sides of the same coin.

Both questions have significant implications! Depending on how you honestly answer the questions, you will be tempted to desire men's applause rather than God's pleasure. You will want to be accepted by men and the people around you. You will love the idea of people celebrating you and giving you praise. But these desires will make you fear them – wondering if they approve of you or continue to like you. ‘People Pleasing or Fear of Men’ will enslave you and hinder you from doing what God wants you to do. Your emotions will fluctuate based on people’s reactions to you. Most critically, you will be unable to make hard or right choices because you will fear how such decisions may affect your relationship or position with others.

Both questions are ultimately all about YOU! Your underlying motivation is self-preservation, self-protection, self-promotion, self-presentation, or self-perpetuation. You will move and sway to advance what you are trying to do or how you want people to think of you. It is about your agenda, your welfare, your resources, your title, or your position.

In Acts 14:8-19, Paul and Barnabas went to Lystra and Derbe and healed a man who was lame from birth. Then the people started shouting, “The gods have come down to us in human form!” Often, you don’t have to choose to promote yourself because people will do that for you. But before long, you may like what you hear. But Paul and Barnabas quickly corrected and humbled themselves by tearing their clothes, saying, “Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them.” (v. 15)

They told the people three things we need to remind ourselves this Christmas: Who they were! Who they are! And Whose they are!  They said, ‘We too are only men’ – sinners saved by Grace in Jesus. They said, ‘We are [messengers] bringing you good news.’ Then they clarified that they were the messengers of 'the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them.’

It would be good to remember that praise of men can quickly turn to persecution.  A few verses down the chapter reads, “Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city….” (v. 19).  The same people who praised Paul and Barnabas now were on the opposite side to take them outside the city to stone them. The moral of the story is that ‘Praise of Men can quickly become Persecution from Men!’

This Christmas, let us reflect and rededicate our hearts to the Lord Jesus and find comfort, hope, peace, and joy in Who we were, Who we are, and Whose we are in Him. We are redeemed messengers of God to tell the world about the good news we have in Jesus!

Every qualified GCA church is asked on a rotating basis to send a representative to serve on the GCA Executive Board, as noted on the rotation schedule you may find on the 2nd page of the 2024 Book of Reports. If your church received an email or letter last month, inviting your church to be represented on the Executive Board, please mail the response postcard back or email office@gcasbc.org by Dec. 31st. (Sooner is better!) Eligibility requirements apply and are listed in the letter.