Countdown - Inertia

 

Countdown – Go

Today’s countdown moment is physics, inertia, to be precise.

A body at rest tends to remain at rest. A body in motion continues to remain in motion.

Why is this important?

The first word in our commission is GO.

Jesus tied the commission to the authority he had been given—all authority.  That’s a bunch of authority.

He said, therefore, GO.

We are told to go. We have been sent. We take good news to the world.

My very first sermon to this body was on the Great Commission, delivered in 1999 in the old church building.

We had not been in town very long, but Jim was headed out for Sunday, and he asked me to preach. When Sunday came, Jim was still there. His plans had changed or that was his story.

I think that Jim was worried to turn a crusty old Leatherneck loose in the pulpit.

In the course of preparing that message, I looked up the definition of the word “GO.”  Yes, it was the 90s, and I used a dictionary. There were 81 words and phrases used to describe this very short word.

Then at the end, there was a single antonym:  to remain.

To remain, sit still, do nothing, not be moved, you can continue the list.

We are either moving—going into the world—or the next pastor needs to be a hospice chaplain. There is no fence-sitting in this inertia business.

Let’s make the word GO trend among Christians as we take the good news into the world.