The Great Commission
Announcements:
*See Steve Weissert for Special Music* Church Picnic Next Week!
Baptism and Child Dedication 09/02
Introduction:
*Tell about Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe Play*
Link: Today reading Jesus’ concluding statement. Occurred after His resurrection and before His return to heaven. What message does He choose to leave His church with?
Theme: The Great Commission (Know Your Part in God’s Plan)
Text: Matthew 28:16-20
*Read Matthew 28: 16-20*
These verses, found at the very end of the Gospel of Matthew, close the story of Jesus’ time on earth in the flesh with a declaration of victory and the giving of an enduring command and mission for His followers.
Jesus has succeeded in His mission on the earth. He endured the temptation of the adversary and remained pure and spotless. He actively obeyed God the Father in all things and revealed God to man. He showed us God’s love, mercy, grace. He also showed us God’s disapproval of sin. He showed us God’s unlimited power and authority. And while living a perfect life, He chose to become a sacrifice for sin so that we could have our relationship with God restored. After dying for sins, He resurrected back to life three days later.
And now the time is close for Jesus to return to heaven to sit at the right hand of His heavenly Father.
What statement will He leave His disciples with at the conclusion of this chapter?
- Jesus is the Most High. He is to be worshiped.
- The one with all authority in heaven and on earth has commanded us to go and make disciples.
I. Jesus is the Most High. He is to be worshiped.
Three things reveal this point. The first is how Jesus’ disciples react to Him and how He reacts in kind. We were created to worship God and sin entered into the world when we departed from worshipping God. Here, Jesus’ disciples worship Him. Neither God the Father nor Jesus have any problem with that. It is not sin to worship Jesus. In fact, when some of the disciples doubt whether they should be worshipping Him. Jesus reacts and clears up that doubt by saying “all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”
That statement also reveals that Jesus is the Most High and is to be worshipped: Jesus has divine and sovereign command. He is the Most High God. All authority belongs to Him. It is one of the mysteries of Christianity that God exists in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Worshipping Jesus is worshipping God and it is what we were created to do.
No stronger statement can be made about Jesus’ deity than what is found in these verses. His disciples worship Him. Jesus tells them “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, make disciples and baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
The third thing revealing Jesus is the Most High God and is to be worshipped is that people are to be baptized not just in the Father’s name, but also in the name of the Son. The Holy Spirit He has promised to send to indwell and instruct believers, and they are to be baptized in the name of the Holy Spirit as well.
Application: This news should be of great comfort and encouragement to us as we Follow God in a Fallen World – Jesus is victorious, Jesus has all authority, and Jesus is worthy of worship. And, those are not just some abstract concepts that have no practical relation to us: Jesus says that He is with us always, to the end of the age. Yes, Jesus has ascended into heaven. He is the Most High. He is to be worshipped. All authority is His. And yet, that does not make Him some distant figure like a president or a king would be. He is with us always. He is infinitely exalted, yet He is forever present.
So many of the difficult decisions that we sometimes have to make become a lot less difficult when we are mindful of these truths. It can be difficult when we are facing the temptation and deception of the enemy. It can be difficult to do the right thing when the world is following the wrong way.
But Jesus is with you always and Jesus is God. And He is with us to the end of the age. A lot of times we want to lament that things are not as they should be. In a lot of ways, it seems like the world is even less obedient to God than it used to be. And so we’re tempted to wonder: “Is Jesus still with us?” Yes. Jesus is still with you. He has promised to be with us even now. And there is no reason for the sovereign of the universe to lie to you. He is with you.
So when you are at work and you feel like you are the only light in a dark place: take heart, you are not alone. Jesus is with you. When you want to encourage and be positive and others just want to gossip and drag people down: take heart, you are not alone. Jesus is with you.
*Tell of time on bus in China and sober and lonely reflection* – Maybe
Link: And if you’ve ever wondered about why you are here and what your purpose is and how you can find fulfillment Following God in a Fallen World: these verses will help to answer that question and provide purpose. Because Jesus has given us a mission. Here we are given a major purpose in this world.
II. The one with all authority in heaven and on earth has commanded us to go and make disciples.
Probably the best way to put “discipleship” into today’s terms is to become a follower of someone. Or maybe that’s not the best way since discipleship is nothing like following someone on Instagram or twitter!
Becoming a disciple means you seek to be like the person you are a disciple of. You try to act like them, think like them, believe like them, and obey them. You follow them around and seek to be like them.
A lot of times these verses are used to promote sharing the Gospel with other people. That’s good! They certainly do support that! But making disciples involves more than sharing the Gospel with others. Evangelism is the baseline of that. Evangelism happens before discipleship. Discipleship needs evangelism to work.
Discipleship implies evangelism, because nobody is going to try to be like Jesus, think like Jesus, walk like Jesus, and obey Jesus who doesn’t believe in Jesus. Discipleship implies that someone has chosen to trust in Jesus as their Savior, and now they want to become followers of Him.
So, we are to be sharing Jesus with other people, most especially the truth that Jesus is the Savior of the world and that through faith in Him we can be made right with God and receive new life. But it doesn’t stop there. We are to teach other people to observe the commandments of Jesus.
Now, let me talk a bit about how this relates to Following God in a Fallen World.
As we’ve said before, we were designed to obey and worship God. In the beginning, all created things served this purpose and the universe was glad and content with their relationship with God and the gifts that He gave.
But Satan corrupted this purpose by turning away from God centeredness and into self-centeredness. And unfortunately for us, he succeeded in leading us into sin too.
But God was not ignorant of the devil’s schemes and He has accomplished a plan by which we can all be saved. All those trusting in the Lamb who was slain are born again and start to grow as worshippers of God once again. One day, God will complete this good work that He has begun in us. That will happen when we get to heaven. And when we get to heaven, we will once again be sinless creatures who are glad and content with their relationship with God and the gifts that He gives. We’ll forever sing of the gracious gift of salvation and of God’s eternal kindness towards us.
Salvation begins a process by which we once again grow in obedience and worship. So in this command that God has given to us to go and make disciples, we are joining God on His mission to save sinners. We are helping introduce people to truth so that they can be born again and begin to be renewed in their purpose as worshipers of God.
And what that means on the other side of the equation is that Satan really doesn’t like it when you share the Gospel with other people, or when you try to help people to observe the commands of Jesus.
Satan’s agenda is not to create as much murder and mayhem as he can. That is a fruit of his agenda. His agenda is to turn people from God and to advance his own self-centered purposes. So, he will do whatever he can to try to stop you from going and making disciples of all nations.
Because this is the key issue: one’s relationship to God. When a person is in a relationship with God they start to grow in holiness. And they are protected eternally by God and ensured that, no matter what comes, even through different sins and mistakes that they make, God will preserve them and save them to the uttermost. When a person trusts in Christ, Satan has lost that person. He is no longer their father. God is their father.
He can successfully distract God’s children, discourage them, tempt them, lie to them. He can lead a child of God into sin that compromises their testimony. He can hinder their peace. He can do a lot of things. But several things he cannot do. He cannot undo the work of Christ which has payed the penalty for all of your sins. He cannot cause God to disown you. He cannot enslave you to sin again.
So he really hates it when the Gospel is shared. And he hates it when disciples are made. And he hates it when people are baptized. And he hates it when people are instructed to observe Jesus’ commandments. But what he hates most of all is the Gospel. Because when someone trusts in the Gospel, that is when he has to take his hands off of that person and he will never get them back.
So it ought not to surprise us that it is going and making disciples of all nations that Jesus commands us to do at the close of His time on earth. It is the most eternally significant thing we can do. And it is what we are most likely to face resistance to as we try to do.
For the majority of Christians, these verses are the hardest ones to put into practice. That ought not to surprise you that it is difficult. If a person trusting in Christ means that God becomes their Father forever, then of course we will face a lot of opposition as we try to obey this commandment.
What is one of the hardest parts of Following God in a Fallen World? Sharing the Gospel. Why is that? Now we know.
Very often, when we think about sharing Jesus with someone else, questions like these begin to pop up:
“What if they get mad?” “What if it hurts our friendship?” “What if it’s awkward?” “What if I don’t have all the answers?” “What if I’m made fun of?” “What if they put it on YouTube?”
And all kinds of excuses:
“I’ll wait for another day.” “They are doing fine as it is.” “It’s not my responsibility.”
And unfortunately, it is not just our imagination. Sharing the Gospel can result in people getting mad at you, making fun of you, etc. Why is there so often so much hostility to the Gospel? Satan hates it.
Let me just say, that since we know that Satan’s primary ways of fighting against you are through deception and temptation. And since we know that Satan’s ultimate defeat comes because of the Gospel. Let me just say that you need to be extremely skeptical of those excuses and questions that pop up when you think about talking about Jesus with someone.
Do not allow yourself to be deceived or tempted away from this responsibility. God has you Following Him in a Fallen World to be salt and light, and sharing Jesus with other people is a major part of that.
So when you begin to doubt the appropriateness of the mission God has given to you. When you begin to feel unsure or lack confidence or to fear. When an objection comes into your mind in some way. Think on these words of Jesus *Read Matthew 28:18-20*
And now, compare your hang-up “what if it’s awkward?” to what Jesus has said “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go and do it. And I am with you always.” Which argument wins? I’ll go with Jesus on this one.
Conclusion:
- Jesus is the Most High. He is to be worshiped.
- The one with all authority in heaven and on earth has commanded us to go and make disciples.
*Closing Prayer*