Famous Last Words
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Text: Matthew 28:18-20
It is interesting to study the last words that people spoke before they left this world. There are many things we can learn from them. There is even a book entitled, “Famous Last Words.”
A person’s last words sometimes reveal some deep philosophical insights that resulted from a lifetims of resilience.
For example, when Queen Elizabeth I was about to expire, her last words were: “All my possessions for a moment of time.”
Last words:
· Inspire us
· Challenge us
for following an exemplary life.
Some of the finest last words spoken by men have brought glory to God, like the words of James Wolfe, a godly British general, who was mortally wounded at the Battle of Quebec. He said, “Now God be praised, I will die in peace.”
There are some other last words I would like to focus on. The last words of Jesus Christ.
Matthew’s gospel is where we will be looking:
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.”
These words were spoken after Jesus had died on the cross, and had risen from the dead.
He said these words knowing that he would soon leave them for good because of his ascension into heaven.
Jesus met the disciples on top of a mountain in Galilee. He gave them those important words which we know as the Great Commission.
Matthew Henry called it, “the great charter of Christ’s kingdom in the world” through which He sent His disciples out as His ambassadors and gave them their credentials.
But the Great Commission was not meant only for those first disciples of Jesus.
The Great Commission defines the mission of the Church!
Believe it or not we are going into the Christmas season.
Don’t moan and groan.
This is a time when the church is poised to be heard more than any other time of the year.
It is a time for us as the church to get out there and tell others the good news about Jesus. There are many opportunities for us as the church to share, to love, and to invite at this season.
It is a time when the greatest gift that one could ever receive is ours to give and share.
Long before business corporations and organizations started having mission statements, Jesus already gave the Church this mission statement, and it hasn’t changed.
And therefore, it is meant to be our mission as well.
The questions we need to ask then are:
1. Are we fulfilling the Great Commission that Jesus gave to us?
2. And more importantly, how can we fulfil it?
Look again at our text. Consider this passage carefully. There are three things we will note here:
1. Be convinced in the full authority of Jesus
2. Be committed to follow the commands of Jesus
3. Be comforted by the faithful promises of Jesus
Prayer: Lord let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable to you.
Be Convinced of the Full Authority of Jesus
Be Convinced of the Full Authority of Jesus
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
The word ‘power’ here means authority.
Isn’t this something that is highly sought after by men in this world, especially by ambitious power-hungry men?
Many battles have been fought and are still being fought by men to gain power over people and to take control over nations.
But unlike them, Jesus never fought His way to the top.
He did not gain power by grabbing it from others, leading protest marches or forcing others into submission.
How did He gain it?
Submission – very differently than the world hey?
· Submitted Himself
· Died the most cruel death on the cross for sinners
· Obtained power by giving Himself completely
· Poured His life willingly to redeem all!
All power was placed into His hands – due to His Humility, obedience unto death, even death on the cross!
For this reason,
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Can you see now how all power in heaven and in earth is given to our Lord Jesus?
The turning point happened – at the moment when Jesus rose from the dead!
God’s redemptive plan is now made real.
From that moment onwards Jesus exercised full authority in all things:
· He alone has the right to rule over all things without exception,
· The right to judge all things without exception
· The right to require obedience and submission from all things without exception.
· The resurrected Christ rightly proclaims, “All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth.”
· But how does this all-encompassing authority of Jesus then become the basis of the Great Commission?
In at least three ways...
1. It is because of His authority that we are to go and teach all nations. Since we are Christ’s disciples we are under His authority. We receive our marching orders from Him, and so wherever He sends us, we must go without the least hesitation. To be reluctant to go or refuse to go is rebel against His authority.
We need to be reminded that Jesus wants you to deny self, take up your cross and follow Him faithfully.
I hope that you are convinced by now that Jesus must be your Lord and Master. And if He is truly your Lord, then you must obey His orders, and that includes His Great Commission.
2. It gives us maximum confidence that our efforts will not be in vain.
Since all things in heaven and earth are under His authority, nothing can stop His work from progressing.
His authority ensures that there will be adequate protection and timely provision for every work that He directs us to do.
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
3. The basis for the Great Commission.
His authority over all things requires people of all nations to become His disciples. It gives Him the right to be their Lord and master.
However, although He has the right to be their Lord and master, His Lordship is not yet established in their lives.
They must first hear the Gospel of salvation and receive Him as their own Saviour and Lord. Then, as they yield their wills to obey Him, His Lordship will be fully established in their lives.
Our role is therefore to go to them and make them His disciples. And that is the actual meaning of the word ‘teach’ in v.19. It means ‘to make disciples.’This leads us to consider the second thing we need in order to fulfil the Great Commission:
Be Committed to Follow the Commands of Jesus
Be Committed to Follow the Commands of Jesus
The main command in His commission is to go and make disciples of all nations.
The word ‘nations’ here refers to all the ethnic groups of the world, including Jews and Gentiles.
This would be extremely difficult for those first disciples of Christ because they were all Jews. To obey the Lord’s command, they would have to overcome their Jewish aversion of Gentiles.
From young they were taught that the Gentiles have no part in their covenant with God, and so they must have minimal contact with them – not even to share a meal with them.
Those first disciples of Jesus would feel most comfortable to make disciples of their own Jewish people. This was exactly what they did at first, as recorded in the first 7 chapters of the Acts of the Apostles.
Although they were making many disciples, their efforts were confined only to their own people. They were not following the Lord’s command to teach all nations!
So the Lord had to do something quite drastic to make them follow it.
He sent a very strong persecution to drive them out of their homeland and bring them into close contact with Gentiles.
This is described in Acts 8:1,4 –
And Saul approved of their killing him.
On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.
Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.
Some Jewish disciples, like Philip went to Samaria and brought the Gospel to the Samaritans. Other disciples brought the Gospel to Antioch
Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus.
where the first Gentile church was formed.
By the end of the book of Acts, the Gospel had reached the city of Rome. But with each new place where the Gospel went, new challenges were faced.
This is because of the different culture, customs and languages of the people there.
This is still true today.
Have you ever tried to share the Gospel with others?
It is hard to share what has happened in your life isn’t it?
We use Christianease – language that other Christians understand but someone who is not in that group doesn’t.
Hard to express the transformation – better felt that told.
Their context or culture can make it so difficult to share – what is important to you may not be that important to them and causes you to miss your mark.
Illustration:
Video – I have decided to follow Jesus https://youtu.be/S-h5yZighZU
Stop & Sing I have decided to follow Jesus!
Begin Part 2
The easiest people to evangelize are those who are just like you, because they speak your language, have the same background and lifestyle as you – e.g. Your own colleagues.
But when you attempt to reach someone of a different age group, or speaks a different language, you would have problems telling him the Gospel.
Then if you were to go a step further and reach out to someone who is even more different from you, e.g. a migrant worker from India, you will see that besides the language barrier, you have to overcome a cultural and social barrier as well.
This is the greatest challenge of fulfilling the Great Commission – How to reach others with different ethnical, social or cultural differences.
The barriers may take the form of language, traditions, concepts, habits and beliefs that make it difficult for us to communicate the Gospel to them.
Share about Dalhousie and Muslim Lady who asked about Pea Soup.
There is no way we can overcome these barriers unless we are willing to go out of our comfort zone.
To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.
Proclaiming the gospel to those who are different from us is much harder and a longer process but it is still indeed most worth it.
And those who give their lives fully to do this for those who are unreached with the Gospel are called missionaries or Global Workers.
The immense challenges of bringing the gospel to them, very few are willing to go. Missionaries also face other challenges, like dealing with loneliness, getting proper food and health care for themselves and their families, coping with a difficult life that has few of the comforts and conveniences that we are so used to. All these can easily discourage many from going to the mission field.
But since the Lord Jesus Christ has given the command for us to go and make disciples of all nations, shouldn’t we overcome these barriers and not be content to remain within our comfort zones?
Who then will go?
Will you go and make disciples of all nations?
We must pray that the Lord will raise up missionaries from our own midst.
But even if you are not called to serve as a missionary in a foreign country, you can still fulfill the Great Commission without having to leave our shores. There is a vast mission field right here.
So let us consider this: If we do our best to bring foreigners to Christ and make them His disciples while they are here, then after they have completed their contracts or studies they will bring the Gospel back to their homeland and will make disciples of their own countrymen.
But let us not think that we have done our part. We have not done enough! We still have a long, long way to go to fulfill the Great Commission of our Lord Jesus. There are untold millions who are still untold. So much work still needs to be done in making disciples of all nations both here and abroad.
What is keeping us from doing it?
The fields are white already to harvest.
What is it that prevents us from mobilizing all our resources to go out there and reap the Lord’s harvest?
The limiting factor is commitment.
Look around here in this sanctuary. How many are here today?
If every single one of us is totally committed to Christ, and committed enough to follow His commands to go out of our comfort zone in His strength, bring sinners to Him, make sure that they get baptized and that they are taught to obey all that He has commanded us, what do you think will happen?
The world will soon be turned upside down!
That’s the impact we can expect if there is no lack of commitment. I am not exaggerating. I am serious.
Do you want to know what basis I have for saying this?
It is the record in the book of Acts of how the disciples of the early church turned the world of their time upside down, even though they were so few in number and were faced with the most daunting challenges a church could ever face.
How did this happen?
There is no doubt that they were deeply committed to follow the commands that Christ had given them.
How about us?
Are we as committed as we ought to be?
In 1886, Dr John Pemberton, an American pharmacist, concocted a new non-alcoholic beverage in a three-legged brass kettle in his backyard in Atlanta, Georgia. Since its main ingredients were Coca leaves and Kola nuts it was named Coca-Cola. Today it dominates the world soft-drink market. Surveys have revealed that 97% of the world has heard of Coca-Cola, 72% of the world has seen a bottle or can of Coca-Cola and 51% of the world has tasted Coca-Cola. Today more than one billion drinks are consumed every day.
How did this happen?
Well, years ago, the Coca-Cola Company made a commitment that everyone on this planet would have a taste of their soft drink, and so they went all out to market it aggressively.
So if men can commit themselves to make a carbonated soft drink known to the world, can we not commit ourselves to make our wonderful Saviour known to the world?
If we are all as committed to Christ as we should be, if we have tasted the sweet blessedness of knowing Him as our Lord and Saviour, can we not make a commitment that everyone on this planet would be able to taste this blessedness that is found only in Him?
This evening let’s examine our commitment to Christ as given to us through the Great Commission.
The discipleship process is a cycle that keeps on going and growing more and more disciples of Christ.
Our church vision is for every one of us to be involved in this process. How good it would be if we can all be committed to make disciples through Salvation, Sanctification and Service.
But will we personally commit ourselves to do this?
Commitment is the key requirement to realizing this vision, and more importantly, to fulfill the Great Commission.
Let us be committed to follow the commands of our Lord Jesus Christ. And as we do this, let us also …
Be Comforted by the Faithful Promise of Jesus
Be Comforted by the Faithful Promise of Jesus
This is the 3rd thing we need to do in order to fulfill the Great Commission.
Jesus gave this faithful promise at the end of
Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
This promise has been permanently enshrined in the name Emmanuel, which means “God with us,” a name of great significance that Jesus was given at His birth
“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall call his name Immanuel”
(which means, God with us).
We will be reminded of this again when we celebrate Christmas. “Emmanuel: The Lord is with us!”
We need to have Lord Jesus with us, if we are to accomplish His Great Commission, for without Him we can do nothing
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
He is the One we must constantly rely on to provide all the wisdom and all the strength we need for His work of making disciples, and all the patience and joy we need to keep doing it faithfully.
As long as we have Jesus with us, we have nothing to fear. Though the path of service in which He leads us may be filled with the most distressing trials and awful difficulties, we have nothing to fear as long as our Lord Jesus is with us.
David Livingston was a world-renowned missionary by the time he returned to Scotland in 1896 to address the students at Glasgow University.
He had spent 16 years in the service of God in Africa. As he stood before those young men and women, the tremendous price exacted of Livingston was plain to see. He had suffered more than 27 illnesses, leaving his body ravaged. One arm hung useless at his side, the result of being mangled by a lion. The core of his message to those young people was: “Would you like me to tell you what supported me through all the years of exile among a people whose language I could not understand and whose attitude toward me was always uncertain and often hostile?
It was this, “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." On these words I staked everything, and they never failed.”
What Christ promised to His disciples on that mountain top 2,000 years ago was experienced by Livingstone in Africa.
The presence of God which Livingston experienced can be experienced by you today.
Remember, the Lord Jesus will be with you all the days of your life. Therefore, you are not alone!
He promised, “Lo I am with you always, even unto the very end to the world.” As this promise sustained David Livingston, it can also sustain you.
The question you need to answer now is this: Will you obey the Lord’s call to fulfill the Great Commission?
This evening we have seen three things that you need to do this:
(1) You must be convinced of the full authority of Jesus
(2) You must be committed to follow the commands of Jesus
(3) You must be comforted by the faithful promise of Jesus.
Sing I have decided to follow Jesus