The Great Commission

The Great Commission

Matthew 28:16-20

Imagine for a moment you bought tickets to a lion’s game. You drove through traffic down to Ford field. You paid for parking, and you went into the stadium and found your seats. You’re anticipating the game. The players took the field,, and They get in the huddle to call the play, but then something amazing happens, they never break the huddle. In fact, they stay huddled up the entire game; they never run a play. How incredibly disappointed Would you be?

I can’t help but wonder what God thinks as He watches the church. Because we huddle up every weekend, but we hardly ever run the plays.

If you took a survey of why people go to church, you would get a variety of answers. Some people would say they go to be encouraged by God. Others would say they go to be fed God’s Word. Still others would say fellowship is what is important to them, and they go to be with God’s people. And all those things are important, but notice they are all based on what we receive and not on what we are called to do?

The mission of the church is to share Jesus Christ with the world. We come together to call the plays, we get energized through worship, the Word, and fellowship, but it’s not supposed to end there. We are supposed to go out in the world and live this Christian life. We do that by being disciples who make disciples.

My goal today is not to preach an obligation gospel and try to motivate you to share your faith through guilt, but my goal is to inspire you to worship the one true God and exalt His Son Jesus Christ. My prayer is that will be what motivates us as a people to take part in the great commission. (Matthew 28:16-20)

16 But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated.

17 When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful.

18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.

19 “aGo therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,

20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Pray)

Someone once said, “A persons last words are their lasting words.” Never was that more true than with Jesus. These are the last words of Jesus to His disciples as recorded for us in the gospel of Matthew.

This is the great commission. Jesus has been crucified- resurrected from the dead-He has appeared to His disciples on numerous occasions- He is now ready to depart-to return to the throne of God and He issues these marching orders for the church. The mission of the church is to share Jesus Christ with the world.

The first thing I want you to see in this passage is the Power, Vs. 18. “And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.”

That is a staggering claim. He possesses all authority in heaven and on earth. That means no one else has the ultimate authority except Jesus.

This is the beginning of the great commission because this is what He wants His disciples to know. He wants them to know He has the power to make it happen. He has the authority to remove the obstacles and help the carry out the mission.

Notice it says, “all authority.” That means absolute sovereignty. That means He not only has the power to rule everything, but He has the right and privilege to do it as well; everything in heaven and on earth.

An athlete has the ability to move the ball up and down the field or the court. He has all the fans on his side. But the referee has the whistle. So, the referee’s authority trumps the athlete’s ability. The referee decides when a play begins and ends. The referee calls the penalties and restricts the play. Well think of Jesus Christ as the one with the whistle, only there is no instant replay to second guess Him. There is no head coach to argue with, and there is no commissioner to answer to. He is the ultimate authority.

Jesus doesn’t depend on us to invest authority in Him, He has that authority in Himself. The only one who could give Him this authority is God the Father who is supreme over all. Now, it is important we understand that God the Father doesn’t give up authority by giving it to Jesus, but what this passage declares is that Jesus and God the Father are one. That is a staggering statement and anticipates His ascension back into heaven where He is seated at the right hand of God.

Notice this authority is a universal authority. He has the authority “in heaven and on earth” That means He has the power over every square inch of everything that exists. Nothing is outside of His command or control.

Think about what this means for the church and our mission. Jesus has the authority to send the Holy Spirit and empower us to do His will. Acts 1:8 says, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come up on you, and you shall be my witnesses.”

Jesus has the authority. He has the authority to answer our prayers. He has the authority to forgive our sins. He has the authority to change hearts and minds. He has the authority to convert His enemies.

I can’t help but think of Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus. He was an enemy of God. He was a first century terrorist. Saul was a man so full of hate, all he wanted to do was bring an end to Christianity. Yet in a moment, in the blink of an eye he was converted and became someone willing to give his life for the faith. That tells us there is no one to hard for the Lord to change.

Jesus has authority over all of the circumstances we face in our life. He can open the doors He wants opeNed, and close the doors He wants closed. He can heal the sick and He can raise the dead. He can open the eyes of the blind. He has the authority in heaven and on earth.

That means He has authority over Gabriel and Michael and the myriads of angels around the throne of God. That means He has the authority over Satan and His demons who have been cast out into the earth. The Bible says, “Greater is He who is within you than he that is with in the world.”

So, Jesus has the authority to build His church and not even the gates of hell can prevail against it. This one Jesus possesses all authority in heaven and on earth. Everything that follows in the great commission builds on this supreme authority and sovereign right.

If it is true, that Jesus Christ has all the authority, then the most important thing I can do with my life is to be a disciple who is making disciples, because that is what He has told me here.

I think the problem is we forget who Jesus is. We forget that He is the one with the authority. Because when you come to the scripture and you believe what the scripture says about Christ, we should have a towering view of who Jesus is. We should have such a towering view of Jesus that our circumstances begin to fade away. The Bible says, “If God be for us who can be against us and no weapon formed against us can prosper.”

Because Jesus has all authority, we can trust Him without fear. No matter where He leads us, no matter what circumstances we face, He is in control. By His death and resurrection, Jesus defeated all enemies and won all authority for Himself.

The next thing I want you to see in this passage is The Purpose, 19-20a. If we want to know what the purpose of the church is it is found right here in these verses. It says, “Go, therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”

Now it is important we understand the main verb here is to make disciples. This is the only imperative found in this description of our purpose. So, if you were to ask what the church is to be about, the answer would be to make disciples.

What does it mean to be a disciple? A disciple is a learner, a student, someone who is devoted and committed in life. Being a disciple is more than being a church member. A disciple is an apprentice, someone who is learning to do it themselves. Jesus is their Lord and Savior, and they are now a learning believer.

So, to make disciples would mean we are taking the gospel to people and helping them learn and believe. We are helping them become apprentices themselves. Discipleship is a lifelong process. It requires building relationships and friendships with one another and helping each other grow.

I want you to notice the command here is not to make church attenders. It is not about putting buts in the seats of the church or even inviting people to church. I mean obviously we want to get people to a place where they can grow in a relationship with God. But the imperative is to make disciples. We are to demonstrate Jesus to the world and help people come to know Him for themselves- so that they to can live a transformed life.

Also notice these disciples are to be baptized. Think about that. That means a disciple is not supposed to be some deeper level of Christian. But every believer, at every stage of faith should be a disciple. He is not saying just go find the serious Christians in the church and begin discipling them. No this is from the moment a person is saved we are to begin helping them grow in their faith.

So, to make disciples is to take the gospel to the world, all nations, so they can truly be saved and become followers of Jesus Christ, that is the imperative.

Then we see the elements of the great commission. We are to “go, baptize, and teach. They carry the same weight of the command, but they are not the command they are the method. The main idea here is to make disciples, but how do we do that? We go, baptize, and teach.

Notice the word “Go” this has been pushed down the road to mean so much more than it is supposed to. People have treated this like this is the command. In other words, you are not taking part in the great commission unless you are going as a missionary to a foreign land and that is not what this means.

In fact, a recent survey has shown that America is the fourth largest unreached people group in the world. Other countries are now sending Christian missionaries here to evangelize America because we have fallen so far from God. You do not need to leave your neighborhood to be on mission for God.

In this verse the word “go” literally means as you are going. In other words, as you are going to the grocery store, as you are going to school, as you are going on vacation, wherever you are going -share the gospel. When you look at it like that, the great commission takes on a bigger picture. We are to be sharing and teaching wherever we are going and whatever we are doing.

So, the mission of the church is to go and make disciples but why is baptism so important? We know we are saved by faith alone, in Christ alone. Well baptism is when someone clearly and publicly acknowledges their faith. Baptism is the outward sign of what is taking place in the heart. That is the pattern we see in the book of Acts from the early church. People believed and then they were baptized.

I am reminded of the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8:36-38, it says, “As they went along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Look, water, what prevents me from being baptized.” And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe That Jesus Christ is the Son of God,” And He ordered the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized him.” We believe- and we are baptized.

Then notice we are baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Notice it doesn’t say in the names. You see a disciple is someone who has come to the knowledge of the one true God. someone who recognizes that the Father is one with the Son and one with the Spirit. We may not fully understand the mystery of the Trinity, but we acknowledge that it exists. That there are three working together, having an impacting our life.

So, notice we are making disciples by going to all nations or all people, baptizing them and teaching them. People who are disciples are to be taught. But what are we teaching them? Vs. 20, “To observe all I have commanded you.” The church is to teach obedience to Christ.

So, we are not carrying out the great commission if we are not teaching people the Word of God. The word “observe” here means to keep, to obey, to do. We are all familiar with the passage, James 1:22 that says, “Don’t just be a hearer of the Word but be a doer of God’s Word.”

It is the job of the church, which is every believer, the church is the body of Christ, to help people to mature in the faith, and we do that through the Word of God. Paul says, “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.”

That is the reason we have small group bible studies on Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night . It is not so we can be really good at Bible trivia, The goal is that we will apply what we learn to our life and grow to become a disciple.”

The final thing I want to show you in this passage is the Promise Vs. 20b. Jesus says, “Lo, I am with you always even to the ends of the age.” What Jesus is saying here is; there is no plan B. We are to make disciples and we are to do it until the end of the age. This is the plan of God. This is the strategy and there is no changing it. This is the mission of the church.

So, no matter how hard we try to make the church appeal to the world through programs and party atmospheres, our Job is to make disciples. And the promise is that He will be with us always. We will never have to do it alone.

He says “lo” Which just means look, I am with you always.” Notice this in the present tense. That means no matter where we are or what we are doing He is always with us. In Verse 18 we saw the omnipotence of Christ, He has all authority, and in Verse 20 we see the omnipresence. He is always present.

His presence is with us not only here in the church but wherever we are in the world. He does this through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. He promises to provide everything we need to carry out His mission. He goes before us and opens doors and arranges conversations. He prepares hearts and minds ahead of us.

Now, when He says, “I am with you always.” He means on the good days and the bad. He is with us when we have spoken up and shared our faith, and He is with us when we have failed Him miserably. He is with us whether we are accepted or rejected for what we have to say, through thick and thin we are in this together with Jesus.

So really what He is saying is trust me. I got this. This is on my shoulders. You see the success of the great commission doesn’t depend on us, it depends on Christ and that should set us free. Jesus is working in us as we present the gospel and He is working in others, preparing them to hear the gospel. All of this is a part of God’s plan. We are partners together with Jesus making disciples and changing the world.

So, the mission of the church is to share Jesus Christ with the world. We do that by making disciples who make disciples. The Bible tells us that Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost. We are called to continue that ministry today. If we are not sharing our faith and intentionally making disciples, we are only talking to ourselves. That would be like a doctor who only seen people who were well.

Each one of us have been a part of the process. Someone or something opened our eyes to the truth of Jesus Christ. It is up to us to go out and continue the process.

I heard a story this week about a British bus company who started receiving complaints about their bus drivers. It seems their drivers were speeding past lines of up to thirty people waiting at the bus stop. But the company vehemently defended its drivers. They said, “It is impossible for the bus drivers to keep up on their routes if they have to keep stopping for passengers.” The company went on to say, “if you get rid of the people the system runs fine.”

Well, you could say the same thing about the church, but let’s not lose sight of our purpose. We glorify God by sharing the gospel and making Christ-like disciples, who make Christ-like disciples. To focus on anything else is to get off course.