The Great Commission

Introduction

Good morning.

My name (background)

Where I pastor

My family

As a pastor in our community I’m grateful for Discovery Fellowship

Meeting Pastor Stephen as he was getting to know the area

We’ve developed a beautiful friendship around ministry and wanting to see people come to know Jesus. We’ve partnered in talking about fulfilling the Great Commission.

Asking the question? What does this look like in Kitsap? We live in a phenomenal place in the world. It’s unique, beautiful, and people here are in desperate need of the good news about Jesus.

I’m fairly convinced that the things we are longing for, the things we most desire, that God has placed them there to be fully realized in Jesus. We don’t always see it right away, but in God’s grace as it is revealed we begin to see that Jesus fulfills our deepest longings (belonging, love, to show love, family, etc.)

Our text this morning is Matthew 28:16-20 “The eleven disciples traveled to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshiped, but some doubted. Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.””

Let’s pray… Amen

The Great Commission

Matthew 28:18-20 is commonly called the Great Commission. This is the command that Jesus gave those who followed Him.

Jesus gives the power and authority (vs 18): There is nothing more frustrating and debilitating is to be asked to do a task but not given the authority or empowerment to accomplish that task.

(Illus: power tools vs. manual tools)

There are great leader lessons here:

Empower your people to do what you are asking them to do (this is risky, because they might fail, but therein lies the opportunity for coming alongside to teach, train, build-up, then retry)

You can have control or growth/expansion… but you can’t have both. Control will limit you to your ability and capacity, so you limit growth. Growth means it grows beyond you and you don’t have control over all the things… it becomes uncomfortable and you have more influence than you do control.

Giving them the authority… to translate this text from Greek to English more woodenly… it would say something like… “In all of your going (wherever you go)… make disciples of everyone everywhere”

How do you do this… you baptize them (they belong) and you teach them (they believe learning how to behave finding out how to follow Jesus faithfully).

Jesus reminds us again, actually bookending Matthew’s gospel with the fact He is with us. Matthew tells us the scripture in Isaiah where he will be called Immanuel and then tells us again here as Jesus’ last recorded words in his gospel, “I will be with you always, to the end of the age.”

What a great comfort that is.

The Great Commission needs to be sustained by the Great Commandment...

The Great Commandment

That is found in Matthew 22:34-40 “When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they came together. And one of them, an expert in the law, asked a question to test him: “Teacher, which command in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.””

We can’t truly love God unless we love our neighbor who is made in God’s image. We can’t truly love our neighbor well unless we love them with the love that God supplies in our relationship with him.

They are intricately tied together. True love is known and understood based on how God has shown us love through the life, death, resurrection, ascension, and inevitable return of Christ.

Which is a great built-in metric as to whether or not we are doing either of them well...

If we are loving God well:

We begin to see ourselves as God sees us

We begin to see others as God sees them

We begin to be passionate about the things that God is passionate about

We begin to see that we really don’t fit into the systems of the world

We realize that we are created for a purpose higher than what this world can offer. The feeling of exile, sojourning, and pilgrimage becomes more real.

If we are loving others well:

We have compassion on them

We pray and long to see God’s desires for them, praying for His will in their life

We speak the truth for their benefit. It’s done with love, compassion, care, and the upmost respect.

We look to use our influence, power, and/or position to help them flourish

We do it to please God and our primary motivator is not what we get out of it

Love of God causes us to go out and to make disciples in all of our going.

Love of people is what gives us the grit, tenacity, and vision to keep going when it is difficult to do so.

But we are not alone… this is where the Great Collaboration comes in.

The Great Collaboration

The Great Collaboration is found in John 17:20-23 ““I pray not only for these, but also for those who believe in me through their word. May they all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us, so that the world may believe you sent me. I have given them the glory you have given me, so that they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me, so that they may be made completely one, that the world may know you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me.”

It’s not something we are meant to do alone.

Jesus in his great high-priestly prayer asked that we (who heard and believed the message passed down through the apostles) would be one. In our unity the WORLD KNOWS THAT JESUS WAS SENT!! That God in the flesh came and what He said, who He is, and who we are is true! All of it!

It’s people partnering with people.

It’s churches coming together to love the community unified in the vision of Jesus.

It’s churches recognizing that we are not the end all. That as culture changes, God is raising up people to reach people we are not reaching.

City Chapel is reaching people that Discovery is not. Discovery is reaching people that City Chapel is not. Kitsap House and Firehouse Church are reaching people that neither Discovery nor City Chapel are reaching. We need each other.

There are 80% of Kitsap County residents that have no religious affiliation. There are people who are not being reached the gospel for various reasons.

The opportunity we have before us is to come together as our visions align, pooling resources and opportunities, for greater collective impact.

BUT it is also recognizing that there are people we are not reaching and God will raise up teams to go reach those people. Together, working together, we have an opportunity to disciple them, encourage them, give them experience that can be helpful in their pursuit of spreading the gospel to these unreached people.

We can surround them with a community of people that want them to succeed, that are praying for their success, that are cheering them on.

The Bad News: Some estimates say that 4 out of 5 new churches will fail and only 1 in 10 sustain at larger than 100 people in worship.

The Good News: The success rates increase dramatically when the new church takes advantage of training and coaching from experienced church planters.

The Greater News: The success rate of planting well-conceived projects in the Evangelical Covenant Church after 4 years is 86%.

The Greatest News: That the success rates go even higher when the surrounding churches in that area support, encourage, celebrate, and nurture a relationship with the church plant.

Conclusion

We are at a pivotal time where the last 20 years church attendance has been falling. People belonging to a committed body of believers is hitting some historic lows for our country. HOWEVER, God is on the move! He has us here in Kitsap to tell of the good news together.

What would happen if we allowed ourselves to remain open to what the Spirit of God wanted to do in and through us? What might God do if we just committed ourselves to the Great Commandment, the Great Commission, and the Great Collaboration?

In our work space, play place, our homes, and in our communities… as we GO… we disciple people into the way and love of Jesus. We get to tell them why we do what we do… we get to invite them into this beautiful relationship of serving Jesus and serving others. There is nothing like it.

I’m grateful to be partnering with you in our city. God is doing great things. God will continue to do great things. I’m grateful to be a part of what God is doing along side of you all.

Let’s pray