The Great Commission

The Presence v.16-17

The 11 disciples were previously instructed to meet Jesus at a mountain in Galilee. When they got there, Jesus met them. What is interesting is that there were multiple responses to the physical presence of the resurrected Christ.

The Worshippers and The Doubters

The response by the majority was to worship. They saw Jesus, resurrected, and worshipped him. That’s the natural response, right? That’s what we expect to happen. When Jesus is shown to the hopeless world, they worship!

“But some doubted.” I completely understand the response of worship, but what about that of doubt? When the resurrected Jesus is present in front of us, there’s no denying it, right? But these people doubted. How could they doubt what was right in front of them?

The word used here is the same word used in Matthew 14 when Peter walks on water towards Jesus and falls. “oh you of little faith, why do you doubt?” Both times the doubters are right in the face of Jesus, yet they still doubt. Even when Jesus is right before our eyes, we still have a tendency to waver and doubt. Most of the time it is because of whats going on around us. Think about Peter’s doubting. It was prompted by the severity of the waves around him. The religious-political climate at the time of Matthew 28 was probably pretty rocky, especially considering popular opinion was that the disciples came and stole his body from the tomb.

In our day, we are faced with an awesome opportunity to be the ones presenting the resurrected Christ to the world. Many will worship and many will doubt. We cannot lose heart.

The Power v. 18

Jesus has exercised the greatest power and authority ever by defeating hell and the grave. In this moment, Jesus is telling his disciples that no matter what comes their way, Jesus has the authority over all of it.

When the term “all authority” is mentioned, I just see and hear a massive breakthrough of the disciples. A few years after this the Christians had to endure massive persecution via the hands of Claudius, Nero, Domition, and others. When commanded to bow before or submit to the emperor, the believers could remember these words spoken by Jesus, “all authority in heaven and on earth.”

Therefore, as we embark on this new journey together, we will face whatever comes our way knowing that Jesus, our savior, has all authority over anything and everything that we may face.

The Purpose v. 19-20

Moving forward into the future, we will be launching specific mission goals and becoming hyper focused on our mission as a church. Here, Jesus makes it clear what that mission is.

Go. This word is mistranslated in many English Bible versions. Now, by no means am I a Greek scholar, but I have to emphasize this. It is a passive Greek participle in the aorist tense. What that means is that it is a passive continuing activity that will happen at any point in time. This means that you don’t have to actively GO. The better translation is “going” or “as you go”. This is meant to be a part of our daily life!

So as you go, MAKE DISCIPLES of ALL NATIONS. Our purpose is clear. We must be making disciples.

Most people hear make disciples and they think all they have to do is convert people and the job is done. Yes, our first step is to seek the lost. But we cannot stop there.

A disciple is not simply a convert. A disciple is made through intense hours of dedication to the subject matter. A disciple is an active participant in Christianity. If you call yourself a disciple, but you never study the word of God, then you’re simply pretending. In the same manner, as we are going and making disciples, we must ensure to walk alongside the new believers to disciple the saved.

Following up a salvation with baptism is a key way that we worship the Lord. Our mission cannot be accomplished without continued connection with and adoration of our heavenly Father. Coming together weekly and sometimes more is essential to building this body and the worldwide body of Christ.

One thing Jesus said here that is often missed practically by most is “all nations.” For those of you who have known me for a while, you know that I have a massive heart for reaching the unreached peoples of the world. I want to be a part in making the number of unreached people groups ZERO. So we as a church will do everything to Tell the World.

For those of you taking notes, we have a 4 part focused mission: Seek the Lost, Disciple the Saved, Worship the Lord, Tell the World. And the next 4 weeks we’ll be diving into these and what they mean for our church and our context.

SEEK THE LOST DISCIPLE THE SAVED WORSHIP THE LORD TELL THE WORLD