Allowing God to set our Focus

Matthew 28:16–20 KJV (WS)

16 Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. 17 And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 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.

Introduction

Matthew is a book written by a Jew, about a Jew, for the Jewish believers.

The book builds a case to reassure Jewish believers that Jesus was/is the promised Messiah, and to give them the tools they need to convince others that Jesus is who He says He is.

This passage is considered by some to be the focal point of all scripture.

Adoniram Judson was strengthened in his ministry to Burma by the promise of God to “attend the delivery of this message with his ever present aid.”

There is no close Gospel parallel to these verses.

The eleven remaining disciples gather on a mountain where Jesus told them to meet him.

There are only 11 remaining.

Judas is dead.

Having been overcome with guilt, he committed suicide.

Matthew was written 30 years after the ascension of Christ to Christians, most likely Jewish Christians.

Multiple theories suggest that Matthew was the first of the four gospels written.

The account in this passage had to have taken place between 20 and 35 days after the resurrection.

It is possible that this is the meeting where Paul tells us that Jesus appeared to over 500 at one time. (1 Cor. 15:6)

They gather in Galilee

Near most of their homes.

In the area where they had spent most of their time with Jesus.

Who knows what experiences these Jewish men had experienced in this area.

This is not the last meeting He has with them.

Jesus approaches the disciples.

When they see Him coming, they begin to worship Him.

Worship is an action by which we recognize God’s authority.

Any time you see the word worship in the Bible wether in the Hebrew or the Greek it carries the picture of prostrating oneself on the ground.

This is the first time that Matthew records the disciples worshipping the resurrected Jesus.

I believe that you could consider this one of the first church services after the resurrection.

Some doubted, however.

Is it possible that one of the 11 still doubted that He was the Messiah? Probably not.

But, if this is the gathering of 500, then we could more easily understand how there may be some who had their doubts.

Was it really Jesus who was risen from the dead?

Did they still doubt He was who he said He was?

We will never be free from doubters. Even in the presence of Christ there were those who doubted.

Jesus responds to their worship.

He accepts it.

Sunday morning, during the baptism time, we sang How Great Thou Art.

This is a wonderful worship song.

Can you imagine if Jesus walked in the side door and onto the platform, had everyone sit down, and said, “you’re right, I am great.”

That’s exactly what Jesus does in this passage.

He acknowledges the truth of their worship in the fact that He does possess all power.

Exousia = authority In heaven In earth (all the earth) Oliver B. Green reminds us that Jesus had, “an original right to control all things and dispose them as he will.”

This reference is more specific than power over creation this statement is in reference to His position of authority over His church.

Jesus turns their world on it’s head.

As they have just acknowledged that Jesus is worthy of their allegiance, Jesus gives them their commission.

They are to proclaim the Gospel.

They are to baptize believers.

They are to teach them to live holy lives.

We call this the Great Commission.

This is the mission of the church.

It is the reason for our existence to this day.

A quick reading of this passage and you may miss the implication of what Jesus has said.

There are three parties we need to consider in this story.

The disciples who were present with Jesus on this mountain.

The people of the churches that Matthew wrote this book for.

The people who read this book today.

God has a purpose and a lesson for each one of us to learn from this passage.

The obvious lesson is what I just mentioned.

We are supposed to tell others the gospel story.

We are supposed to baptize believers.

We are to teach believers to live holy lives.

So, you may be wondering, what is so revolutionary about this?

Well, first think of the disciples, up to this point in their lives what group of people had they primarily been ministering to?

Up to this point Jesus’ ministry and the disciples ministry had been almost exclusively focused on Jews.

And yet now, Jesus is teaching these Jewish men that the gospel is not exclusive to the Jews, and that He expects them to tell all nations.

The Greek phrase that Jesus uses indicates His desire for them to reach all nations and all people without distinction.

It is not an accident that Jesus delivers this command in Galilee; Galilee is often called Galilee of the Gentiles.

Now, from what we know of the disciples, how do you think they responded to the idea of having to go tell the Gentiles and Samaritans about Jesus?

They were almost assuredly not happy about this.

The Jews had such deep seated hatred for non-Jews, that the Bible gives us many examples of Jews who were offended at the thought of sharing their faith with the Gentiles.

It was socially unacceptable for a Jew to have dealings with a gentile.

It took a lot of persecution for the disciples and “Christianity” as a whole to branch out into other countries and get away from being exclusive to Israel.

We know that Paul and others faced great opposition to the concept of bringing the Gospel to the Gentiles.

This is why I believe, Matthew includes this lesson in his account of Jesus life.

I believe the Jews were still having a hard time obeying Jesus last command to preach the gospel to all nations.

They were still, 30 years later, trying to keep the Gospel to themselves.

Matthew, who has spent his whole book reassuring the Jewish believers that Jesus was/is the promised Messiah, is now reminding them that Jesus didn’t just come for the Jews.

The problem wasn’t that they weren’t preaching, baptizing, or discipling.

The problem was that they were disobeying God’s command to tell all people regardless of their nationality.

They still deemed it to be socially repugnant to interact with the gentiles.

What the disciples and Matthew’s readers needed to determine was did Jesus have the authority to receive worship?

Amongst the Jews that day, there were some that would not worship Him.

Just as disturbing, was that amongst the disciples there were some who by their actions showed they did not think Jesus was worthy or had the authority to send them to other nations.

What about the modern day reader? How does this apply to us?

Obviously this passage teaches us what our mission is as part of this local church.

See people get saved.

See them get baptized.

See them grow spiritually.

The reason we do these things is because He has the authority to ask us to do them.

Sometimes Jesus asks us to do something we may not want to do.

Like asking the Jews to take the gospel to the gentiles.

This request went against everything they had ever been taught.

It went against the accepted behavior in Jewish society.

What right did Jesus have to ask this of them?

We must also decide if Jesus is worthy to command our focus.

Does He have the right to set our priorities?

Does He have the right to determine where this church invests?

Does He have the right to tell you where to invest your time and resources?

We can get distracted by a lot of good things.

We can be very busy in our church life.

And still not be focused on the activities that we should be focused on.

I believe that in this room tonight there is a desire to be in tune with what God would have us to do.

A want, and actions are two different things.

I want a lot of things that I do not take action to attain.

If desire is not followed by action, it is meaningless.

We can come to church and go through the motions of declaring His authority, but if we aren’t willing to submit to His authority then our worship is meaningless.