The Great Commission
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How Did it All Start
How Did it All Start
As I start today’s sermon I really feel like I had to start back at the beginning of the book to recap. No, I’m not going to go back and cover every detail that we’ve covered over the last 2 years but I wanted to go back and look at how Jesus public ministry started, mainly because as we look at how Jesus started his ministry we will see that He started it with the end in mind.
23 And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people.
From the beginning of Jesus’ ministry He started to proclaim the gospel or good news of the Kingdom.
This word Kingdom is a Greek word that is used 162 times in the New testament. It means royal power, kingship, dominion, rule: of the royal power of Jesus as the triumphant Messiah.
You can’t have a kingdom without having a king and Jesus came to establish His kingdom.
This is the message that He sent His disciples out with back in Matthew 10 when he said:
7 And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’
Meaning the kingdom has come near, pointing at the coming of the Messiah King, Jesus of Nazareth.
It is this same kingdom that the disciples argued “who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven”? missing the fact that this wasn’t an earthly kingdom but the heavenly kingdom.
The last time we see this verse used is in chapter 24 and Jesus again uses this phrase “gospel of the kingdom”.
14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
Now that Jesus has fulfilled the purpose the Father sent Jesus to fulfill and Jesus has conquered death he is getting ready to pass on His authority to those who will carry on this message.
Meet in Galilee
Meet in Galilee
16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.
It’s important, maybe to me anyway, to fill in the blanks in the account. Before this day on the mountain, Jesus did just as he had said he would in Verse 10 “go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”
1 After this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, and he revealed himself in this way.
This is where 7 of the disciples were waiting by the sea of Tiberias, or Galilee, and got tired of waiting so they went fishing. They didn’t catch anything all night and in the morning Jesus was waiting on the shoreline with breakfast ready. It’s where He restored Peter and commanded Peter to “Feed my sheep”.
17 And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted.
These disciples natural response to seeing their risen Lord is to fall at his feet and worshiping him. Worship here had a different meaning that we might understand but at the same time it means what God desires for us to do whether figuratively in our hearts or physically in our person: It means to prostrate oneself in homage (do reverence to, adore):—worship.
1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
R.T. France had this to say that helped explain this “some doubted” issue.
“When they recognized him, it was natural that they worshipped him, but the whole experience was so mysterious and overwhelming that some doubted…The verb distazo or doubt, does not denote a settled unbelief, but a state of uncertainty and hesitation.” (R.T. France)
Establishing the Kingdom with Authority
Establishing the Kingdom with Authority
18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Authority: delegated influence:—authority, jurisdiction, liberty, power, right, strength.
How much authority? ALL authority! all authority, all nations, all things, all the days.
Where does Jesus have authority? In Heaven and on Earth.
“Power in the hands of some people is dangerous, but power in the hands of Christ is blessed. Oh, let him have all power! Let him do what he will with it, for he cannot will anything but that which is right, and just, and true, and good.” “We believe in this power, and we rest in it.” (Spurgeon)
What follows is known as the Great Commission. What occurs in the following verses is not a suggestion based on a passing whim, it is an authoritative command given by the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. It is the same idea as if an officer reminded a private of his rank before he gave an order. Because He has this authority, He can send whomever He wills to do whatever He pleases.
Side Note: We need to be careful to inspect who we have given authority in our lives. Who have we delegated influence to in our lives. There millions of voices, powers, influences in this world and in our lives that we can give authority to, we should first and foremost be giving authority in our lives to Jesus Christ and His Word! The rest of our lives should flow out of that at the center!
The Command
The Command
19 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,
Go - we aren’t commanded to stay seated, stationary, or just exist as believers. We are called to GO! Take action, extend a hand, extend the love and compassion of Jesus Christ. We are called to take to the streets as witnesses of Jesus Christ giving witness of what we’ve seen Him do in our lives. How we’ve seen the God of the universe love and care for us, bringing His word to life in our lives. We are called to go beyond our own small world that lots of us live in.
He says to “make disciples of all nations”. A disciple is not a convert they are someone who wants to learn grow and follow. We as believers all start as one lost and separated by our sin. Jesus changes that when we believe and we are born again in Him. That part is what HE does for us and to us. We have no active part in that. What we do have part in is whether we are going to choose to learn, choose to grow, and choose to follow. Our active part is when we choose for ourselves to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.
As these disciples were standing there listening to Jesus’ words, they were being reminded of what Jesus did for them as He lead them, taught them, and they learned, grew and followed Jesus. HE was now commanding them to do the same for others as He had done for them.
If you feel unqualified, listen to what Spurgeon Says.
“Who is to go out of that first band of disciples? It is Peter, the rash and the headstrong. It is John, who sometimes wishes to call fire from heaven to destroy men. It is Philip, with whom the Savior has been so long, and yet he has not known him. It is Thomas, who must put his finger into the print of the nails, or he will not believe him. Yet the Master says to them, ‘Go ye; all power is given unto me, therefore go ye. You are as good for my purpose as anybody else would be. There is no power in you, I know, but then all power is in me, therefore go ye.’” (Spurgeon)
Today in this church alone we have dozen’s of people who have been discipled that could now go and disciple someone else. The intimidating thing is we know we don’t have it all figured out, not even me. It’s sad that we can let that effect us to the point that we don’t do anything at all instead of entering into this command as we invite the Holy Spirit to empower us to lead others.
Baptism: Not only are we to make disciples of all nations, that greek word for all meaning ALL, we are to baptize these new believers in the name or authority of who?
The Godhead. It doesn’t say in the names of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, it says in the name, which means they all carry the same authority because they are all one God in three persons.
Baptizing them in the name of: “In the name is literally ‘into the name’, implying entrance into an allegiance.” (France)
Baptism isn’t required for salvation but it is intended and expected to be the first act of obedience of the new believer.
20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Disciples are made through teaching. This teaching is not with words only, but with the power of the always-present Jesus, in conjunction with the Holy Spirit as spoken of in John 14.
25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
He will be present with His people until the job of making disciples is done — until the end of the age.
20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
Ministry of Reconciliation
Ministry of Reconciliation
Who will answer this command? Those who have the Love of Christ!
14 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15 and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Even those who knew Jesus in the flesh found their new relationship with Him through the Holy Spirit far more rewarding.
Reconcile: To conciliate anew; to call back into union and friendship the affections which have been alienated; to restore to friendship or favor after estrangement; as, to reconcile men or parties that have been at variance.
Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says,
“In a favorable time I listened to you,
and in a day of salvation I have helped you.”
Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.