Answer the Call of the Great Commission

Show video…Fire Station Failure

Would you agree with me this morning that those who choose to be a fireman/paramedic means they accept the responsibility to respond to life-threatening situations to rescue people?

How sad it would be for firefighters and paramedics to go through rigorous training and receive all the equipment necessary to fulfill their mission to save lives and yet never get out of the firehouse.

Would you also agree with me this morning that firemen and paramedics would fit the biblical definition of a steward?

Someone who has been entrusted with a responsibility to manage and care for that which belongs to someone else.

In a very real sense, believers are like firemen and paramedics…explain

When it comes to biblical stewardship this is what we mean...

Stewardship – God-given responsibility with accountability.

and that definition addresses one of the key misconceptions about stewardship – that it is primarily about money…when it’s not…

stewardship includes anything that the Lord has entrusted to us…for example…

We’ve examined the stewardship of our minds…the way we choose to think about life…God trusted us with that capacity…

We’ve examined the stewardship of our gifts…the capacities God gives us to minister to people…

We’ve only scratched the surface...

You could go an entire lifetime and not exhaust what God’s Word says about this subject and how that applies to the practical issues of everyday life…

Four Factors of Stewardship

God owns everything, you own nothing.

God entrusts us with everything we have.

We can either increase or bury what God has given; He wants us to increase it.

God can call us into account at any time.

Remember the key to being a good steward is faithfulness...

1 Corinthians 4:2 “In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy.”

Today we conclude this mini-series on stewardship by considering the reality that we have been entrusted with a mission...We find that mission in Matthew 28:16-20.

Much like those firemen and paramedics at some point we have to get out of the firehouse...

Main Point: Faithful Stewards Accept the Responsibility to Make Disciples.

Lets’s examine three characteristics of the mission that ought to encourage us to greater levels of faithfulness to be involved with that mission.

Our Mission is Grounded in the Authority of our Resurrected King.

Jesus reminded His followers at the beginning of this commission that…

Matthew 28:18 - And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth…

This is in fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy of Dan 7 14

Daniel 7:14 (NASB95)

“And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations and men of every language Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed.

Now he has ALL authority…notice how many times it appears here…all nations, all things, always.

His authority presents us with both a challenge and an opportunity.

It is a challenge because we are living in a world and a culture that has very little willingness to follow any authority of any kind…

Instead of honestly evaluating their own hearts to see they are born rebellious, our culture portrays power and authority as the problem and works to dismantle such structures whenever and wherever possible…

Yes corruption and abuses of power and authority happen all the time…everywhere…but the authority is not the problem…it is the sinful heart behind that authority…complicated by our sinful responses to that authority.

There is no sense of accountability...People don’t want to acknowledge an authority higher than self…so it is challenging to communicate to them there is a higher authority to whom all are accountable.

At the same time it is also an opportunity...

It’s an opportunity when followers of Christ joyfully acknowledge…we have decided our authority is going to be our Savior, our Lord, our rightful king…there is someone who is higher than us and He deserves our worship and allegiance.

Therefore we want to organize our lives around His goals and His purposes…we willfully and joyously submit ourselves to His authority…

He has the authority to give this mission even to some who are doubtful.

Matthew 28:16–17 “But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful.”

Eleven = Judas had hung himself…and his replacement would be chosen later.

Some = not clear who, but it could be more than the eleven like what Paul describes in 1 Cor regarding his appearance to over 500 at one time.

Matt 28 10 alludes to a larger crowd of disciples being told to tell the eleven where to meet.

Doubting = not a doubt of unbelief…it is a verb meaning hesitating…

all worshiped, but some who were witnessing Jesus’ in his resurrected body were struggling to comprehend what they are experiencing…there was a hesitation to know what to believe and what to do next.

We do know that the disciple Thomas doubted after the resurrection… John 20:25…he said he wouldn’t believe until he saw him with his own eyes and touched him with his own hands.

or, the disciples on the Emmaus road…that was after the resurrection and they were surely “doubting”…at least at the beginning of the interchange…

but here’s the overall point – this amazing mission was given even to some who hesitated to make sense of it all…and I believe there is tremendous hope it that…

Unbeliever...You don’t need to have it all figured out to trust Him...

God is calling you to come to him in simple child-like faith…to know that Jesus loves you and died for you and rose again for you...

Jesus wants you to be a part of His Kingdom and to receive your marching orders from Him… and the only way to do that is through Him.

Believer…you don’t need to have it all figured out to follow and obey Him…

Life is filled with all sorts of problems and questions but, we don’t need to solve them all or have all our questions answered...

When Jesus gave this mission to them he knew they were still in the process of figuring it all out...

They weren’t sure what they believed…they weren’t sure what they were going to do with what they believed…

We don’t need to have all the answers to be involved in the mission…walk by faith...

Knowing their hesitations, He just reminded them of who he was, the one with all authority, and that was all they needed to know for them to start walking in obedience.

Whatever fears and hesitations you have are and will be handled by the one with the authority over all things.

His authority is absolutely limitless.

Matthew 28:18 - And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth...

Jesus is the universal Lord and Savior over all.

Philippians 2:10–11 (NASB95)

so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Jesus died to save people from every nation and tongue and tribe...

Revelation 7:9 (NASB95)

After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands;

Remember this is a Jewish audience...This worldwide purpose was life-changing for these Jewish disciples who were following a Jewish Messiah.

From the beginning of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus’ Jewish heritage has been highlighted, beginning with Abraham and then running through the line of David, king of Israel (Matt 1:1).

Jesus was born King of the Jews.

Nevertheless, Jesus was intent on showing His Jewish disciples that He was not simply their Lord and King, but Lord and King over all nations.

Are we living and serving in such a way that it can only be explained by observing that we are living for an authority other than self…

are we living in such a way that proclaims this Savior is worthy of our allegiance…

We Fulfill Our Mission By Following His Plan

Matthew 28:19–20 ““Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.””

Jesus lays out his plan for how we are to accomplish this mission...

The objective — Make Disciples

Make disciples is the main verb and the central command of these verses...

The root meaning of the term refers to believing and learning.

In this context it relates to those who place their trust in Jesus Christ and follow Him in lives of continual learning and obedience.

To disciple a person to Christ is to bring him into the relation of pupil to teacher, ‘taking his yoke’ of authoritative instruction (11:29), accepting what he says as true because he says it, and submitting to his requirements as right because he makes them” (Broadus).

Disciples are those who hear, understand, and obey Jesus’ teaching (12:46–50).

This is a command for ALL believers…that’s why God uniquely equipped us…so that all of us could fulfill His mission without making excuses…

To complete our mission Jesus provides three simple steps of disciple making…

Step #1 — Go to them

v. 19 – Go is a participle…and part of the command...

While you are going...The Bible assumes you are already going out and interacting with people…while you’re going about your daily routines, intentionally focus on making disciples of others.

We don’t wait for them to come to us…we go get them...

This means we cannot be comfortable with sitting still or working in the shadows.

If we are not careful, this is what our Christianity will become.

We may come to a worship service, participate in the life of the church, serve in the church, and give regularly, all the while neglecting to make disciples because we don’t make it a matter of intentionality.

Disciple making is an intentional endeavor of reaching people with the truth of the gospel.

It is not something we can do while being content to hide and hope no one sees us.

Think about this…the Gospel spread to the known world during the first century without radio, television or the Facebook and Instagram…they took Jesus literally when he commissioned them again in Acts 1:8.

Acts 1:8 “but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.””

Because they were disciples who were intentional about producing disciples who were reproducing they went out…they didn’t wait for them to come.

This is a course of life…intentionally encouraging others to follow Christ...He has entrusted us with the responsibility of making disciples…to live in such a way that people will see our lives and glorify God.

It is both living it out and proclaiming it with our voices.

Matthew 5:16 ““Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

We are called to be ambassadors who share the message of reconciliation.

2 Corinthians 5:17–21 “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

This means we have to be ready to tell them why they need reconciliation…explain.

This means we have to be ready to tell them what happens after reconciliation…power of your personal testimony of life change.

Colossians 1:28 “We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ.”

We are to share with people of all people groups.

that has always been the focus of God’s plan…even as early as the call of Abraham in Genesis 12 – he was not just to be the father of Israel, but a blessing to all the nations of the earth…

this was repeated in Acts 1:8.

When Jesus speaks of making disciples of “all nations…he uses the word ethnos…ethnic ...

refers not simply to nations or countries as we usually think of them,

but rather to tribes, families, clans, and peoples, what we call “people groups” today.

Jesus is speaking to a Jewish audience so in their minds they would immediately think of reaching out to Gentiles…specifically in the Old Testament we see such people groups: Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, etc.

Today there are more than 11,000 people groups spread throughout the world.

These groups share similar language, heritage, and cultural characteristics.

So this is not just a general command to make disciples among as many people as possible.

Rather, this is a specific command to make disciples among every people group in the world.

Last week I mentioned a specific Hispanic family came to us...

We live in a world of sin, rebellion, suffering, and pain, a world of over three billion people...

billions of people engrossed in false religions, and billions who need to hear the gospel…

According to Scripture, they are all on a road that leads to an eternal hell forever separated from God.

Yet as believers, we know that Jesus is Lord and that He has died on the cross for our sins and risen from the grave so that all people, in every people group imaginable, can receive eternal life.

That is why we support missions…to reach those we cannot…both at home and abroad…but just because we support local and foreign missionaries we cannot neglect our responsibility to reach our Jerusalem (Bossier City and beyond)...

Every time we walk out those doors we enter the mission field charged with the responsibility of reaching the world with the gospel.

Step #2 — Baptizing them

This requires us to emphasize the importance of taking a stand publicly.

baptism doesn’t save…but it is a powerful public demonstration of what has already occurred in someone’s heart…

When people turn from their sin to Christ, we baptize them.

The reason we are told to baptize them is that baptism symbolizes identification with the person of Christ and inclusion in the body of Christ…this is a command to make our faith known...

This is a command of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Followers of Christ who have not been baptized are living in direct disobedience to Christ.

The New Testament knows nothing of unbaptized Christians.

It’s not that one has to be baptized in order to become a Christian, but once you are a Christian, your public declaration of faith in Christ necessarily involves baptism.

To neglect baptism is to dishonor and disobey Christ.

Once someone is baptized discipleship then involves sharing life together as a part of the body.

Disciple making is not simply what happens in a classroom for an hour or so each week; it’s what happens when we walk through life together as a community of faith, modeling for one another how to follow Christ.

We show one another how to pray, how to study God’s Word, how to grow in Christ, and how to lead others to Christ.

This is what Christ’s body is to be about.

if you’re here and you’ve trusted Christ but have not yet been baptized…then come talk to us...why, because we want to be good stewards to the mission our Savior has entrusted to us…

Step #3 — Teach them to observe

Matthew 28:20 - …teaching them to observe all that I commanded you…

there’s no doubt that 2 of the most neglected words in this commission are the words “to observe…”

faithful disciples aren’t just people who know things…they are people who do things…

How do we take what we believe and apply it practically to everyday life?…

When you’re trying to grow and change in your personal life, your family, the way you function at work, in our community, and in our church…you’re being a good steward because your life is on mission…

Our Mission Relies on Our Savior’s Powerful Presence.

Matthew 28:20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

This mission is not based on who we are or what we can do.

We know this mission will succeed because we are assured of Christ’s presence through His Spirit.

Now matter what we think of our abilities or inabilities, it all depends on the Holy spirit working in us and through us to make us a people for His name…when that happens, discipleship happens...

This mission is based on who Jesus is and what He can do.

Ephesians 3:20 “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,”

What that means in light of this mission is that we need to give Jesus a blank check with our lives and then see where He leads.

This is not a mission that will fail...it’s achievable because of the character and the wisdom of the Person issuing it…

He promised to build His church…and it is an incredible privilege to participate in the fulfillment of His mission to His world…

Lesson for Life — Take Ownership of the Mission

We want to be a part of something that is beyond us, something that requires supernatural strength.

We don’t want to be preoccupied with programs and practices that we can manage on our own. We should be desperate for the power of Jesus.

We know that obedience to the Great Commission will not be easy, and we know it will be costly. But we also know that it will be worth it.

Jesus will return and His reward will be infinitely greater than any cost we have paid.

So together, let’s hope in the promise of His return for us. The kingdom of our Lord Jesus will one day be fully and finally established, and we will see His face (Rev 22:4).

Let’s continue to stay on our mission....

Building Lives to Know and Live for Jesus Christ