Lord, Now What?

Matthew 28:16-20

HOOK- Constant Motion

By the time they have turned eighteen, most Americans will have moved at least twice. Most thirty-year-olds will have moved six times. By the end of our lives, most of us will have pushed that number up to eleven. This highly mobile way of life is mirrored in our career habits as well.

The average American worker holds ten different jobs before the age of forty, and this job transience is only expected to increase in the years ahead. Add to these the slew of life changes such as college or vocational training, marriage, and having children, and it becomes clear how many different phases our lives actually have. For all of us there is only one thing that remains the same—the fact that nothing does.

We are always on the go but happens when we are forced to stop

Sometimes our minds wonder

Sometimes our bodies take those moments to get sick

when you are used to always moving from one thing to the next, but this time there is no immediate next...

You’re in good company,

Abraham has been there—go until I say stop

Moses has been there—Lord I don’t want to go unless I’m sure you are going with us

And today, so have the disciples—asking “Lord, we've done all you have asked of us, Now What?”

Big Idea: In moments of doubt, The authority and word of the risen Christ should comfort the fainthearted, and enthrall all disciples to accept Jesus’ mandate of making other disciples of all people groups and nations

Introduction

Jesus is the initially obscure Galilean, who has triumphed and now journeyed back home

He left word with the Angel to tell the two Marys, to tell the disciples, to meet him in Galilee

They did as they were told, the 11 (now minus Judas) came to meet Jesus at the specified mountain (v.16)

Worship the Risen Savior

Seeing Jesus (ἰδόντες) they worshiped him (v.17)

This says that his presence produced a particular response of worship

Matthew intends to communicate the “full sense” of worship here means to fall down and prostrate oneself—it is to change one’s posture

The presence of and gaze upon Jesus has resulted in the disciples reorientation of posture

What can we learn?

Here is where we can say what we could not say in the sermon on the Road to Emmaus

We can now say contextually, that when you recognize who Jesus Christ is there ought to be a change that occurs—in my body, in my mind, in my soul

I should not be able to find myself in the presence of Christ and stay exactly the same—-IF, I know who he is

But in any worship atmosphere, there is sure to be variation—and that’s okay, which is the point of this passage and is why Jesus comes the way he does

Think about these images we might encounter

True Worshipers- these worship without restraint—nothing held back because all is well

Doubters Unable to Worship- these are so gripped by anxiety and the circumstance of life that they feel paralyzed and unable to worship (not present in this scene)

Worshipers in Appearance Only- this group goes through the motion of worship, whether through conformity or sheer performance, worship is but a mere exercise

But then there is a fourth group, which is really a subset of the first group, who worship even when a bit of doubt is present

Sure I would love to spend all my time in group one where I don’t have anything to concern myself with—everyone I know is well and there are no problems in my life

But while I certainly don’t care to be in group two (unable to worship with debilitating doubt), or three (going through the motions but empty on the inside), God’s people will spend the majority of their time, in this life in group four

I wish I could come into worship without a care in the world every Sunday, Wednesday and some Saturdays but that’s not reality

I wish I could stand before you at 100% every Sunday, but regardless of how I feel or what I am dealing with Psalm 100:4 “Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give him thanks! Praise his name!”

For my Bible scholars: this is not debilitating doubt

This term (διστάζω) is only used two times in the NT and it means to waver

When Peter attempted to walk on water and then took his eyes off of Jesus, he asks him “Why did you doubt”

RT France says that this doubt shows itself as disorientation produced by an unfamiliar and overwhelming situation—it denotes not so much intellectual doubt but practical uncertainty

The disciples weren’t having a crisis of faith (at this point), but trying to handle the unknowns of the moment

Let me translate

Lord, I know you are good but this recent tragedy hit close to home and I’m feeling some kind of way

Lord, I know you to be the supplier and owner of all things, but I’m struggling right now to “make ends wave at each other, let alone meet.”

Lord, I know you said you’d always be there, but I feel trapped and alone

Trans- and so it’s normal to feel the weight of circumstance, but watch what Jesus does next

He leans in, and then he speaks

He comes close and speaks a word (message) that counters your doubt

2. Wrestle with Jesus’ Claim of Authority (v.18)

a. Why would this have served as a word of comfort for them

b. Because they know their Hebrew Scripture and what they have been expecting

i. As students of the Word, their mind’s would have gone to Daniel 7:13–14 “I was watching in the night visions, “And with the clouds of the sky one like a son of man was approaching. He went up to the Ancient of Days and was escorted before him. To him was given ruling authority, honor, and sovereignty. All peoples, nations, and language groups were serving him. His authority is eternal and will not pass away. His kingdom will not be destroyed.”

ii. This also why in Luke’s parallel account of this scene (Acts 1), they ask is now the time for you to restore the kingdom to Israel?

NOTE: Jesus counters doubt with an allusion (reference) back to the Word of God; we have learned thus far, that we will not escape situations of doubt, but would to God that we would remember to face our doubts with the Word of God

iii. The premature offer of Satan

iv. But now Jesus claims the authority and reign of that one and another Satan couldn’t package with the previous deal

c. This is a principle of Christian life: “The things offered by Satan and the world will be quick, alluring, attractive and temporal, but they fail in that they only offer a small portion of what’s truly available to the child of God”

d. And that’s what you and I have to remember...

Trans- this newly claimed and possessed authority, will now serve as the basis for what he says next

3. Witness to ALL that Christ Commands

a. He says because I have this power, I need you to GO—I am now sending you

b. There are some who want to define this “going”, which is a participle, as what you ought to do in your natural trek of your day—and this is partially true

c. But what if my natural trek of life doesn’t lead me to ALL nations—what then?

i. Do I simply say, Lord help them the best way you can

ii. Do I become an Ultra-determinist and say, (que sera, que sera) what will be, will be and why does God need me

iii. Or even like some denominations, who call themselves Christian and have publically announced a resignation from missions

d. We are living in a period where empathy and concern for the “OTHER” is being aggressively challenged

e. And if I do what is natural, that eventually becomes what is comfortable

f. And from there I eventually make like the priest and the Levite and reorder my route of life so as to not encounter anybody that I don’t like

g. This is when the Gospel is redefined and used to expel, marginalize, refuse, ignore sequester and conquer in the supposed name of Christ

h. But that friends is a false Gospel if there ever was one, and there have been many—because in order to make disciples of ALL Nations, I have to encounter all nations

i. And so friends, I confess, I am interested in building a House of Diversity

The political system may not believe in its worth

Businesses and organizations have been stricken with selective amnesia on its benefits to their current status

In other words—it looks bad when you now burn the bridges that “crossed you over”

But the true Church cannot run from this—it is the Gospel, ALL Nations

Contextually, this is Jesus helping us see that the previous Jewish mission has turned into the now Jewish to Gentile mission

What’s the goal—to make disciples

What are they:

The term that the Scriptures employ to communicate discipleship (mathetes; μαθητής) shares its origin and understanding from Greco-Roman culture. It commonly refers to the learners or pupils of philosophers and rhetoricians (LSJ, p. 1072). In the New Testament (NT), there are two primary senses of the term: (1) one who engages in learning through instruction from another—contrasted with a teacher (peer-oriented ;), and (2) one who is rather constantly associated with someone who has a pedagogical reputation or a particular set of views (adherent; BDAG, p. 609).

d. How does this happen?

i. We baptize them (this assumes evangelistic conversion)

ii. We teach them to obey ALL that Christ has commanded

e. The Mission is Not

i. Syncretism- the attempt to combine Christian teaching with that of other faiths to produce on massive and world-wide acceptable religion

ii. Universalism- says that all persons have been accepted by God through Christ one way or another and the “mission” of the church is simply to announce that to the world

iii. Animism (World Peace)- the goal of church and all other humans is to preserve and keep the earth in the best state possible; animals, plants, water, rocks…blessed are the meek

iv. Socialism- the mission of the church is seen as to rid the world of all its social ills; murder, hunger, poverty, justice…so that eventually nothing but goodness is left

v. Exclusivity- the church is to preach (announce) a message of exclusivity that is however available to whoever believes that Jesus came as the Son of God to rid humanity of its fundamental problem

Trans- And for some it’s too steep

TOOK- Cost Too High

Lord Kenneth Clark, internationally known for his television series Civilization, lived and died without faith in Jesus Christ. He admitted in his autobiography that while visiting a beautiful church he had what he believed to be an overwhelming religious experience. He wrote, “My whole being was irradiated by a kind of heavenly joy far more intense than anything I had known before."

But the "flood of grace" as he described it, created a problem. If he allowed himself to be influenced by it, he knew he would have to change, his family might think he had lost his mind, and maybe that intense joy would prove to be an illusion. So, he concluded, "I was too deeply embedded in the world to change course."

But lest I end on a sour note, don’t forget the promise of verse 20

I am always with you until the end comes (think transition)

But that He is expressly interested in the work he’s commissioned us to do

All that Power, All that Authority is with you, pushing us and directing us, as long as it’s his work we are doing

And so, the Master wants you and I to be grateful enough for the change that has come about in our life—enough to do it for someone else

It’s not Your Power or My Power

All hail the power of Jesus' name! Let angels prostrate fall. Bring forth the royal diadem, and crown him Lord of all. Bring forth the royal diadem, and crown him Lord of all!

Let every tongue and every tribe responsive to his call, to him all majesty ascribe, and crown him Lord of all. To him all majesty ascribe, and crown him Lord of all!