The King's Commission

We have gathered tonight, as followers of Jesus Christ who attend this local church. Our church family is a small representation of the millions, billions and more of Christ's universal church, made of all those who believe in Him around the world, past and present combined.

As followers of Jesus Christ who have pledged our allegiance to Him as our Savior and Lord by faith, what is Christ's commission for us? What does Christ say that we are to be doing? What is Christ's vision for His Church?

We find the answer in a scripture that is one once, very familiar, yet at the same time, often neglected today, Matthew 28:18-20.

Would you please find that scripture in your Bible?

Matthew's gospel was written to present Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah, the King of the Jews. Matthew began his gospel with Jesus' genealogy, tracing Jesus' lineage from Abraham, through King David to Joseph, the husband of Mary.

For us today, the genealogies in the Bible are something we tend to skip over. The names are weird and hard to pronounce. And… we often have trouble understanding their significance in scripture.

Yet the Jews placed high significance in genealogies. This accounting of Jesus' lineage proved that he was truly of Jewish descent. Therefore, Jesus had a rightful claim to be the Messiah, the Christ.

In chapter 2-4 of Matthew's gospel we find His royal preparation. In Matthew 5-7, Jesus taught his disciples the way of the Kingdom - His royal precepts.

In Matthew 8-20 we find Jesus' royal personality on display through the stories of His ministry and teaching.

In Matthew 21-26 we see the progress of the King toward the city of Jerusalem. And, in these chapters we also see His rejection as King by the Jewish people. (paraphrased, BethanyBible)

In Matthew 27, the King is crucified. In verse 11, as Jesus was still on trial, we read…

Matthew 27:11 ESV

Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus said, “You have said so.”

Later, we read as Jesus was being crucified…

Matthew 27:37 ESV

And over his head they put the charge against him, which read, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.”

After Jesus had died, we read…

Matthew 27:54 ESV

When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”

In Matthew 28, Jesus' resurrection story - the story of the resurrected Redeemer - is told in almost an understated way. On Sunday morning, the women went to the tomb, but Jesus was not there.

Instead, an angel told them to tell his disciples, "He is risen!" Then, as they were going, Jesus met them on the way, telling them relay the message that the disciples should go to Galilee.

Verse 16 tells us that the eleven later went to Galilee to a mountain that Jesus had appointed for them. When they saw Jesus, they worshipped him, but some still had trouble believing.

Then Matthew concluded his gospel with the King's Commission. Would you read this scripture with me?

Matthew 28:18–20 ESV

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

As we consider this scripture, notice that there are three "all"s. "All authority" - verse 18, "all nations" - verse 19, and "all that I have commanded you" - verse 20. And then in verse 20, we also find "always". These four words will form the points of our outline today.

Notice also there are four verbs in the Great Commission - "go", "make disciples", "baptizing", and "teaching." Three of these verbs are participles, meaning that they all support the fourth verb, which is the main verb for the sentence.

The main verb is "make disciples", "make disciples of all nations" in verse 19. In the King James Version, of course, the Greek verb here is translated as “teach”, but the Greek verb here is different that the Greek word rendered as "teaching" in verse 20.

The Greek verb in verse 19 is matheteuo, the verb form of the noun mathetes, which means "disciple." "Teaching" in verse 20, on the other hand, is from the Greek word didasko, from which we get English words such as "didactic" and "deductive", which describe how we teach.

The word "disciple" is used 260 plus times in the gospels and Acts, but only four times as a verb.

A "disciple", simply put, is a devoted student who follows an esteemed teacher closely so that he could learn how to imitate him.

(BethanyBible)

In our passage, Jesus was telling these disciples before him that as he had discipled them, they were now to do the work of discipling.

Think about it this way. Our word "walk" can be a noun or a verb. When we talk about a person's walk, we may describe a person who walks fast, walks with a limp, etc.

But when we tell someone to "walk", we are telling them to do the action of walking. In a similar way, when the New Testament talks about a "disciple" (noun form), it is describing a follower of Jesus.

But now that Jesus tells his disciples to "disciple" or "disciplize" all nations, Jesus is telling his followers that they are to make disciples of Him from all people!

Matthew 28:19 (EBC Mt–Lk): “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). The injunction is given at least to the Eleven, but to the Eleven in their own role as disciples (28:16).

Therefore they are paradigms for all disciples. Plausibly the command is given to a larger gathering of disciples (see on vv. 10, 16–17). Either way it is binding on all Jesus’ disciples to make others what they themselves are—disciples of Jesus Christ.

Big Idea: The commission of King Jesus is to make disciples.

This is what our mission as a church and as individual followers of Jesus is all about. We are to make disciples of Jesus!

Our passion in life as followers of Jesus should be to go wherever we can to find lost, irreligious people and share with them the Good News that Jesus is Savior and Lord.

Our passion should be to lead them to saving faith and allegiance to Christ by faith in Him, welcoming them into the local church of God, and training them, equipping them to obey everything Christ has commanded us!

Over the past few months, I have been trying to express that with a line I have said every Sunday morning: We exist as a church to help people know Jesus, grow in their faith, and go serve in His name.

This is what making disciples is all about!

This is what King Jesus has commissioned us to do. This is what King Jesus expects us to do. This is God's will for our lives and our church.

Yes, this Great Commission of making disciples is daunting, but notice, firstly…

1. Our Authority in Making Disciples, vv. 18-19.

Matthew 28:18–19 ESV

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations …

King Jesus has all authority and power in heaven and earth. Jesus is the Son of God, co-equal with the Father and the Spirit. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords.

But now that He came to earth, became flesh, lived among us, suffered, died in our place, and rose again on the third day, in a sense His absolute authority and power is recognized in a new sense.

HE… IS… KING!

And as king, King Jesus commands us, commissions us… to go and make disciples.

Jesus has delegated to us the task of leading people to faith in Him and training them to follow God. Our authority does not come from ourselves. We make disciples of Christ because Christ has commanded us to do so.

What is our passion, our drive, in making disciples of Christ? Notice, secondly…

2. Our Ambition in Making Disciples, v. 19.

Matthew 28:19 ESV

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…

Our vision, our ambition, our passion - is to reach the world for Jesus!

Earlier, we noted that Matthew began his gospel with Jesus' genealogy, by tracing his lineage from Abraham to Joseph.

In doing this, Matthew introduced a key theme in his gospel, "that the blessings promised to Abraham and through him to all peoples on earth" (EBC).

When God first called Abraham to leave his home and follow him wherever God would lead, God gave Abraham this promise…

Genesis 12:3 ESV

I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

In Christ, this promise of God is realized, for God's salvation is found in Jesus!

God's salvation came for the Jews first, but then to the Gentiles also. Salvation is not for the Jews only. Salvation is not for Americans only.

Salvation is for all!

2 Peter 3:9 ESV

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

Notice, thirdly…

3. Our Aim in Making Disciples, vv. 19-20.

Matthew 28:19–20 ESV

… baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you…

Why is baptism into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost important?

It is a sign both of entrance into Messiah’s covenant community and of pledged submission to his lordship. (EBC)

Water baptism does not save us from our sins. Water baptism does not make us more spiritual than we were before.

Water baptism is an essential rite in the Christian life because it is a public declaration that we have forsaken the life of sin and we now belong to Jesus.

We are no longer a part of the kingdom of this world; we belong to God's kingdom and His people, the Church of God.

This baptism is a public declaration that we have surrendered our lives to Christ's lordship.

We do not live for ourselves any more. We do not live for our family, or for our job, our career. We do not live for sin or for Satan.

We belong to Jesus! We follow His Word and His will, revealed through the Holy Spirit!

Disciples are made as we baptize people and also as we are - Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you:

Discipleship is a process. Discipleship is not something we graduate from. Rather, we are followers of Jesus - disciples - all our lives, learning Him more and more.

As we make disciples, we are to teach the people the whole counsel of God.

We instruct believers in the basics of salvation, how to grow in grace, the need for sanctification, to become involved in ministry to others, and to replicate themselves - to make disciples of Christ.

Notice, however, that we are to teach them to observe - or to obey - everything Christ has commanded us.

What the disciples teach is not mere dogma steeped in abstract theorizing but content to be obeyed.

It then follows that by carefully passing on everything Jesus taught, the first disciples—themselves eyewitnesses—call into being new generations of “ear-witnesses” (O’Brien, pp. 264f.).

These in turn pass on the truth they received. So a means is provided for successive generations to remain in contact with Jesus’ teachings (cf. 2 Tim 2:2).

Christianity must spread by an internal necessity or it has already decayed; for one of Jesus’ commands is to teach all he commands.

Failure to disciple, baptize and teach the peoples of the world is already itself one of the failures of our own discipleship. (EBC)

The commission King Jesus gives us in making disciples is glorious, but it is also daunting. Therefore, the final words of King Jesus in his commission are given to encourage us. Notice…

4. Our Assurance in Making Disciples, v. 20.

Matthew 28:20 ESV

… And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

On the night before Jesus was arrested and crucified, He told his disciples that he would be leaving them. The disciples were alarmed and distraught.

Jesus told them they knew the way, because He is the Way, Truth, and Life, but the disciples still seemed uncertain. Jesus promised them the Holy Spirit would come and be with them.

Jesus was crucified. The disciples were crushed. But on the third day, Jesus arose from the dead. And this is the glory of Christ's resurrection.

Even though we do not see Jesus today in his physical form, we know that He is here with us.

Jesus is with the missionary in a faraway land, surrounded by people who oppose Christ.

Jesus is with the student in a public high school or university whose teaching mocks God and discounts the truth of God's Word.

Jesus is with you as you serve others in God's name.

Jesus is with you when you share the Good News.

Jesus is with you in your home, your work, your school, and everywhere you go as you seek to imitate Him in an unholy world.

Our power, our effectiveness, our mission, our work is not our own. Truly, Christ does the work, but He gives us the privilege of being a part of it.

So serve Him, knowing that He is with you always!

Big Idea: The commission of King Jesus is to make disciples.

Someone has written…

In a general sense every believer is commissioned by the Lord and is bound to obey His call to go and present Him to the world.

Not every believer is called to be a preacher, teacher, pastor, or missionary; but every believer is called to be Christ’s witness to the world.

Jesus Christ has no followers who are not under His order in the Great Commission to ‘make disciples of all the nations’ (Matthew 28:19).

“The first and most essential element for ministry is the unqualified understanding that one is sovereignly called, gifted, and empowered by the Lord to do His work in His way.

"Children of God do not determine their own destiny or mark out their own patterns or plans. They are under divine orders, and their supreme, overarching concern must be to submit to Christ in all things.” —John MacArthur

In our text we have seen our authority in making disciples - Christ has delegated to us the task of sharing the Good News, leading people to faith in Him, training believers to do all that He has commanded us.

We have seen our ambition in making disciples. Our vision is worldwide. Like John Wesley about 250 years ago wrote: "The world is [our] parish!"

Our aim in making disciples is to see unbelievers saved from sin and fully incorporated in the local church and then trained to obey everything Jesus has commanded us.

Our assurance is that even though our task is monumental… He is with us! Jesus will guide us. Jesus will empower us! Jesus will build His Church as we seek to fulfill His commission of making disciples.

(pause)

Someone has noted that if you start a church, you may end up with a church, but if you make disciples, you will always end up with a church!

(pause)

But what does this all mean?

What are you supposed to do with this scripture - this teaching - as you leave our church tonight?

Simply, our challenge is this: we must recognize that God has not called us merely to attend church services, even though an essential part of the Christian life is the fellowship of God's people.

God has not called us merely to be involved in programs of the church, even though serving others in God's name is an important element of our Christian life.

(pause)

God has called us to BE His church. And we live as the Church of God … as disciples who make disciples.

Everyone who calls themselves a Christian should be characterized as a devoted student of Christ who follows Jesus so closely that they are becoming ever more an imitation of Him.

And in this walk of discipleship, we live in community with other disciples of Jesus, always sharing our faith with others so that the lost might hear the Good News and join us in our discipleship journey by faith in Christ, as we encourage each other, teaching each one to obey all that Christ has commanded us.

Why do we do all this? Because Jesus is our King, and Jesus has called us, commanded us, and commissioned us - to go and make disciples.

When others look at you, do they see a disciple - a follower of Jesus? Are you working through Christ's power to make disciples?

Let us devote ourselves to carry out the commission of our King - the King of kings!