The Great Commission
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This will be my final installment from the I AM sermon series.
In the last 2 messages we talked about Jesus’ mission becoming our mission and Jesus not only saying that He was the Light of the World, but that we are also the light of the world.
What is the significance of one’s last will and testament?
Or someone’s last words before they leave this life?
Jesus also had some last words before He left this world.
HIs final words to us give us our final marching orders.
First let’s look at the sequence of events, we’ll examine His last words, and then we’ll consolidate everything that Jesus said and how it applies to us.
His Resurrection
His Resurrection
“He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying. “Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee, there you will see Him; behold, I have told you.” And they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to report it to His disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and take word to My brethren to leave for Galilee, and there they will see Me.”
Second Week Post Resurrection
Second Week Post Resurrection
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. And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. “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.”
For 40 Days After His Resurrection (Acts 1:1-8)
For 40 Days After His Resurrection (Acts 1:1-8)
Gave the Apostles their orders by the Holy Spirit. (vs 2)
What orders?
“God raised Him up on the third day and granted that He become visible, not to all the people, but to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God, that is, to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead. “And He ordered us to preach to the people, and solemnly to testify that this is the One who has been appointed by God as Judge of the living and the dead. “Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins.”
Witnesses is a key word in the book of Acts, I’ll come back to this in a little bit.
4 Orders Summarized.
Testify that Jesus was the One appointed by God.
Jesus is the Messiah, the Savior.
Jesus is the only one appointed by God to show the way to God.
I AM The Way And The Truth And The Life.
I AM the Gate.
I AM The Light of the World.
Jesus was the plan from the beginning.
Testify that Jesus is Judge of the living and the dead.
We will be accountable for our actions someday.
Not a popular thought...
What a wonderful lie of Satan to get us to think that there are no future consequences for our actions.
And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,
I AM The Good Shepherd
“But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. “All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.
Living - Believers - Sheep
Bema Seat
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
Bad works burned up.
Good works rewarded.
I AM The True Vine.
You are the branches.
“I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.
“You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.
Grace.
Dead - Unbelievers - Goats
Great White Throne Judgment
Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.
And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
judged by their works.
Justice.
Testify that Jesus is the one that all the prophets bore witness to.
Over 100 prophecies fulfilled by Christ in His first coming.
Matthew’s main point...This was to fulfill. Jesus was the prophesied Messiah.
But there are still over 200 prophecies about His Second Coming that are yet to be fulfilled.
So this point subtly points to testifying to His Second Coming as well, which would also connect to Him being the judge of the living and the dead.
I AM the Way and the Truth and The Life.
Testify that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins.
The basic Gospel message.
Death, burial, and resurrection.
Passover Lamb - Blood sacrifice, atonement, Egypt.
I AM The Bread of Life.
I AM The Resurrection and The Life.
I AM The Good Shepherd. Lay down my life for my sheep.
Presented Himself alive after His suffering (vs 3)
About 10 accounts of post resurrection appearances recorded in Scripture, but that is not an exhaustive list.
See insert.
By Many Convincing Proofs - Demonstrative evidence.
Stone rolled away.
Body missing.
They saw him, they touched him.
He broke bread and then vanished, only to reappear a few hours later in the Upper Room.
He ate fish in their presence.
He performed a miraculous catch of fish.
He appeared to more than 500 at one time.
Spoke to them of the things concerning the kingdom of God. (vs 3)
In the book of Acts it usually appears as a convenient way of summarizing the content of the earliest Christian preaching.
In addition to what we have already discussed, there are 2 other things that stand out with this point.
It refers to God’s sovereign rule in human life and the affairs of history.
It also looks ahead to Christ’s reign on earth: The Millennial Kingdom.
But finds its final fulfillment in the New Heaven, New Earth, and New Jerusalem.
So, the Kingdom of God is eschatological in significance.
Kingdom of Heaven 30x in Matthew.
Kingdom of God 4x in Matthew; 14x in Mark; 31x in Luke; 2x in John
This would be one reason the disciples asked Jesus about the restoration of the kingdom in vs.6-7
The verb tense implies they kept asking Him each time they saw Him.
Partly also because of it’s connection to verse 5.
OT Prophecy linked the coming of the Kingdom to a renewed outpouring and work of the Holy Spirit.
“It will come about after this That I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and daughters will prophesy, Your old men will dream dreams, Your young men will see visions. “Even on the male and female servants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. “I will display wonders in the sky and on the earth, Blood, fire and columns of smoke.
“The sun will be turned into darkness And the moon into blood Before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. “And it will come about that whoever calls on the name of the Lord Will be delivered; For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem There will be those who escape, As the Lord has said, Even among the survivors whom the Lord calls.
“For behold, in those days and at that time, When I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,
Interestingly, Joel is the text Peter quotes about Pentecost in Acts 2:14ff
That being said, Jesus told the disciples, that the timing of the restoration of the Kingdom was none of their business.
Don’t concern yourself with such details, God’s got it all figured out.
In fact the main thrust of the NT regarding the Second Coming has more to do with being active until that time and be ready for when it does.
That being said, God does reveal some of the timing of things later in Scripture through Paul and John.
But in regards the matter at hand for the Apostles at that time, Jesus says that He has something more important that they needed to focus on than dates and times.
He commanded them to not leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised. (vs 4-5, 8)
Which you have heard of from Me.
and He said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. “You are witnesses of these things. “And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”
John baptized with water, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.
Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
You will receive power (vs 8)
When the Holy Spirit has come upon you;
tied into the use of the Spiritual Gifts the Holy Spirit has given you.
The Holy Spirit’s power to use the Holy Spirit’s gifts through the Holy Spirit’s calling for the Holy Spirit’s purposes.
You will be my witnesses.
To bear witness to the risen Christ.
Marturos - to announce the facts of the Gospel and tell its good news.
The word appears 39 times in the Book of Acts
“You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. “We are witnesses of all the things He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They also put Him to death by hanging Him on a cross. “God raised Him up on the third day and granted that He become visible, not to all the people, but to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God, that is, to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead.
Also used of those who have died for their faith.
Martyr.
Does not mean that all who are witnesses are martyrs.
This is the primary purpose of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
This is not an exhaustive teaching on this subject, just a few comments, and I’m keeping this particular instance in context of Jesus’ Great Commission.
The purpose of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit here is to supercharge your spiritual gifts in order to give witness to the risen Christ and His good news.
Specific references to the Baptism of the Holy Spirit occurs 4x in the NT all in the Book of Acts.
Paul mentions it once in I Cor 12:13
For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
Each Baptism of the Spirit event seems to target different communities marking the inclusion of that group into God’s covenant people.
Almost like an inauguration of that group into the body of Christ.
Jews - Pentecost (Acts 2) - Jerusalem
Gentiles - Cornelius (Acts 10) - Judea
Samaritans (Acts 8) - Samaria
Ephesian disciples (Acts 19) - Ends of the Earth - Corinth
And the whole book of Acts presents itself this way, as a progression seeing the fulfillment of the Great Commission.
It began in Jerusalem and ended at the ends of the Earth - Paul in Rome.
After that we don’t hear of other baptisms of the Holy Spirit, nor of people getting rebaptized in the Holy Spirit.
I’ll come back to this someday when I preach on the Day of Pentecost.
Which if I was here next Sunday I would.
Summary Of Main Points To Be Proclaimed
Testify that Jesus is the One appointed by God
Testify that Jesus is the Judge of the living and the dead.
Testify that Jesus is the one that all the prophets bore witness to.
Testify that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins.
Present Convincing Proofs of His Resurrection
Proclaim The Kingdom Of God
Be Baptized of The Holy Spirit
In Closing:
Areas In Which We Are To Be Witnesses
Areas In Which We Are To Be Witnesses
Jerusalem
Judea
Samaria - see map
Ends of the Earth
The Great Commission: Often quoted and thought of in regards to Global Missions, and rightfully so, but it is a call to more than that.
Also, I mentioned that one of the purposes of the book of Acts was to show the fulfillment of the Great Commission.
But, the Great Commission is ongoing in that the ends of the earth definitely extend beyond Rome.
And taking the Gospel to the ends of the earth was not fulfilled in their lifetime, so the Great Commission remains in force until that day comes.
“This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.
In our context here at Lighthouse, whether people realize it or not we support this plan.
Letting our light shine corporately:
Jerusalem would be our local missions - Lighthouse Fellowship, AWANA, VBS, community
Judea would be regional / state - FCA - Jared Wockenfuss; CEF - Kennon Hofer; SD Right To Life
Samaria would be akin to out of state / national - Jesse and Jaime Boyd; Todd Becker Foundation
End of the Earth - Thang, Geoffrey/Titus, Bishnu, Tim and Karla Shamala
I love that we have a balanced portfolio, so to speak.
Letting your light shine individually:
Jerusalem - family
Judea - ministry at church
Samaria - local outreach - VBS, BIA, New Hope, local evangelism
Ends of the earth - short term missions
Closing Song:
