19 Great Commission

Foundational Doctrines:

Commissioned for What

Text:  Matthew 28:16-20

Introduction:

1.      This is the last Sunday of 2006

a.      What have we accomplished?

b.       How have we done?

c.       Did we do what we expected or intended?

2.      How can we measure these questions?

a.      What should I accomplish?

b.       How should I be going about it?

c.       What am I supposed to be doing?

3.      We need a standard.

I.       Commission Given

A.      Nearly all resurrection appearances end with Jesus telling the hearers to spread the good news.

1.      The New Testament indicates that there were at least ten appearances of the risen Lord, plus another some years later to the apostle Paul.

2.      In eight of these appearance accounts, Christ gives an explicit commission, and in five he commands his followers to go into all the world and preach the gospel.[1]

B.      The commission was given to the local church.

1.      They were a called out assembly.

2.      They were baptized and baptism is identity with the Body, the church.

Rather, first, at some point one’s commitment to Jesus as Savior and Lord must become public, for baptism is a public act (it is a declaration before the world that a person intends to follow Jesus); and, second, the person is uniting with the church, which is Christ’s visible body. This is both natural and necessary. If a person is truly converted, he or she will want to join with other similarly converted people.[2]

II.    Commission Explained

A.      Go ye is actually a participle and conveys not a command to go, but the assumption that the listener will automatically be going. In other words, the idea expressed is that “as you are going” make disciples, …

1.      A participle is …

a.       n.   A form of a verb that in some languages, such as English, can function independently as an adjective, as the past participle baked in We had some baked beans, and is used with an auxiliary verb to indicate tense, aspect, or voice, as the past participle baked in the passive sentence The beans were baked too long.

b.       an adjective or complement to certain auxiliaries that is regularly derived from the verb in many languages and refers to participation in the action or state of the verb; a verbal form used as an adjective. It does not specify person or number in English, but may have a subject or object, show tense, etc., as burning, in a burning candle, or devoted in his devoted friend.

2.      It should be a way of life not just a part of our living.

a.       How to do that

b.       How we want to do that

B.      Teach all nations

1.      could be translated “convert all Gentiles,” or “disciple all nations.”

2.      The converting influence of the gospel is indicated here.

Reaching the nations is not merely a matter of education but the full process of discipleship, i.e., teaching and training, beginning with conversion.

3.      The “all nations” makes it clear that the Commission to the church is a worldwide one, encompassing the entire missionary effort.

4.      The church is not to be merely “missionary-minded.”

The church is the vehicle of Christ’s mission to the world and the two (church and mission) are inseparable. Every local church has a mission to its world.[3]

C.     Baptizing

1.      Identification with Jesus Christ in the church..

2.      In the name (SINGULAR) of…

III. Commission Applied

A.      Applied to me personally

1.      At home

2.      At church

3.      In my “life mission”

B.      Applied to ministry

1.      Invest in someone

2.      Listen to what they are saying

3.      Think about how to answer or not

C.     Applied to our church

1.      PIER (small) groups

2.      Developing community

3.      Strengthening the body

Conclusion: 

1.      First we must understand we are under orders

2.      We are also under authority, great authority!

3.      How are we going to live this life and accomplish God’s desire for this world?

Benediction:

Jude 24-25 (KJV)
24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
25 To the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.[4]

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[1]James Montgomery Boice, The Gospel of Matthew (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 2001), 644.

[2]James Montgomery Boice, The Gospel of Matthew (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 2001), 648.

[3]KJV Bible Commentary (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1994), 1963.

[4]  The Holy Bible : King James Version. electronic ed. of the 1769 edition of the 1611 Authorized Version. Bellingham WA : Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1995