Matthew 28:16-20 Go

Go

The purpose of Parkwood Baptist Church is to glorify God by laboring together for the growth of all believers while going with the gospel to all people(s).

Main Point: The mission of the church has been clearly established by the Lord Jesus Christ for all time.

“It is not so much that God has a mission for his church in the world, as that God has a church for his mission in the world. Mission was not made for the church; the church was made for mission - God’s mission” (Wright).

16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted.

Notice worship is the context of the giving of the Great Commision.

Psalm 67:1–4 ESV

1 May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, Selah 2 that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations. 3 Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you! 4 Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. Selah

Psalm 96:4 ESV

4 For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods.

Psalm 96:3 ESV

3 Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!

Pslam

The Mission of the Church is not optional

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..

Evidence of authority-resurrection

Authoritative command… Let us never forget that this solemn injunction is still in full force. It is still the bounden duty of every disciple of Christ to do all he can in person, and by prayer, to make others acquainted with Jesus. Where is our faith, if we neglect this duty? Where is our charity? It may well be questioned whether a man knows the value of the Gospel himself, if he does not desire to make it known to all the world. (Ryle, 410) ..the commission to disciple all the nations stands at the center of the church’s mandate, and a church that forgets this, or marginalizes it, forfeits the right to the titles ‘catholic’ and ‘apostolic.’.Newbegin

Trans. understand of the command.

The Mission of the Church is to go and make disciples

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations...

“Make disciples” command. Involves instructing, teaching, formation. (Jesus took the 12 into his life for 3 years--His example and their experience, prepared the disciples for this moment) Because they had been made into disciples they were ready to do the same.

“The essential commission is not “Tell people about Jesus.” It is not “Preach the gospel.” It is not “Grow your church.” It is not “Make converts.” Jesus’ commission assumes all these, but goes deeper, commanding that we make disciples. To make disciples is to lead new believers to maturity, so they understand and follow Jesus and eventually become leaders too. By making disciples, the church stays strong over the generations.” (Doriani, 532)

“Go” modifies the command and as a result carries the force of the command. Go means to travel or proceed in another direction over land or water. (now air) As you are going--proceeding in another direction...make disciples.

Jesus could have said simply “make disciples”--could have focused on where we are with who we know and been confident that we are fulfilling his mission. However, he added go and all nations to the command. “All nations. Could he not have made his mandate more realistic and less ambitious--like “all Palestine” or even “the eastern Mediterranean countries”? Who does he think he is? “Other people,” yes; “all nations,” how? (Wesley). (Bruner, 816)

The Mission of the Church requires intentional strategy and sacrifice

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.

Reaching the nations requires strategic going.

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. (Platt. 377)

Acts 1:8 ESV

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Romans 15:20 ESV

20 and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else’s foundation,

When we go, what we do must be

When we go, what we do must be Biblical, Reproducible and Sustainable.

Biblical

Reproducible

Sustainable.

Reaching the nations requires gospel proclamation and identification.

“Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Who is to be baptized? Believer’s Baptism

Acts 2:41 ESV

41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

“ Baptism, therefore, is very important. The one who submits to it, if sincere, is proclaiming that he has broken with the world and has been brought into union with the Triune God, to whom he intends to devote his life.” (Hendriksen, 1001)

Baptism makes two announcements, one by the individual and one by the church. The early church insisted that before the person to whom the gospel had been proclaimed be admitted to membership he must give evidence of genuine repentance and of knowledge of the basics of Christianity

The abiding principle is this: the church has the responsibility in baptism to testify to a person’s faith. The church does not have the power to confer or complete salvation. However, it does have the delegated authority to baptize believers in Christ based on their visible faith, which leads to a final consideration: the relationship between belief and baptism. (9 Marks Article)

Reaching the nations requires the comprehensive and sacrificial making of disciples who make disciples.

“teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” What is necessary for that to happen--church must be established.

Colossians 1:28–29 ESV

28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.

The Mission of the Church will be fulfilled

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

Context v. 9 We need his presence because of what we are sent to do and what we will face when we get there. Literally I am with you “all days” Jesus’ “all the days” means that it is not just “most days” or “good days,” or days disciples feel spiritually fit, or feel they have prayed enough, but on all days Jesus is present with them, much more faithful to them than they are to him. (Bruner, 830)

V. 14 the mission will be accomplished. All nations will hear and some from every tribe and tongue will believe.

Revelation 7:9–10 ESV

9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

So What?

As a follower of Christ, am I embracing the mission of the church that I have been made a part of?

1 Peter 2:9–10 ESV

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Romans 10:13–17 ESV

13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

WIlliam Carey “That there are thousands in our own land as far from God as possible, I readily grant, and that this ought to excite us to ten-fold diligence in our work, and in attempts to spread divine knowledge amongst them is a certain fact; but that it ought to supersede all attempts to spread the gospel in foreign parts seems to want proof. Our own countrymen have the means of grace, and may attend on the word preached if they chuse it. They have the means of knowing the truth, and faithful ministers are placed in almost every part of the land, whose spheres of action might be much extended if their congregations were but more hearty and active in the cause: but with them the case is widely different, who have no Bible, no written language, (which many of them have not) no ministers, no good civil government, nor any of those advantages which we have. Pity therefore, humanity, and much more Christianity, call loudly for every possible exertion to introduce the gospel amongst them.” (13)

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