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Introduction
Read Scripture then pray.
Father today I ask that you open this text to me and that you open it to those here.
I pray that you will bring about spiritual transformation in our hearts today.
Reveal the truth of your Word to us today and help us to grow in our knowledge of you.
Amen
By the end of the book of Matthew we come to the conclusion of a journey that has told the story of the life of Jesus.
We’ve heard of His birth, His teaching and ministry, all of the miracles He performed, and eventually His death.
So when we come to this final chapter in the Gospel of Matthew, we come to the point of the Resurrection of Christ.
Just as He foretold.
And yet, even with His resurrection and defeat of the grave, He still is not finished.
He still has a final command for those who are His true followers, His disciples.
And that command comes in the form of The Great Commission.
And yet with this final Chapter of Matthew, we read of the foretold resurrection coming to be
And this call to proclaim the gospel - to make disciples - is a call we need to hear today.
It’s a command that we need to remind ourselves of often.
If all Scripture serves the purpose to point us to Christ, then the Great Commission is the culmination of that.
Jesus’ work on earth has been accomplished, and now our work begins.
And so my question for you today, my question for all of us here is this.
Is your purpose in life to make Christ known?
Is our purpose, as a church, to go and make disciples?
And if you believe that that is your purpose today, and every day, are you doing that?
Are you making disciples?
v. 16-17
v. 16 - As we look at our Scripture today, we see that the eleven disciples (Jesus’ inner circle) head to Galilee to the mountain where He directed them.
And although this mountain is not a specified place, it demonstrates the general scene or areawhere Jesus taught in Galilee.
And what an awesome place for Jesus to direct His disciples to.
Becuase it is here in Galilee that the wider mission is launched where the original mission began.
And in the next verse we see the reaction of the 11 when they see the savior.
v. 17
When the disciples see Jesus, they naturally worship Him, but at the same time, the overall experience was so mysterious and overwhelming that some doubted.
And the word here for doubt, distazo, does not indicate a settled unbelief, but instead uncertainty or hesitation.
It wasn’t that they did not believe, but that instead, in their amazement, they were confused.
Think of it in terms of our modern language when we see something that is “too good to be true.”
We see the same hesitation in when Jesus appears to the disciples following His resurrection.
After appearing and proclaiming Shalom, peace to you, to his disciples they were startled to see him.
At first, they were afraid, but He comforted them by showing them His hands and feet and telling them not to be afraid.
Even after these things, we read that they still could not believe it because of their joy and amazement.
It’s also worth noting that the only other place we see the Greek word distazo in the New Testament is found in Matthew’s account of Peter walking on the water in .
Peter had enough faith to get out of the boat and walk toward Jesus on the water.
“But when he saw the wind he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’” Jesus immediately reached out His hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”
Why did you hesitate?
Why were you uncertain?
And for the disciples to be rebuked for their doubt, uncertainty, hesitation, how much more so should we fight the doubt that we struggle with?
In each of these cases in Scripture, there are people who exhibit faith in Christ’s Resurrection or in His ability to perform a particular miracle.
But at the same time, for whatever reason, they express some form of hesitation or doubt.
And we are the same way, and it’s often because we don’t trust in the following statement that Christ is about to give to the disciples.
1.
The Authority of Christ (v.
18)
v. 16 - As we look at our Scripture today, we see that the eleven disciples (Jesus’ inner circle) head to Galilee to the mountain where He directed them.
And although this mountain is not a specified place, it demonstrates the general scene or areawhere Jesus taught in Galilee.
And what an awesome place for Jesus to direct His disciples to.
Becuase it is here in Galilee that the wider mission is launched where the original mission began.
And in the next verse we see the reaction of the 11 when they see the savior.
v. 17
When the disciples see Jesus, they naturally worship Him, but at the same time, the overall experience was so mysterious and overwhelming that some doubted.
And the word here for doubt, distazo, does not indicate a settled unbelief, but instead uncertainty or hesitation.
It wasn’t that they did not believe, but that instead, in their amazement, they were confused.
Think of it in terms of our modern language when we see something that is “too good to be true.”
We see the same hesitation in when Jesus appears to the disciples following His resurrection.
After appearing and proclaiming Shalom, peace to you, to his disciples they were startled to see him.
At first, they were afraid, but He comforted them by showing them His hands and feet and telling them not to be afraid.
Even after these things, we read that they still could not believe it because of their joy and amazement.
It’s also worth noting that the only other place we see the Greek word distazo in the New Testament is found in Matthew’s account of Peter walking on the water in .
Peter had enough faith to get out of the boat and walk toward Jesus on the water.
“But when he saw the wind he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’” Jesus immediately reached out His hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”
Why did you hesitate?
Why were you uncertain?
And for the disciples to be rebuked for their doubt, uncertainty, hesitation, how much more so should we fight the doubt that we struggle with?
38 And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?
39 See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself.
Touch me, and see.
For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”
40 And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.
41 And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate before them.
In each of these cases in Scripture, there are people who exhibit faith in Christ’s Resurrection or in His ability to perform a particular miracle.
But at the same time, for whatever reason, they express some form of hesitation or doubt.
And we are the same way, and it’s often because we don’t trust in the following statement that Christ is about to give to the disciples.
We often skip right over verse 18, and jump head first into the Great Commission.
However, it’s very important that we realize that in Jesus opening sentence his response to the disciples hesitation, is to reassure them of his autho rity.
When Jesus gathers His disciples on the mountain, He does not begin with a command, but instead with a claim.
And that claim is that “ALL authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”
What an awesome reassurance that is!
That in the middle of our doubt, in the middle of the storms of life that cause uncertainty, Jesus says, I am in control.
And this declaration, in all of its awesomeness gets even better and has even deeper meaning when we realize that Christ is echoing the words of that say:
In the Eye of the Storm by Max Lucado, Word Publishing, 1991, p. 153
And to him was given dominion
and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one
that shall not be destroyed.
Jesus’ authority is the basis for everything that follows in this text.
And we often need to be reminded of this authority.
That our savior is the ruler of all, not just on the earth, but in heaven as well.
It reminds me that I need to have more faith in Christ.
And it reminds me of a story I read in a devotional not too long ago.
In U.S. Navel Institute Proceedings, the magazine of the Naval Institute, Frank Koch illustrates the importance of obeying the Laws of the Lighthouse.
Two battleships assigned to the training squadron had been at sea on maneuvers in heavy weather for several days.
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