ALL MEANS ALL - Matthew 28

Introduction

Grateful for the privilege to serve...

• In the African American culture I was exposed to preachers who would preach using something called Dialogical narration…what that means is that there is an expected exchange between the pulpit and pew meaning…it’s ok to talk back. Feel free to agree with an amen, or show you right or even Lord help him.

• Go ahead grab your bible, your device and pick me up in Matthew 28:18-20

PRAY

Attention - Story of the USS United States...

Heard a story this week that in the 1940’s the United States ship lines proposed to build a new ship that it would call the SS United States. This $79.4 million dollar project was going to produce the largest ship ever created in America and the fastest ship in the world. The US government upon hearing of this project invested $50million dollars. It was the governments plan to use this ship as a troop carrier that would be able to transport 15,000 troops into battle if necessary in the time of war.

In 1952 the SS United States finally set sail, but not as a troop carrier. Instead it set sail with plans of fast transatlantic travel and it succeeded, breaking records for transatlantic travel that stand even today. But it was never used as a troop carrier rather it made history as a luxury liner that catered to wealthy patrons. It finally had its last customers on November 14, 1969 and since 1996 it’s been docked at Pier 82 in Philadelphia where it’s still a popular tourist attraction. Although there has been many attempts to restore and repurpose this American iconic ship none have succeeded and no one knows what to do with the SS United States.

I need to remind us today that according to the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20 the church is a Troop Carrier, not a luxury liner.

The church is a battleship not a cruise ship or a tourist attraction. We have ALL been given this mission by Jesus and to quote Rev HB Charles: Jesus’ last command must remain the church’s first priority.

(Say this slow) We must remain on mission for Jesus! But what does this look like?

Well the text we read in the last chapter of Matthew is after Jesus’ resurrection and the world has been flipped on its head. In fact verse 17 says that even some of his own disciples are doubting and it’s here that we dive into the story to hear what it looks like to be on mission for Jesus...Pick me up at Matthew 28:16-18

Body

Point 1

S - Stick a pen there as it’s the first point. In order to be ALL In on mission for Jesus we must believe The Risen King Jesus’ claims that he has been given ALL authority!

V - It’s important for us to know this! It’s important for us to know that Jesus has ALL authority

E - Not some, not 50% not 99 and a half, but ALL authority. When I say ALL I mean in its entirety, complete, full , maximum, each and every. Can I say like i feel it…IF THERE WAS AUTHORITY TO GET HE GOT IT. Both on earth and in heaven, which means authority for this life and the life to come, it’s for things we see and things we don’t see!

Jesus’ authority gives him the power to control the winds, the waves, the wings of angel armies. Everything must submit to the authority of Jesus Christ!

I remember learning the simplest definition of the word ALL and I want to share it with you today? Scoot real close because this is profound and I want you to get it. ALL MEANS ALL. You can have that nugget for free. If you’re watching online you should type that in the chat box with “raised hands” emoji (rub ear as sign to Hoenstine’s)

ALL MEANS ALL!

Can’t you see Jesus, standing on this mountain, testifying to his disciples that his authority has no jurisdictional boundaries! It’s worth remembering that this wasn’t Jesus’ first time having a mountain moment like this. One that comes to mind happened at the beginning of his ministry back in Matthew 4:8 where the devil himself presented his climatic temptation to Jesus taking him on a high mountain and tempting him with all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. Let me pause here and say “Silly Rabbit tricks are for kids!”. How are are you going to give something that was never yours in the first place. I mean really! Did the devil not know that what he offered, Jesus already owned!

That’s like a realtor walking in the door right now and saying: Church! I want to sell you guys a beautiful building with the most amazing historic charm and it’s located at 125 E Plant Street right here in Winter Garden, FL.…(say like Kountry Wayne) YOU CAN’T SELL US WHAT WE ALREADY OWN! Apologize…woosaaa

Jesus resisted the temptations and obeyed God to the point of a horrible death, was raised again in victory and now stands on this mountain in our text testifying that he has received all authority…

A - Let me help you…could it be that you are losing control because you are meant to (repeat). What you and I need to do as disciples of Jesus is Surrender to him because he already has all authority and we must believe this!

Not only must we believe that Jesus has universal authority…but in order for us to be ALL IN on mission for Jesus we must

POINT 2

S - OBEY The Risen King Jesus’ commands to go make disciples of ALL nations.

A - Look at Matthew 28:19-20

V - It’s important for us to know that with Jesus having ALL authority he commands his disciples, that includes you and me and anyone that follows him, to Go and make disciples of ALL Nations.

E - Not some, not 50% not 99 and a half, but ALL nations. When I say ALL I mean in its entirety, complete, full , maximum, each and every. Can I say like i feel it…how many nations does Jesus want us to reach…ALL. And what’s our working definition church ALL MEANS ALL.

Listen making disciples is not a choice for the disciple, it’s a requirement. A disciple was someone who followed the Rabbi, they spent time with him immersed in his words, trying to do things like the Rabbi did because they understood, watch this, that the student is not above the teacher and that’s it’s good enough for the student to be LIKE his teacher. A disciple does not only want to know what the Rabbi knows but they wanted to BE what the Rabbi is! You want to be like Jesus make disciples!

In this text we see that this is the assignment of the church…to make disciples. And let me help you out this is not for a few…EVERY disciple is to make disciples. I heard it said this way Faithful disciples make disciples.

Now the question is raised what does making disciples look like…

Well three things jump out of this timeless text that’s tailored for us! All three of these things are action and imperative and most importantly they are things we should be doing to make disciples! The first thing is you’ve got to Go!

• Go - You can’t take the gospel if you don’t GO. In fact you can’t spell the word Gospel without first spelling the word GO. When Jesus says go he means as you go - which suggest a lifestyle. Listen this isn’t just a Sunday morning thing. This is a morning, noon and night, as you go, as you live kinda thing. Jesus is grabbing us by our lapels here and saying the gospel comes with a house and a hotel key, so as you go back to your neighborhood or as you go to the nations take this good news of Jesus Christ. Revelation 5 was recently preached by our very own Pastor Tim and speaks to this command to make disciples of all nations.

Revelation 5:9–10 CSB

And they sang a new song: You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slaughtered, and you purchased people for God by your blood from every tribe and language and people and nation. You made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they will reign on the earth.

We must be a Going church for a Coming Christ!

Not only do we make disciples by Going but we make disciples by Baptizing…Matthew 28:19

• Baptizing - this word expresses the action of immersing. Baptism was a reference to the Jewish ritual washing, the cleansing of oneself, but how many know that you can’t scrub the soul clean of sin, you can only submit the sin-stained soul! It’s in the name of The Father, the Son, The Holy Spirit that you not only make a disciple but you mark a disciple.

This call to baptize is essential because the one who has ALL authority, Jesus Christ, died for every part of you! Paul stresses this fact in

Romans 6:12–13 CSB

Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its desires. And do not offer any parts of it to sin as weapons for unrighteousness. But as those who are alive from the dead, offer yourselves to God, and all the parts of yourselves to God as weapons for righteousness.

Sermons from John Piper (1980–1989) Thoughts on Baptism

It seems fitting that since the lordship of Christ lays claim to our whole body, we should express our acceptance of that lordship with an action of the whole body. And the action Jesus commanded is baptism. Baptism gives expression to our faith that we are God’s from head to toe.

What are you saying Jarian, i’m saying baptism is our pledge of allegiance to the kingdom of God! In baptism we identify ourselves with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Baptism then, watch this, symbolizes submission to Jesus. It’s an outward expression of an inward conversion.

So the next time we bring someone to the watery grave in this church may we celebrate and shout out to God in gratefulness knowing

Galatians 3:27–28 CSB

For those of you who were baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ. There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female; since you are all one in Christ Jesus.

This act of obedience should remind us all that Jesus is the answer for the world today! We want racial reconciliation, then lets start baptizing, we want justice, then let’s start baptizing, we want peace in our world and equality, then let’s tell the world about the love of Jesus Christ our risen king, the lamb who was slain to take away the sins of the world, the lion of Judah and our eternal victor, the one who died for all so that all may live as one!

We make disciples by Going, we make disciples by baptizing, and thirdly we make disciples by teaching...Matthew 28:19

Can you see this process unfolding? We Go and tell the good news of Jesus, people respond to that by giving themselves to him, we baptize them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and we don’t stop their…we teach them to obey the very Jesus they just accepted.

I read somewhere that Teaching is the art of assisting discovery.

Imagine that Jesus has built a tremendous mansion for all who would follow him. It’s not easy to find as a matter road to find it is narrow and very few find their way to it, but you found it because Jesus found you. So he tells you go and find others who are lost and bring them to me here at the mansion. You head out and you’re a rock star as you’ve found a lost person, so you do as instructed and you bring them through the woods to the narrow path and you take that path to the front porch of this gorgeous mansion. You encourage them to open the door and they do so with tears in their eyes as they cross over the threshold of that front door. You inform them that Jesus made it possible for them to enter in and the lost person is grateful because they were once lost but now found. At first glance they marvel at the beauty and the vastness of this place. It has many hallways and different types of rooms. The width and the length stretches as far as the eyes can see in either direction. There is a joy and wonder in their heart and they are excited to explore…just then you leave them. You leave them.

When Jesus commands us to teach Jesus is ultimately saying Give them the tour. I told you to go and you did and brought them here to this Salvation Estate, I told you to baptize them and you did as they opened the door and entered, but you didn’t teach them, you didn’t give them the tour, so that they like the word says in

being rooted and firmly established in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love, and to know Christ’s love that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

You can’t become a mature faithful disciple of Jesus if we don’t teach the commands of our teacher.

HB Charles makes this truthful statement and I want to echo it…he says man-centered worship services, therapeutic preaching, and practical ministry philosophies may consistently draw crowds but they won’t make disciples! Discipleship making requires faithful biblical teaching. We must teach the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth!

Jesus said teach them to observe all that I have commanded.

The Risen King Jesus Proclaims that he has been given ALL authority, The Risen King Jesus commands his disciples to go make disciples of ALL nations, and finally

POINT 3

The Risen King Jesus tells them to remember that he is with them ALL their days even to the end of the age. In other words Jesus is with us always.

Matthew 28:20

I heard the story once of the late G Campbell Morgan who went to visit an elderly sick member and read to her Matthew 28 in it’s entirety with the closing verses of this chapter. When he finished he closed his bible and began to pray and he looked down at the dear sister and said thats a wonderful promise isn’t it? She said it is not a promise it is a fact.

And you know what church she was right.

Conclusion

Jesus doesn promise to be with us Jesus declares I AM with you. As the book of Matthew began declaring God with us , so it ends with Jesus saying he is with us! This word tells us that Jesus is not only on our side but he’s by our side!

My friends we get to carry out his great mission making disciples of ALL nations with his power over ALL and presence ALWAYS!

Central Preposition of the Text: The Risen King Jesus commands his disciples to make disciples of all nations on the basis of his universal authority and his global presence.

Textual Theme: The subject/topic. What is the author talking about?

Thrust: Complement/Assertion. What is the author saying about what he is talking about?

Sermon Theme: What does making disciples in obedience to Jesus’ commission look like?

Thrust: Making disciples based on Jesus’ authority and with his presence

Central Preposition of the Sermon: Jesus commands us to make disciples of all nations with Jesus’ authority and presence