Great Commission

Exegete

Matthew 28:16–20 ESV

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

Acts 1:6–11 ESV

6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 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.” 9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

The eleven come, not 12 because Judas is out of the picture. I never noticed before that they worshipped but some doubted. Thats a little bit of a weird statement. At this point, they all have incountered Jesus and believed that he is alive, that I know about. Ill look this up.

It is still unclear if some means some of the 11 or that there were other disciples there besides the 11 that doubted. (Gaebelein, Frank E. et al. The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Matthew, )

The wording is funny. its pretty clear that the 11 were directed to the mountain and worshipped. Not sure why Matthew would change mid sentence and say but some others doubted. Not sure it really matters at this point to my sermon.

Either way, the commentary above brings out an interesting point. At this point, according to other gospels and here, they have seen Jesus several times and know hes alive. Whether the doubters are the 11 or others, its still a little much that they would still doubt now. The word used for doubt is mostly a confusion, not a total disbelief. They are two minded. So they arent convinced. what are they unconvinced of? either its that they arent convinced this is phyisically Jesus, or they arent convinced that he is the son of God or something. They doubt his identity or they doubt his claimed identity. Either way, they aren’t sure.

The commentary highlights that either way, we see the resurrection lack the power or holding back the power to turn them from afraid doubters to spiritual giants. It wont be until the Holy Spirit comes that they recieve that kind of power.

Their response to Jesus is so much different now that he has been resurrected. There have been moments where they worshipped him in the past or at least were in awe, but they full on worship him now. In verse 9-10, they worship him. Now they worship him again. I wonder if he physically looked more majestic to cause this response or if it was purely from the reality that he was alive again.

He is about to command them, but he qualifies his statement by stating the authority that he now has. ALL AUTHORITY. Think about the gravity of that statement. Philippians talks about how he emptied himself. Now he has ALL AUTHORITY. Im not sure there is any other authority that he doesnt have that isnt covered by these two places.

Matthew 28:19 ESV

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,

Go Therefore. Its almost like time stood still waiting for Jesus to get this authority. Jesus says, my authority now expands heaven and earth, SO GOOOOOO. Its like buying a new car and waiting all day at the car dealership, waiting on the paperwork to be done, for your parents to get the keys, then they walk out the door and have keys in hand. They throw them at you and say GO look at it.

or maybe like the starting gun operator, waiting for the signal from the time keeper, to fire and let the runners Go. This example lacks the requirement for their to be authority in the going.

Or maybe like a cop tv show, like blue bloods or something, where a squad of swat police waiting to serve a warrant, the judge releases power to the detective and signs the warrant, the detective shows up and goes we now have the authority to carry out the business, and the detective says NOW GO.

The GO carries with it the authority of Jesus Christ over everything. Thats some power.

In recent years, our understanding of this passage has moved to the emphasis being on making disciples. So that it reads as you go, make disciples. We used to understand this as Go to the world and make disciples. The difference came when we (southern baptist) began to understand greek better and also read other demominations views) The commentary seems to lean towards that it should be read with both emphasis. He doesnt deny the reading of as you go, MAKE Disciples, but he also highlights that the command is straight forward to go make disciples of all nations. There is a place mentioned to go. That makes us still need to GO, not just make disciples as we go. Acts 1’s teaching of this event labels the destinations. So, we make disiples as we go, but we also go to the nations.

Its interesting to me that he list baptism as the first thing we are actually doing to make them disciples.

I was listening to a pastor friend of mine, Neal Creacy, talk about their churches view on baptism and also about his time on the mission field in the middle east. He said that it was their practice to not baptize a new believer if they were the only one, if possible, and wait for another believer to be converted. That way there would be support for the new believer and they wouldnt be as tempted to recant their faith under pressure. Now that’s real deal. That new pressure would come when they were baptized. Not when they confessed Jesus as Lord.

Baptism seems to have a lot more importance than we give it sometimes. When Paul is instructed the church at Romans about their continuing to sin because of God’s grace in Romans 6, his first thing to say is, dont you know that you were baptized into Jesus’ death. Why do you keep sinning because you were buried and then raised to a new life when you were baptized. Wow thats strong words.

I personally believe that baptism is much more than just a symbol, but not quite salvation. Its more of a starting point of a new life than just a fictitious symbol of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. The command is pretty straight-forward to baptize them in the name of the father and son and holy spirit.