Graet commission

Matthew 28: 16-20

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[b] 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.”

This past week, one of the youth members sent me a video on tiktok…. It was christians singing on a plane full of strangers…. As they were singing…. The strangers started to complain and told them to stop singing… the Christians ignored the strangers…. And continued to sing…. The strangers got upset and made them stop….

The christians who sang said they were persecuted… therefore they were happy because In Jesus’ sermon… he says blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake… for theirs is the kingdom of heaven….

This youth member asked me…. What do you think? Is it right for them to do that? They were evangelizing…. Are they being persecuted?

I know this youth member knew the answer but was trying to test me if my views are the same….

We have been on an evangelism series…. Before palm sunday service and easter service… so lets switch back our gears to evangelism… What do you guys think?

Should they have sung christian songs on a plane with strangers?

Were they being persecuted?

Let me rephrase that… were they being persecuted for righteousness sake?

SO here is my answer… I dont think they were being persecuted… I think they were being stupid…. Evangelism shouldn’t be up in front of people’s faces…

When apostle Paul was evangelising… he was smart… He wasn’t publicly bothering people about JEsus… Persecution comes to Christians who live like how God wants them to live like…

What!!?? Did pastor moon just say If you are a true christian… you will be persecuted???

No.. i didnt say that…. The bible says that… IT says in john 15 8 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.

Surprise~~~ We think if we become a christian… we will be blessed and live a happy life on earth!!~~ but guess what~~ the bible says nope.. If you are a true christian… you are going to be persecuted… the world will hate you!!!!

Its a battle between God and the World…. We dont like to tell people about Jesus or even talk about JEsus outside of church… why??? Cuz we are afraid that the people outside church might think we are weird… we are afraid to be judged… we are afraid…..

That means you are not being a true christian… True christians are not ashamed of the gospel… they are bold and confident… thats why the world hates them… because they fight for whats right….

So lets talk about the bible verses we read….

This is after palm sunday… and the crucifixion of Jesus… and the resurrection….

So Jesus is resurrected from the dead… and there has been rumors that he resurrected from the dead….

So the 11 disciples… cuz judas isnt there…. Went to a mountain in galilee because they heard that Jesus said to go there….

So as soon as they saw Jesus… they worshipped him….

When we see Jesus in our lives… we worship him… There is no way that we dont worship when we see Jesus….

But it does not end there…. It says… but some doubted…

When they saw JEsus, they worshipped him… but some doubted…

Why did they doubt? What was confusing?

The only explanation is…. Jesus was different….

Maybe he was physically different….

I believe that JEsus had a different physical form. After Jesus resurrects, he had a different physical form….

The disciples couldnt recognize him….

There are other passages… Thomas had to see Jesus hands and the hole in them…

Two disciples were walking with a stranger to a city for hours… and they notice that the stranger was Jesus towards the end of the journey….

When peter was fishing… Jesus was on the shoreline….. Peter didnt realise its jesus….

And now people were worshipping jesus but some doubted… its interesting because the disciples were with Jesus all the time but they didnt recognize him? Wel.. i think its because jesus had a different physical appearance….

But Jesus knew this… he reassures them…. He says all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me…

He says…. Dont worry… its me Jesus… now i have all the authority in heaven and earth…

I know what you are thinking… you guys are probably saying wait… Jesus was God so he already had authority in heaven and earth…

I dont know how many times i have to repeat this but when Jesus came down and became man…. He gave up all the powers of being God..

HE could have fed himself by turning rocks into stone….

He could have done all the impossible things… but he didnt… because the moment he does that… He will not be man anymore….

Thats the good news… Jesus becomes man and lives like a man…. Only relies on God’s power…..

But now.. Jesus is saying that all the authority in heaven and earth is given to me… it is mine….

He had a physical body…. But now he has all the authority….

Jesus continues…. By saying the great commission….

We all know the great commission right?

Go… therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the father, the son, and the holy spirit….

(repeat)

This is a famous verse for all christians… i'm pretty sure that you hear this verse before if you grew up in the church.

This was Jesus’ commandment to the disciples

So I want to break apart this verse and study it a little bit….

First part… go and make disciples……

What does this mean? We need to evangelize! Jesus tells us to evangelize!

He doesnt say…. You can go and make disciples

He doesnt say… if you are feeling like making disciples go….

He doesnt ask…. He commands… GO! And make disciples…

In the culture today… we are terribly afraid to go and share the gospel….

Its not just the youth.. Its adult to… there was a survey… it conluded that 47 percent of christians thinks its wrong to share their personal beliefs with others in hopes for them to one day share the same faith…..

Jesus didnt stutter…. He said go!

We have been talking about evangelism for a while now…. And at some point… i feel like everyone gave me an opinion on evangelism… some say I wont come to funday if it is bring a friend day….

Oh its ok… I dont need to invite them.. I just wont go…

Pastor moon, why are you making us evangelise….

Im just simply asking you to do what Jesus commands us to do…

ITs not me.. Its jesus who wants us to share the good news….

But we need to do it well…. Not like the people on the plane that sings and invades other’s private space…..

No.. Jesus was against that… When he sends out his disciples to go do their ministry…. He tells them.. If they dont accept you.. Dust it off and move on to the next city… Jesus doesnt say consistently invade them until they give in…

Thats our job… we invite people…. We dont force it upon them….

Jesus says go and make disciples….. The next part he says is of all nations…

Go and make disciples of all nation!!!!!!

ALL nation! ALL generation! All LAngauge!!!!

Vision of our church if you guys havent noticed….

I know our youth is so much better than the whole church in this vision… ALL NATIONS~

Why does JEsus say all nations though…..

It’s interesting….. fun fact is God was only for the Jews…..

This was probably the first time JEsus teaches his displaces to go make disciples of all nations… not just the Jews…

We can find the reason to evangelizing people of all nations in revelation….

In revelation it says that people from all generation… all languages … and all nations will worship God… In the last days this is how worship will be….

So what is a disciple…. Vs teacher…

Make people love God and become his discple…

It is our command to go and evangelize to all nations…..

We had an Easter service last sunday… It was in English Korean and Spanish…

Some of the people there only knew one language….

Some of us knew all the language…

But I remember… when everyone sang hallelujah… all the languages singing hallelujah in unison….

That just touched my heart.. and i felts so blessed….

I thought to myself… this is the vision of the church… this was a glimps of what heaven will look like….

It doesnt take sweet lyrics to touch our soul… it doesnt take the worship equipments and the talents of the people to worship God…..

It is the people of God, who is singing the praises of God… in the presence of God…..

When the people of God sings with their heart…. Cries out… all or nothing… in the praises of God…. In the presence of God…. There is a miracle…

This is why we need to go evangelize to people of all nations…. We are all sooooo different…. All the cultures are sooo different…. But we become one… we put our differences aside… because of our common love for God…

Thats what we have to strive for… putting our differences aside because we love God…..

So jesus commands us to go and make disciples of all nations…. For us youth….. it can be make disciples of people who is different than you…. Not just in appearance… but different inwardly…

Ok… so Jesus’ command…. We just talked about the easy part… Go and make disciples of all nations….

Some of you guys might be thinking… this is the easy part?

The next part is baptizing them in the name of the father, the son, and the Holy Spirit…..

How can you baptize in the name of the father, the son, and the Holy Spirit?

Who here is baptized? Who baptized you?

A pastor right?

So is this impossible for a regular person to do? To follow JEsus’ command of baptizing?

Does that mean i have to become a pastor because eJEsus commands us to?

Notice the audience who JEsus says this to… who did JEsus say this to?

The disciples… they are called to baptized people in the name of the father, the son, and the spirit….

To understand this… we need to understand what baptism is….. what is baptism? Can someone explain to me….

Baptism is a physical proclamation that you will follow JEsus…. It is saying i decide to live a Christian life! And then you are baptized…

When you are baptized… you are accepted into the body of Christ….

You have responsibilities… other people who have been baptized have responsibility to take care of you….

The spiritual part of baptism is you are being accepted into the body of Christ…. You are being accepted into the community….. the Holy Spirit baptizing you means you are being saved by the eternal fires of hell….

When JEsus says baptize in the name of the father and the son and the spirit… it means share the gospel…. Teach them what it means to be a christian…. And then accept them into your lives….

Thats what JEsus commands us to do…..

He tells us to go evangelize! Teach Jesus’ ways… make them more like JEsus….

Not to your select people…. But to everyone! All nations.. people who are different than you!

And accept them as who they are in your lives and have them baptized into the church….

I know some of us right now… are scared… why would jesus command such a hard thing ….

I dont know how to make disciples…. I dont know how to teach others about Jesus…. I dont even know how to baptize other into the church…..

Thats ok….

We worry….

We are scared….

But guess what….. we can have confidence in JEsus….

After Jesus tells the disciples this great commission… go and make disciples of all nations! Baptizing them in the name of the father the son and the spirit….

The disciples were probably scared too… they are not sure if they can do it…..

JEsus affirms them… he says behold, i am with you always, to the end of the age….

This is why we can have confidence in Jesus…… because he is always going to be with us….

LEts talk about the Christian’s on the plane again… what they did was wrong…. You know what? They are saying I am a Christian! Hey look at me! I am a Christian! I am above all of you guys because i am a christian. I am better than all of you guys…..

This is why Christianity is on the downfall…. People are ashamed to be Christian’s….

In the early churches in the book of acts…. The true Christian’s weren’t like that…

People saw what they did… saw how they lived….. and they said wow… these people are different… they are Christian’s! I wonder what’s different about them… and the Christian’s attracted people…

They sold their belongings… and gave it to the people who need it more than them… they helped each other… they loved each other… there was no division because they all served each other…

Imagine people like that…. They will attract all the people of the world….

So lets be like them….

If we see someone at school without friends… go be their friend!

If we see someone at school eating alone… go eat with them…

Go sacrifice yourself for others….

Then the people will start asking you… why are you doing this… why are you doing that….

And you tell them… someone already done it for me.. and i am so thankful so I want to be lie this person… his name is JEsus…. would you like to know more?