The Great Commission

 

 

"But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful. And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

Matthew 28:16-20

 

Good Morning my beloved,
 
We welcome you to worship in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are so thankful to have you with us today. I want to thank you for your prayers and support, we are making an impact for the advancement of the Gospel and the Kingdom of God by distributing much needed Bibles to pastors in areas where they are facing heavy persecution. I ask that you would please keep our brothers and sisters in your prayers.

 

On May 2, 2008 the USS North Carolina was commissioned by the US Navy. The 337 foot long submarine has a crew of 144 and a flexible mission to aid in the fight against Global Terrorism. During the commissioning ceremony, Navy Secretary Donald Winter said: "We must remain vigilant and be prepared to face the challenges that risk surprising us in the decades ahead…With USS North Carolina, the nation has made an investment in our safety and in our peace. She now joins the world’s greatest Navy and will be cast into a wide range of missions."

By the authority of the US Navy, the USS North Carolina was assigned to serve as a tool to protect the US and also to serve as an agent of peace. As with any assignment, the crew will need the Direction, Presence, Authority, Assurance of its leadership, from the command levels to the American people.

Let us pray

Heavenly Father,

Father, thank You for the clear instruction of Your Word, for the illuminating power of the Holy Spirit, help us all to not only hear the great commission, that we would in all faithfulness be willing to go out and fulfill it. May we who oversee the flock never lose sight of our responsibility to shepherd Your people, leading them in what it means to be the church, Your Church, a lifesaving station for those who are drowning in their sin, a hospital for the broken and wounded and a place and people who gather in Your Name to worship and sing Your praise. All for Your glory and for Christ's sake

In His precious Name

Amen

Today's Message: The Great Commission

 

As we come to God's Word today we return the gospel of Matthew we've reached the last section of chapter 28, verses sixteen through twenty and the last message in our long, journey in a book of Matthew. You and I have also been commissioned to participate in a great assignment, it is not a great suggestion. It is an assignment called the Great Commission, to go and make disciples, teaching them to observe all that He has commanded us. We all participate in the Great Commission in different ways, however, we are all commanded to be apart of this mission. But, if you don’t understand this very important portion of the Great Commission, "teaching them to observe all that I commanded you," than you've missed the point. How much of a priority is the Great Commission in your life?

 

In John 8:31, Jesus said, "If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine." By implication, those who fail to continue in His word, are not His true disciples.  In Matthew 5:27-28, He said "You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery’; but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart."

 

It is deeply disturbing that so many in the church today fail to understand the mission of the church. The importance of our mission somehow escapes their understanding, they show up to church whenever they want to show up, even interrupting the service as if God should be grateful they even bothered to come at all. And, they aren't wholeheartedly dedicated to listening to the Word of God. They're fumbling with the belongings, checking their social media accounts on their cellphones, sending and receiving messages. Then, they leave whenever they feel like leaving, seemingly unaware that the church is a place to worship and praise God, to exalt Christ for who He is and what He has done. It's a place where the Truth of God is to be shared and articulated, and to fellowship with godly people to help strengthen your life. To take it a step further, the church is a place to teach God's people His principles for practical Christian living, for the perfecting of the saints. The church is not a place to be entertained when you have nothing better to do with your time. God’s desire to reach the lost people in this world, and bring them to fellowship with Himself. To make disciples to declare His wonders among all people, that all would come to the knowledge of the truth and be saved.

 

Yet, many churches have limited their efforts to aggressively chasing after worldly believers with spiritually bankrupt sermons to fill seats and meet church budgets, without any concern of genuine conversion. They never talk about accountability, repentance and judgment. They present this false illusion of God is only a loving God Who is up there sitting on His throne just smiling at the ungodly behavior taking place in His Church, accommodating the expression of sexual freedom, the love of immoral lustful passion, parading themselves around as Christians. In other words, most Christians are content are to be living in world that is going to hell because most pastors are doing a horrible job at teaching the Truth, and they are doing nothing to reach them. The Great Commission was given to us before Jesus left this earth, ascending to be with the Father in heaven, it is about making disciples, teaching them to observe Jesus' commands, as well as living them out in our own lives. It is not about making money, or renovating church buildings, or expending church programs. If we’re going to reach the lost in this world, then we need to understand what is necessary for effective evangelism.

 

Open your Bibles with me to the Gospel of Matthew chapter twenty-eight, verses sixteen through twenty. Matthew 28:16-20. I invite you to follow along with me as I read to you this very important portion of Scripture to set the text in our minds. Let's open our hearts and our minds to see what the Spirit of God has to say us today.  

"But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful. And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

 

Let's look at verse 16, "But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated." They are no longer called the twelve at this point because of the defection of Judas. Earlier in verse 7, when the angel appeared to the women, he said, "Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee, there you will see Him; behold, I have told you." Then, later on in verse 10 when Jesus appeared to those same women,  Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid; go and take word to My brethren to leave for Galilee, and there they will see Me." Here, we see the first thing we need for effective evangelism is availability.

 

In the Greek it says, they went to the specific mountain, which Jesus had Himself appointed. We don’t know how Jesus communicated any specific knowledge to them about the time, the place, or the day they were to meet Him. We can assume it may have been several weeks, because John tells us "After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus *came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be with you." Then, they would have needed to travel from Jerusalem to Galilee, where most of the believers were.

 

It would be after the meeting with the seven in John chapter 21, "After these things Jesus manifested Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and He manifested Himself in this way. Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples were together. Simon Peter *said to them, "I am going fishing." They *said to him, "We will also come with you." They went out and got into the boat; and that night they caught nothing.

But when the day was now breaking, Jesus stood on the beach; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. So Jesus *said to them, "Children, you do not have any fish, do you?" They answered Him, "No." And He said to them, "Cast the net on the right-hand side of the boat and you will find a catch." So they cast, and then they were not able to haul it in because of the great number of fish. Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved *said to Peter, "It is the Lord." So they likely had a few days to settle in and resume their old habit of fishing. Have you ever notice when things don't go as we planned, we tend to revert back to what we know? Here we see the second thing we need for effective evangelism is to show up. If you won't make yourself available and you don't show up, any other ability is of no consequence. So all effective evangelism starts with availability and showing up.

Verse 17, "When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful." Matthew uses the Greek verb, "proskynéō," which means they fell down, prostrated themselves in adoring worship of the risen Christ, affirming that He was indeed God. This is even greater worship than before now He has conquered death. Matthew's honesty is refreshing when he records both they positive and the negative, "but some were doubtful." It's not surprising considering they had struggled with all their fear of Him leaving them, and the bewilderment of their Lord had just died such a brutal death on a cross, then all of a sudden, He appeared and He could transport Himself from one place to another, even right through the wall. I love the integrity of the Holy Spirit, He doesn't bother trying convince people by a contrived effort of selective reporting, just the Truth. I believe it's possible that there may have been some disciples there who were not part of the eleven, who had not yet seen the resurrected Christ. Except for the women and the eleven, none of the other disciples had seen Him after His resurrection. Here we see for effective evangelism there is a need of assembling of God's people together in true worship, communing with Him in prayer. I believe it's impossible to reach the lost, if you can’t even bother to get together with the redeemed to worship the Living God, our Savior and collectively pray.

Verse 18, "And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth." I believe that He approached and spoke to them to give them more evidence to erase their doubt. Remember after feeding the five thousand, and He sent the disciples ahead of Him and they saw Him walking on the water and were afraid, He came closer and spoke to them, saying, "Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid." And Peter said to Him, "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water." And when Thomas was doubting because he hadn’t seen Him, He appeared again in the upper room, He came nearer to Thomas, and said "Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing." Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!"

Then, He makes the statement "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth." He's making a claim of sovereign authority without limitation. He's saying that He now has the freedom to do whatever He wants. Remember when the chief priests and elders challenged His authority saying, "By what authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority?" He is affirming that God has exalted Him, that He alone has the authority to someday take back the title deed to the earth, He alone is the authority over Satan, and of all men. John 5 says "For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him."

In Philippians 2:9-11, Paul says, "For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." 

Allow me to add, it is under that same sovereign authority that we must submit ourselves in obedience. Have you ever truly considered what it means to be a child of God? It means He is Savior and Lord, He's in charge! Salvation is on His terms, therefore, we have no choice but to submit to His authority and obey His commands. It is after making that statement of sovereign All authority over earth and heaven, we come to verse 19, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit." This is command for obedience, to go out and preach the Gospel in His name, making disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. But that's not all there is to the commission of the church folks, they must be taught to obey. Obedience encompasses the act of faith!

That brings us to verse 20, "Teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." The word observe is the Greek verb "téreó," it means to keep intact, to preserve, His teaching. You don't get to change the terms of salvation. If you’re going to make disciples, you must teach they to obey all that He has commanded, not only certain commands, but all He has commanded.

 

In Closing..

Initially, the call to reach the world was given to Israel, they were God’s chosen people, they knew their Messiah was coming, but they refused to come Christ, unbelieving that He was the promised Messiah. And God was left with a small remnant, of ordinary men, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, whom He would work through to bring salvation to all of the world. That means the Jew won’t be excluded, on the day of Pentecost, Acts 2 says "about three thousand souls," were saved, no doubt many of the Jews. "And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved." Paul went first to the synagogue first and preached to the Jews in every city he went to.

Today, that commission has been given to the church, we’re still to be about our Fathers' business, to make disciples wherever we may go that Christ is not named; it might be your own family, your neighborhood, your school or place of work. Or maybe you're being called to take the Gospel to some far off place around the world, "baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." Baptism is a visible outward sign of an invisible inward act of faith in Christ, a supernatural inward change is synonymous with salvation, it's called transformation. I may not be able to see your salvation but I can certainly see people who have put their faith in Christ, inwardly purifying themselves by the fruit of obedience.

Paul says 2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come."

The problem with the church today is they're offering cheap grace and easy believism. There are a lot of people in the church who raising their hand and said a little prayer, they may be believers, but they aren’t Christians, because they've made no commitment of submission and obedience to the Lordship of Christ. You cannot separate salvation from conversion. A new creation is what it means to become a Christian.

May it be so..

And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;

the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;

The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.

Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
 
 
 
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