[0:00] We're going to turn this evening to Matthew chapter 28, and we're going to consider these last five verses of this gospel headed the Great Commission.
[0:14] Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshipped him, but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
[0:31] Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.
[0:44] And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. We're very familiar with these words, not least because any time we have a service for baptism, we find a warrant for the sacrament of baptism here in these last recorded words of Jesus in Matthew's gospel.
[1:09] And yet there is so much more in this Great Commission than simply a warrant for baptism. Indeed, we're inclined, I think, perhaps, to read these words and forget that this is really the blueprint for everything that we are about as a church, in our various congregations and avenues of ministry and avenues of service.
[1:35] This is Jesus' commissioning statement to his disciples. It's with these words that the first book of the New Testament concludes with this mission statement.
[1:49] It's very interesting that there's scarcely a company, even in the secular world, that doesn't have a mission statement. And the church of all fellowships and of all fellowships and of all gatherings and of all companies has a mission statement.
[2:04] And it's Christ himself who provides it for us here in these words that we rightly refer to as the Great Commission. It is important, I think, for us to remember that all four gospels contain commissioning statements.
[2:24] Let's just remind ourselves that in the gospel of Mark, if we accept the longer ending of Mark's gospel in chapter 16, and at verse 15, Jesus said to them, Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.
[2:42] Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. It's the same in the gospel of Luke in chapter 24.
[2:53] You remember how on that occasion, Jesus came to the two who were traveling to Emmaus and then again visited the disciples and were told that he opened their minds, Luke 24, 45, so they could understand the scriptures.
[3:09] He told them, this is what is written, the Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
[3:23] And that's where volume one of Luke concludes, with that great statement, I am going to send you what my father has promised, but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.
[3:37] And volume two in the book of Acts takes up that theme as the risen Christ sends his disciples out in the power of the spirit to preach the gospel. And then John chapter 20 and verse 21 has that great statement.
[3:52] As the father has sent me, even so I am sending you. So Jesus, the commissioned one, is himself commissioning his church, sending out his people to do the work of God in this fallen world.
[4:11] You cannot read the gospels and you cannot come to the conclusion of the gospels without realizing that there is a great commission here. And it's not a great suggestion.
[4:24] It's not Jesus saying to the disciples, well, it might be good for you to do this. It is a commission. It is a command. It is invested with all the kingly authority that Jesus possesses and he is sending his church out to make disciples.
[4:42] And he does it with the promise that he is going to be with his church to the very end of the age. I wonder if it's become a great omission in our churches. I wonder if we program our activities and consider all our acts of service and our various strands of ministry and spheres of service in the light of this great commission.
[5:08] It really is one of the most important passages in the whole of scripture for our understanding of what the church is and what the church is to be doing.
[5:19] And as we come to look at these closing words of Matthew's gospel this evening, I also want us to see how Matthew is actually picking up on things that have been running right through the gospel from the very beginning.
[5:34] As he concludes with this great commissioning statement. Jesus and his disciples face to face in this last great meeting before his ascension into glory and he is commissioning them and sending them out into the world.
[5:53] In other words, I think it's important that we remember that the great commission is really all about our relationship to Jesus. Here he is with his most intimate band of followers.
[6:07] Here he is with the embryonic infant New Testament church. And he is really saying to them, remember what your relationship to me is. That determines all your service, all your ministry, all your Christian life.
[6:23] Everything you do for me is determined by your relationship to me. So let's look at the great commission and as we do, let's ask ourselves to test our own relationship to Jesus in the light of this great commissioning statement with which Matthew concludes.
[6:43] How do we relate to Jesus? How ought the church to relate to Jesus? What is our personal relationship with Jesus to be? Let me just pick up on five things this evening.
[6:55] Let me say first of all that we worship Jesus. These disciples came to a mountain which Jesus had designated.
[7:07] He had told them to go there and when they saw him, they instinctively and immediately worshipped him. Now that theme of worship is present in the gospel of Matthew from the very outset.
[7:25] In that passage we read in chapter 2 where the Magi, these wise men from the east came. We are told in Matthew's gospel that they came expressly to worship Jesus.
[7:39] Herod said, tell me where he is so that I will go and worship Jesus. And again and again and again and again the concept of worship expressed in a Greek word that really means to kneel down is present continuously right through this gospel.
[7:59] In fact, it's very interesting that Matthew very often presents those who are healed by Jesus as being healed in the context of worship. They kneeled down and they said, heal me.
[8:13] And now here on this resurrection, Lord's Day, this first, first day of the week, the day that Jesus rose from the dead, we're told about these women who hurried from the tomb and were told that they came to Jesus in verse 9 and they clasped his feet and they worshipped him.
[8:30] Well, you can't clasp somebody's feet standing up. You kneel down. You fall on the ground. You're lying there before him, kneeling down before him. And they're clasping his feet and they are worshipping Jesus.
[8:45] And the disciples come to this mountain and they worship Jesus. What is our relationship to Jesus? We worship Jesus. We honor him. We glorify him.
[8:56] We ascribe to him all the praise and all the honor and all the majesty that is his due. The Christian church is a church that worships Jesus.
[9:08] And isn't it interesting that when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness by Satan, in Matthew chapter 4, in that record of Jesus' conflict with Satan, the whole conflict comes to its conclusion at this point, as Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy and says to Satan, you will worship the Lord your God and him only you will stand.
[9:39] He's not going to bow down before Satan. Because the law says you must worship Jehovah alone. That's what the law says. And Matthew has that point emphasized at the very beginning of his narrative and now at the very end of his narrative.
[9:54] What are the disciples doing? They're fulfilling the law by worshipping Jesus. There is no conflict. There's no conflict between saying, worship Jehovah alone, the one through God, and falling down on bended knee at the feet of Jesus and worshipping him.
[10:12] Who is Jesus but the Jehovah of the Old Testament? Who is Jesus but the God of all creation, made flesh and dwelling among us?
[10:23] Who is Jesus but the only begotten God in the bosom of the Father, who has revealed the whole Godhead to us by his own self-emptying and his own humiliation and his own appearing in human form.
[10:39] One person of the Godhead took another nature, an alien nature that he himself had created and the God-man dwells among us to reveal the whole Godhead to us.
[10:53] And so when we sing these great psalms and when we mouth the name God in our singing and in our worship, I do not know what God we are worshipping if we are not worshipping Jesus.
[11:10] And when we ascribe glory and praise and majesty and honour to Jehovah, we are worshipping Jesus. And our relationship to Jesus is one of absolute worship we give to him.
[11:26] The place that he is due, he is our God and we have no other God but the Lord Jesus Christ. So I look at this great commissioning statement and it originates out of our heart that has bowed before the sovereignty and the kingship and the majesty and the glory of the Lord Jesus.
[11:47] And really I must ask myself, at the outset have I learned to fall on bended knee before the man of Golgotha and the man of Calvary and the man of Gethsemane and the man of the risen Lord and the empty grave.
[12:04] Have I come to clasp his feet and to worship him? We worship Jesus. The second thing I want to say from this statement is that we believe in Jesus.
[12:19] I have to say something very interesting here in this great commission. When they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted. Now it may seem just a flyaway comment and it's not very clear who doubted or why they doubted or what the form of the doubt was, but it's there.
[12:43] It's there. On this occasion of magnificent revelation, the risen Jesus now speaking again to the disciples on the other side of the tomb.
[12:57] The cross is behind him. The grave is empty. There's been victory and there's been resurrection. Splendor. And yet, yet, there is still that niggling doubt.
[13:09] In actual fact, right through the Gospel of Matthew, that's been one of Matthew's great things. One of his great things is that Jesus so often found faith where it was least expected and found doubt where he ought to have found faith.
[13:32] Let me just give you a couple of examples of that. In chapter 8 of this Gospel, for example, we're told that Jesus was confronted by a centurion, a woman centurion.
[13:45] His servant was ill. He wanted Jesus to heal him. Jesus said, I'll go and heal him. No, he said, you don't need to go there. You can heal at a distance. Just say the word and he'll be healed.
[13:58] The centurion says, I'm not worthy that you should come under my roof. Just say the word. My servant will be healed. I give authority to my soldiers. They do what I say. Jesus was astonished and he said this, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.
[14:19] Do you know what happened in the very same chapter? The disciples were in a boat, in a storm, and Jesus was there, asleep. And they came to him, and said, Lord, save us.
[14:34] We're going to drown. Jesus turned to them and said, you of little faith. Why are you so afraid?
[14:48] Might you actually invent a Greek word that really means little faith? As if you made one word out of these two words. Oh, you of little faith.
[14:59] Do you see, here is this Roman centurion and Jesus says, great faith. I've never seen such great faith in Israel. And yet the disciples who had been with them, who ought to have known so much better, they have such little faith.
[15:15] There's such a reversal here. It ought to be the other way around. The disciples ought to have had great faith. And the centurion, you might expect, well, to have a little faith, but that's not how it is at all.
[15:26] It's exactly the same in chapter 14 and in verse 31. Do you remember when the woman, when Peter was walking on the water to Jesus and he began to sink and Jesus reached out his hand and caught him and said to Peter, you of little faith.
[15:44] Why did you go? Little faith. This great disciple and yet he's got little faith. And yet in the next chapter, in chapter 15, Jesus commends the faith of the Canaanite woman and says that he had never seen such great faith.
[15:59] Jesus answered, Woman, you have great faith. Your request is granted. You see, running right through this gospel, there is this contrast between great faith, little faith.
[16:11] Between the presence of faith and the presence of doubt. And it's here right at the end in the great commission as well. They came to the mountain and they worshiped, but some doubted.
[16:22] There was still the presence of that little faith. There was still the presence of that doubt. These niggling thoughts, these suggestions that maybe it was not real after all, that maybe it was some kind of fantasy that perhaps it was all a myth.
[16:40] Do you ever have these thoughts? Do you ever find Satan planting these thoughts in your mind and saying, Well, how do you really know that the Bible is the Word of God? And how can you really believe these great supernatural miracles?
[16:52] Because so much of our Christianity depends so absolutely on the presence and power of the supernatural. And how can you believe that? But we simply come and we fall before Jesus and we believe in Him.
[17:08] And we say tonight, Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. Lord, I believe and help me to overcome my unbelief and help me to overcome these doubts and help me to overcome these niggling, persistent doubts that come to me like arrows fired out of the pit of hell that want me to distrust everything that you say.
[17:39] You know what the Bible says about the devil? The Bible says that he is the father of lies. It also tells us that the devils believe and they tendle.
[17:53] You cannot tell a lie unless you know what the truth is. And the devil is a master in the craft of lie-telling only because he knows the truth.
[18:08] And only because deep down he knows he has to acknowledge the truth. But he persists in sowing these seeds of doubt.
[18:20] Not least when the disciples of Jesus are engaged in an act of worship. So let's measure our relationship to Jesus against this great commissioning statement.
[18:35] We worship Jesus. We believe Jesus. Let me say third that we submit to Jesus. The Jesus of this great commission comes and says to his disciples all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
[18:55] all authority all authority in the natural realm all authority in the supernatural realm it has all been given to me.
[19:10] And again this great theme of authority is running right through Matthew's gospel time and time and time again. They listen to his teaching in chapter 7 and the crowds are amazed that is teaching.
[19:25] Why? Because he taught as one who had authority and not like the teachers of the law. There was authority in what he said.
[19:37] Chapter 8 verse 27 when the disciples saw the seas and the storm being calmed they were amazed and asked what kind of man is this.
[19:50] Even the wings and the waves are bathing he's got authority over this natural created order. What kind of a man is he?
[20:00] It's the same in chapter 9 verse 7 he heals the paralytic man and the man gets up and he walks and the crowds see them they're filled with awe and they praise God who had given such authority to men.
[20:17] And so on it goes running right right through this this epistle he's been given authority. Chapter 21 the great question is put to Jesus in verse 23 by what authority are you doing these things?
[20:38] That's the issue for the chief priests. By what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you this authority? There's something going on here and even the chief priests and the elders of the people they're asking this question they're having to ask the question by what authority are you doing this?
[20:59] In fact it's this very issue of the authority of Jesus that leads to the charge of blasphemy against him that leads to his crucifixion and to his being put to death.
[21:11] Chapter 26 that great trial moment and the high priest and all these great men are assembled and Jesus is before them.
[21:27] What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you? And Jesus remains silent. I charge you says the chief priest under oath by the living God tell us if you are the Christ the son of God.
[21:40] Yes it is as you say Jesus replied but I say to all of you in the future you will see the son of man sitting at the right hand of the mighty one and coming on the clouds of heaven.
[21:52] You will see the authority that heaven has given me and the high priest tore his clothes and said blasphemy blasphemy is his condemned himself worthy of death.
[22:06] In fact it states right back to chapter 9 when he healed the paralytic and they said this is blasphemy who has the authority to forgive sins but God alone.
[22:20] Blasphemy they said blasphemy. Running right through the gospel is this issue what kind of man is this? Where does he have his authority? Who gave him authority? Can he really can he really prevent a charge of blasphemy if he does these things and says that he is the son of God he is claiming the authority that belongs to God alone.
[22:42] Where did he get this authority? Listen to him now. All authority in heaven and earth is given to me.
[22:58] what's our relationship to Jesus? We submit to the one whom God has appointed and to whom God has given authority and who has the right to absolute authority in heaven and on earth.
[23:16] It belongs to him as it belongs to no other. It is no act of robbery for him to claim equality with God. everything that is true of God is true of him and we submit to him he is the king and the head of his own church and he speaks like no one else and he acts like no one else and he comes near his people like no one else and he is for you what no one else can be for you.
[23:53] You measure your relationship with Jesus tonight against these great words of commission have you submitted to Jesus Christ all authority has been given to him God has sent him as his king over his Zion his holy hill and the son of man will appear and his authority will be seen and made public and vindicated at the close of human history every knee will bow before the authority of his throne and every tongue will confess the majesty of his name.
[24:29] We worship Jesus we believe in Jesus we submit to Jesus and therefore we obey Jesus he gives a specific command now in the terms of the great commission the commands read one after another go make disciples baptize and teach in actual fact Matthew is using a construction here that he's been using consistently right through the gospel in which there is really only one word of command and three participles that explain how the command is to be carried out.
[25:18] For example in verse 7 of this chapter the disciples the women are told that Jesus has risen from the dead and the words are go quickly and tell his disciples literally it's going quickly tell the disciples so the command is to tell the disciples and the way that to fulfill the command is to go quickly now that's the same construction that we have here the command is make disciples that's the church's order make disciples how do we make disciples we make disciples by going by baptizing by teaching you see so the imperative the command is to the church make disciples and I want you to notice what the command is not it's not make members it's not get conversions it's not get lists of people and choose of people coming to the front and signing the card it's making disciples it's discipling people who are committed to
[26:29] Jesus and committed to going on in their Christian faith and to growing in their Christian faith and to developing these graces that are worked in them by the word through the Holy Spirit that's a disciple and I don't need to tell you that running right through this gospel as through the other gospels this great theme of discipleship is prominent what's the first thing that Jesus does as he appears in chapter 4 at the outset of his public ministry proclaims repent the kingdom of God is at hand and he calls disciples and they follow him and they commit to him and they listen to him and they grow in grace and they become the pillars of the church as they grow in these graces that Christ by his spirit works in them that is our command make disciples make disciples have people following Jesus and have people growing in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ that is what we are about anything else is subservient to that any other activity is ancillary to that any other activity has to reckon with this as the primary focus and function of all that the church is make disciples make disciples how do we make disciples we make disciples by going we make disciples by making an effort we make disciples when we who are disciples channel our discipleship into acts that involve us in engaging with others maybe for some people that simply that simply is a reminder that our primary mission field is in our own homes make an effort to make disciples in the world of your family to pray for your children to teach your children to bring them up in the world to disciple them as followers of the Lord Jesus Christ to draw alongside those who do not know about Jesus and to acquaint them with the things of God and with the things of the world and with the claims of Jesus Christ but to make disciples by going by making an effort by doing something and by baptizing and by administering these signs of the covenant that represent new life in Jesus Christ so that within the context and the fellowship of the church the very symbols and signs and seals of the covenant will represent to those who observe them what it means to be committed to Jesus to let the water speak about cleansing and about new beginnings and about new life to let the sacraments themselves speak make disciples by teaching by submitting to the word of God and to the authority of the scriptures make disciples that's the great command make disciples by going make disciples by baptizing make disciples by teaching that's the commission of the church are we obeying that commission?
[29:58] do we have a heart for mission? every one of us is either a missionary or a mission field do we have a heart for mission?
[30:09] for the lost? for the undiscipled? for the unevangelized? here there and everywhere? this commission is challenging us tonight to realize what the old testament saw even in those days when the revelation of God's truth was confined to one small nation of the word and yet that one small nation could sing all people that on earth do dwell and could sing of a day and express the dream that all over the world men would sing to the Lord with a cheerful voice are we in this age of the spirit narrower in our dreams than the saints of the old testament?
[31:01] have we a vision for this light that shone first in Israel to extend into all the world across all the nations and all the ethnic groupings and all the different cultural boundaries?
[31:16] do we have a vision for mission? do we have a vision for this great commission beginning where we are ourselves and the lives with whom we come into contact day by day and extend him to earth's remotest bounds this is what the church is about what's our relationship to Jesus?
[31:43] we worship him we believe him we submit to him we obey him and we enjoy his presence listen I am with you always here he is on the verge of leaving physically departing physically before that ice he is going to ascend into heaven and here is the great mystery of the covenant promise it's by his physical departure and removal that we are going to know his continual presence he lives physically in order to be with us spiritually he leaves this one space in order to be with us in every space he leaves this one moment to be with us every moment he goes to the father in order that he might be with his children
[32:52] I am with you always and we're right back at the beginning of Matthew's gospel what was that prophecy what was that prophecy that Matthew says was fulfilled when Mary conceived and in her body the embryonic shape of the mediator turned into being what was that prophecy the virgin will conceive and bear a son and his name will be Emmanuel God with us and listen listen to the commission I am with you always Emmanuel is here God is with us and again and again Matthew has been emphasizing that isn't it in Matthew's gospel that Jesus said to the disciples for two or three are gathered in my name
[33:59] I'm there two people gathered in Jesus name and I'm there where there are two there are three three people gather in Jesus name where there are three there are four but you've got to extend the maths because where he is the whole Godhead is all the fullness of the Godhead is in him where two are five are where three are six are because if he's there God is there in all the glory and in all the majesty of his triune being this is God with us and this is God with us always and this is God with us in every circumstance and this is God with us to the very very end how often have you proved that in your own life as a disciple of the risen savior you know that God has been with you and where is not that God was with you you would have failed and fallen long ago but you go out in the strength of the
[35:02] Emmanuel principle that is at the very heart of the covenant I will be God for you and you will be a people for me but let me just ask do we have our right to claim this presence and take comfort from that promise if we have defaulted on our obligation to make disciples make disciples by going make disciples by baptizing make disciples by teaching and I am with you it's in the strength of the promise that we fulfill the precept and we teach the gospel and we witness and we let the word do its work accompanied by the power of the spirit because this risen lord is with his people to the very end of the age may we have a vision for his great work government man his great concern for a lost word may we test our relationship to him in the light of these great words do we worship him do we believe in him do we submit to him do we obey him do we know his presence with us can we claim this are we his people is he our
[36:30] God and may the realization that he is our God fuel our vision for the success and prosperity of the gospel so that in the great words of psalm 22 we will see a seed serving him in our day and in our generation what's your own relationship with Jesus tonight do you say like Thomas did in another gospel my Lord and my God Amen history