We are still in our series called “Essential Truths for All Times.” What we are considering are the spiritual precepts and principles that are nonnegotiable for us if we desire to faithfully follow Jesus. In week one, I stated the essential truth that “Jesus Christ is Lord.” We cannot deviate from that truth. In week two, I preached that holiness must be the pursuit of everyone who seeks to follow in step with Jesus. Last week, I lined out the Great Commandment which involves loving God and others. Every other law and commandment hinge on getting those two right. Today, I want to look at the mission of the Church. It is what Scripture calls, “The Great Commission.”
Matthew 28:18-20-18 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.”
Before we get deep in the weeds in this familiar passage, I want us to talk about the authority of Jesus, the authority of the One who issued the Great Commission. Jesus said that He has all authority. That means He isn’t under authority, but He is the Authority for all things. The writer of Matthew emphasized Jesus’ authority all throughout his writing. We know that in Matthew 7 and 29 people were amazed at Jesus’ teaching because He taught as One who had authority. What is the root word of “authority?” It is author, right?
Jesus is the Author or original when it comes to power and authority. He has all power and authority. He proved time and time again that He had authority to heal all manner of diseases. He also said that He had authority to forgive sins in Matthew 9:6. On multiple occasions, Jesus took authority over the elements of nature and stilled storms. Matthew 13:41 says Jesus has authority over the angels. He certainly exercised authority over Satan and demonic entities, and He delegated authority to the disciples in Matthew 10:1 to do the things He had been doing. Authority characterized His life and ministry.
Jesus has all authority. He even has authority over death. He claimed, and rightly so, that He has all authority in Heaven AND on earth. Now, Heaven is beyond our reach and our comprehension, but Jesus says He has all authority in Heaven. When He said that all authority in Heaven was His, He was saying, “I can unlock and show you things that no one else can show you because I have all authority in Heaven.” Jesus knows the goings on and the workings of Heaven, and He can share that with us whenever and however He wants to. He also has all authority on earth. He can start stuff and stop stuff. He can strike stuff and suspend stuff.
He is in complete control, and He has a plan that He is working out that He may or may not reveal, and that is His prerogative because He has all authority. Jesus knows what He is doing and can do whatever He wants to whenever He wants to, however He wants to in both Heaven and earth because He is the CEO of the universe!
Look at these verses about the authority of Jesus which at first read might muddy the waters a bit about the authority of Jesus.
Matthew 11:27-All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
John 3:35-The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand.
John 13:3-Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God . . . knelt down and washed the apostles’ feet.
Ephesians 1:20-21-God raised Him from the dead and seated him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.
John 17:2 Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given Him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.
Did Jesus have authority from the beginning of time, since He is God and all, and then lose it along the way and have to get it back from the Father? These verses could suggest that or lead someone to believe that as they speak about the Father giving authority to the Son. Just what kind of authority did the Father give to the Son?
Let me be clear. Jesus has always been God. In the beginning, the Word, Jesus, was with God and the Word was God, John 1. Jesus has never been without His authority. He has always been coexistent and coequal with the Father. However, by virtue of His death and resurrection He was exalted to the Father’s right hand as the Giver of salvation. While I believe Jesus does have all authority in Heaven and Earth and always has, I believe the passage in Matthew 28, here in this Great Commission, speaks additionally to His authority to bring about salvation in a person’s life. Jesus is the One in the Godhead with that authority. He is the One through whom all of God’s authority is mediated to us as human beings.
So here in Matthew 28 we see the authority to bestow eternal life which came after His death, burial and resurrection which is not about Him being somehow inferior to God the Father but it is about His triumph over sin and death.
Do you feel theologically savvy now? You’re welcome. I am sure that will come in handy in conversation at the next party you attend. Now, because Jesus HAS all authority, know that when He gives authority to us, whatever He asks us to do can be done because He will give us His power to execute it.
Jesus says because of His authority to bring salvation to the world He is sending us out in His name. Re-read Matthew 28:19-20 with 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.”
Let’s talk first about the command of the Great Commission.
The statement Jesus made here is absolutely in the form of a command. He doesn’t say “Go if you can” or “Go if it seems good” or “Go if you think it is safe” or “Go if you think it will be well received” or whatever other condition we might place on our going. If we are going to maintain and live out that we are disciples of Jesus Christ, we must go. It is a command to go.
Jesus says we are to go and make disciples of all nations. Now obviously, each of us cannot become a world traveling missionary to constantly go to other nations in order to share the Gospel. While that is the call of some, and it was the call of many of the disciples as they traveled and spread the Good News on the heels of the Resurrection, the crux of the command is not that we have to become traveling missionaries but that we are willing to go and share in the places and spaces where we have opportunities to do so. Whether we will share our faith or not is not negotiable if we are going to live as followers of Christ. In other words, “Go means go.” Tell your neighbor, “Go means go.” This Gospel is meant to be shared.
When we respond to the call to go and share our faith, we are making an intentional decision to become witnesses for Christ. It is one thing to say, “If I see an opportunity to talk to someone about prayer or Scripture or my personal relationship with Christ or if someone directly asks me what difference knowing Jesus makes to me, well, then I will be happy to talk about it.” Our witness for Christ, according to this command, isn’t like that.
You see, when you go somewhere, you plan to go there. You prepare to go. It is an on purpose going. It involves making the decision to leave where you are and to go where you intend to go. Perhaps it is an elementary and unnecessary observation to make, but I am not sure we view it that way. I am not sure we live with a purpose to go and make disciples of Jesus Christ.
Like how does our response to the command to go work itself into the priority of our week? How does our lifestyle reveal that we have accepted the command to go? When did you last decide to go to someone or to go somewhere for the purpose of sharing your faith?
Do you see the word “mission” in the word Com-MISSION? Jesus is sending us on a mission. It is a Co-Mission with Jesus. This is central to who we are. It is to be our focus as disciples of Christ. What is it that we are to do as we are going according to the Great Commission? Let’s go back to the text.
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.
I think the crux of the Great Commission is the two words, “make disciples.” It is the second piece of the Great Commission that is worded in the form of a command. The other words here are important as they help to define how we make disciples. We basically have been charged with the task of duplicating ourselves. We don’t just have a mission to teach or a mission to convert people or a mission to baptize people. We are not just calling people to a decision, and we are not just giving people information, but the goal is to produce people who are followers of Jesus. Our mission is not to make people members of a church but to help them become followers of Jesus Christ.
People who want to follow Jesus wind up living as He did. This is our goal. We want to live like Jesus and help others do the same. Baptism becomes a teaching tool to help people further understand what it means to be a Christ follower. Do we understand the significance of baptism? When a person is baptized, they are publicly identifying with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. That is no small thing. They are saying through the symbolism of baptism that what Jesus willingly underwent for them, they are willing to do the same for Him. They are willing to give up their lives and the control of their lives to live for God and others the way Jesus did. Baptism symbolizes a commitment a person is making to die to their wishes and wants in order to live a new life that is devoted to knowing and doing the will of God.
Now, we don’t just walk up to someone on the street and say, “Can I baptize you?” Right? That would be ridiculous and extremely creepy. So don’t do that! Obviously, we would not do that. People need to be taught who Jesus is and about the life He invites us to live with Him. They need to know what they are getting into. People need to know what is involved in a relationship with Jesus and what He expects from His followers.
Jesus said we are to teach people to obey His commands. Teaching takes time. It takes a commitment from us. True discipleship is about more than disseminating truth. It is about helping people obey Jesus. It is only as we live out the commands of Christ that Christ lives out His life through us. Do you understand that? If, as we live, we do the things Jesus tells us not to do, or if as we live, we don’t do the things Jesus tells us to do, we aren’t living out His life through us. Our lives don’t express His wishes and desires. If we live contrary to “the Jesus way,” we are living our own way. It is our will that is on display. It is our lives that can be seen. If we are going to teach people to obey God’s commands, we have to start by obeying them ourselves.
Listen, the goal of discipleship is life transformation. In Galatians 2:20 the Apostle Paul said, “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” That is discipleship. When we are living to put Jesus on display, we are disciples and we become people who set an example for what discipleship looks like.
We have talked about the command of the Great commission and the mission of the Great commission, but let me address the Urgency to accomplish the Great Commission for a moment. This is a time-sensitive mission, isn’t it? Our earthly lives come with an expiration date. We do not have “all the time in the world” to make disciples. I once had a friend share a prayer need with me about a relative that was quite sick, and when I asked if the person was saved, the response was, “I am not sure.” I messaged back with, “This would be a good time to have that conversation.”
Church, I am not here to throw shade at anyone. I know sometimes just taking care of ourselves is a full-time job. We all get caught up in the busyness of life. We have responsibilities to take care of and relationships to manage. We have physical and emotional issues that we have to stay on top of. I get it, but Church, we have to allow the urgency of the call; the urgency of people’s need for salvation and the command to “Go” to somehow fit into our everyday lives. How urgent should it be that our friends, neighbors, loved ones, classmates and co-workers are dying and going to Hell? Going in Jesus’ name has got to become the priority of our lives. Can we work our witnessing into a social media post? Can we take an opportunity to share Jesus in a break room conversation or in the stands at a ball game? How can we recover the sense of urgency needed to purposely make disciples?
Do we understand that a person’s eternal destiny is determined in time? There aren’t any second chances after death. People need to turn to Jesus while they live, while they live in time. No one knows how much time they have in this life. The fragile nature of life alone should create a sense of urgency in each person to do business with God, but how much more for we as believers who have been tasked with going to the world to share the Gospel message?
John 9:4 says, “As long as it is day, we must do the WORK of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.”
As long as it is day. In other words, earthly life is not forever. Time is short. A day does not last very long. While people are living, we must hurry to get the work of witnessing done. Notice that Jesus called it work. It is work! But it is the most fulfilling, rewarding, satisfying work we can do. Jesus told His disciples in John 4 and 34 that His food, that which satisfied Him and filled Him, His food was to do the will of Him who sent Him and to accomplish His WORK. When He said that, He had just finished His conversation with the Woman at the Well. He had just finished witnessing to her, and it was fulfilling to Him. He received great joy from sharing His life with her. He knew that what He had accomplished had brought glory to God.
If you remember the story, you remember that Jesus had a sense of urgency about getting to the Well that day, about meeting the woman who would be there. He was on His way to Galilee from Judea and the text says that He had to go through Samaria. Well, that is true, and it isn’t true at the same time. He did not HAVE to go through Samaria to get to Galilee, but He had a sense of urgency about a woman, about a soul, about a person who needed to know that she mattered to God. He had a sense of urgency that someone who was broken and living in shame needed to know that God loved her no matter what she had done. That is why He HAD to go through Samaria. He planned to meet up with her. He planned to have a spiritual conversation with her. It was His intention to do it, and it was born from an urgency that the meeting had to take place. Do we live with a Jesus-kind of urgency about witnessing?
In John 17:4, Jesus was praying to the Father, and He said, “I have brought You glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.”
In that prayer Jesus could not have been referring to the work of the Cross because He had not yet been crucified. The word “completing” was the same root word that Jesus spoke from the cross when He said, “It is finished.” What work had Jesus finished that glorified the Father?
It was the work of witnessing, the work of making disciples, the work of reproducing Himself as He had taught the disciples how to live. Even as He was headed to the Cross, Jesus had this sense of urgency that as His time was drawing short, He needed to tell the disciples everything they would need to know once He left. Look at John 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17, the chapters that precede the arrest of Jesus. They are filled with red letters, with the words of Jesus. It is like He couldn’t talk fast enough to get it all said. It was urgent!
So, we have a command to go. We have a mission to accomplish, and it must be done with a sense of urgency because time is of the essence. Allow me to re-read John 9:4, “As long as it is day, WE must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.
Who is the WE? Jesus was speaking not only to His 12 disciples, but He was also speaking to us. We are part of the WE and Jesus is the other part. What you need to understand is that we do not go out to do the Great Commission alone. Oh, glory to God! We are partners with Jesus. The truth is, we cannot really make a disciple. Only Jesus can. He does that, however, through the power of the Holy Spirit that resides in us! Look at the Great Commission one more time.
Matthew 28:18-20 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.”
That is incredible! Jesus is with us in this Great Commission business, and He is not just saying He is with us in spirit. He is not just saying that He is encouraging us or cheering us on. He is not just saying He will be watching to see how it goes! No! He is with us with an ongoing, abiding presence and power. We are the messengers, but He is the One who will speak to hearts. He is the One who will give power when it is needed. He is the One who will tell us what to say. He is the One who will reveal the truth to people as we present it. He is the One who will draw them to Himself. He is part of the “we,” and we are part of the “we!” What an awesome privilege to be a partner with Jesus!
Here is what I know: When you take the challenge to execute the Great Commission you will experience a supernatural fellowship with Jesus that you cannot experience any other way. You will see God work as never before when witnessing and making disciples becomes the priority of your life.
The urgency of this matter is not just about the lives who are entering eternity without Jesus, but it is about the urgency we need to feel about how we will spend our time here on earth. Today could be the last day for any of us. Literally. If it was, would we be able to say, in our final moments, as Jesus did, that we completed the work of witnessing that was ours and that we had brought glory to God the Father in doing so?
We have work to do; satisfying and fulfilling work. It is a command of Jesus. It is a mission that is time sensitive. It is the opportunity to team up with Jesus and experience Him as never before. If you have ever wanted to know what the will of God is for your life, I believe it can be summed up in Matthew 28:19-20. “Go and make disciples.”
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