This morning as I stand to preach, it feels like a particularly weighty moment in my mind. This morning marks the end of our study through the book of Matthew that took us fifty-eight sermons from start to finish. But it’s not thinking about the length of this sermon series (the longest in I’ve done in my time at CCC) that makes this moment feel weighty but the actual content of today’s sermon text that produces this weightiness.
I started preaching through the book of Matthew on August 9, 2015 in light of a conversation we had at our spring elders retreat. At that retreat the pastors had a conversation about wanting to make sure that the church understood our mission, particularly wanting to make sure that as a church we didn’t make our mission something other than what the Lord had called us to make our mission. We wanted every member to be able to answer the question, “What is it that the Lord wants us doing as a church?” Our solution was for me to preach through the book of Matthew, in large measure because Matthew’s gospel concludes with the text that we’re looking at this morning (28:16-20). And we wanted to arrive at this important text with the full weight of the previous twenty-seven and a half chapters of Matthew behind it, with the full weight of the previous fifty-seven sermons behind it.
And now that we’re at this moment, looking at this text, I don’t feel like it’s any less important than I felt when I first started the series through this book. In fact, I’ve only grown more convinced by preaching through this gospel that Matthew wants us from the start of this gospel to keep in mind how his gospel will end. After all, he began by introducing us to Jesus, with the words, “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham,” which is a reminder right from the beginning that Jesus is the promised king (the son of David), through whom all the nations would be blessed (the son of Abraham), so that we would remember throughout the gospel that we’re going to hear Jesus say in these concluding words, “All authority . . . has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.” In other words, “As the fulfillment of the promise to David, I’m commissioning you to make sure the promise to Abraham is fulfilled.”
So, this morning, my prayer is that we as a church would understand, be gripped by, and never let go of the truth that the mission that the Lord has given us as a church (and the mission that the Lord has given every local church) is to make disciples of all nations. Nothing else, no matter how good, can replace this central task that we’ve been given by Jesus Christ as a church. As Tom has rightly noted on a number of occasions, if the church didn’t exist, people would still care for the sick, feed the hungry, help the poor, work toward racial reconciliation, adopt orphaned children, and on and on, but no one would be making disciples, baptizing them and teaching them to obey all that Christ commands, for this is the unique and central task that Christ has given us as his church to do. That’s the main thing I want us to see and understand and be moved by in this text.
So, this morning, I want us to walk through this text with three headings, and for back-to-back weeks now I’m going to alliterate these headings (though this won’t become a habit because I’m the least creative man on the earth). I want us to see the context for the great commission (vv. 16-18), the content of the great commission (vv. 19-20a), and the comfort in the great commission (v. 20b). Let’s start, then, with the context for the great commission.
We see the context in which Jesus gives this mission to his church in verses 16-18. As we saw last week, the angel at the empty tomb and the resurrected Christ had told the women who had arrived at the tomb that Easter Sunday morning to go and tell the disciples to meet Jesus in Galilee, where he would be waiting for them. So, this section begins with the disciples arriving at the mountain in Galilee where Jesus had directed them, and when they saw him (perhaps at a distance) their reactions were varied. They worshiped him (as had the women), though some still struggled with doubts in the midst of their faith (doubts that would soon be cleared away). And then Jesus addressed them, first noting his standing. He began by saying, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (v. 18).
Now, this can be a bit confusing to us when we think about Jesus being given authority because we know that he is the God-man, and as God the Son he already has all authority. He is omnipotent. But we must also remember that he is the God-man. He took on a complete human nature in order to save us and in order to become our priest and king. According to Hebrews 5:1, “Every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.” So, the Son took on a human nature so that he might be our high priest, our human representative, who would represent us before God in offering the sacrifice of himself and interceding on our behalf—all things necessary for our salvation.
But he also took on flesh to be our king, the human being who, as the son of David, would reign over all the earth. God had said to David’s sons as they were each enthroned as king, in Psalm 2:8, “Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.” But none of them had been a worthy king to perfectly represent, resemble, and reflect God in his reign as king. When Jesus rose from the dead, however, having been perfectly obedient even to the point of death, he had shown himself to be the perfect representative of his Father, perfectly resembling and reflecting him. And, in the words of Psalm 2:8, he had asked his Father to grant him as the perfect human mediator all of the nations as his heritage, the ends of the earth as his possession, and here Jesus is, telling the disciples that all authority had been given to him. He is God the Son. But as the God-man, he is also the perfect human king, reigning over all of creation.
So, when Jesus gives his church this mission, commissioning them to fulfill this task, he does so in this context: as the risen king, who has all authority over all of creation. In other words, we receive this task to go to men under Christ’s absolute authority. Sometimes Lili or I will give a message to one of our children to relay to another one of our children. The message might be, for example, that they need to stop what they’re doing and come down stairs. But we will stress a certain point, saying, “Tell them, ‘Dad said, stop what you’re doing and come downstairs.’” And the reason we say that is because if the siblings simply think this is their brother or sister telling them to do something, they don’t hear that as an authoritative message. It’s perhaps nothing more than one child’s rude insistence that their sibling does what they want them to do. But if they say, “Dad says” before delivering that message, then the one who hears this demand knows that though the sibling holds no authority in and of himself, he comes with the authority of Dad, which does extend over all of the children.
That’s what Jesus wants us to understand. We’re not going to our neighbor our to someone around the world, telling them to repent of their sins and bow the knee to Christ in faith because we think we’re better or inherently carry some authority over them. We go, saying in essence, “King Jesus, who has authority over everything and everyone, tells you to repent of your sins and trust in him. He sent me to tell you this.” That’s the context of the great commission. Then, in verses 19-20a we see the content of the great commission.
Having noted that he speaks as the one who holds all authority what does Jesus tell his disciples, his followers, that we must be doing? He tells us in verses 19-20a, “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, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”
So, what does this look like? Well, many have noted that you have one main command and three participles in the Greek text (though it doesn’t fully come across in English). In other words, the one main command is to make disciples, and the participles that outline how we do that are: going, baptizing, and teaching. So, the main task we’re given is to go make followers of Jesus Christ, who will learn from him, obey what he says, and imitate him. That’s what it means to be a disciple of Christ, to learn what he commands, obey him, and imitate him. How do we then make disciples? Well, let’s take each of those participles.
We go.
Now I think the idea here is two-fold. First, Jesus is telling us that we shouldn’t anticipate people coming to us as much as us going to them. We don’t wait for our neighbor or the nations to come to our front door and ask us to share with them the gospel. Rather, we’re going to them, taking this message to them. But, second, Jesus is telling us that since he is not king over simply one region of the earth but all of it, he wants us to make disciples over the whole planet. He wants us to go to every nation with the gospel and make disciples of Jesus Christ everywhere.
Now I think the idea here is two-fold. First, Jesus is telling us that we shouldn’t anticipate people coming to us as much as us going to them. We don’t wait for our neighbor or the nations to come to our front door and ask us to share with them the gospel. Rather, we’re going to them, taking this message to them. But, second, Jesus is telling us that since he is not king over simply one region of the earth but all of it, he wants us to make disciples over the whole planet. He wants us to go to every nation with the gospel and make disciples of Jesus Christ everywhere.
In the book of Acts you had many in the early church stay right in Jerusalem, and as they did so, they were speaking the gospel and filling Jerusalem with Jesus’ teaching. In fact, these are the very words used as the council said to the apostles in Acts 5:28, “We strictly charged you not to teach in his name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching.” And Peter answered, “We must obey God rather than men” (5:29). Well, when did God command them to fill Jerusalem with the teaching of Jesus? The answer is right here on this mountain in Galilee as Jesus told them to go and make disciples of all nations. The apostles knew that included Jerusalem, right where they were.
However, not all of the early believers stayed in Jerusalem. In Acts 8 persecution led to many of them being scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria. And Luke adds in Acts 8:4, “Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.” Why? Because Jesus had commanded them to go and make disciples. So, as they went to Juda and Samaria, they went preaching the word.
Finally, by the time you get to Acts 13, the Spirit is calling the church at Antioch to send out from them Paul and Barnabas for the specific task of taking the gospel and planting churches in areas where the gospel had not yet been proclaimed or churches planted.
And I think that model is a good one for us. Let me work backwards from what we see in Acts. Some of us, over the life of our church will be sent out from this church to move geographically to another place (whether nationally or internationally) for the specific purpose of taking the gospel to another area and seeing the church planted and built up there. One of the reasons we started the pastoral internship program is to make sure we’re always having people who are being prepared to be sent out for this purpose.
Many others will simply relocate their lives for a multitude of reasons. It may be to go to grad school, to take a job elsewhere, to transfer in your job, etc. And you’re move may take you somewhere else in this nation or internationally. And as you go to wherever it is you go, you will be responsible to go with the intent of making disciples. You’ll go and share the gospel with your co-workers, fellow students, etc. You’ll join a church there and labor to see the church built up, others prepared to be sent out from there, and on and on.
And still many others of us will stay here. But we’ll stay here with a very intentional mindset to be “going” and making disciples. We’ll arm ourselves with the gospel as we go to work, to school, and across the street to chat with our neighbors. We’ll pour our lives into fellow church members so that right here we might have a stable, solid, growing support base from which many will be scattered and sent to go make disciples all over the globe. This is our mission. This is our vision. And whether we are staying here, scattered from here, or are sent from here, we will all be “going” each and every day, armed with the gospel and Christ’s commands, always making disciples. We go.
We baptize.
Now this note from Jesus that we making disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, is a crucial one. This note tells us something we must not forget, namely, that the great commission isn’t simply about evangelizing but bringing people into a local church.
In Matthew 16 and 18, Jesus had mentioned that the church had the authority to bind and to loose, which historically has been understood as the authority to affirm publicly who does and who does not belong to and represent Christ. We affirm someone belonging to and representing Christ through baptism, which is the means by which someone publicly professes faith in Christ and is brought into the membership of a local church. We affirm that one does not belong to or represent Christ through the act of church discipline, whereby one is removed from the membership of the church in hopes that this one will ultimately repent and be restored.
That’s an important reminder from Matthew 16 and 18 for this text because what it means is that when Jesus mentions that he wants us to baptize, he’s saying that he wants us to take those who hear the gospel and repent and believe, and join them to a church, publicly affirming as a church in the practice of baptism that this one belongs to and represents Christ. Or, we might say, using the imagery of Matthew 16 and 18, “bind” them to a church.
In other words, the great commission isn’t simply about evangelizing or getting converts. It’s about taking those converts and binding them to a local church in baptism, and then in that context, we teach them to obey Christ, which is the third participle.
We teach them to obey all that Christ commands.
Making disciples requires not only evangelizing and binding someone to a local church in baptism, but also, within that context of a local church, teaching them to obey all that Christ commands. Jesus envisions discipleship to happen as one is brought into the church, and then in the context of being given oversight, discipline, accountability, guidance, care, and love, they are taught to obey all that Christ commands.
And we are all involved in this. Making disciples at Cornerstone Community Church by teaching them to obey all that Christ commands doesn’t only happen from the pulpit on Sunday mornings. Now, I do think that’s a central element in our discipleship, and it’s why we give time to it and why we’ve sought to teach through the whole Bible. We don’t want to ignore anything that the Lord has commanded us to think, believe, and do. But we’re also taught to obey Christ commands as we gather in small groups and discuss practical ways we can live out the text. It happens as we just run into each other and speak edifying words. In fact, just last week as I ran into someone and was so edified by their discussion, I left thinking, “I think that conversation gave me good instruction for how to edify my brothers and sisters well.” And it wasn’t because the person was saying, “Here’s how you edify.” He was just edifying, and some things are better caught. I was moved to imitate him as he was imitating Christ. Now, let me say that another way: he was teaching me how to obey what Christ has commanded me to do. And I could go on and on because this is a whole body task. The only way we’re built up and grow in love is when each part with which this church body is supplied is investing and doing its part. And when each joint with which the Lord has supplied this body is working, then the whole body grows. We are made disciples through a corporate effort.
Now, it’s because Jesus instructs this disciple-making process to happen as people are evangelized and brought into a local church wherein they’re taught to obey all that Christ commands that we’ve argued that the great commission is about planting and building up local churches. It’s not the task of some to do in isolation from a local church. That’s not Jesus’ vision. It’s not his command. So, we are a local church centered church because we’re taking our cues from Christ and want to see the great commission obeyed.
So, that’s the church’s mission. Under the authority of Christ, we’re all going with the gospel (whether we like in Jackson or in an isolated village in Africa), and we’re baptizing those who believe, bringing them into a local church (where they can have oversight, guidance, care, love, discipline, and accountability and, within that setting), teaching them to obey all that Christ commands, as the whole church body pours into one another.
But there’s one more note in this text. In verse 20b, we see the comfort in the great commission.
To have as our gospel to make disciples of everyone on the planet, without distinction, teaching them to obey all that Christ commands is a big, never-ending (till the end of the age), overwhelming task. How can we even think we can accomplish this?
Well Jesus gives us a word of comfort. The one who has all authority and commissions us to do this task tells us that he will be with us. He says, “Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (v. 20b). As we send out people, as you move, and as you cross the street to talk to your neighbor here in Jackson, you don’t go alone. Jesus is with you. As you labor to help your struggling brother or sister in this church live in a way that obeys Christ's commands in the midst of their suffering and struggles, Jesus is with you all. In other words, the one who powerfully commissions us with all authority is the one who loves us to the point of living, dying, and being raised for us, and he is the one who says, “I’m not going to let you do this alone.” I’m with you every step of the way.
Therefore, let’s pray this morning that the Lord will never let us lose sight of or lose our grip on this mission being our central task, and let’s pray that the Lord would strengthen us to walk in obedience to it, even as our crucified and risen Lord walks with us in it. Amen.