Gospel of Matthew 28.16-20.

The great commission.

(16-17) The disciples meet Jesus at Galilee.

Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted.

·      This was not their first meeting with the risen Jesus; but it was an important one. At this meeting, they received their apostolic commission. When they saw Him, they worshipped Him.

·      Being worshipped and receiving worship is another proof of the Deity of Jesus Christ. As C.S. Lewis said, Jesus is either a liar, lunatic or Lord.

 (18-20) Jesus instructs His disciples regarding their duty after His departure.

 And Jesus came 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 of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

·      All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth: He is making a claim to consummate sovereign authority. Jesus claims that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him.

·      The word all dominates Matthew 28:18-20. All authority, all nations, all things, and all the days.” (Carson)

·      There is nothing in heaven or on earth over which Jesus does not have authority, that is, does not have the right and the power do with as he pleases. The scope and the magnitude of the authority of Jesus is infinite, because Jesus is one with God the Father. Jesus has absolute authority over Satan, every demon, every planet, every star, every force of nature, every nation, every human government, every sickness and death itself!

·      What would you do if you had that kind of power? When they arrested Jesus and Peter drew his sword to defend Jesus, remember the words of Jesus. "Put away your sword, do you not know that I could call for 12 legions of angels to come to My defense?"

·      If Jesus Christ were not equal with the Father, could he have claimed this equality of power, without being guilty of impiety and blasphemy? Surely not; and does he not, in the fullest manner, assert his Godhead, and his equality with the Father, by claiming and possessing all the authority in heaven and earth? (Clarke)

This commission, which is an authoritative command, is given in light of the authority of Jesus. This indicates that this not a suggestion. It is the same idea as if an officer reminded a private of his rank before he gave the order.

·      Mark 16.15 tells us that the command is to Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.

·      Luke 24.47 tells us that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations.

·      Where are we to go? All the world; all nations. Who are we to witness to? every creature!  What are we to preach? The gospel of repentance and remission of sins in His Name.

o   1Pe 3:15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.

o   Col 1:28 Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.

o   Ac 10:43 To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.

o   Paul the apostle declared that he went Acts 20.20 publickly, and from house to house, 21 Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

§  The gospel is the power of God unto salvation to all that believe. Rom 1.16

·      Go! The Greek reads something like, as you go. In other words, as you go to work, as you go to school, as you go to the gym, as you go to the hospital and etc.  Jesus has the power, but we are to go!

·      If you're waiting for some kind of spiritual goose bump before you feel you're responsible to reach the world, you've got it wrong. Evangelism isn't something reserved for a select few, it is the very mission of every member in the body of Christ.

·      The great commission, which is the primary mission of the church, is predicated the attitude of submission.

·      Since Christ was slain from the foundation of the world, we conclude that it has always been God's desire to reach the whole world. In 1 Timothy 2:3, 4 it says, God our Savior who will have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.

·      Because Jesus has this authority, we are therefore commanded to go. It is His authority that sends us, His authority that guides us, and His authority that empowers us. Jesus had said to these men in the upper room, as The Father sent Me, so I send you.

·      Jesus said, “Go” to some very imperfect disciples. “Who is to go out of that first band of disciples? It is Peter, the rash and the headstrong. It is John, who sometimes wishes to call fire from heaven to destroy men. It is Philip, with whom the Savior has been so long, and yet he has not known him. It is Thomas, who must put his finger into the print of the nails, or he will not believe him. Yet the Master says to them, ‘Go ye; all power is given unto me, therefore go ye. (Spurgeon)

So Mark and Luke declare that we are to preach the gospel of repentance and faith in The Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew tells us that we are to Go and make disciples of all the nations:

• The word for disciples is matheteuo. So a disciple is a believing learner, one who places faith in Christ and who follows in a life of learning. As Jesus put it in John 8:31, the one who continues in My Word is the mathetes alethos, the real disciples, the genuine disciple, as opposed to the false one. The truly converted person has a hunger for the truth of God, a hunger for the Word of God, a desire to be obedient.
• The command is to make disciples, not merely converts or supporters of a cause. The main purpose of discipleship is that you and I become followers of Christ, not merely students of Christianity.
• The fact that we are to make disciples teaches us that disciples are not spontaneously created at conversion. Discipleship is an intentional process that involves contact and communication with other believers.

Of all the nations:

• In His previous ministry, Jesus deliberately restricted His work to the Jewish people (Matthew 15:24) and previously sent His disciples with the same restriction (Matthew 10:6). Only on rare exceptions did Jesus minister among the Gentiles (Matthew 15:21-28).
• Now all of that is in the past, and the disciples are commissioned to take the gospel to all the nations. Prior to His ascension in Acts 1.8, Jesus tells us that ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. There is no place on earth where the gospel of Jesus should not be preached and were disciples should not be made.

Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: In the name is literally ‘into the name’, singular. 3 Persons, but 1Name,for these 3 are One.

• Significantly, when Jesus told them to go to all the nations, He did not tell them to circumcise those who became disciples. Instead, they were to baptize them, suggesting the break with traditional Judaism.
• When you come to Christ, confess Him as Lord and Savior, believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, and demonstrate that in an act of obedient baptism, you are a disciple.
• Calling a person to Christ means calling them to obedience which is demonstrated in that act of baptism, by which you declare to a watching world your faith in the Savior and submission to His Lordship.

Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you:

• Disciples are made through the teaching of God’s Word. The content of the teaching must be all things that I have commanded you. Thus, it is by the teaching of God’s Word that we become disciples of Jesus Christ.
• This teaching is not with words only. 1Co 2:4 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: 5 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

And what was the one commandment that Jesus declared was to be preeminent characteristic of His disciples?

• John 13:4 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age:

• Matthew’s Gospel begins with the prophecy that the Savior’s name would be “Emmanuel, that is, ‘God with us,’ and it ends with Jesus’ promise to be with his disciples forever. The Gospel of Matthew thus forms an inclusion about Jesus in his relationship to his people that suggests his deity.
• Jesus sent His disciples with a mission to fulfill, but He did not send them alone. He told you and me that He would be with us always until the job of making disciples is done - until the end of the age.

His presence means privilege, because we work with a Great King. Paul understood this principle well in 1 Corinthians 3:9, where he wrote: For we are God’s fellow workers. Since Jesus promised I am with you always, then we work together with Him in all our service. We certainly work for Jesus, but more than that we work with Jesus.

His presence means protection, because we are never out of His sight or supervision.

His presence means power, because we are promised in Acts 1.8, The Spirit of God provides the power or ability to do  the will of God.

His presence means peace. Jesus said My peace I give unto you, not as the world gives. Peace is not the absence of conflict (sheep among wolves…in this world you shall have tribulation); peace is the awareness of the presence of The Living, Risen Lord Jesus Christ.

O, plead with God to open your eyes to what these words I am with you always means for you. This Jesus, with all authority over every enemy and every disease and every calamity and every futility, promises to be with you.

• This means that He is our God and we are His people (Jeremiah 31:33).
• This means that He will help you, He will strengthen you, He will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness" (Isaiah 41:10).
• This means that even when we face the worst that life can throw our way, we know that all things work together for good (Rom 8.28)
• Who speaks these and many more promises to us? The One who has all authority in heaven and on earth. And one of the most incredible things in Scripture is the fact that this glorious, majestic King of King in Isa 6 asks this singular question….Who will go for Us?

Let me close with a story that I heard years ago at a pastor’s conference.

On a dangerous seacoast where shipwrecks often occur, there was once a crude little lifesaving station. The building was just a hut and there was only one boat but the few devoted members kept a constant watch over the sea and with no thought for their safety went out day and night, tirelessly rescuing the lost. Many lives were saved by this wonderful little lifesaving station. So it became famous.

Some of those who were saved and various others in the surrounding area wanted to become associated with the station and give of their time and money and effort for the support of its work. New boats were bought and crews were trained and the little life station grew.

Some of the members of the lifesaving station were unhappy that the building was so crude and poorly equipped. They felt a more comfortable place should be provided, as the first refuge of those saved from the sea. So they replaced the emergency cots and beds and put better furniture in the large building.

Now the lifesaving station became a popular gathering place for its members and they decorated it beautifully and furnished it exquisitely because they used it as sort of a club. Fewer members were now interested in going to sea on lifesaving missions so they hired lifeboat crews to do the work.

The lifesaving motif still prevailed in the club's decorations and there was a liturgical lifeboat in the room where club initiations were held. And about this time a large ship was wrecked off the coast and the hired crews brought in loads of cold, wet, half-drowned people. They were dirty and sick. The beautiful new club was considerably messed up. So, the property committee immediately had a shower house built outside the club where the victims of shipwrecks could be cleaned up before coming inside.

At the next meeting there was a split in the club membership and most of the members wanted to stop the lifesaving activity because they were a hindrance and unpleasant to the normal social life of the club. Some members insisted on lifesaving as their primary purpose and pointed out they were still a lifesaving station after all. They were finally voted down and told if they wanted to save the lives of various kinds of people shipwrecked in those waters, they could begin their own lifesaving station down the coast...which they did.

As the years went by, the new station experienced the same changes that occurred in the old. It evolved into a club and another lifesaving station was founded. History continued to repeat itself and if you visit that coast today, you'll find a number of exclusive clubs along the shore, shipwrecks are still frequent but most of the people drown.

It's easy for the church, isn't it, to lose sight of what it is called to be...so easy. How about you?