And in this story Jesus makes a statement that is one of the most famous statements that is recorded for us in the entire Bible. And it is in this statement that Jesus makes a promise that is often overlooked but provides us the confidence that we need to navigate the tension that we can experience when it comes to the issue of whether or not God’s presence is present. So let’s look at this famous statement together, beginning in Matthew 28:18:
And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.In the midst of this scene of worship of Jesus as “God in a bod” and the doubt that the disciples were feeling as to what they were to do with their future and with whether or not Jesus presence would be present, Jesus takes the initiative. Jesus did not wait for the disciples. Instead, Jesus approaches the disciples and explains that “all authority has been to Me in heaven and on earth”. In other words, Jesus declares to His disciples and to His followers throughout history, that He is large and in charge of everything. God the Father has formally given Jesus the right to exercise command and control over all of creation. Jesus wanted His disciples to understand that He was Lord and Leader and was the one whom God had granted the power to exercise control over the universe and to guide God’s kingdom mission.
And because of the universal authority that Jesus possess; because Jesus is large and in charge of all of creation; Jesus has the right to give His followers Divine direction when it comes to the question “What now? What are we supposed to do now?” And as Jesus continues to take the initiative with the disciples, He proceeds to give His disciples and followers of Jesus throughout history a divine directive that answers the question “What now?” and that reveals God’s kingdom mission for followers of Jesus throughout history in 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, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you;Now whether you regularly attend church or whether this is your first Sunday in church; whether or not you regularly read the Bible, you are probably at least somewhat familiar with what Jesus says here. You are probably familiar with Jesus words here because this is one of the two sayings of Jesus that are described with the adjective great. This statement is often referred to as the “Great Commission”. Jesus here is giving His followers a mission; and that mission is to make disciples of all nations. The phrase “go and make disciples of all nations” in the language that this letter was originally written in, literally reads “as you are going, make disciples of all nations”. God is not commanding us to go. God is commanding us to make disciples as we go. In other words, as followers of Jesus, we are to strive to make disciples, or followers of Jesus, as we are living our day to day lives in the spheres of influence that we have been given.
Now a natural question that arises here is “well how are we supposed to make disciples? And how do we know that we are actually being successful in making disciples?” First, we are to make disciples by going to those who are far from God. Whether at home, at school, at work, or in our relationships; in whatever sphere of influence we have; we are commanded to live our lives as missionaries that are engaging, investing, and inviting those who are far from God to become followers of Jesus. You do not need to go to a foreign country to be a missionary. As followers of Jesus, we are called to be missionaries wherever we are. And in your day to day life, God has already positioned you in areas of influence where you can be a missionary to those who are far from God.
Second, we are to make disciples by baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. When we see baptisms occurring in the Bible, we discover that baptism is an outward act that serves to publicly identify one as being a follower of Jesus. A person who is being baptized is publicly proclaiming “I am a follower of Jesus who desires to be a part of a community of believers who will encourage me and hold me accountable”. So a major part of discipleship is to be used by God to bring those who are far from God to a place where they place their confident trust in God’s transformational activity and publicly identify themselves as partner of the community of faith that is investing their time, talent, and treasure in God’s kingdom mission.
You see, evangelism is not a separate activity from discipleship. Evangelism is the first step of discipleship, where a person responds to what God has done for them through Jesus life, death, and resurrection by believing, trusting and following Jesus as Lord and Leader. And baptism is a step of identification with Jesus as His follower and with the kingdom mission that He has given us as His followers.
Third, Jesus explains that we are to make disciples by “teaching them to observe all that I commanded you”. Now the word observe, in the language that this letter was originally written in, literally means to persist in obedience. In other words, a disciple of Jesus will naturally grow in their faithfulness and obedience to Jesus over time. While there may be occasions where a follower of Jesus commits sin, a follower of Jesus, over time, will live a life that is becoming more like Christ in character and conduct. And as followers of Jesus and as a church, we are called to create environments where people are able to understand and embrace the message and teachings of Jesus in a way that results in their spiritual growth and spiritual good.
At the church where I serve, we summarize how we engage in God’s kingdom mission in the following way: “City Bible Church is a city within a city that is striving to reveal and reflect Christ as we love and serve the city”. We are a community of believers that are located within Bullhead City that has been strategically placed here by God to engage our community with the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel in a way that reflects Christ. We are a community of believers that has been given a kingdom mission to love and serve our community in a way that reveals and reflects Christ in real and practical ways.
We desire to be a church that creates environments where we can love and serve our community in real and practical ways that provide an opportunity to share the love of Christ and the message of the gospel. And we desire to be a church of missionaries that are genuinely and authentically following the message and teachings of Jesus in our spheres of influence in a way that is investing and inviting those who are far from God to come to experience the forgiveness of sin and the relationship with God that they were created for by believing, trusting, and following Jesus as Lord and Leader.
And as we engage in God’s kingdom mission by creating environments where people can explore faith, grow in their faith, and experience authentic community, we believe that God will work in and through these environments to make disciples, or followers of Jesus, who move from being consumers who are exploring faith, to owners who own a genuine and authentic relationship with Jesus, to investors who are involved in a growing and maturing relationship with Jesus and who invest their time, talents, and treasure in the kingdom mission that we have been given as a church.
As a church, we believe that followers of Jesus are fully engaged in the Great Commission when we are investing in that mission in three specific ways. We believe that the Bible teaches us that making disciples that are growing and maturing in their relationship with Jesus requires that we invest our time in a community group, our talents in a ministry, and our treasure through giving.
So here is a question to consider: where would you place yourself when it comes to a relationship with Jesus? Would you consider yourself a consumer who is still searching and shopping when it comes to Jesus? Would you consider yourself as an owner, who owns and embraces a genuine and authentic relationship with Jesus, but has not taken the step to invest deeper in that relationship or in the mission that He has given us? Or would you consider yourself and investor who is investing your time, talent, and treasure in a way that is resulting your spiritual growth and in the spiritual good of others?
With the answer to that question in mind, here is a second question to consider: What would you need to do to take that next step when it came to your relationship to Jesus? What would you have to do to move from a consumer to an owner? What would you have to do to move from an owner to an investor? And what is keeping you from taking that step?
And so often, most sermons on this story tend to end here. But that is not where this story ends. Jesus still has more to say. And as this story continues, Jesus makes an amazing statement that helps resolve the tension when it comes to the question of whether or not God’s presence is present. We will look at this statement tomorrow...
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