At the church where I serve, we
have been spending our time on Sundays in a sermon series entitled “Sent”. During
this series our hope and our prayer is to answer four specific questions. Our
hope and prayer is that we would answer the question “Who sent us?” “Who are we
sent to?” “What are we sent to do?” and “Where are we sent to?” Our hope and
our prayer is to answer these questions in a way that equips and empowers us to
live our day to day lives as a follower of Jesus that have been sent on a
mission to engage those who are far from Jesus in a way that reveals and
reflects Jesus to them.
Now you might not buy the whole Jesus, Bible, church
thing. You might be here and you are not sure about whether or not there is a
God, let alone whether you should follow Him or live for Him. If I have just
described you, I am so glad that you are reading this, because here’s the
thing. What you will discover during this series is that there is a reason why
followers of Jesus want to engage and talk to you about Jesus. And there is a
reason and a way that followers of Jesus are supposed to talk about the claims
that Jesus made about who He was and what He came to earth to do. And my hope
for you is that you would see what Jesus calls His followers to do so that you
can see how He feels about you and what He calls His followers to do when it
comes to engaging you.
This
week, I would like for us to ask and answer the third question that we are
going to ask during this series, which is “What are we sent to do?” In other
words, if we are to be a sent people, who have been sent by a person, who was
sent, then what are we supposed to be doing? What exactly is the mission that
we been sent to do?
To answer that question, we are going to look at a
section of an account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in the Bible called
the gospel of Matthew. The gospel of Matthew was written to Jewish people to explain and to show that Jesus was
the Messiah that God had promised would come to rescue and restore the Jewish
nation as His chosen people.
And it is in a section of the gospel of Matthew that
we see Matthew record an event that occurred in history that will provide us a
timeless answer to the question “What are we sent to do?” So let’s discover this answer together, beginning in Matthew
28:16:
But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus
had designated. When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful.
Now to fully understand what is
happening here, we first need to understand the context in which this event
from history takes place. After being raised from the dead, Jesus provided instructions
for the disciples to travel to Galilee to meet up with Him there. The
disciples, following Jesus instructions, traveled to Galilee, where they met up
with Jesus. Matthew tells us that when they saw Jesus, they worshipped Him, but
some were doubtful.
Now a natural question that
arises here is “what are they doubtful about”? Were they doubtful that it was
really Jesus? I don’t believe so, because they all worshipped Him. They would
not have worshipped Him if they were uncertain as to whether or not it was
actually Jesus that they were seeing. So, why are they doubtful?
To understand why they were
doubtful, we need to look back at the final conversation that Jesus had with
the disciples before He was arrested. In that conversation, which is recorded
for us in another account of Jesus life in the Bible called the gospel of John,
Jesus explained that He was leaving to go back to God the Father, and that they
were not going to be able to come with Him.
And while Jesus also stated
that they would not see Him during the time that He was arrested, crucified and
buried; and while Jesus had promised that they would see Him again after He was
raised from the dead, the disciples knew that Jesus was going to be leaving to
go back to Heaven.
Now imagine yourself as one of
the disciples. You have left everything to follow Jesus; you have followed
Jesus for 3 ½ years, during which time you have become very close to Jesus. You
watched Jesus get arrested. You heard about Jesus crucifixion and death. And
now you have seen Jesus resurrected from the dead. And yet you know that Jesus
had every intention of going back to God the Father in Heaven.
How would you be feeling? Would
there be doubt? Would you have doubts? Sure you would have doubts. You left
everything to follow the Messiah, who you thought was going to usher in the
Kingdom of God. And now He is leaving to go back to Heaven and leaving you
behind.
I believe that the disciples
doubt flowed from two fundamental questions. The first question was “What now?
What are we supposed to do now?” And the second question was this “How are you
going to be present with us? If you are in Heaven, and we are here on earth,
how is your presence going to be present in our lives?”
You see the disciples doubted
how God’s presence could be present with them as they moved forward on earth
while Jesus was in Heaven. The disciples found themselves wresting with the
very tension that some of us may be wrestling with, which is “Is God’s presence
present?”
And it is in this context that
we enter into this event from history. And in this event from history 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 provides the
answer to the question “What are we sent to do?” 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 declared 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
are we sent to do?” 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 are we sent to do?” and that reveals God’s kingdom mission for followers of
Jesus throughout history.
Tomorrow, we will look at that directive…
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