The Great Commission

You only ever get one chance to give your first sermon as senior pastor of a church, so I asked God for help, to point me in the direction of what I should talk about. He gave me some really good direction, and I’ll tell you about that later in the sermon.

Coach - develop skills, lead the way, strategize, develop better players, you form more mature, skilled players for your team. Its about teaching, guiding. Its about using your authority as a coach to take your team to the next level. You are near to them, you don’t leave them, you’re right there in the action encouraging them on

The biblical equivalent of coaching is called DISCIPLEING - develop skills in the Christian life (forgiveness, confession, repentance - these are not easy skills to acquire - from my experience, teaching some adults to forgive is harder than teaching a ten year old pitcher to throw a curve ball). Leading some adults through confessing their sins is harder than teaching my old boss how to golf - that was not easy -

Jesus was the greatest coach of all time. He had a team of twelve disciples who, bless their hearts, really were not the sharpest tools in the barn. They never correctly understood who Jesus really was while he was alive. He patiently worked with them for three years during his time of ministry, treating them all as apprentices - being kind to them at times and tough on them at times, but always having grace. He showed them his miracles, shared his wisdom, gave them his love. He developing them to take over the church and after his death, they did, and then they took the gospel to the end of the known world. Incredible! Jesus was the greatest coach of all time.

Jesus last words to the disciples in the book of Luke essentially told them to continue the coaching, find player and develop them, make disciples and teach them to obey. This command is known as the Great Commission. We will be talking about the great commission today. We are going to have a close look at it, assess it. We are going to see that it is not merely one command but rather numerous commands mixed in with two special promises from God.

Let’s go to 18-20

The New International Version Chapter 28

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

“Jesus then came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (NIV)

The New International Version. (2011). (). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

Commands (01:57–04:26)

The New American Commentary: Matthew 2. Resurrection! (28:1–20)

Verses 18–20 bring us to the climax and conclusion of Matthew. Jesus is passing the torch to his disciples, even as he promises to be with them forever—spiritually, not physically—to empower them for future mission. Jesus can make the claim of v. 18 only if he is fully God, inasmuch as the whole universe is embraced in the authority delegated to him.

1. Go. ()

a) Going is hard. Going usually involves some pain, leaving something or someone or some people that you love. Something precious is being left behind.

The Message of Matthew The Great Commission (28:16–20)

The Great Commission is the response to meeting the risen Christ (17). It is not until the disciples have personally met with the risen Lord that they are consumed with a passion to go and tell others. If evangelism is at a low ebb in parts of the worldwide church (and it is), could it be because many churchgoers have never had a personal, life-changing encounter with Jesus?

a) Going is hard. Going usually involves some pain, leaving something or someone or some people that you love. Something precious is being left behind.

Green, M. (2001). The message of Matthew: the kingdom of heaven (p. 322). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

2. Make disciples. ()

a) Telling people or guiding people by words or deeds to become disciples of Jesus, by preaching or by kindness by salt or light to be come true followers of Jesus and then to develop, coach, teach and mold them into mature disciples of Christ.

This is so hard if it was left just up to us humans. It takes a miracle in every case, it requires the work of the Holy Spirit in every case.

The New American Commentary: Matthew 2. Resurrection! (28:1–20)

To “make disciples of all nations” does require many people to leave their homelands, but Jesus’ main focus remains on the task of all believers to duplicate themselves wherever they may be. The verb “make disciples” also commands a kind of evangelism that does not stop after someone makes a profession of faith. The truly subordinate participles in v. 19 explain what making disciples involves: “baptizing” them and “teaching” them obedience to all of Jesus’ commandments. The first of these will be a once-for-all, decisive initiation into Christian community. The second proves a perennially incomplete, life-long task

3. Take the gospel to all the nations. ()

And its to be done to all the nations. There are literally thousands of distinct and diverse ethnicities and cultures in the world. How are we supposed to authentically bring Christianity to each one?

4. Baptize them. ()

This is a public ceremony, no one is going to slide into Christianity through the back door and secretly take part. Its a public symbol of death and resurrection, so that is not particularly inviting.

The New American Commentary: Matthew 2. Resurrection! (28:1–20)

In [or into] the name” means declaring allegiance to or becoming associated with the power and authority of Jesus.

Matthew 28:19b NIV

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

5. Make plain the Trinity. ()

6. Teach them to obey. ()

We are commanded to teach them to observe or obey. Now this is hard. If all we are to do is teach them to know then we could do that but teaching to obey can be very difficult because no matter how hard we teach, some will just simply not obey.

Transition

The totality of these 6 commands would be a very heavy expectation on us if we were commanded to do them alone. In fact it would be impossible if we were expected to accomplish these under our own power - but we are not.

This is why the two promises from Jesus that bookend these 6 commands are so important. There is one promise at the beginning of this passage, before the 6 commands. Then there is another promise at the end of the passage, after the 6 commands. These two promises are absolutely crucial, and immeasurably precious and dear.

1. Authority

2. I will be with you

The New American Commentary: Matthew 2. Resurrection! (28:1–20)

The Lord is now risen! He calls his people to become disciple makers, and he promises to be with them irrespective of their successes or failures.

The New American Commentary: Matthew 2. Resurrection! (28:1–20)

In Jesus, God remains with us for now and eternity! What more do we need to persevere in Christian living? We must go out and obey his commission. But the final word of the Gospel remains Christ-centered. Even when we fail, he remains faithful

The Message of Matthew The Great Commission (28:16–20)

The Gospel that began with the assurance that this baby to be born would be Immanuel (‘God is with us’, 1:23) closes with the assurance that he is with them still, and will be to the end of time. This promise is not merely for the individual, but for the group. Chapter 18 verse 20 assures them as they gather in his name that he is in their midst. Without his presence and empowering they could never even contemplate world mission. When the Lord commands, he enables. And his enabling is his presence.

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