The Great Commission: Mission Possible

Matthew 28:16-20

May 23, 2002 (Trinity Sunday)

MT 28:16-20[i] Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee , to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. [17] When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. [18] Then Jesus 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."

 Introduction

 As a kid I used to dream about one day being chosen to go on a top- secret mission.  You know the sort of mission where the fate of the whole world rested upon my ten-year-old shoulders.  I used to imagine that one day while playing in the playground, someone wearing a trench coat and hat would mysteriously appear from behind the twisty-slide and hand me a manila envelope marked “Classified”. 

 Usually my mission would involve the transporting of highly important material or information to remote corners of the globe, via train, plane, boat and, of course, rocket-pack.  I would sneak into buildings and past border guards with ease because I had a cloaking device.  I could become invisible to the eye and undetected by radar.  Each morning I would receive instructions from ‘home base’ via my wristwatch transponder.  If I got into trouble, I would simply press a button to signal my superiors who would dispatch some sort of escape vehicle.

 I remember that these fantasies always ended with a cold smack of reality that went something like this: “I’m ten years old, I’m too small, I’m not smart enough…nobody would trust me with that sort of mission!”

 Little did I know then, but one day I would be called upon to carry out a great mission.  As a follower of Jesus, I am called to carry His message of good news of salvation and transformation—The Gospel—to those who haven’t heard it.  I would be called to “make disciples”.

 As we’ll see this morning, Jesus’ followers, his disciples, have always been called to carry out the mission of making disciples.

 Leaving Easter

 You may not have known this, but according to the church calendar—that I’m following for my preaching—this is the last day of the Easter season.

 A Context of Obedience

 Once again we meet Jesus and his disciples on the mountain just before Jesus goes into heaven.  A couple of weeks ago we looked at what Jesus’ ascension meant, what it told us about who he is.  This morning we go back to the pre-ascension get together with the disciples to focus on what Jesus left as final instructions for his followers then, and now.

 Our story really begins earlier in the chapter when Jesus appears to the women at the tomb following his resurrection.  There he tells the two Mary’s: “Do not be afraid.  Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee ; there they will see me”(Matt. 28:10).  This is a major coup!  In those days, men gave orders to women, but here Jesus is telling the women to give the men an order!  “Go to Galilee , and there I’ll meet you.” 

 When next we see the disciples together, where are they?  In verse 16 of our story today, it says that the “eleven disciples went to Galilee , to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go.”  The women had been obedient to Jesus’ orders by telling the men.  The men had taken a step of faith by trusting that (a) the women were telling the truth and that Jesus was really alive, and (b) that he would indeed meet them.  

 This entire story is built on obedience to Jesus.  The women could have backed off from telling the men what Jesus had told them.  The men could have disregarded what the women said, but instead they were obedient, and their obedience led them to the mountain where Jesus met them to commission them for ministry… 

  Mission Tools: “All authority in heaven and on earth…”

 The number “11” is kind of a lame number, don’t you think?  Sandwiched between the perfect ten, and an even dozen, eleven kind of limps.  Eleven is odd, imperfect.

 For the disciples, eleven must have been a bitter reminder of betrayal and treachery.  After all, before Judas went sideways, they had been “The Twelve”, the band of brothers journeying with Jesus.  Now, there was eleven of them limping up the mountain to meet Jesus—who some still had doubts about.  This was a weak, depleted, insecure, imperfect group taking a step of faith and obedience by going up the mountain in Galilee .

 And then Jesus came to them (v. 18).

 It’s not clear exactly why Jesus came to them. Perhaps it was to help overcome their doubts and fears, perhaps it was to demonstrate his approachability, or perhaps it was to model the kind of “reaching out” behavior that he expects of his disciples.  But he came to them.

 His first words to them are: “All authority in heaven and on earth…”

He is stating his supremacy, affirming His rule and authority over everything.  But he’s also about to send his disciples on a mission, a difficult mission.  It is important for them to know by whose authority they will go. 

 Illustration: Frodo’s Commissioning by the Council of Elrond 

 Authority of Jesus is given to the disciples. “By the authority of the risen Christ, the God of the universe, you will go and make disciples.”  Imperfect people who make up the Church who are empowered by Jesus himself will carry out this mission. 

 This has been God’s way throughout scripture: David, Moses,  

 ·        “Jesus has entrusted the treasure of the gospel to an ‘elevenish’, imperfect church—and has empowered it to succeed in its mission.”[ii]

 THEREFORE

  Mission Description: “Go into all the world and make disciples…”

 So here we are atop the mountain and Jesus says to his disciples, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”

 “The mission is to ‘make disciples’.  To accomplish that mission, the disciples must go, baptize and teach, but the purpose is to make disciples.”[iii]

 Notice that Jesus didn’t tell them to preach—to evangelize—to win the world.  Only God, the Holy Spirit, can do the big things like convert, win, bring repentance, or move a person to make a decision.  But, as Bruner says, “disciples can, must, and will do the little thing of ‘discipling’ others—that is, they will spend time with people, (teaching, living, modeling the way, correcting, communing…)”[iv]

 “Disciple”—the English term comes from the Latin word discipulus, meaning pupil or learner.  It means apprentice, understudy.  One writer describes a disciple as “a learner in the school of Christ and one who makes disciples of others.”[v]

 Discipleship is a life-long process.  We are never finished being made more obedient to Jesus and his ways.

 Illustration: Star Wars—apprentice and master Jedi: Master continues to hone his skills while teaching the apprentice.

 “Teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you…”

 There are slow words in this passage: “disciple”, “teaching”, “everything”

 If Jesus is our model for disciple making, then it is clear we’re in it for the long haul.  He spent three years with this same group of followers and they were still flawed!  He taught, cajoled, rebuked, and modeled the way with them for three years!

 Illustration: Bricklayer[vi]—apprentice—leaving training halfway through—could you imagine the sort of house a half-trained bricklayer would build?

 We cannot pick and choose what of Jesus’ teaching we follow and which we don’t. 

 Matthew’s focus on Jesus’ teaching—it is therefore not surprising that it is he who records Jesus’ command to “teach them to obey all that I have commanded”.

  Mission Possible: “And remember, I am with you always…”

 It is a daunting task, this disciple making.  The mission looks impossible!  Imagine what the disciples must have thought when they first heard Jesus utter the words, “Go into all the world and make disciples (carry the message of the Gospel).”  “How could they possibly take the gospel to the whole world?  How could they convey the love of Jesus to people whose languages they could not understand?  And yet, by the grace of God, it happened!”[vii]  

 Matthew begins and ends with a reminder of Jesus’ presence: Immanuel, “God with us”( 1:23 ); “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age”(28:20).

 It is not so much Jesus who we’re working for; it is Jesus who we are working with.

 Therefore:

 Beloved of Christ; Disciples of Christ, hear this:

 Continue your own discipleship journey and under the authority of the God of the Universe, the Risen Christ, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything He has commanded us.  And remember, he is not a distant God, an aloof King.  He is here, he is among us, and will be with us to the very end of the age.

 Amen. 

   

Notes

[i] All scripture references are taken from the New International Version of the Bible, unless otherwise indicated.

 

[ii]Richard Donovan from his weekly sermon writing aid, “SermonWriter.Com”

 

[iii]Ibid

 

[iv]F.D. Bruner, Matthew: Volume 2, The Churchbook, Matthew13-28, (Dallas: Word, 1990) p. 1097.

 

[v]E.F. Harrison, “Disciple” found in Baker’s Dictionary of Theology, E.F. Harrison, ed., (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1960) p. 167.

 

[vi]The bricklayer analogy comes from an article by Stanley Hauerwas, titled, “Discipleship as a Craft. Church as a Disciplined Community” (published in The Christian Century, October 1, 1991 , pp. 881-884). 

 

[vii]Donovan