Now, friends, I have a confession that I need to make to you today. My confession is that I am a hopeless Star Trek fan. Yes, I am.
Now I'm not talking about Star Trek the Next Generation or Star Trek Deep Space Nine or any other of these meager attempts to recreate the original. No, no. No, no. I'm a fan of Captain Kirk. And Mr.
Spock and Dr. McCoy and Scotty and Chekhov and Uhura, I'm a fan of exploring strange new worlds, seeking out new life and civilizations, boldly going where no man has gone before.
Sorry, I got carried away there. A little bit. And you know, if you've ever watched any of the 79 original Star Trek episodes, you know that the crew of the Enterprise were under strict orders never to interfere in and never alter the course of any culture where they stopped at any other planet. And there was a name for this order. Do you remember what it was?
It was called. The prime directive. That's exactly right. And it shaped the mission of the enterprise and its crew wherever they went in the galaxy.
Now, we're in a series of messages entitled People Jesus Met. And today, Jesus meets his 11 disciples after the resurrection, and he gives them the prime directive for the church and the prime directive for every follower of Christ in the church. We want to go back 2,000 years, and we want to look and see exactly what he said to his disciples. And then we want to bring all of that forward and we want to talk about, well, what difference does that make to you and to me? Matthew chapter 28 is our passage.
And a little bit of background. Remember, Jesus has been crucified. He's been buried. He's risen from the dead. Verse 10 of this chapter: Jesus said to the two women at the The tomb, tell my disciples to go into Galilee, and there they will see me.
And that's where we pick up the story in Matthew chapter 28, verse 16. Here we go. The Bible says, then the 11 disciples proceeded to Galilee to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. You say, 11 disciples. Wait a minute.
I thought there were 12 disciples.
Well, there were. But remember, Judas defected. All right? He mutinied. Verse 18 of the chapter: And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Now, you know, when Jesus cast the money changers out of the temple, when Jesus healed crippled people on the Sabbath, when Jesus told people that their sins were forgiven, the rabbis were constantly asking him the same question. Matthew 21, verse 23, by what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority?
Well, folks, Jesus answers their question right here in Matthew chapter 28. He says, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Ephesians chapter 1 tells us the same truth. Verse 19 says, According to God's mighty power, which he worked in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, by that power, verse 21, God set Jesus far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in the present age, but also in the one to come. And God put, say the next two words with me, all things.
Let's try it again. All things, that's right, in subjection under his feet. I would say that that legitimately qualifies as having all authority, wouldn't you? And how about Philippians chapter 2, verse 6? Although Jesus existed in the very nature of God, the Bible says, he emptied himself, taking the form of a human being, and being found in the appearance of a man, Jesus humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Watch now. Therefore, God has highly exalted Jesus and given him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
So let's go back now. To the rabbis' question. What did they ask? Matthew 21, 23. They said, By what authority are you doing these things?
Who gave you this authority?
And here we have Jesus's answer: I'm doing these things by my authority. God the Father gave this authority to me, and what's more, I'm entitled to this authority. I'm entitled to it because I'm Almighty God in the flesh. I'm entitled to it because I died on the cross to pay for the sins of mankind. And I am entitled to this authority because I rose from the dead and I'm alive forevermore.
Hallelujah. Amen and amen. Huh? And you know, folks, God wants there to be no doubt who has the authority in this universe. It is the risen, living Christ.
God declares in the Bible that Jesus is Romans 14:9, Lord over the living and the dead. That he is Philippians 2:9, Lord over every name that will ever be named. That He is Colossians 2:10, Lord over every earthly king and ruler. Matthew 8:27, that He is Lord over the winds and the waves of the sea. Hebrews chapter 1, verse 4, that he is Lord over every angel.
Mark 3, verse 15, that he is Lord over every demon. And Revelation 1, 18, that he is Lord over death and hell itself. When Jesus said, all authority has been given to me, he meant precisely what he said. Praise the Lord, huh? That's great.
Well, he Jesus continued. Matthew twenty-eight, verse nineteen, he said, Therefore, You say, therefore, what? Therefore, Jesus says, since I'm the one in charge of the universe, here is my prime directive for you as my followers. He said it three times in the gospel. Mark 16, 15, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
He said it in Luke 24. He said that we were to preach repentance and forgiveness of sin in his name to all nations. And here in Matthew 28, Jesus says it again: 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, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.
Now, this prime directive of Jesus has become known by another very famous name. We also call it the great. Great commission. And there are four very important components that make up the Great Commission, and I want to show you what they are here in the Bible. First of all, component number one is that the Great Commission is not.
Optional. The Greek verbs that are used in all three Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. In Mark's Gospel, Jesus says go. In Luke's Gospel, Jesus says, preach. And in Matthew's Gospel, Jesus said, make disciples.
In all three cases, those verbs are imperative mood, meaning that they are a command to be obeyed. They are not a suggestion for us to consider. You know, a few years ago, I was coming into my neighborhood in my automobile. And when you come into my neighborhood, there's about a 500-foot little road that comes in, and then it hits a T, you know, where you got to turn left or you got to turn right. You guys know what I'm talking about, right?
Okay.
Well, there's a stop sign there at that T, but you know, there's an open view completely to the right, and there's an open view completely to the left. And so sometimes I slow down and look left and look right and then roll the stop sign.
Now, I know that none of you would ever. Dare. Do that. But I do.
Sometimes.
Well, anyway, this one time I was coming in my neighborhood. And I rolled the stop sign. And wouldn't you know it? There was a Fairfax County police officer. Who just happened to be doing a little routine cruise through my neighborhood?
You say, well, you idiot. Why in the world did you roll the stop sign if there was a Fairfax County police officer right there?
Well, he wasn't right there. I didn't see him until after I'd rolled the stop sign. I'm not completely stupid. He was down the road a few hundred yards.
Well, he pulled me over. And he said, Sir. He said, You know, I realize there's not a lot of traffic in this neighborhood. He said, But, sir, do you see that little red octagonal sign back there at that intersection? I said, Yes, sir, I saw that.
He said, Sir, I would like to remind you that sign is not a suggestion, it is an order. You say do you give you a ticket? Ooh, come on, tell us. Did he give you a ticket? Ooh, ooh, we wanna know.
Noah gave me a warning. And I know for all of you people. who drive fifty-five on the beltway that you are so upset. He didn't give me a ticket. I know that.
But it was a warning. That's all I got. Uh-huh. But the mo the point was still made. I got the point.
The point was that that stop sign was not a suggestion. For me to consider, if I felt like it, that stop sign was an order. It was a command. And friends, this is exactly the way the Great Commission is. It is not a suggestion for you and me to consider if we feel like it.
It is a command for us to obey from the living risen Lord of the universe. Number two, component number two is that the Great Commission has a well-defined scope. Listen, Mark 16:15, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to all nations. Luke 24, Jesus said we are to preach repentance and forgiveness of sins in his name to all nations. Matthew 28, 19 says, Go make disciples of all nations.
And when Jesus uses the word nations here, he's not talking about political nations or governmental entities. In other words, the Great Commission is not telling us to go Christianize all the governments of the world. The word that is used in all of These verses for nations is the Greek word ethnos, from which we get our English word ethnic. And the point is that Jesus is speaking here not about political nations, he is talking about ethnic people groups and telling us to go make disciples, to go preach the gospel to every ethnic people group in the world.
Now, it's important for us to understand. That the Great Commission was a radical redefinition of whom the disciples understood Jesus to be. Up till this point, they understood him to be the king of the Jews, they understood him to be the Jewish Messiah. But here in the Great Commission, Jesus redefines himself as the international Messiah, as the Messiah of all people, as the Messiah of the whole world, which means that there is not one single being on the face of the earth who falls outside the scope of the Great Commission. Everybody you meet on the metro, everybody who delivers something to your front door, everyone you meet in the grocery store, everybody that you drive past on the beltway, everybody that you run into at the health club, they are all within the scope of the Great Commission.
Number three. Component number three of the Great Commission is that the Great Commission has a clearly defined message. Mark sixteen, fifteen, go into the world, the Bible says, and preach what? The gospel. And we ought to stop here for a moment and define biblically what it means to preach the gospel because there is so much misunderstanding in our world today about what this means.
Folks, preaching the gospel does not mean helping the poor. Preaching the gospel does not mean feeding the hungry. Preaching the gospel does not mean saving the environment. Preaching the gospel does not mean digging wells in Africa or opposing sex slavery in Asia. There's nothing wrong with any of these things.
They're good things, but they're not preaching the gospel. You say, well, Lon, if preaching the gospel is none of these things, what is preaching the gospel?
Well, 1 Corinthians chapter 15 answers the question. Verse 1, Paul says, Now, brethren, I want to remind you of the gospel. There's our word that I preach to you and by which you are saved. Here it comes: namely, verse 3: that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again on the third day according to the scriptures. Preaching the gospel means telling people this biblical message.
Number one, that Christ died, not as a victim, not as a martyr, not as an example. He didn't die as a misguided zealot or as a mistake or for his own personal gain. He died. For our sins, just as the Old Testament scriptures had predicted he would centuries before it happened. It means telling people, number two, that he was buried.
And why was he buried? Because he was really dead. That's why he was buried. And finally, that he rose again on the third day, just as those very same Old Testament scriptures said that he would. This is the gospel.
And this is what Jesus commissioned you and me and the church to preach. Not feel-good flattery, not pious platitudes, not psychobabble, and not the power of positive thinking with a big smile on it. Jesus commissioned us to preach the gospel. The gospel. And to offer people forgiveness of sins, Luke 24, in Jesus' name, to offer people reconciliation with God and release from guilt and eternal life in heaven and a transformed life here on earth if they will only, Luke 24, repent, if they will only make a U-turn and come back and surrender their hearts and their lives to Jesus Christ.
And maybe you're here today and you never heard this before. You may have even sat in churches for years and you never heard this before. That these things are actually available to you. Reconciliation with God, relief from guilt, the certainty of eternal life in heaven. All of these things, are they available?
Oh, yes, they are in the gospel. But you've got to make a 180-degree turn, we all do, and come back and surrender our hearts and lives to Christ. I hope that's something you'll think about, friends. This is the gospel. Number four, and finally, Component number four of the Great Commission is that the Great Commission finally has a well-defined goal.
Matthew 28:19, Jesus said, Go make disciples of all nations. The goal of the Great Commission, my friends, is not just to preach the gospel and see people come to personal faith in Jesus. Yes, that's part of the goal. But the ultimate goal of the Great Commission is to turn believers into disciples. And what exactly does it mean to be a disciple?
Well, right in Matthew chapter 28, Jesus tells us it means two things to be a disciple. Number one, distinguishing characteristic number one of a disciple is that a disciple is a person in whose life Jesus Christ is primary, is supreme, is number one. For a disciple, Jesus is put in first place, and every Everything else goes in second place in their life. And not only does a disciple do that, a disciple keeps it that way all of his or her life. I was watching a movie on television recently called Navy SEALs.
And there was a scene in that movie that was very interesting to me. This Navy SEAL was getting married, and he was at the front of the church at the altar. And there was a whole bunch of other Navy SEALs out there with their girlfriends and their wives in the church audience. And here comes the bride, all beautiful in her gown, coming down the aisle. Here, you know, the organs playing.
Here comes the bride. She gets to the front. She takes her position. The minister gets ready to start. And all of a sudden, the seal, the groom's beeper, goes off from SEAL headquarters.
He looks at it, gives his future bride a peck, and runs out the door of the church. Not only that, every seal sitting in the audience gave their wife or their girlfriend a kiss, jump up, and they all run out of the church. I thought, now there are some people who know what it means to have something as number one in their life. Being a seal was number one in their life, and nothing at all came before being a seal.
Now, friends, this is what Jesus is telling us is true of a disciple. A disciple has Jesus Christ first in his or her life, and nothing else comes between Jesus Christ being number one in that person. And you say, well, I don't know. I don't see it here in Matthew 28. Where did Jesus tell us that this is part of being a disciple?
Well, what did he say here? He said that he wanted us to be baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. We need to understand that in Jesus' day, the Roman Emperor demanded that people worship him, not Christ. And the Jewish rabbis demanded that people reject Jesus as the Messiah. And folks, to be baptized as a Christian in the days of Jesus Christ, was to say no to the emperor and to say no to the Jewish rabbis.
And it was a public declaration for everybody to see that Jesus Christ. Is number one in my life, and whatever it costs me, I'm willing to pay it. He's number one. The other distinguishing characteristic of a disciple is that a disciple obeys Christ without reservation. Matthew twenty eight, Jesus said it.
Go make disciples, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. You know what the operating word is in there? Teaching them to obey what? Everything. There's your operative word.
See, a disciple is not just a person who knows the Bible. A disciple is a person who obeys the Bible. They obey the Bible when it's convenient, and they obey the Bible when it's inconvenient. They obey the Bible when it's popular, and they obey the Bible when it's not popular. They obey the Bible when it's easy to obey, and they obey the Bible when it's painful to obey.
A disciple obeys the Word of God without reservation of any kind. This is a disciple. And this is the goal. of the Great Commission. to make these kinds of people.
So let's summarize. You guys okay? Everybody awake? You there?
Okay, I haven't put you to sleep yet.
Okay, good. All right, let's summarize. As followers of Christ, the risen Lord gave us a mission. In fact, he gave us a great co-mission, if you will, with number one, a conspicuous action plan. We are to preach.
We are to witness. We are to share our faith. Number two, it has a well-defined scope to everyone, all people groups, everybody we meet. Number three, it has a clearly defined message, the gospel, the gospel, the gospel. And number four, it has a well-defined goal, and that is to make believers and then make them into disciples.
And friends, none of this. is a suggestion. None of it.
Now, that's as far as we're going to go in our passage because we're going to stop now. We're going to ask our most important questions.
So, are we ready?
Okay, nice and loud, all you on the internet. Everybody here at Tyson's, here we go. One, two, three. Yeah. You say, Law and so what?
Say, I understand the Great Commission. I read it before. You know, I'm a Star Trek fan too. Big deal. What difference does any of this make to my life when I go out of my house tomorrow morning?
Well, let's talk about that. You know, I used to ride motocross a lot out in the high country out in California. In fact, here's a picture, an actual picture of me one day when I was riding. And, I mean, I was a stud. Can you see why Brenda fell for me?
Yeah, absolutely.
Well, anyway, you say, is that really you?
Well, yeah. I had one of my, when Justin was a teenager, one of his teenage friends came in the house and saw this poster up and said, Mr.
Solomon, is that really you? Because I thought maybe that was you at an amusement park where you stick your head through like one of those cardboard things. I was like, No, that's really me. And I used to ride all the time with a good friend of mine named Dan McKinnon out in California. And Dan is a good friend.
He's also a real disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know, back in the 90s, Dan one day was driving on a two-lane road up into the mountains of California when a Jeep coming the other way lost control, crossed into his lane, and hit him at 60 miles an hour.
Now Dan did not have an airbag at that time in his car, only a seatbelt. He had a number of broken ribs. He had a collapsed lung. He had all kinds of internal injuries. He was in ICU for days and days and days.
Now he's okay now. But I'll never forget when I talk to him and I see you. Here's what he said, and I quote: He said, You know, Lon, I really should have been dead. I guess God left me here because He still has something for me to do.
Now, haven't you heard people say that before? Sure, we've all heard people say that.
Well, I'd like to suggest to you today that as followers of Jesus Christ, there is only one reason why God leaves you and me here after we've given our life to Christ. And let me tell you what it's not. It's not, that reason is not to make money. And that reason is not to contribute to the world. And that reason is not so that we can make a name for ourselves.
And that reason is not so that we can enjoy the amenities of this life. No, no. That reason is so that we can be part of fulfilling the great commission. And you know, as a young Christian, I'll never forget the impact it had on my life when I finally got this. When I finally understood that the reason I'm alive today, and that the reason I've got the skills I have today, and that the reason I've got the financial resources I've got today, and that the reason I've got the health, and the strength, and the energy, and the opportunities that I have today, is so that as a follower of Jesus, I can use them all.
to try to fulfill the Great Commission. And friends, the Great Commission This idea of sharing the gospel everywhere we go. with everyone we meet. To the maximum degree that the Holy Spirit opens doors for us every day. The fact that this is not a suggestion from the Lord.
But that it is a solemn command Which demands our full attention. And our faithful obedience, realizing this, radically altered my whole life. It redefined why I walked out of the house in the morning. And what I understood my purpose to be all day long. And, folks, as a follower of Christ, God wants this truth to grip your life.
in the very same way. Let's pray. Lord, please forgive us as followers of yours for even pretending. Like we don't get it. We may not be willing to do it.
But Lord. It's easy to get it. when it comes to what you're saying here. And my prayer is that you would make us men and women who are gripped By the Command of the Great Commission. And that we would be willing to go out and pay the price, whatever it might be, in our lifestyle every day.
to be outspoken witnesses for yours. of yours because Lord That's what you commanded us to do.
So use what we've talked about today to radically change why we understand we're even here, to radically to change our Understanding of why we walk out of the door in the morning. That it's not to earn money, to do a good job, to run the carpool, but above anything and everything else, it's to be part of fulfilling the great commission that day. Lord, change our lives because we were here today and we sat under the teaching of the Word of God. And we pray these things in Jesus' name. And what did God's people say?
Amen.
