The Great Commission (Part 1 of 2)

As the church in our day lost sight of its purpose, have you?

Are you in mission mode or are you in maintenance mode? Today on Truth for Life, Alistair Begg encourages us to reassess our spiritual priorities by reminding us of the claim that only Jesus can make and the command that only he can give. Before I do, I want to read briefly two other passages. And to save you from leafing through them and to save me waiting for you to find them, you can look for them later on.

All right. But the first is the statement that we find in Daniel chapter 7, where Daniel says, I saw in the night visions, and, behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a Son of Man. And he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him.

His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed. And then, in John 17, verse 20, Jesus is praying. He says to his father, I'm praying that as you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And from verse, I think, 17 is where I was.

Yeah. They are not of the world, just as I'm not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth.

Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word. And now I read Matthew and chapter 28. Now, after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it.

His appearance was like lightning and his clothing white as snow, and for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the woman, Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus, who was crucified. He's not here, for he has risen as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he's risen from the dead, and behold, he's going before you to Galilee. There you will see him.

See, I've told you. So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy and ran to tell his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and said, Greetings. And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, Do not be afraid.

Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me. While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers and said, Tell people, His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.

And if this comes to the governor's ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble. So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day. Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.

And when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.

Amen. From time to time, it is good and it is important for us as a church family, as a local church, as a congregation, it's good and it is important for us to assess what we're doing and at the same time to consider why we're doing what we're doing and to consider how we're doing what we're doing as we consider why we're doing it. A good number of years ago now, when I had been in Australia and felt as far away as I've ever felt in my life, I came back from that trip—I don't remember when it was—and we decided together as a church leadership that it would be good for us just to take a sentence or two as a purpose statement for our church congregation.

And I'm not going to embarrass you by asking you to put up your hand if you know what it is, or if you remember what it is—some of you will—but we haven't made much mention of it recently, I don't think. And we simply decided that we would use as a purpose statement to see unbelieving people becoming committed followers of Jesus Christ—that as a church, whatever else we might be engaged in, whatever else we might be doing, when people would come into our congregation and when we would go out from our congregation into the community, that there would be a shared understanding of our desire to fulfill God's purposes in this way. And of course, what we made concrete, as it were, in that statement is entirely in keeping with what we find here at the end of Matthew, for that is simply what we refer to as the Great Commission. And that Great Commission—the words of Jesus, the emphasis of Jesus—is provided for us five times in the New Testament, in each of the Gospels and at the beginning of Acts. So, for example, at the beginning of Acts, Jesus has his disciples around him, a group larger than just the eleven or the twelve, those followers of Jesus, and he says to them, You will be my witnesses.

That's what you're going to be. In John chapter 20, he says, As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you. In Luke chapter 24, he makes clear that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in Jesus' name to all nations. And Jesus says, And you are witnesses. In Mark chapter 16, Go into all the world, says Jesus, and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. And here in Matthew chapter 28, Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. So in other words, Jesus gives the church their marching orders—our marching orders. And it couldn't actually be clearer. These statements are not tucked away in a corner that we would have to go and search them out. No, they resonate at the conclusion of each of these Gospel records and at the entryway into the ongoing work of Jesus, as it's given to us by Luke in the Acts. Despite the fact that the Bible speaks with such clarity to this, there is some truth to the cynical observation that most churches think they're doing fine because they don't know what they're doing.

Now, we wouldn't want to overstate it, but we don't want to sidestep it either. Most churches think they're doing fine because they don't know what they're doing. It's a bit like hitting balls on a driving range that has no targets at all. You can convince yourself you're ready for the tour within about three minutes. As soon as somebody puts a target out in front of you, you discover that, really, you should just give it up and go home.

Because you really haven't got a clue what you're doing at all. Or, perhaps even worse than cluelessness, a church congregation that either wittingly or unwittingly has replaced the call to mission with a preoccupation for maintenance. The desire to see unbelieving people become followers of Jesus somehow submerged under a desire to live in a comfortable company of people who think the way I think, who believe what I believe, and I don't have to deal with any of the uncomfortable impact of people who are opposed to the story of Jesus or who, by their desire to sidestep me, make me distinctly uncomfortable if I profess his name. One of the ways in which you can detect this in a church is by the church's prayers. We pray routinely and clearly and purposefully for physical restoration.

We have mentioned some this morning, and there are others too. But the question is, how much prayer is there in the church not just for physical restoration but for spiritual transformation? How much prayer to see unbelieving people becoming the committed followers of Jesus Christ? Now, this challenge is upon me today, and so, when I'm challenged, you're challenged with me. It's a challenge that I have to face as an individual—and so do you if you are in Christ—and it's a challenge that we must face as a church. Who do I know in my office that needs light in their darkness? Who of my family would benefit from having the Bible taught to them in relationship to these things? In short order, October, providing a wonderful opportunity to invite someone to come and to consider the claims of Jesus Christ.

Of course, it's unlikely that we're going to do that if we have lost sight of our purpose statement if it has been submerged under our comfortable approach to church life. My children are in nursery. My teens are largely under care of somebody. I don't have to sit to anybody I don't like. I'm always able to slip out at the same time.

There's nothing really to inconvenience me at all. And certainly not the implication of actually inviting somebody that I need to care for, introduce, follow up with, and so on. So, with all that said, notice the Great Commission as it's given to us here at the end of Matthew. I'm going to make three statements from the text, and I think that they are easily understood and hopefully by God's goodness will be carefully applied. The first is this—that what we find here is a claim that only Christ can make. And Jesus came and said to them—and here's the claim—"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." Now, let's just allow that to settle in our minds for a moment—that somebody would stand on the stage of human history and make such a claim. In the entire cosmos, says Jesus, I am the authority.

No mere human being in their right mind ever made such a claim. But Jesus does. And at the very beginning of the Gospels, when he steps forward, the reaction of the people, we're told, is amazement and is wonder. And they say it, and you find this at the beginning of Mark, What is this, a new teaching, and with authority?

With authority! And they found themselves saying, Well, who is this person? Who does he actually think he is? And is he the person that he declares himself to be? You see, that's the question that inevitably confronts us when we look into the face of Jesus as revealed in the Bible. What was Jesus saying on that occasion?

Well, what was he saying? He was saying, The whole Old Testament points to me. The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand.

Repent and believe the gospel. When he returned, local boy, to his synagogue in Nazareth, you remember the exact same thing happened. Reading from the prophecy, he sent me to proclaim good news to the poor, liberty to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, liberty to the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. The people couldn't believe their ears—not because he was reading the prophet, but because of what he said afterwards.

He sat down, and all the eyes in the synagogue were fastened on him, we're told by Luke. And he said to them, Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. And you remember what they did? Well, they decided they'd try and kill them.

They'd try and throw them over a cliff and be rid of them. Such an amazing statement! And when you read at the end of Luke's gospel… Remember when Jesus is dealing with these folks who had encountered him on the Meos Road? When he opens all the Scriptures up to them, you remember he says, How slow of heart you are to believe all the things that were written about me in the Bible.

He's doing the very same thing. He says to them, Do you now realize that this is all about me? This is not ego. This is divinity. And that's why we read from Daniel. Because what Daniel saw in the night visions has been fulfilled in Jesus—a dominion that stretches to the ends of the earth, an authority that is both in heaven and on earth.

So, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Well, the disciples were completely taken aback by that themselves, weren't they? At the end of a long day, a day that had begun with the women going to the tomb, coming back with a story, the big brave man saying, Sounds like an old lady's tale, not something we should believe in. By the time you get to the end of the day, they're all gathered there. And John tells us that Jesus came and stood among them. He came and stood among them. They had seen him calm the sea. Remember, they said, Who is this, that even winds and waves obey him? And now they see him come to calm their doubts and their troubles and their fears and to commission them.

He who has declared himself to be the way and the truth and the life and the light and the shepherd and the bread and the gate and so on, and the King—the King to Jesus—has been given a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. That's what Paul is saying. Paul's saying. Paul, who hated Jesus. Paul, who didn't believe in Jesus.

Paul, who thought the whole Christian thing was a crock, until he met Jesus. And you may be here this morning, and that's exactly where you are. For whatever reason you attend church, I'll never know why. And that should tell me. But deep down inside, no, it maybe has something to do with social acceptability.

It maybe has something to do with the hope that you might catch something along the way. But when you meet Jesus, when you meet him as he is, when we find him to be a savior for sinners and a friend to the lonely and the one who grants peace to our troubled consciences and so on, then we'll be able to speak of him in a very different way. Then we'll understand why the writer to the Hebrews begins this great letter. In these last days God has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. Do you believe this?

Yes! He is the heir of all things. He's the creator of the universe. He upholds everything by the word of his power. So when he steps forward and he says to his fathers, All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me, frankly, he's not kidding.

He's simply saying what is true. So it is a claim that no one but Christ can make. Secondly, we find in this a command that only Christ can give. And Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go… Now notice the therefore. Go therefore. It is the authority of Jesus that gives us the responsibility to evangelize.

That's the reason for the therefore. All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Now you go, therefore you go, to tell the world—to tell the world, the whole world—that God will forgive and reconcile sinners to himself through Jesus.

That's the good news. That although we're bent, crooked, messed up, and apparently unfixable, the good news is that despite our rejection of God, our rebellion against his commands, our disinterest in his authority, and so on, he loves us with a pursuing passion, and he comes to us and speaks to us, because God loves saving people—so much so that he unleashes his church to be about the business of doing that very thing. Now, there's a logic in this, isn't there? And it helps us to answer the kind of question that is inevitably put to us. This is what people will say, What right do you have—or worse, what right do you think you have—to interfere in the religion of another country or of another culture or of another classroom in the realm of education? What right do you think you have to speak to the children of our generation? What right do you think you have to stand up against a godless agenda and proclaim Jesus as the only way? What right do you think you have?

The answer is, the right that I have is because I am in the service of the one in whom resides all authority in heaven and on earth. Why would you do this, someone says? Because I'm commanded to. Commanded to. The answer is not because I feel a surge in my tummy.

It's not because I feel guilty. It's because it is an inevitable consequence of who Jesus is. The whole world needs to know who Jesus is. If Jesus is gonna reign wherever the Son in its ultimate expression, how is that going to happen?

Except through the church of Jesus Christ understanding the claim that only he can make and obeying the command that only he can give. You're listening to Truth for Life. That is Alistair Begg with the message he's titled The Great Commission.

We'll hear more tomorrow. As we just learned, the whole world needs to know about Jesus and today we want to recommend to you a book written by Alistair that takes a deep dive into the rich lessons taught by Jesus about what is valued in the kingdom of heaven. The book is titled The Christian Manifesto. When Jesus delivered the powerful sermon, sometimes referred to as the Sermon on the Plane in Luke chapter 6, his teaching was revolutionary. It was radical.

It completely turned human intuition on its head. More than 2,000 years later, it's still radical. As you read The Christian Manifesto, you'll unpack what Jesus meant when he taught his followers things like, blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. It's counterintuitive, countercultural, and it's transformational. This is a book we hope every Truth for Life listener will read. We're only offering it for a few more days as our way of saying thanks for your donation. So you can request your copy of The Christian Manifesto when you give to the Ministry of Truth for Life at truthforlife.org slash donate or call us at 888-588-7884. By the way, if you request The Christian Manifesto with your donation and you'd like to purchase extra copies for your church or your study group, you'll find them in our online store. They're available for purchase at our cost of $6 while supplies last.

Visit truthforlife.org slash store. I'm Bob Lapine. Thanks for listening today. Tomorrow, Alistair challenges us to get out of the stands and onto the field of play. I hope you'll join us. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life where the Learning is for Living.