The great commission

On this mission Sunday I want to unpack what Christian mission is all about … and therefore what our church is all about.

Please take a look at Matthew 28:16. All I’m going to do is talk you through the text because the words speak for themselves.

Back story

• Jesus killed and buried
• rumours had been circulating about him being alive and some people had claimed to have seen him.
• the eleven disciples were sent to a hillside overlooking the sea of Galilee, and, sure enough, at the time they’d agreed Jesus showed up. They couldn’t believe their eyes!

16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshipped him;

I wonder what that looked like? What would a fly on the wall have seen?

• Men in awe (as we would be, if we saw someone we’d just buried come back to life again)
• As Jesus approached I can imagine hearing “wow!” “I don’t believe this!” “It really is him!”

17 …but some doubted.

So even in that moment there were some of the eleven who weren’t quite sure.

• If that describes you today, then you’re not alone!
• This is why we run Alpha because we believe that everyone has the right to investigate Christianity for themselves and have a conversation about it.
• Most of us start from a place where we’re not quite sure – and that included some of Jesus’ own disciples!

18 Then Jesus came to them …

This is a significant detail for our fly-on-the-wall. The worshipping disciples were a distance away. They saw him coming towards then and were gob-smacked that this was a real person – THE real person.

Now at the moment that Jesus reached conversation distance he said …

18 … and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

In the UK we have a constitutional monarch. She does not reign in the sense that Jesus means here – as a King.

She has precisely two powers apart from her enormous personal influence and integrity.

• She signs legislation that gets through parliament into law and
• She can dissolve parliament any time she wishes to.
• But, if she ever did either of those things against the wishes of Parliament or the Prime Minster, it would precipitate a national crisis

The kind of authority Jesus refers to here is a real, practical, authority, not constitutional power.

What is Christian mission? Fundamentally it is helping people to make Jesus their king. It’s doing whatever it takes to bring about the reign of God in us and the people we network with.

That is foundational to the vision of our church.

We are here to help people to find Christ and to make disciples of Jesus Christ – including us.

I want Jesus to be my king

• Not in the constitutional sense of giving the king token power, but in the literal sense of living under his authority!
• That’s what being a disciple is all about.

Disciple (Gk: mathetes) – the original punch of that word has been diluted in the passage of time.

It means

• to copy – a disciple did what his master did
• to discipline – not in the sense of punishment, but in the sense of disciplining ‘framing’ my actions and attitudes to be congruent with the actions and attitudes of my master. I want to think as he thought, live as he lived, to do as he did, to love as he loved. To have the same ethics, the same drives, the same honesty and integrity. To frame my life around His.
• To share – to bring my master into my inner world. To share my thoughts, feelings, ambitions, prospects, failures and loves with him. To be intimate with my saviour. To enjoy his company. God is glorified most clearly when we enjoy him most intimately.
• To serve – a true disciple is obedient to his master. He goes where the master commands. He says what the master instructs, he teaches what the Master imparts.

So I am a disciple of Jesus Christ – a member of God’s kingdom – only to the extent that I follow and obey him.

Where do you stand on that scale?

• So Christian mission is making this happen in as many people as humanly possible!

BUT – I want to ring a warning bell.

• I believe in social action in the name of Christ. I believe we should benefit society, we should see justice reign, we should assist people to be healthy, well-adjusted and to live peacably in a fractured society.
• Extensive social action can be a smokescreen to obscure our reticence about truly changing the lives of people by helping them to put Jesus in the driving seat. Giving him the authority of King, master, monarch, mentor and saviour.

So how did Jesus say we should do it?

19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising 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.

Translational point – ‘Go’ is not in the imperative! ‘Making disciples’ is

• effectively Jesus, in these final moments with his disciples is saying ‘If you do nothing else with your life – discipleise!’

How? He gives three ways

• by going – to wherever people are. Family, work, and some of us are called (like Steve and Sherree) to the other side of the globe. Go! Don’t stay put and watch TV!
• By baptising – being baptised is a powerful symbol of crossing a line!
• By teaching – it’s easy to assume that ‘teaching’ is just an intellectual exercise, But Jesus tells us what to teach “to obey everything I have commanded you” Discipleship is a matter of obedience. Mission is matter of helping people to become obedient to a different master.

And when we do this we have Jesus’ promise:

20 … surely (i.e. ‘bank on it’!) I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’

Tomorrow is my birthday – I therefore have only 12 months left to serve Christ here at Victoria Baptist Church

In this year will you join me in making disciples? Will you join me in doing whatever it takes to bring the king-ship of Jesus into the lives of people?

Pray >>>