Senior Pastor, Robert Dennison, preached this message on July 28, 2024.
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Audio Transcript
Missions, local missions in our state, missions in our country, and missions around the world. I invite you to turn your Bibles now to Matthew, chapter 28. As we read verses 18 through 20. It’ll be on the screen for your convenience, but it’s always good to be looking at it in your own bible. Also Matthew 28, 18 through 20.
We give this the title the Great Commission. Then Jesus came near and said to them, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 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 everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always to the end of the age. May we pray?
Heavenly Father, as we look at your word today, we just ask that you would give us an understanding of what it means for us, Father, how we are to live, and how we are to behave. In light of your directive to us that we all be involved in this as believers, it’s in your son’s name that we pray. Amen. I want you to imagine some scenarios. Imagine someone gets hired to the best job that they can imagine.
And then they show up for work sporadically or not at all.
Imagine a child who wants to play the piano. The excited parents go out and purchase a $125,000 Bussendorfer grand piano. And if you know anything about music, that’s still not the most expensive piano out there. Then the child takes a few lessons and quits. Or they just never take any lessons or never practice at all.
Imagine a young man marries his childhood sweetheart, and after the wedding ceremony, he goes back home to live with his parents. But he does continue to take her to Marcus theaters on Tuesday night to watch the half price movie.
Imagine a couple who spends long years and large amounts of money to adopt a baby. And when they finally get a child, they hire a nanny to keep the child at home while they travel the world for a number of years. You know, the life of the follower of Jesus isn’t supposed to stop when someone accepts Jesus as their Lord and Savior. That’s what this would be like. It would be like someone getting a job, but they never go to work.
A child getting a piano, but they never do anything with it. A person getting married but not even spending time with their spouse or adopting a child and never really spending any time with it. The Great Commission is about what we are supposed to do beyond our initial coming to faith in Jesus Christ. Our relationship with him isn’t just to begin and suddenly stop when we accept him as our Lord and Savior. The Great Commission is the contrast to all of these things.
But Satan is continually lolling millions of Christians around the world every day, saying, if you’ve asked Jesus to be your Lord and Savior, that’s enough. You don’t need to do more. Certainly we don’t need to do more to be saved. But Jesus doesn’t invite us to a relationship that is characterized by complacency, mediocrity or status quo. We think about the Olympics this week, all the people there that are competing.
There is no complacency or mediocrity or status quo in their life. They have what I would call an Olympic quality life. And that’s the type of life we are to have as believers by following the Great Commission. We want to look at four things today. The why of the Great Commission, the when of the Great Commission, the what of the Great Commission, and the how of the Great Commission.
Let’s start with the why. We read Jesus came near and said to them, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations upon the completion of Jesus work on earth. It tells us that the Father gave him all authority. And this is the reason, the primary reason, that we are to fulfill the Great Commission.
Jesus words take us back to Daniel, chapter 7, verses 13 through 14, where Jesus life was prophesied about by Daniel. We read there that Daniel continued watching in the night visions. And he said, I saw one like a Son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the ancient of days, that would be God the Father, and he was escorted before him. And he was given authority to rule and glory and a kingdom so that those of not just some, but those of every people, nation and language should serve him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away. And his kingdom is one that will not be destroyed. Once Jesus Christ had completed his work, he fulfilled this God the Father gave to him the rule and the glory and the kingdom. And because he has that, he is deserving that there would be followers of him from every nation, every people, and every language. We are to be a great commissioned people in order that we might grow servants for Christ’s eternal kingdom who will serve him and glorify him.
We are a Great Commission people so that others will become disciples and follow our deserving Lord and Savior. Our relationship with Jesus is not supposed to be all about me. It’s supposed to be about loving God completely and loving our Neighbors as much as we love ourselves. And making disciples does both of these two things. Because if we truly love the Lord as we should, we’re going to want others to love him too.
Neglecting the Great Commission is self centered. It says I’m saved. That’s all that matters. But doing the Great Commission means that we are loving the Lord by showing him that we want others to follow Him. And we’re also displaying true love to others by giving them the most important thing that we have.
Jesus truly deserves a kingdom that includes every people, nation and language serving Him. He could have chosen angels to do the work for him, but instead he chose us. And to us it should be seen as not a burdensome task. It should be an awesome privilege that we have the ability to be part of his everlasting and indestructible kingdom in bringing people there to follow Him. That’s the why we have this great privilege.
God deserves this from us. And we cannot be selfish with what we have been given. Let’s look at the wind now. Matthew 28:19 Go, therefore and make disciples of all nations. Does that mean go next year?
Does that mean go on the next mission trip? No, it means as you go. It’s your entire lifestyle when you’re departing, when you’re traveling the way you order your life, just your everyday walk as you are going through the moment by moment process of life, it should be in your heart. I’m supposed to be about making disciples today. So this word go pretty much means all the time of our life.
We need to stop and think. How much time do we actually dedicate to making disciples? How much time are you intentionally ordering your life to make disciples of Christ? God asks us to make it a priority. He asks us to set aside time for requires that we expend energy, that we carry it with us all the time.
I want to liken it to your wallet or your phone. How many of you have your phone with you today? How many of you have your wallet with you? You need to be having that same thing when you walk out of the door in the morning. How am I going to make disciples today of Jesus Christ?
Do people see Jesus in you as much as they see you in your phone? I won’t ask you to answer that question, but wouldn’t it be wonderful? I mean, I see people using their phone all the time. If people would see that much Jesus in each of us, why when? Let’s now look at the what go therefore.
And this is our task to make disciples of all nations and we talk a lot about presenting the gospel and bringing people to a decision, but that’s just the beginning. And even before that, there has to be seeds that are sown. But we’re supposed to go beyond just sharing our faith. We’re supposed to be making disciples of all nations. And when we think of what a disciple is, a word that we might understand better is someone who is an apprentice to learn a new occupation or a job.
And there are some things that have to happen in order to be an apprentice. In order to be an apprentice or disciple, a person has to attach themselves to the one that’s training them. So it is in our lives, we are supposed to attach ourselves to Jesus Christ. It’s like he’s supposed to be a Siamese twin. He’s supposed to be our.
Our friend that’s with us at all times. Because by spending more time with him, he’s going to rub off on us. We’re going to learn more about Him. It also means identifying yourself with Jesus Christ. And to identify yourself with him means that you’ve made it clear to everybody, I am a follower of Jesus Christ.
I’m not embarrassed about that. My family knows, my friends know, my co workers know, and my neighbors all know and understand that I am a follower of Jesus Christ. And when people look at you, if I ask them, is that person following Christ? If that person can’t say definitely yes, then you’re not clearly identifying yourself with the Lord. Disciples attach.
Disciples identify. Disciples also learn. And if you’ve ever been to school, can you raise your hand? Takes time. It takes energy.
It takes effort. Sometimes it takes blood, sweat and tears to get through an education for whatever your occupation is. In the same way, if our relationship with Jesus Christ and doing what he has asked us to occupy ourselves with, we need to also spend time and energy and effort likewise in that attach, identify, learn. But even beyond that, it means living with Jesus. We all have friends, but there’s something about living with people.
You get a lot closer to them. Can you identify with that? You know them a lot better. And not only do you know them better, but even in their faults, even in their failures, you still learn to love them more because you’re living with them in the same way. We are supposed to be disciples of Christ.
And part of this all is we have to look at ourselves. Am I doing this? Am I attaching myself? Am I identifying myself? Am I learning from Jesus and living with Him?
And then we have to also look outward. Am I teaching other people to do the same? Thing, because that’s what it means to make disciples of Jesus Christ. Let’s look at some things that Jesus told us about his disciples that are further characteristics of what it means. Disciples serve others.
They’re more interested in the world than they are in themselves. And it’s even in the smallest things that Jesus said that if we do it in his name, that we’re serving other people. Matthew 10:42. Whoever gives just a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is a disciple. Some people are called to serve in great ways.
And other people are called to serve just in simple ways. But it’s all about doing it in the name of Jesus Christ in order to be a disciple and to make disciples. Second thing is that disciples make Jesus number one. And Jesus used this exaggeration here in Luke 14:26 to make his point. If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.
Once again, Jesus is exaggerating here. Because one of the commandments is to honor your father and mother. He’s not telling us to literally hate these people in our lives. But what he is saying that the love that we have for Jesus Christ should be so extreme and far above the love that we have for our very family members. That it should make it look like it pales in comparison to our love for him.
It should almost be as if we hate them. He’s just exaggerating there. But the main thing is that disciples make Jesus number one. Not their children, not their spouse, not their parents, not their friends or anyone else. Next thing that disciples are in the answer to, what are they?
Disciples study the Bible. John 8:31. Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, these are people that are wanting to follow him. If you continue in my word, you really are my disciples. True disciples of Jesus Christ continue in the word of God on a regular basis.
And the more the better. We could say that people that are not interested in God’s Word, that aren’t spending time reading it, we have a right to doubt whether they really are disciples of Christ. And if you don’t have a desire to read God’s Word and you’re not continuing in it, you should question your faith. Am I really a follower of Jesus Christ? Or is it just something I understand, but it’s not not a part of me?
Disciples study the Bible. We have to do that. And we in turn are supposed to be teaching others to do the same. When we go into the world to make disciples. John 13:35.
We read that disciples were known for their love for one another. And Jesus said, by this, this one thing all people will know that you are my disciples. If you have love for one another, even if they won’t hear you speaking the Word, even if they won’t accept your service that you give to them in kindness, they will notice the love that we have for one another. And so it is with true believers of Jesus Christ. True believers that are true disciples, they love coming to the fellowship that we have at church.
They love getting together in Bible study. They love calling one another on the phone. They love praying together. And people that say that they’re Christians, if they don’t have this intense love for other believers, they need to question their faith and say, maybe this is something I understand, but I haven’t made it real in my life. John 15:8.
Disciples make more disciples. My Father is glorified by this, that you produce much fruit and prove to be my disciples. So not only is Jesus glorified by more followers, but God the Father receives glory when we make fruit by developing disciples of other people, teaching them to do all of these things. These are characteristics of what disciples look like and characteristics about what we are supposed to be developing in other people in order to fulfill the Great Commission. Let’s look now at the how.
How does Jesus say we go about doing this? He says, 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. Spirit teaching them to observe everything. I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always to the end of the age.
Two verbs here, baptizing and teaching. What do they mean? Well, from the complete biblical library, we have a definition of what baptism is. Baptism is the initiation of a disciple. It’s a public declaration of this dedication to discipleship, this desire to learn and to do all that Jesus commands.
The word therein, or into the name, means into the possession, meaning, I say, at this point, Jesus owns me also into the protection. You understand that there’s nothing now that can separate you from the love of God, because you’re completely under the protection of Jesus Christ and in the worship of Jesus, placing him above all things. And this baptizing implies that the person will be dedicated to and yielded to the control of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We’re commanded in Scripture to make a decision to follow Christ in our mind and in our heart. But we’re also commanded that we are to be baptized because it becomes then this public declaration of where we stand and who we are in and who we follow and worship.
Let me just read the definition one more time. Let it sink in. Baptism is the initiation of disciples. A public declaration of this dedication to discipleship, this desire to learn and do all Jesus commands in or into the name means into the possession, protection and worship of Jesus. And it implies persons will be dedicated to and yielded to the control of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
We’re going to have a baptismal service coming up here and how many weeks, Hunter? Four weeks.
Here’s the advertisement. If you haven’t been baptized, you’re being disobedient to God’s word. I encourage you to talk to me or Hunter about that so that you are making this public decoration that God has asked each of us to do once we follow him. Baptizing, but also teaching. What does it mean to teach people?
It means that you work with them. There’s discussion, there’s homework, there’s training. Second Timothy 3, 16, 17 gives us a list of things that we do as we’re teaching people. All Scripture, meaning the Bible, is inspired by God. It’s profitable for teaching.
That means explain what is true to someone. And only God’s Word contains the truth completely. It’s also for rebuking. When you’re making a disciple and you’re teaching them, you point out what is wrong in their lives, and that’s not an easy thing to do. But it is part of discipleship.
God’s Word is also for correcting. We not only point out what is wrong in people’s lives, what is sinful, but then we say, now this is the alternative. This is the right path to be walking in in this way. And last of all, it’s good for training. Training is like preparing for the Olympics or for any sport.
It means it’s this continual conditioning that you’re doing over and over so that you get stronger and have greater skill and ability in what you are doing. Teaching involves all of these things in somebody’s life. It’s part of making disciples for the Lord.
We end with another great today. And that’s the great commitment that Jesus gave us, tells us there at the end, when we do this, I am with you always to the end of the age. Jesus doesn’t leave us alone in our own strength to make disciples. Satan will tell you, you can’t do that. You don’t have enough training.
You’re afraid of doing that. People are going to Say no to you, they’re going to hurl insults at you, they’re going to spit at you, they’re going to make fun of you, they’re not going to like you. And Jesus says, even if it is true, that you go through all of that, which is probably very unlikely, the youth that went on a trip, did anybody spit in your face? Was anybody mean to you?
Somebody was mean. Or were they nice? I’m asking Hunter, did any of them have any problems with anybody? No answer for me here. But I think you heard in what they said that it was a lot easier than they thought it was.
And that’s because Jesus was with them to help them. He makes divine appointments. When we talk to people, he’s already prepared their hearts to hear something. And even if they don’t respond the first time, it may be the second time or the third. But you will have been a part of getting them to think about the Lord.
We end with two questions today. Do you look like a disciple of Jesus? And are you making disciples for Jesus? And we just go back through the points here. Are you serving others?
Are you making Jesus number one in your life? Are you studying the Bible? And are you loving other believers? And are you producing more disciples? Our church provides a lot of opportunities to help you with all of these areas.
And Hunter and I and the elders and different people want to help you to grow in these areas. You just need to reach out and let us know what you need help with. Remember, again, we need to be this way. And we need to also be teaching other people to live this way. I think for a lot of people, even just sharing the gospel with someone is a difficult thing.
And Jesus is asking us to go far beyond that with our life. Will you bow with me in prayer? Heavenly Father, we look upon the text today with all seriousness in our heart. And we ask that you would show us, Father, what we need to do, where we need to grow. And maybe we can’t tackle all of these things at once in our life, but, Father, give each one of us today at least one of these things, things that we need to ask for your power to grow in and that we need to make effort wherever we are least capable in doing what we’re supposed to.
Father, for those among us today that may not have any of these characteristics in their life, and they think that they’re believers, Father, that they will realize today that because these things are not true of them, that maybe their faith, faith is just something that they understand in their head, but they’ve never really made the commitment to be married to you, Father. To live with your son. Jesus Christ. It’s in.