"God's Plan for Reaching the World" Matthew 28:18-20
- Our Youth & Outreach Director, Hunter Newton, preached this message on March 26, 2023.
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Audio Transcript
Today is January 8, 1956 and five men are dead. They died at the very hands of the very people that they were trying to reach. News of these events would reach the globe by the end of the week. It’d be front page news that graced the COVID of Time magazine. In social media terms, it would have been trending.
It would have been all over the. For your page.
These men, Jim Elliott, Nate Saint, Ed McCauley, Pete Fleming and Roger Yudarian, maybe some of those names are familiar to you. Each have been called away from their lives in America to be missionaries in the jungles of Ecuador. They died trying to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to people who had not heard it, who had never even heard the name of Jesus before. Before to people who were hostile towards them. They had full knowledge that these people likely were going to try to kill them.
But they went anyway. These people, the Harani, they used to be known as the Akkas. That’s actually we found out later, it’s more of an offensive term. Harani is the better word, were people of the deep jungle that had never heard the name of Jesus. So can I move this map?
Thanks. No, it’s okay. So why on earth, how on earth does it make any sense in the world for these people to go to a place to a people who they knew were going to be hostile at best and kill them at worst? It is because of the fear you reason that they went.
These people had never heard the name of Jesus. The Harani people had never heard the name of Jesus Christ, the only name under heaven and on earth. Acts tells us that we can call on to be saved. They left behind all five men left behind widows and four of them left behind children. So it makes no sense if we think about it on paper, but these five men and their wives were faithful to take up the call to reach unreached people with the Gospel.
They went because they wanted to do their part in helping fulfill the Great Commission. They went because the good news of the gospel needed to be shared with these people. This Great Commission is exactly what we’ll be looking at in the text today and the command that Jesus gave his disciples at the very end of the book of Matthew. So we’re just be camping on those three verses. So we’ll be making our way in your bibles to Matthew 28, 18:20, our big idea, God’s plan for reaching the world as we get there.
Just two things to share with you quick. I’m not Pastor Roberts. He’s under the weather. So Pray for him. He’s not doing.
He’s not feeling great. So just pray for him, reach out to him, send him an encouraging text. I’m sure he would love that. And so this is what I had ready. So we’re taking a little bit of a break out of Ephesians for this week.
Also, the fun facts, in case you don’t know who I am. Hi, my name is Hunter. I’m in charge of youth and outreach. And a fun fact this week is my freshman year of high school. I refused to wear jeans because my mom went on and bought a bunch of really nice designer jeans.
And I said, I’m not wearing those. Jeans are uncomfortable. And so I was comfortable, but I was not very stylish in my khakis and sweatpants. So that’s my fun fact today. That was my great act of rebellion.
If you’re a firstborn, you understand how daring that was of me. Matthew 28, 18:20 God’s word this morning says 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, Jesus would have been sharing these words. Like I said, we are not in the book of Ephesians, so we need some helpful context for the book of Matthew.
So Jesus would have been sharing these words some 40 odd days after his resurrection, after his death on the cross as payment for our sin that was sealed with his resurrection. We’ll be celebrating that in a few weeks here after he died on the cross for the sins of those who believe he was giving these commands, these marching orders to his disciples who then wanted to have to pass them on to us. And the incredible thing that these 12 men who were hearing this were faithful some 2,000 odd years ago to carry out to be a part of God’s plan for reaching the world. It’s especially incredible thinking about these 12 men or in the ancient Middle east some 2,000 years ago. And you and I are sitting and talking about it right now.
We’re talking about our good and gracious God and Savior in the middle of south central Wisconsin. Because they were faithful to take up God’s plan for reaching the world.
They were faithful to take it up. Christians, followers of Jesus Christ have always been the plan A for reaching, for sharing the gospel. God does the saving, but we are Invited to do the sharing together. We’re going to unpack this morning. The Great Commission.
It’s a text that’s probably familiar to some of you. It’s also going to be looking at our need to share the gospel, both the people across the street, across the globe, but also the need to baptize and disciple. So our big points, we don’t have a bulletin insert this morning, but our main points are kind of our big idea is God’s plan for reaching the world. And kind of Jesus has three supporting points. These are really just right out of his mouth.
He’s going to establish his claim. So the claim, his claim to authority. So the claim, you’ll find that verse or that point supported by verse 18, the command, verse 19, through the first part of verse 20, and then the comfort, the last part of verse 20, God’s plan for reaching the world, the claim, and the three supporting points. The claim, the comfort, the claim, the command and the comfort. So let’s go ahead and jump to the first one right now.
Looking at the claim of Jesus here. Verse 18 says, Jesus came near and said to them, speaking to his disciples, he says, all authority has been given me in heaven and on earth. And so if we’re looking at all authority, that’s a phrase you want to be circling. That’s a significant term. All authority.
Not just some, not just partially, not just a little bit. Not just kind of 75%, not just 89%, not even 99%. All authority has been given to him, has been given to Jesus. If someone walked in the room right now and said, I’m here on behalf of the flying spaghetti monster and I have all authority that comes with that. Some of you are going to do exactly what you’re doing right now.
You’re going to laugh the really nice, probably a little bit more saved ones of us are going to smile and nod and say, oh, I’m sure you really do believe that. But obviously that makes no sense. This flying spaghetti monster, zero authority, not real, doesn’t mean anything.
But it’s going to change a little bit if somebody walks in the room and says, I have all authority given to. All authority is given to me and I’m the Son of God, we at least have to at least stop and ask the question, okay, is this legit? And since it’s Jesus, we know for 100% it is. Since it’s Jesus, we know that he is God. All authority has been given to him.
We know that he has authority over everything. And so what should the Natural response to Jesus be, do whatever he says. If somebody walks in, if Jesus Christ walks in right now, and it’s essentially what he’s doing in the text here and walks in and says, you need to. I have authority. If he says, you need to learn how to water ski, you better buy a boat and get practicing.
I can’t really help you with that. I can tell you what the Bible says. I’m not very good expert. I know I kind of really don’t know how to pizza. That’s different kind of skiing.
But if Jesus says, you need to learn how to do this, if Jesus says, you learn how to do this because he has all authority, we need to do it. All authority has been given to him. All authority.
Maybe the water ski is a goofy example, but in verse 18, he’s establishing the authority that he has. He’s establishing the authority that he is. God the Father, has given it to his son. He’s telling us this is absolutely serious. There’s not one thing, there’s not one person, there’s not one piece of anything that’s not under his authority, that doesn’t submit, that doesn’t have to obey him.
Not parents, not grandparents, not police officers, firefighters, military, etc. Everyone and everything are under the authority of Jesus Christ. That’s what Jesus is making really clear here. He’s saying, all authority has been given to me. How could he say this, though?
And so I know a lot of us probably just believe it and we should because Jesus said that. It’s a really beautiful thing. But I think there’s a lot of times two different camps of people who need to either have a heart struggle to believe or head struggle. And sometimes it’s a mixture of both. And to the people who struggle with the head knowledge, I want to say to you, we have an embarrassing amount of evidence that Jesus is the Son of God.
To the heart people, you are worthy of being loved because Christ first loved you. But we’ve got an abundance for the people who need to be reminded of who Christ is. Jesus doesn’t just let us say that he’s an okay dude. In John 14, 6, 7, he says John writes, sorry, Jesus told him, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
If you know me, you also know my Father. From now on, you do know him and have seen him. He’s saying, I am God. There’s only one way to the Father and it’s through me. Jesus is saying, there is no other way.
There’s not multiple religions up to heaven. He’s saying, no, it’s through me. Christ alone. I love first John 5, 12, 13. It’s just really blunt.
It’s just really hard to miss. He says, the one who has the Son has life. The one who does not have the Son does not have life. The one who does not have the Son of God does not have life. Pretty cookie.
Pretty clear cut. I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. Friends, Jesus is God. We could spend a lot more time, but we’ve just got a few more supporting points than that. So we can trust him, we can know him.
He really does have all authority. First Corinthians 15:27 reinforces it even further. For God has put everything under his feet. Now when it says everything is put under him, it is obvious that he who puts everything under him is the exception. Deuteronomy 10:14.
This is so beautiful. The heavens, indeed the highest heavens, belong to the Lord your God, as does the earth and everything in it. In the Psalms we would read that he owns the cattle on a thousand hills. Everything belongs to Him. He’s over.
Aw.
To put it plainly, Jesus is reminding us who he is. He’s in control of everything. That’s really beautiful and it’s really comforting. It’s also just really true.
You know how sometimes parents, maybe some of the parents in the room are guilty of this? Well, sometimes it’s just say because I told you so. That’s a fair enough argument. If a parent says because I told you so, my dad always said, well, that’s because I pay the bills. When you start paying the bills, you can have some say around here.
Because I told you so. Because parents are. And it’s this commandment to obey and honor and love our father and mother because I told you so. They have authority. They’re the God given authority.
In the same way, we need to be respectful of the authority that’s been placed over us. We should obey our parents. But even more so when Jesus tells us something, because his authority is infinitely more than any parents, than any household, than any mayor, than any governor, than any ruling authority figure. Period. When Christ tells us to do something, we submit to Him.
We have to acknowledge that if there’s a God of the universe who rules and reigns over everything, he also might know a little bit more than us about some things. We acknowledge who he is and we respect and realize the claim that Christ makes because of His Authority, we listen to what he says. And in the case of the text, this text, we listen to his Command here, verse 19 through 20, the first part. Go, therefore. You can kind of read that is as you go.
For some of us, we’re going to talk about that as you go. That might mean across the street, might mean across the globe. Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations. Baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Teaching them to observe everything I’ve commanded you.
And remember, I’m with you. I just got carried. We’ll just finish it. And remember, I’m with you always to the end of the age. But we’re camping on that first part there.
Teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. The call is to go to share the good news of Jesus. The news that Christ came, lived for, lived, died for. Our sin rose again. He’s coming back.
Oh, that’s really good news, that he’s coming back. He’s going to establish. We sometimes think that heaven is the goal, and it should be a goal to spend that time with Christ. Paul writes to be absent from the bodies, be present with the Lord. But the new heavens, the new earth are going to be far greater.
They’re going to be far greater. Having a resurrection body that’s incapable of breaking down, that’s even better news that Christ came. We should not get sick of this. We should never get sick of the good news of the gospel. And the moment that we start feeling too comfortable or that we’ve moved past that, is the moment that we’re in real danger.
I don’t know about you, but I never stop needing to be saved. I’m not saying we need to crucify Christ over and over again, but I always need his gospel. His mercy and grace are new every single morning. And that is good news.
The beautiful thing of the command here, this command to go make disciples of all nations, to baptize them and to teach them how to follow Jesus. This is what he desires for us. This should come out of an overflow of love that we have for Christ. This should come out of. I know and believe this gospel, what he’s done for me.
The natural thing, when we hear good news, when we have good news, when we believe good news, is to want to tell people about it. It’s the best news ever. It’s an even better deal than when eggs started to be like a decent price at QuikTrip. Again, like, this is even a better deal than that. I mean, I Wasn’t going to pay $4 a dozen.
Leah can do that if she wants to, but I wasn’t going to pay $4 a dozen. But there was no way I could even pay for my sin if I wanted to. We should never grow tired of talking about this. We should never grow tired of celebrating it. If we believe in a literal heaven and a literal hell, the Great Commission, the great sharing, the great disciple making effort is one of the most loving things we can be a part of.
In the same way, if we believe in a literal heaven and a literal hell and we don’t tell people about Jesus, that’s one of the most unloving things we can do. And I’m not saying that means we need to share with every single person that the drive thru line at McDonald’s would probably take quite a bit of time if we did that. But just even the willingness to be obedient, to open our mouths about Christ. And we’ll get to more of the specifics later, but it just starts with are we willing? Do we want to be obedient?
Do we want to tell people about Jesus?
Since the very start, followers of Christ have been the plan A for reaching the world, the goal as we go. And this might include going to Guatemala, the Pacific garden mission trip here with church, Nevada, around the dinner table with children, a friend at school or work. The Great Commission Jesus command to us is to reach the world with his gospel.
This carries with it, of course, an immense weight, but also an immense privilege. Think about that. Everybody in this room who knows Christ most likely had somebody share Christ with them. Whether that was a pastor on stage, a speaker at camp, a counselor or a friend at school, and so on and so forth. The list is endless.
I’m guessing everybody in this room who knows Christ had somebody at some point open their mouths. And I say almost because there’s some really cool instances, especially in the Middle east right now, where Christ is revealing himself to Muslims in dreams. But then also they go and find somebody to teach them how to follow Jesus. Think about that. You and I can have the chance to impact somebody’s eternity.
You and I can have the chance to impact somebody’s eternity. For me, that happened at my best friend’s house. His mom shared with me when I was 17 years old.
That’s a huge blessing. My best friend’s Mom, I’m 17 years old, I grew up knowing the gospel was confirmed, did the whole song and dance, but I didn’t understand grace and I didn’t understand the personality relationship With Christ, I had the idea that I was a sinner. And I knew I needed to believe the gospel, but I really didn’t get it. But yet that lady, her name’s Amy Brooks, she talked about Jesus like he was in the room. She talked about Jesus like it was evident that he was her best friend, that she not only trusted him for her salvation, but also that she trusted him with everything he was.
Lord and Savior changed everything for me.
Now imagine I probably. I don’t know where I’d be if that hadn’t happened.
And I was led to faith by her, but also shown how to follow Jesus by several different men the Lord had brought into my life, whether in the church or parachurch ministries, guys that I’ve talked about before. But the thing is, friends, we can’t wait for somebody to be. We can’t wait for the next guy. What if somebody had done that for you? We can’t wait for the next person to share with our friends, with our children, our classmates, our co workers.
Because somebody didn’t wait for the next person for us.
We can’t wait for the next people. And we shouldn’t want to wait for it.
If we don’t disciple people in Christ, if we’re not telling them the good news of Jesus, if we don’t disciple them, they will be discipled by a number of other things. This is talk about eternity. And if we know Christ, we shouldn’t want to wait. Romans 10, 14, 15 says, how then can they call on him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about Him?
And how can they hear without a preacher? And how can they preach unless they are sent? And as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news. People need to hear the gospel. They need to hear the good news of Jesus.
But what? How? Maybe you’re wondering, how do I do that? I have not gifted a share on a Sunday morning or even speak in front of five people. How do I do that?
I think two beautiful ways. Two ways to just what anybody can do is sharing your story. But also as you’re sharing your testimony about how you came to know Christ, make him the hero, because he is the hero. There’s no such thing as a Christian testimony without Christ. As you share your testimony, as you share how Christ met you, as you share how Christ turned your life upside down for the better, highlight the good news of who he is and what he’s done.
But also, I think a beautiful thing that we underestimate ourselves with is God we can just share and sometimes even just read God’s Word to people, but also we know it. You know it probably better than you think you do of Christ’s life, His death, his resurrection, and his ushering of new creation. You know it probably better than you think you do. The reality, though, is that people die every single day not knowing Christ.
People die every day not knowing Jesus. It’s up to us in the church at large to share the gospel and to tell them what they must do to be saved. Beautiful passages like John 3 or Ephesians 2. If you don’t know where else to start, just open your Bible to John3. 3.
It’s pretty easy to understand. For God so loved the world that he sent his only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3, Ephesians 2 helps us understand it’s not by works, it’s by grace. We’ve been saved if we don’t know where else to turn. But also just praying for people and then showing them how to walk with Him.
It’s not just lead somebody to Christ and leave them alone, it’s lead somebody to Christ and show them how to follow Jesus.
Lead them to Christ and show them how to follow Him.
Charles Spurgeon puts it beautifully. He says, well, he said he’s dead now, so he said it a while ago. But if lost people beheaded for hell, let them at least leap over our dead bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with their arms wrapped around their knees imploring them to trust Christ. If hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions.
And let no one go unwarned and unprayed. For let us be people who obey the commands of Jesus because we submit to the claim which is the authority of Jesus, who enjoy the comfort of Jesus. The last part here of verse 20. And remember, that’s the word we see in our Bibles all the time, isn’t it? Remember, as we are so quick to forget.
Remember. I am with you. That’s Jesus speaking. I am with you always to the end of the age. And he’s talking about the end of the age.
He’s not trying to trick you. He’s just talking about from that time. He’s speaking to the time that he returns. I am with you always. We’ve seen Christ’s claim.
We’ve seen his comfort. And this is kind of this comfort here. We’ve seen his claim, his command. And his comfort here is also a promise. His Promise is also a comfort.
He promises to be with us. And what’s the end of the age? It’s all time. Jesus is going to be with us always. That’s his way of saying that he’s going to be with us always.
You think about that? I think sometimes we believe that when we get to heaven, we’ll ask Moses what was it like to speak directly with God? But he’ll turn around and say, what was it like to have the spirit of God live in you? He will be with us always. He doesn’t leave us.
He doesn’t abandon us. He doesn’t say, go figure it out. That’s the sweet thing about sharing Jesus. We don’t have to do it alone. We don’t do it in our own strength.
We don’t do it in our own power. We don’t do it on our own. Yes, he’s sending us out there to do his work, but he’s going to help us. He’s going to be with us. There’s only certain things we can do.
We can share all we want, but we can’t make people believe. But we are disobedient if we don’t do our part.
We can share with someone, but that doesn’t mean that they’ll be nice to us. Be willing to hear what we have to say. Invite us out to lunch or even to hang out afterwards. Some cases they might even kill us for it. That’s the fate of those five guys.
But I think he’d be hard pressed to talk to any one of their widows and say that it wasn’t worth it. Because those five guys, the martyrs in the Ecuadorian jungle, their deaths God would use to spark a mission revival that was unlike anything the world has seen since Elizabeth Elliot went back with. I can’t remember one of the guys, Sister. And they actually reached most of those people for Christ.
People had to have told her, you’re nuts. Why would you do that? That’s not worth it. They killed your husband. What makes you think they’re not going to kill you?
She says, I’m not going alone. Christ is with me. If he’s called me to it, he’ll be faithful to do what he needs to get done.
We can share with people, but that doesn’t mean they’ll be willing to hear. But that’s why this phrase is so comforting. He wants to help us. He wants to be with us. He wants us to share in this work.
Think back to being a little kid, and maybe you were a nervous little kid. Like I was. And one of the most comforting things your parents could say to you was, I’m here and I’m with you. And they maybe put a hand on your back, I’m here and I’m with you. You’re not alone.
Maybe for you, it wasn’t your parents. It was going off to summer camp or going to school or maybe your first day at a job. But one of the most comforting things some people can say to us is, I’m here and I’m with you. We’re not going in on it alone. That’s the promise of Christ.
That’s the comfort of Christ that we get when we. When we take part in this mission, when we get to do this Christian life with Him.
It’s the same thing we get here when we’re sharing the gospel, when we’re sharing Jesus, he comes with. He helps us. His Spirit gives us words to say. Luke 12, 11, 12. Jesus says, Whenever they bring you before synagogues and rulers and authorities, don’t worry about how you should defend yourselves or what you should say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you that very hour what must be said.
And so maybe that has been true for you. If you’ve shared Christ with somebody and you start speaking a word and you’re like, that was too good to come out of my mouth. That’s the Holy Spirit helping and aiding in the moment. He promises to be with us, but also he’ll intercede and say what we want, what needs to be said, if we are faithful, to pick up and be a part of his work. And sometimes speaking for us.
That’s really comforting. That’s really good news. We don’t have to do it alone. We’re doing it because of the promise, because of his authority. It’s a command.
But also he promises to be with us. He promises to help us out. He promises to be there by his incredible authority. Jesus sends us out to tell people about him and the work that he’s done, but he doesn’t leave us alone. He helps us do it.
Even in the moments we don’t know what to say, he does. When we don’t know what to say, he does. And God in His great mercy, promises to be with us. When we don’t know what to say, he does. If we are being faithful to do what God has called us to, he will bless them.
That, that’s not to say everybody comes to know Christ, that we share with, or that we’re going to get magical words every single time. But God is going to be God is going to be glorified by our obedience.
He helps us do it. Even the moments when we don’t know what to say, what a good God he is. This frees us up, takes the pressure off, not only the results, not up to us, but we don’t even have to do it alone. He’s with us. He cares for us.
He knows us. He comforts us. The command is real because his claim is real. But so too is his comfort. He has promised to be with us as we’re heading out, as we get ready to leave this place, as we’re thinking about what am I taking out of this today as we’re leaving here.
If you don’t know how to share the gospel or disciple somebody, it starts with just something as simple as just saying, God, I’m available. I want to be obedient. God, I want to be used by you. What does that look like? What would you have for me?
How can I be a part of it? Just God loves doing stuff with obedient hearts. If that’s you and you want to be obedient, to share the gospel, disciple people, that’s a great place to be. We’d love to talk to you about that. We’ve highlighted some parts today, but there’s so much more.
We’d love to talk with you about it. What kind of a church, what kind of a place would it be if we were known as the people that wouldn’t stop sharing Christ? Christ, that as soon as you became a part of the body, you had somebody show you how to follow Jesus?
It starts with wanting to share Christ’s name. It starts with wanting to share his gospel. And we can rejoice in the fact that he’s with us. He won’t leave us. He’s helping us along the way.
He wants dearly to help us share him. To share his gospel. To share Christ. That’s his plan for reaching the world. Let’s pray.
Lord, we thank you so much for you and for this time together. You are faithful, you are good and you are God. We thank you for this time together and the time to worship you in spirit and in truth and to. To worship you musically but also through the hearing of your preached word. Thank you for this time together and for good and multipurpose room donuts.
And we pray that you’d give us boldness as we leave this place. Would you prick our hearts to be obedient to what you’ve called us to and to stir our affections ever deeper for you. Help our obedience to be rooted in the love that you have for us. God, we thank you for you and we trust you. It’s in your beautiful name we pray.
Amen.