About this sermon
Some treat the church as a social club, a tool for fixing society, or a weekly motivational boost, but Christ gives it a clear mission. Matthew presents Jesus as King of the Jews, and after his resurrection he declares that all authority in heaven and on earth belongs to him. He commands his church to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them to obey all he commanded. Christ builds his church through ordinary believers, and he promises to be with them always, so the glory belongs to God alone.
Sermon transcript
And turn in your Bibles first to Isaiah chapter 49. Just two simple verses out of this chapter. Isaiah chapter 49, verses 5 and 6. This is the word of our God. And now the Lord says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him, and that Israel might be gathered to him, for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord and my God has become my strength, he says, It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel. I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth. And now if you would turn to Matthew chapter 28. Matthew 28, I’ll read from verse 16 through the end, though we’ll focus on what is known as the Great Commission.
Matthew 28, verse 16. Now the 11 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. May the Lord add his blessing to the reading of his holy word. Please be seated. Let’s pray. Almighty God in heaven, we do come before you. to hear your word, and we pray that your spirit would impress that word upon our hearts so that you might receive glory and that we might be more and more conformed to the image of Christ.
Give us clarity of understanding, free us from distraction, and may we be changed by your word. We pray this in Christ’s name, amen. A common question that Christians will sometimes be asked is, especially in times of evangelism, something like this, well, what’s the purpose of the church? Why is the church here? What do I need to be a part of the church for? After all, I could just sit at home, just me and my Bible. What is the purpose of the church? Now, for some, sadly enough, it’s just a social gathering. I’m not downplaying social gatherings. We should have fellowship with one another. Other people see the church as really just a natural way to fix society’s problems. Others see it as a means to go once a week, maybe even twice, to get that motivational fix to get you through the week.
Others just send their kids to Sunday school just so that they would have some sort of sense of morality. And what the basis of that morality in their minds is, I don’t know. But that is sometimes what happens. But Jesus here at the end of Matthew’s gospel provides for us one of the great aims and goals of the church, sharing the news of the kingdom of God, sharing the news of the kingdom of heaven. Now, Matthew’s Gospel in general has this overarching theme of trying to depict and demonstrate how Christ fulfills the promises of the Old Testament. Specifically, that Jesus is the King of the Jews who was to come. But more than that, Matthew goes further. He’s not merely the king of the Jews. He is the king of all of creation, the whole of the universe, and we ought to take heed to that truth.
This is seen, this transition, if you will, almost, his birth and genealogy that sets him apart as being the one who is the king of the Jews. But then, of course, as time progresses, as his earthly ministry progresses, and his life, death, and resurrection happen, We see here in the Great Commission that Christ is portrayed not simply as King of the Jews, but the King of the whole universe. There is nothing over which God, Christ specifically, is not in authority over. But he also has a task for this Church, for every Church through the ages. Now, of course, the immediate context here, this follows the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Christ is with the eleven at Galilee as he met most of his disciples. And he’s now commissioning them. He is preparing them to go and continue the work that Jesus began.
And in fact, just as a bit of an aside, we talk about the book of Acts. And most of our Bibles say the Acts of the Apostles. The truth of the matter is, you read what Luke says in the very beginning of Acts. He says, I told you before what Jesus began to do. Now here’s what he continued to do, even as he ascended into heaven. And so as we think about the work of the church and the task of the church in sharing the kingdom of God, we need to understand that this is ultimately the Lord Jesus Christ who is fulfilling it, not so much ourselves. And that’s a good reminder for us as well that this church, Grace OPC, here in Sewickley, it is ultimately not your church. It is the church of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
He owns it. He’s the head of it. He’s the ultimate authority. And it would do well for all churches, all members of all churches, to remember that truth. Well, we come to this Great Commission, as it is often called, and rightly so. And what I hope to show out of this text is really just the aspect of the Commission. And as we look at this, there’s nothing all that profound. It is a text we have read over time and time again in our own private devotion. We’ve read books on evangelism. They always cite the Great Commission. So what I hope to show this morning is simply this. that Jesus commissions his disciples, and the church in particular, to advance his kingdom. Jesus commissions his disciples, and the church in particular, to advance his kingdom. I’m going to look at this under just three headings.
So first of all, we’ll look at the basis for the Great Commission. And secondly, we’ll look at the substance of the Great Commission. And then finally, we’ll look at the promise with the Great Commission. So first of all, the basis of the Great Commission. Again, verse 18. And Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” All authority. Now the very word authority that’s used here by Matthew in conveying what Jesus said, the word, it could be power or it could be authority. Context helps, but truth be told, it is both power and authority here in this context as we think about who Jesus is, what he’s accomplished, and the fact that he reigns. He has all power and all authority. Not just some, not just part of it, not even just in the church.
He has all authority. There is nothing that is outside of the control and authority of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Now, the word also conveys the idea of warrant. He is the rightful one who has all authority. No one else has this authority. It is Christ alone. And this becomes, in the most basic sense, the basis of the commission. Not some authority, but all authority. It is all absolute and total authority. And if that wasn’t enough, Matthew conveys what Christ says. It is all authority where? In heaven and on earth. In heaven and on earth. A simple idiom, an expression to remind us that declares the comprehensive nature of Christ’s reign. That’s fascinating. You have this passage here in the Great Commission, and we speak of Christ executing the office of a king, and that is certainly true.
The word king doesn’t even occur here. But how could it not, as a concept, be there? Of course it’s there. The one who has all authority is King. Jesus is our King. All authority in heaven and on earth. Christ reigns today. Matthew began his gospel account indicating that Jesus was a long-awaited King of the Jews, and he concludes that Jesus is more than just King of the Jews. He reigns over everything. Now, where did this authority come from? Now, the text says, all authority has been given to me. Well, the implication is somebody gave it to him. That would be his heavenly father. Now, this gets a little bit confusing. And truth be told, even as a kid, I sometimes struggled with the fact that you have Jesus Christ, who is God and man, two persons, or two, that’s heresy, two natures in one person forever.
Let’s edit that. That is an ancient heresy. But I can remember as a kid thinking about such things and thinking, well, if he is God, doesn’t he already have authority? How could it be given to him? Well, truth be told, sometimes even as an adult, I have difficulty grasping this. This is where a solid Christology, that is the study of Christ, comes into play. We recognize that this authority that is being given to him because of his work, because of his life, his death, his resurrection, his soon-to-be-from-the-perspective-of-the-text, his ascension into heaven, that this is Christ as our mediator. the God-man. This is according to his human nature, which he, dare I say, earned as a man. That’s why it’s given to him. He earned it. Christ earned this. He started out by being conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary.
He underwent the miseries of this life. He suffered. He died. God the Son died according to His human nature. But He was risen. He is risen. This is why he has all authority in heaven and on earth. As Paul says in Philippians 2, in that wonderful Christ hymn that we see there, and so God raised him and gave him the name that is above every name that every knee should bow and every tongue confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord. You see, yes, Jesus is the risen Savior, but he is a king. and he reigns supreme. So the question I have for all of you is, is Jesus your king? Now in one sense, that’s a silly question because even if you try to say no, he still is. It’s much like what we see in the political spectrum of our country in the last few years in particular, maybe even the last couple of decades.
One political party loses the presidential seat, and what will some of the extremes say? Well, he’s not my president. Yes, he is. You may not like it, but he is. So it is in an even greater sense with the Lord Jesus Christ. You may not like it, but he is king, and he reigns supreme. Even if you try to say you don’t believe in Him, as Paul says, that’s you suppressing the truth and unrighteousness. It’s absurd. He is King. So the answer to that question, is He your King? I hope it’s yes, and that you mean it. And of course, King means submission to Him. King means living in obedience to Him. King means that we are a part of his kingdom, and it’s his rules, not anybody else’s. This is, as our catechism indicates, in part how Christ executes the office of a king.
He subdues us to himself. He restrains and conquers all his enemies. This is what a king does. He rules us. He defends us. And for 2,000 years, Christ, as our mediator, has been king. Well, that’s the basis of his Great Commission. Let’s move to the substance, our second point, the substance of the Great Commission. Look now at verse 19. 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. Go therefore. Now you see that word therefore, this is a hint, and some of you know this little trick. And boys and girls, this would be good for you when you read your Bibles to remember this little trick. You see that word therefore. You need to ask yourself every time, what is it therefore?
Every time you see therefore, that means it’s connected in some way to what God has just said. Well, that’s the same thing here. Therefore, since Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth, therefore, that means something. We move from the basis to the command itself, the substance of the Great Commission. He says, go. Now, just taking a step back here for a second, and I’ll try not to bore you with too many Greek grammar details here. But technically, as you read through verses 18 through 20, there’s technically in the Greek only one imperative. There’s only one actual command. And it’s translated here in the ESV and most English translations as, make disciples. Technically, the word go is not an imperative. It’s not a command. Technically, baptizing and teaching are not commands. They do carry the force of a command, but the emphasis on the Great Commission is that make disciples.
But of course, you can’t make disciples unless you first go. And that’s the point. None of us has the excuse to just sit back and say, well, Jesus has all authority. He’s going to build his church. But he uses means. And ordinarily, it is through the church that he begets the church. But we need to go. We need to get out of our comfort zones. We need to be willing to answer, even as Isaiah did after seeing the holiness of God in chapter 6 of Isaiah. Here am I, send me. Now granted, it’s possible you might not be called to missionary, teacher, evangelist, et cetera. Nevertheless, you as a general believer of the church, and that’s no small thing by the way, That is no small thing. You have the ability and the responsibility to share Christ with the lost.
So go, go. The 11 that are here, they are the instruments, they are to be the heralds. They cannot just sit back and expect the kingdom to just happen. Could God do it? Of course he could. But that’s not how he worked. He, in his wisdom, ordained that he would use weak and feeble men such as ourselves to advance his kingdom. I mean, think about it for a minute. Think about history. There’s been a joke recently on social media that men are constantly thinking about the Roman Empire. Okay. Or World War II, that’s another one. But you think about all throughout histories and the great nations and empires, how did they come to become great kingdoms? Usually by conquering another one with weapons of war. They pillaged. They did all kinds of things. They conquered weaker armies.
They came in and destroyed cities. Not so with the kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians, our weapons are not carnal but spiritual. And those weapons are able to tear down strongholds and tear down anything that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. Those weapons are spiritual and they are intended to be used to bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. That’s how Christ’s kingdom works. His kingdom advances by simple proclamation. Now I don’t know about you, from a human perspective, I can think of all kinds of better ways to spread a kingdom than the preaching of the word. But oh, what a God we must serve that he could conquer nations with the gospel by the mere proclamation of that gospel. Do you not see how awesome our God is in this?
You all here are living testimony and proof of that truth. The New Testament church, as it were, started here with 11 disciples. There’s more than 11 in this room. And he did so through the proclamation, because they went. And now the main command, make disciples. Make disciples. Now technically also here in the Greek, it’s a single word. It’s probably better to translate it as a verb, disciple the nations. Make disciples, it’s not wrong. I’m not saying take your pen and cross it out or anything like that. But the stress here is disciple the nations. And here’s why that’s important. Because you hear make disciples, the temptation then becomes, okay, I go out and I evangelize my neighbor, my coworker. He’s come to saving faith and we rejoice in that. And then we just kick back and relax.
Well, I’ve made my disciple. You see, the command here to disciple the nations is much deeper than mere evangelism. It absolutely contains evangelism, but it is far deeper than that. When we took, we just witnessed vows of parents vowing to raise their children up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. That’s discipleship. That’s lifelong. Sadly, many in evangelical circles have taken evangelism as the end-all be-all of everything the church does. I’m not diminishing it, but it’s not all we do. We disciple the nations. That takes a lifetime. And it is something that is ongoing, and it is comprehensive. Now, think about the word disciple. Now, again, the noun disciple is not technically there. But nevertheless, the idea of a disciple is one who is a learner, a follower. If we are disciples of Christ, that means we are learners of Christ.
We learn from Christ, we learn about Christ, who he is, what he’s done, what it means for me, but we’re also followers of Christ. And we know from other passages in the gospel what Jesus said, if you wish to be my disciple, you need to deny yourself, Take up your cross and follow me. That’s what a disciple does, follows. We disciple the nations. Not simply teach, but disciple. Not simply evangelize, but disciple. A disciple learns and practices what the master teaches. Are you a disciple? Obviously, it begins with knowing Christ as your Lord and Savior. But as a disciple, do you continue to learn Christ? Do you continue to practice what the Master teaches? That’s what a disciple does. And the elders of this church and the elders of my church back in Tulsa, we have the responsibility to disciple people who have been members even for decades.
Discipleship does not end when somebody comes to faith. Actually, it’s just beginning. It’s just beginning. And notice the object of this command. Disciple the nations. The nations. We read earlier from Isaiah 49, five and six. It’s just such a wonderful passage. You think about the Old Testament and how the Lord is calling his people. But in Isaiah, you have this moment where he says, it’s actually too little a thing to save just Jacob, the people of Israel. I’m gonna send my servant to be a light to the nations, plural. But my friends, you think about it, and as you read through your Old Testament, I’m sure maybe some of you have already kind of failed your New Year’s resolution on Bible reading. Just pick it up again, it’s okay. But in particularly, I noticed when I was preaching through the Psalms in Tulsa, I noticed how often the Psalms have an other nations mentality, not just simply for judgment, but for evangelism.
There was confession and prayer in these Psalms that the nations would come before the Lord. This is not a new concept to the New Testament. Nations are to be discipled. Well, how do we do this? Well, Jesus gives us two ways, the substance and how we do it. First, he says, baptizing them. This is also where I gotta get a little bit technical, so bear with me. This is what’s known, grammatically speaking, as describing how we do it. We disciple by means of baptizing. We disciple by means of teaching. Now, what that also means, and if you don’t follow this, that’s okay. What that means is that we disciple by means of baptizing. That means that technically, logically, baptism precedes discipleship. Think about that. Logically speaking. That’s why I have a hard time with this text.
When good brothers disagree with our views of baptism, and they say, notice that it says you become a disciple, then you’re baptized. No, the text, the way it’s worded, it’s more along the lines, you disciple by means of. So part of what we do in baptism is signifying they’re a disciple. They already are. Even our children are disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ himself said, and the last time I was here and stood at this pulpit, I preached from the text of Mark 10, of such as these is the kingdom. But we also teach. We teach, we baptize and we teach. Now baptism deals with baptizing in the triune name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We baptize in the name. Now there’s two ways that could be taken. That could be taken as we’re bearing as disciples the name of Christ.
That’s grammatically allowable. That’s legitimate. But given the emphasis that the New Testament especially has on the doctrine of our union with Christ, it seems better to understand this, that it is being baptized into the name, into the triune God. If we’re united to Christ, we’re united to the Father, because the Father and the Son are one. And of course, by implication, so is the Spirit. This does not mean we become divine. But it means we have that mystical union on account of what Christ has accomplished. And baptism signifies our union with the triune God. If you want to read more about union with Christ, I would commend to you John Murray’s Redemption, Accomplished and Applied. The chapter on union with Christ alone is worth the price of the book. into the singular one name of the Father, of the Son, of the Holy Spirit.
Baptizing and teaching. Notice, teaching what? Arithmetic, reading comprehension, all those things are good. You should learn those things. Notice what Jesus says, teaching them all that I have commanded. I actually misquoted that. Jesus doesn’t say, teach them all that I have commanded. He actually says, teaching them to keep or to observe all that I have commanded. See, this is the part that rubs people the wrong way. They don’t want to be told what to do. Jesus is saying, you as disciple makers need to teach the nations to obey all that I have commanded. Where do we find what Jesus has commanded? Well, we find it in his word. We find it from Genesis 1-1 all the way to the end of Revelation. It’s not just the red letters. Unless you made your entire Bible red letter, which on computers we can do nowadays.
But the truth of the matter is, all that Christ has commanded we are to teach. Is it any wonder then that this is a lifetime task in discipling the nations? And the thing about it is, even those of us who are ministers of the gospel, we still need to learn what Christ has taught us. Some of you have heard this story. I can remember right after graduating seminary in Greenville, I was serving on the session down in South Carolina there, and we had one of the board members come a little later that summer, and he knows my family, and this is Dr. Ian Hamilton. And he sits there, we’re ready to pray before the service. He’s sitting there, he looks at me and he says in his Scottish accent, which I could never do justice, so you’ve graduated.
Now your theological training is about to begin. And oh, was he right. None of us should ever think we’ve mastered Christ’s teaching. That’s another irony. I have a master of divinity. Your pastor has a master of divinity. When are we ever going to master divinity on this side of glory? This is why Disciple the Nations involves ongoing teaching, encouragement, exhortation to keep all of Christ’s commands. We need to obey Christ. He’s our King. Now please understand, that is not works-based righteousness. We do not obey in order to be saved. We obey because Christ has redeemed us and now we’re free to obey. We do so out of thankfulness for what he’s done for us. We do it because our obedience testifies to the world that we belong to Jesus and we joy in obeying him.
Even though I sometimes find it hard. That’s the pollution of sin that remains within us. But Christ as our King at the cross broke the chains of bondage to sin for those who have faith in Him. And now we’re set free to live in obedience to His commands. It’s not something that is a burden. My friends, living in obedience to Christ is a privilege. teaching them to keep all that he has commanded. That’s why it’s gonna take a lifetime. That’s why it will take a lifetime. Now we need to ask ourselves a couple questions here. Is everyone to do this? And the answer to the question is both yes and no. First and foremost, from the no perspective. Everyone is not to preach. Everyone is not to baptize. Now I’m using preach here in a very technical sense.
Again, to try not to get too bogged down into the concepts and the use of language. The typical word that we think of that is often translated either preach or proclaim in many English translation also carries the idea behind it of divine warrant. The individual who is truly preaching is the one who has been given the authority to do it. That’s not every member of the church. Because preaching, true preaching is connected to the sacraments. The sacraments connected to the preaching. Ministers of the word have this task. That’s why ultimately, and that’s why the focus here is really on the church’s great commission. But what about the yes aspect of it? Every single one of us can share Christ with our neighbor. Every single one of us can give a reason for the hope that we have within us.
It may not be preaching with a capital P, but it is still testifying to the truth and confessing of what Christ has done for you before men. All of us can do that, even if not all of us can preach, properly speaking. But if you’re gonna help as a disciple yourself of Jesus Christ, in sharing Christ, sharing the idea that what Christ wants is a kingdom of worshipers, that what Christ wants is to redeem sinners, you know what you’re going to have to do as you share Christ? You’re really gonna have to know your Bibles. Part of discipleship involves teaching them to keep all that I have commanded. That’s the whole Bible. Now, I’m not saying everybody needs to go out and go to a seminary somewhere, but read your Bible, ask the Spirit to bring to mind the things that you have read, that it may give blessing to the one near you across that table that needs to hear of Christ.
All of us can share Christ, even if only some are called and ordained to the task of preaching. Well, that’s the substance of the command. Volumes have been written on that. Well, let’s go then to our third and final point, and we’ll do this briefly. The promise with the commission. Notice now verse 20. The latter portion of verse 20, behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. Behold. Boys and girls, that’s another word that you should pay attention to when you read your Bibles, behold. It’s intended to grab your attention. It’s intended to remind you that what’s really about to be said is really important. Because you think about this here in the text of the Great Commission. Disciple the nations, baptize, teaching them to keep all, the world hates us.
They hate us. Couldn’t we just pick up guns and get some tanks and do it that way? Metaphorically speaking, that’s already been tried, it doesn’t work. What Christ is asking us to do is impossible. It is. You heard that right. It is impossible. How can we possibly be expected to disciple the nations? The answer is given here with a promise. Behold, I am with you. That’s why you can do it. And in fact, the way it is presented here in the original Greek is emphatic. Christ is emphatic here. I myself am with you. If you want to be wooden, it’s I with you, I am. That’s what he says. An impossible task needs a most awesome promise. Christ is with you. He’s with us. That’s why we need not fear. Of course it’s impossible for us.
But nothing is impossible for Jesus Christ. He has shown, and all of us should remember this, He has shown for 2,000 years that He is with His church and the church has advanced. The promise that he made, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against her, has proven true. Despite what you might see on the news, despite what you might see in social media of this government, this business, this, that, the other thing, oppressing Christians in some way, as though somehow the Lord Jesus Christ is being stymied, He’s not on His throne wringing His hands, brothers and sisters. He reigns supreme and He is with us. We’ve got to go beyond just what our eyes see and just what our ears hear and rest upon the promise that Christ is with us.
And brothers and sisters, we ought to pray in that fashion as well. We pray in a generic sense, Lord, spread the gospel. And there’s nothing wrong with that. But we ought to, even in our prayer lives, remember the very promises that God has made in his word, promises that Christ has made to his church, and pray in those terms. Christ, you have promised to build your church. Oh, build your church. Do it, because you’ve promised it. He is with us. And notice, always, not just occasionally, not just for those special occasions, not just because, well, he’s a little busy over here. He’ll get to you when he can. He is always with us and literally it’s all the days. It’s comprehensive. Christ is with you all the days. Each and every day. Same then, same today, same as tomorrow.
We live day by day, each with our own worries to be sure. But Christ is with you in those days. He’s with us. He’s with you. All the days, and then again, until the end of the age. The end of the age being the consummation, the perfection, the completion of the age. That day when Christ returns. You see, in this life, the situation really is not gonna change all that much. The church will grow. But so will the world’s hatred for the church and for Jesus Christ. There will be warfare between the world and the church. We’re to live in this world and not be of this world. This will be the situation. And that sounds awfully pessimistic, doesn’t it? As a non-millennialist, I sometimes get accused of being pessimistic. Christ reigns today. There’s nothing pessimistic about that.
He is building his church today. There’s nothing pessimistic about that. And oh, while the world may grow in its hatred and conflict against the church, nevertheless, Christ is with us. He’s here today. Yes, it’s an impossible task, but Christ reigns supreme today. That’s why we need not fear. That’s why we can obey this command and go disciple the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to keep all that He has commanded because He’s with us even to the end of the age. Yes, an impossible task, but he’s there. Our risen Savior, the one with all authority in heaven and on earth, has commissioned us to go and disciple the nations. But you need not fear. Go, advance his kingdom in whatever way God has deemed fit for you to do in the everyday life.
Go, disciple the nations. Bear the name of Christ. and let him do the work. Let him do the work. You don’t have the right to boast. Oh, because of my wise words, 20 people came to Christ. You’re just a mouthpiece. It is God through his Son, by his Spirit, that brings salvation. Yes, you may be the instrument, but it is God alone who gets all the glory. And King Jesus reigns supreme. And so, brothers and sisters, leave here with confidence that Christ is with you and that he has equipped you to go and disciple the nations. Amen, let’s pray. Our great God and Father in heaven, how we rejoice in what your word teaches. Particularly the truth that Jesus is with us. The one who was born, who lived, who died for us, and is now risen and seated at your right hand.
The one with all authority in heaven and on earth. May that truth give us boldness and confidence to go and be instruments in the hands of Christ as we disciple the nations. We pray all this in His name, amen. If you would take your psalter hymnal now and turn to our hymn of response, hymn number 424, All Authority in Power, hymn 424. Let’s stand as we sing this together.
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