Badenoch Free Church

sunday morning 10th Feb 2008
 
mat 28v16-20
 
In the Great Commission we have two parts.
We have the part played by the Commissioner.
And the part played by the commissioned.
This morning we will look at the role of the Commissioner.
 
1) The first thing we see about Jesus is that he is the one who calls the shots.
He is the Chief, King, Master, Leader.
This is symbolised clearly in v16. He tells the disciples where they are to go!
This first point is critical to all else that follows.
Jesus is the Leader. We are not in a democracy, but a Dictatorship.
The Commander and Chief tells us what to do and we do it!
This relives us of the burden of responsibility at the ultimate level. This is Gods kingdom, Gods show, His responsibility.
Why worry then. Why try to control. Why try to manipulate and abuse? Why panic and fret - we have a Leader and Master. It is His masterpiece that He is drawing!
2) The second thing we see is that as our Leader he has all authority. V18
Authority ? : power over others, (governmental), liberty - authority to act, individual rights, power to act. “all authority” : all kinds of authority, individual freedom to do as he wills and freedom over others as the Governor also.
What Jesus is saying is that as their Leader he is the All Powerful One. This is another claim to Deity. Which of course the disciples already acknowledge v 17.
When they saw Jesus, they worshipped Him. But some doubted!
Was this statement for them? To allay their fears?
Is it for us? Do we doubt?
Power takes away fear. There is nothing to be afraid of if your are more powerful than your opponent.
The Commissioner is all-powerful!
His power makes up for our weakness.
The Commissioner is the All Powerful Leader.
 
3) The third thing that we see is that the Commissioner is “with” us, v20
The last word that Jesus wants to leave with his disciples - as he goes away! - is this great spiritual reality “I am with you always.”
We have a Commissioner who leads, who has all power and who is with us.
“I am” - the great God who simply “is” who’s being is not derived from anyone else. He is with us!
“with” - how do we view God? Someone who is there but to judge. Or someone who is there simply to be there! To be “with” us!
The Great almighty, all powerful, all knowing God, is there “with” us!
What do people need and want most in their difficult times? Someone to be with them!
“always” covers all time. Every moment, every day. He is not just with us in a general sense - he is there specifically with us always!
But How? How is He with us?
The mechanical outworking of it we do not really know.
We live in a physical universe where everything is built up of the Atom and so the Atom is everywhere.
In the spiritual world, of which the physical world is a part, God is everywhere and so Jesus comes to us through the Spirit (John14v16-18) and is with us everywhere always.
The important thing for us is that we need faith to engage in this presence of Jesus.
We need to believe in the ultimate reality of the God filled world so that we can experience the ministry of Jesus from day to day.
 
Application:
The promise shows his full commitment to us.
And it shows his greatness. That he can be with us.
We need to live in light of this promise. If God is with us we can have great confidence to go out and conquer. We can do all God wants us to do and do it superhumanly, more than conquerors Rom8v37.
 
  
Evening Service Mat 28v19-20
Why are we here? What’s our task on earth? What is our purpose? What’s our Aim?
 
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.
 
This morning we noted that we have a Great Commissioner who leads us, is with us and has all power and authority so to do and be.
Tonight we look at what this Commissioner has commissioned us to do.
Intro to text:
“therefore go” - should be understood as “therefore as you are going”.
With the thought of “as you are leading your life.”
Jesus is leaving the disciples and he wants to leave them with a principle as to how they should lead their lives.
How should we lead our lives? As disciples who make disciples.
If we had to get on with this by ourselves we would fail, but we have the all powerful Jesus going along with us - as we saw this morning.
So with Jesus we live as disciples and make disciples.
Note: Jesus does not tell us to make converts. Yet, much of general church evangelism aims at doing just that! And so we make converts but then we don’t know what to do!
Jesus tells us to make disciples. How?
 
1) we need first to understand what a disciple is.
You need to know what you are making before you can make it.
A disciple is someone who recognises point 1 this morning: Jesus is the Leader!
A disciple is a follower of Jesus. “Come and follow me”.
This is a daily pursuit. And a lifetime pursuit.
In our work / social / family life, our chief task is to follow Jesus.
To do that we need to recognise Him as our Teacher in life.
So we are going to him seeking lessons on how to live life, kingdom life.
So that is the starting point. Disciples are followers, learners, apprentices of Jesus.
We are to make followers of Jesus by first embodying in our own lives what true discipleship is.
 
2) the next stage is “baptising them in the name….”
What are we to do with a disciple? What are we to do as disciples?
We are to be immersed in the life of God, in the power of God.
We are to be immersed into Jesus, the one who now has all Authority, and power.
We are to be set apart, baptised for life as a disciple.
Baptism marks the start of a new life.
Jesus was baptised for ministry, we are baptised for discipleship.
We come to believe in Jesus and then are baptised.
Baptism is a one off event, but we are to engage in its meaning throughout our discipleship.
We can do that by recognising that having been baptised into the Name, we now represent that Name.
We do all that we do in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
We are servants of the King, his men and women on earth.
As members of the family of God, baptised into Christ, we are to mature as disciples.
Which is point 3:
 
3) “teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”
Someone has called this part of the Great commission, the Great Omission!
A disciple by today’s general church standards needs simply to follow the creeds and traditions of a particular church group to be thought of as a disciple.
But Jesus issues a far more demanding, yet fulfilling task than that.
What He requires is obedience.
And he requires that, and also enables that by his personal presence with us to the very end!
Disciples are those who in the power of God (baptism) obey God.
And so in our process of making disciples we need to focus most of our time on teaching obedience!
The best way of doing that is by preaching Jesus. Getting people to look to him.
Once we are captivated by His glory and goodness, obedience will naturally flow from within us! Like the spring of living water, continually flowing.
If we try to be obedient as an outward act, without this love for Jesus, then it will just become a tiresome burden. A bind rather than a freedom.
And that is what true obedience is: freedom.
We live they way we have been created to live, in a right relationship with God and others.
 
Practical Application:
Obedience to Jesus will only come from true discipleship.
So the question to ask is am I a true disciple?
Getting to the answer of that question is quite simple. Ask yourself:
“is following Jesus the most important thing in my life or do I allow other things to get in the way of following Jesus”?