I could not help but think lately about how I love hearing a good Easter sermon, but now that I'm the one standing in the pulpit and preaching it, the joy is doubled as I love giving one. The only thing is, I feel like preaching the resurrection one Sunday and leaving it all behind us is kind of ironic. We love celebrating once a year the fact that Jesus got up out of the tomb, unlike any other religious leader or human for that matter in all history, but we seldom enjoy hearing what God calls us to as a result. So Jesus is alive, but now what? Are we to go about our lives as though His resurrection were the end? As though we know He's in heaven and is coming back one day but that's all there is to it? I fear this is a sad reality for a multitude of church-goers, including myself at times. Did Jesus say anything to us that would clue us in on what we're supposed to do with this amazing news the rest of the uncertain length of time until He returns? We find just such a clear message in the end of Matthew's gospel.
Matthew, the disciple writes, "Now the eleven 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." (28:16-20).
So Jesus did not simply leave us with an empty tomb for us to look back on from time to time, but He left us some very important instructions about what to do between the time of His resurrection and His second coming…Make Disciples. First, He affirms His own authority before giving us this commission. Remember Moses' encounter with the living God in the burning bush? First, God told Him who He was and then commissioned Him to go deliver Israel from their slavery in Egypt. Moses, however, was so full of doubt in himself that he failed to acknowledge the very authority that had commissioned him (Ex. 3). I'm sure we've all been there too. In Moses' situation, the burning bush that was on fire though not consumed verified the authority of God to him. In Matthew's account of what we call "The Great Commission", Jesus' resurrection from the dead is all the verification the disciples need that He does indeed own this authority. When you come back from the dead, you pretty much gain a captive audience. Remember when Jonah finally got tired of running from God's commission on his life while in the belly of the fish? When the fish spit him up on land, I'm sure the people of Nineveh out at the beach that day were immediately humbled when they saw this seaweed-covered Jonah emerge from the water and call them to repent.
All this authority only supports His ability to commission His disciples and all who would in the future become disciples of Him. So He's got the authority now to tell us…make disciples. The most important two words in Jesus' statement are not to go, but to make disciples. Going is only the means by which these Jesus' followers and all of us today who call ourselves Jesus followers are to get to accomplish the making of disciples. How does one make a disciple though? Islam, since its conception, has been a religion which "makes" converts only by fear of the sword. Today, as I write this, men and women in various primarily Muslim countries who have converted to Christianity are being beaten, imprisoned, tortured, and martyred because of their failure to bow the knee to Allah and claim Muhammed as his prophet. This is not the way Jesus called His disciples to make disciples. So then what does it look like to make disciples in Jesus' mindset? It means proclaiming this gospel of Christ's death in the place of sinners to "all nations", calling them to repent and trust in He and His work alone to atone for their sins. Where in the world did I get all that? As Jesus said in the last chapter of Luke's gospel…"repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nations…" (24:47a). We call people to repent of their sins and find forgiveness in Jesus' atoning blood, but we cannot make this happen in them. We plead with sinners, but we cannot effect the change we so desire in them by our own doing. God graciously uses the gospel message of Jesus' death on their behalf to convict and regenerate their dead hearts to new life. We cannot forget that Jesus' commissioning of the disciples was for them to make disciples of all nations (literally all peoples). God's plan that will be fulfilled as Revelation 5:9 describes, is that sinners from every type of people group in the entire world would come to saving faith in Jesus before He returns a second time. The amazing news is that our proclaiming the gospel is the means by which He accomplishes this great task.
Jesus adds a little description of what making disciples looks like when He says we're to baptize them in the name of the triune God and teach them to obey all His commands. We must not so rush to see people saved that we leave these same people without truly baptizing and teaching them to obey King Jesus. To make disciples is to ensure these people know what God says to them in His Word and instruct them on how they are to go about obeying Him. Now, I must add that people are born again simply by turning and trusting in Jesus, and its not on the basis of anything they do. We, however, should model to these new believers what a life changed by the grace of God looks like and help them in their growth in Christ-likeness.
Lastly, Jesus, knowing what opposition lay ahead for all who would take His gospel to the nations, leaves us with the comforting strength of His presence. If Pentecost had never happened, the gospel would never reach the nations. Why do I say that Pentecost is important for the proclaiming of the gospel to the nations? In Luke's gospel, Jesus actually commands His disciples to wait until the Spirit falls upon them, for Luke wrote Luke and Acts as a two-part book…and Acts begins with Jesus's ascending and the Spirit's descending on the disciples to empower them to be His witnesses. What greater way could Jesus have further encouraged His disciples to spread this gospel than by dwelling within them Himself by the Spirit? It is because we have the Spirit of Christ indwelling us that we can walk into the face of death itself extending the gospel to others.
So now that Jesus has risen, we must be faithful to His parting words as we anticipate His return…Go and make disciples of all nations. At your workplace, at your school, with your family, in your neighborhood, and amongst all the nations…make disciples, because Jesus will be with you all the way.
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