As children of God His will is for us to go and take His saving message to all people. We do this by sharing the truth with everyone as the disciples were commissioned so are we as Christ followers.
Introduction
The big idea of this passage is “For people to become disciples we must go and train them in the ways of the Lord.”
We must go and do. If we do not go and do, then people will not hear and believe and in turn be able to grow in the Lord.
What good are we to the Lord and His desire that “all men be saved” (1 Tim. 2:4), if we do not go an do?
The answer is we are no good to Him in this part of our call to work for Him.
Yet, we may struggle because we doubt, feel we lack the power, and feel that others will go instead of us.
We must not allow that to hinder us in our duty as Christians to take the message of Christ to all we can. But we must not stop there. No, we must then strive to make disciples out of those who have believed.
A disciple is defined as, “a follower or pupil of a teacher, leader, or philosophy” by the Oxford Dictionary.
It is defined as, “one who engages in learning through instruction from another” by BDAG a leading lexicon.
So, a disciple is one who learns from another how to do something.
When we make disciples we are making other Christ followers. We are making more people who will go and share the gospel with others to help them believe and therefore make more disciples after.
Swindoll’s Ultimate Book of Illustrations & Quotes (Witnessing)
Thomas Aquinas, who knew a great deal about education and a bit about motivation, once said that when you want to convert a person to your view, you go over to where he is standing, take him by the hand, and guide him. You don’t stand across the room and shout at him. You don’t order him to come over where you are. You start where he is and work from that position. He said that’s the only way to get people to budge.
This is what it is to make disciples. We must go and reach them where they are. We must go and love them where they are. Jesus sat and dined with sinners, He did not sin and follow what they did, but He went and sat with them.
He made many people see that what they were doing was wrong and sinful by showing them what was right and wholesome. This is what we need to do, this is what Aquinas was saying, this is what Christ is saying in the text we will look at today.
Turn to Matthew 28:16-20 if you will. Let us read God’s Word this morning, Matthew 28:16-20 and God’s word says, “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.”
In this we see that we are:
Called to Go Even in Doubt (16-17)
Here we see Jesus speaking to His disciples. He has called them all together at this mountain for this parting message.
We see that this is spoken to His 11 disciples who were the faithful ones. They were His main followers and disciples/students.
Some will say that this is addressed to them only and because of this it is not for us to do today.
If we follow that logic then no book or Scripture of the NT is for us.
All of Paul’s writings were to a specific church or person for specific reasons and purposes as were the other works in the NT.
If what Christ says here is only for the disciples and for them to preach alone, then the same is for all of Paul’s writings and the other NT writings.
Thankfully this is not the case. Take as an illustration if you will.
When we are dressing down a child for doing something wrong we are speaking to that child specifically. Now picture if you will that another child of yours is standing there and hear what you say. On this logic of that is not said to me so I don’t have to do it the other child may very well think they are free to do what the other child did and not get in trouble since they were not the one told not to do whatever it was. This is, of course, wrong as the same rule would apply to the child who was not getting in trouble as much as it was for the child that was getting in trouble.
That is what is going on here in this Scripture. It is not only to the disciples alone, but for all of us.
Thankfully this is true but some people allow their theologies to lead them rather than allowing the text of Scripture to lead them. Some are doing it because they fervently believe this is true while others do it because they do not want to do the work of making disciples.
Which is exactly what we are called to do. Paul did it in his ministry. He told people to imitate him as he imitated Christ (1 Cor. 11:1).
What we see in this text is that Christ had the 11 as the chosen ones of His to take the message of Christ to all nations.
They were to be His witnesses to all nations. Look if you will at Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
The disciples were told they would receive power from the Holy Spirit. They were to be witnesses in all of Israel and then to the Samaritans and to all the earth.
This is the way we fulfill God’s desire of all men to be saved (1 Tim. 2:3-4) “This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
Taking the message of Christ is how this is done.
Even if you doubt as some did at this meeting. In verse 17 we see that some doubted.
Some were unsure of Christ that is why we see in Luke 24:36-49 that Jesus ate fish before them.
We see in John 20:26-29 that Jesus had Thomas place his hands in his hands and His side to show it was Jesus in the flesh.
Doubt is going to arise and we will struggle with it. That is why Jesus said that:
The Power is His (18)
In verse 18 we see that Jesus says “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”
The power to go is in Him not us. He has been given the power, but as Acts 1:8 tells us “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.”
As a believer you have this power now.
Paul tells us in Ephesians 1:13 “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,”
Also in 2 Tim. 1:7 “for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”
You, as a child of God, in Christ believer have the power to go and share the amazing message of salvation through Jesus with others. But this is not all we are to do, we must make disciples.
But before I get to that point I want to emphasize again where the power to go and do is found.
If we are resting on our own power, we will fail and falter.
We are weak but He is strong.
Much like roping a bull.
We know that the power to hold and make that bull do what he needs to do is not from us.
Sure we may be able to rope him and and handle the horse to do the job but if we were afoot and roped him we would have no authority over what he did.
In this scenario the horse has the power. Not the rope, saddle, or us, but the horse.
Jesus has given us the ability to share and do, much like being able to rope the bull, but the power lies in Him to handle and make things do. It is His power that allows us to impact people. It is His power that fuels us to go and do. Just like the horse does when we need to rope a bull.
We wouldn’t rope the bull without a horse and we will not go and share Christ without His power.
If we did it would be failure waiting to happen just like roping a bull without a horse would be a disaster and failure.
Jesus has the power vested in Him but He tells us to go and do.
So
Lets Go (19-20)
Jesus says to go to the disciples. He tells them to go and make disciples of all nations.
Here He does not say make converts but disciples.
People need to be saved to be true disciples of Christ. If they are not saved they may follow His moral teachings but their lives will not be His.
They will flounder and fail at living rightly because they have never believed.
This is why it is so essential for us to be witnesses as Acts 1:8 says. We must share the saving message of Jesus Christ’s death burial and resurrection and belief in Him for everlasting life.
People need to believe and be saved to be good and true disciples of Jesus.
A disciple is made not born. No one will become a disciple of Jesus without another sharing and helping them grow.
Too many want to say that all believers are disciples and if one fails to grow in that discipleship they must never have been saved.
This is false and a pathetic attempt to force works into salvation.
A disciple is made by faithful followers helping them and teaching them.
This is why we must go and be disciple makers.
Many in the church are too busy to disciple others. They will say.
Many were never discipled so they think they are not equipped to do so. Both are wrong.
It is because of the busyness why we must disciple and do not let your lack of being discipled render you useless to disciple.
We must seek to disciple others and seek to reach others for Christ. We must help to train people up in the way of the Lord. This takes work and patience because not all people learn at the same pace.
It is because of this why we rest in the power that is the Lord’s in this and in the fact that He is with us till the end of the age (v. 20).
When we are working for the Lord and seeking to reach people to fulfill God’s desire that all be saved, and then to grow them, we have the power of the Lord with us.
He will go before us and convict people. He will draw them and cause their hearts to desire this. It is not us but Him working but for this to happen we must go and do.
Just as Paul wrote in Rom. 10:14-17 “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”
Salvation is solely of the Lord, but we are called to take the message and reach people. We are called to share Christ and help them to hear the message.
Conclusion
Anecdotes, Incidents, and Illustrations (Keep Your Light Shining)
I remember hearing of two men who had charge of a revolving light in a lighthouse on a storm-bound and rocky coast. Somehow the machinery went wrong, and the light did not revolve. They were so afraid that those at sea should mistake it for some other light, that they worked all the night through to keep the light moving round.
Let us keep our lights in the proper place, so that the world may see that the religion of Christ is not a sham but a reality.
This is what we are to do to reach others. If we do not go and share many will never hear. They will be like those ships would have been if those men had not kept the light turning all night.
We take the message to all but we do not leave them with it only. We take it and share and seek to see many saved to fulfill the desire of the Lord, but we stick around in their lives and strive to disciple them.
We strive to help them grow in the faith and become faithful followers of Jesus Christ.
Salvation is completely free with no works, the work was done by Jesus when He died was buried and rose again. He did it all, but being a disciple is hard work.
It is working hard to serve and glorify the Lord in all we do. It is work and it is hard work but it is amazing work because we are serving our glorious Lord.
We are serving the one who came and served us and died for us. How can we not go and serve likewise and seek to see many saved and many follow Christ in faithful obedience as a disciple?
This we must do because Jesus is worth it. He is worth anything we sacrifice for Him.
Let us today and everyday moving forward go and reach the lost and seek to make disciples.
Remember the power is Christ’s but that power is in you through the Holy Spirit that you have received when you believed.
We can do this. Jesus gave it to us in a simple plan that is brief and simple: Make disciples of all the nations. Jesus spoke this to ordinary people like you. The disciples were nothing special. They did not have seminary degrees. They were normal people who followed Christ.
We take it to all people because God desires all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of truth. Most importantly on our part is that Jesus expects obedient action.
Jesus expects us to do it! We are to trust Christ, follow His teaching, and share the message of His salvation to all people near and far. We do this so people everywhere will hear the gospel and believe and have their lives transformed by Jesus and the power of the Spirit.
You have that Spirit so let us go and do this.
