For those of you who are new to the Broward church, my name is Tony. It’s a great honor to be able to serve in the capacity I do. I’m like the primary preacher here and I’m so thankful for all that we do in this community, for the work we have going on with our reach offering, for the work we have going on and all the things we do here locally.
I’m also thankful just to be together and to be part of a community like this that sings songs and songs that move our hearts and stir our thoughts towards the God that we so love. I’m thankful to be here. I’m thankful to be in a community that knows that God is needed not only for kind of this eternal struggle that we have, but also just for every single day of our lives. He is, as the song says, supremely worthy of our praise. We’re going to continue in our series this morning by looking at the last chapter of the Book of Matthew. Next week we will take a break from our series for Mother’s Day, and then we’ll come back to cover Jesus last words that start out the book of acts. And then the week after that, which is, I think, the last week of May, we’ll do a sort of review and close out this series that we have been in for two years as we also take up our reach offering. But as I mentioned today, I want to invite you to join me to the last chapter of the Book of Matthew.
Matthew, chapter 28. We’re going to start reading in verse 16. I’m going to go ahead and read it. We’ll read it one time through, and then for the rest of our sermon, we’ll just continue to unpack the verses and unpack their relevant application for all of us. This is Matthew 20 816. Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee. We looked at this last week in John chapter 21, where the disciples have gone to Galilee as the women have told them to go. And as Jesus, Jesus himself had told them to go. And so they wait there to the mountainside where Jesus had told them to go. Verse 17. When they saw him, they worshiped him. But some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I’m with you always. To the very end of the age. What we just read is what we call the great commission. The great commission.
And this verse here or these set of verses here have been sort of the marching orders of the christian faith since its inception. For more than 2000 years, disciples, men and women who have kind of set their eyes on becoming like jesus have strived to bring the way and the message of Jesus Christ to everyone on every corner of the earth. It’s an amazing thing. And it begins with this commissioning we’ve been reading throughout the ministry of Jesus. Jesus telling us his teachings. Jesus unpacking the truths of what it means to be covenant people, disciples, followers of him. And today we kind of see at the very end of the chapter he says, amen. Here we go. Let’s take this message to the whole world. And if you read anything about the early church and the rise of Christianity in the early church you see that the first disciples, that ragtag group of jewish fishermen and jewish nobodies men and women from this little tiny area in Galilee did just this. To quote acts chapter 17 they were able to turn the world upside down. It’s amazing. It’s miraculous even that the message of Jesus had had such a penetrating impact on the world that here we are 2000 years later worshiping this same Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
You might wonder how could a small kind of despised movement from the corner of Palestine become the dominant faith of the mighty Roman Empire? Rome was steeped in this kind of fierce pagan tradition. It was an empire with a history that had this horrific persecution towards the church. And if you read anything about the early stories of the rise of Christianity what you find is that the growth of the church I think is the most amazing phenomenon in all of human history. Like the church, this thing that we believe today, this little group of people with these teachings from this rabbi were able to withstand wave after wave after wave of persecution that was unleashed in order to squash them. At least two of those persecutions were empire wide, the first document of persecution happens about 20 years after Jesus resurrection. And basically Rome is saying, I am allowing you to kill christians, imprison christians. It’s sanctioned by the mighty Roman Empire, commissioned to destroy the church, the largest empire in maybe all of human history at the time, trying to kill the church. And here we are, still praising Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Have you ever wondered, with the odds stacked against them, how did they do it?
How did this great commissioning the words of Jesus on that day on the hillside, create such a profound impact on them that they went and changed the whole world? You know, as someone who works in the church and leads a congregation of people and someone who loves the ministry and the mission of God, as someone who wants to see the whole world evangelized, I have asked this question to myself again and again and again. How did this commissioning, how did this commission motivate Jesus followers to reach the whole world, to build churches in every city all over Rome? What about this commissioning was so effective. In verse 16, it says that there were still some who doubted. And then after this, they do not doubt again, and they go and they infect the world with the message of Jesus. I wonder how they did it. And also I wonder if it’s still possible for it to be done today. Jesus declaration and commissioning, which will conclude the gospel, are sort of the climax of his farewell speech. The words he utters here will leave these disciples failures in their past. All the doubting, all the abandonment, it leaves them all in their past.
It’s going to also swallow up all of their old dreams, all of their old aspirations. It’s going to change them forever, and it will move them to a greater reality of the mission to which they were called. A mission to bring the message of Jesus to every person on the face of the earth. In this address, the disciples will say no words. Instead, we will be fully focused on the words of Jesus himself. Their role, as our role is today, was to listen, to understand, to obey, and then to see the world changed. Let’s take this line by line and see if there’s something that we can learn as we unpack it together. You with me, church? All right. Amen. All authority, it says, in heaven and on earth, has been given to me. This is a pretty intense statement, but it has greater implications when you consider what’s underneath this verse. See here. Jesus chooses once again to connect his words with the words of another from the Old Testament, the words of someone referring to the Son of man. We’ve used this title before, but it’s not surprising, considering the Son of man is the name Jesus used to describe himself most in the Bible.
Jesus didn’t come call himself the Christ, didn’t call himself the Messiah as often as he called himself the Son of man. The Son of Man is a reference to an Old Testament character that really comes to light in the Book of Daniel. Daniel chapter seven. In Daniel chapter seven, there’s this vision of Daniel’s having this vision while he’s living in Babylon. And he sees these creatures come out of, like, this terrible sea. And the creatures are like, evil and ugly and some are, you can’t even describe them. And he describes in the scene in the vision that they’re there to murder, to destroy, to kill, to utter, demolish, everything good. It’s a terrible, terrible image. And they come out and they’re like, scary. And Daniel’s, like, overwhelmed by the vision. And then his vision moves a bit to the throne room of God and he looks up and he sees who he calls the ancient of days. That’s God himself sitting in the throne room. And he sees one of the creatures being condemned by the ancient of days. And in that same vision, he looks around and he sees somebody that he calls the son of man.
And in that text, this is the description given to the son of man. And if you listen to it, you’re going to catch some of the words from Matthew, chapter 28. He was, that’s the son of man given authority. All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Glory and sovereign power. All nations and all people of every language worshiped him. What are they supposed to do, go out and find people of all nations? His dominion is an everlasting dominion. And surely I will be with you always to the very end of the age that will not pass away. And his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church. And not even the gates of Hades will overcome it. Jesus has been saying throughout his ministry that he is that character, that he is the son of man. He is that heavenly person who has descended, who has divine authority and will confront the evil that is coming out from the world. He will condemn and destroy evil and death. Now, what was set up in this vision was supposed to be kind of a future image.
But Jesus is saying in Matthew chapter 28 that what you understood about Daniel seven you have to see happening now. All authority has been given to me. The risen Jesus has proven to be vindicated over all evil, vindicated over death. He has become a victor of hell of the evils of man, of Satan and of the grave and of all the beasts of Daniel chapter seven. And he stands there before the disciples and says, hey, remember the role of the son of man. I am here today fully established in it. This is why he says, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Interestingly enough, at the beginning of the gospels, somebody tried to offer him to have rule over the earth. Remember Satan? In Matthew chapter four, the beginning of the series, Satan said, hey, here you come, worship me and I will give you dominion over the earth. But here we see Jesus having both authority over heaven and the earth by the will of God instead of the will of Satan. By the way, Satan, if you follow him, will give you some beautiful blessings on earth, but he has no power over the heavens.
And here this is sort of the culmination of Jesus theme of kingship. Jesus is the sovereign over heaven and over earth. We have been talking about him being king from the very beginning, right? We’ve established him as the king from the beginning of the book of Matthew as we looked at the genealogy. Oh, wait, what line does he come from? Well, the line of King David. He is king. How about when he’s born, the Magi, who are they looking for? The king of the Jews. And dramatically when he’s riding in on the culture, and they praise him as the king of Israel. And also there’s an accusation and the mockery of the guards who call him the king of the Jews. And all of that comes to this moment where Jesus says, here I am. I am the divine sovereign. All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. I want you to know, church, he cannot be voted out. No one can usurp his authority. No one can have a coup to overthrow his rule. He has won the eternal right to rule both heaven and earth. And this kingship stands far above all the political kings that we’ve ever seen.
It extends far beyond just the people of Israel. It’s a universal kingship given to the son of God, the son of man. He is king over all things, all people, every nation, every tribe. And at the name of Jesus Christ, the Bible says every knee will bow. They will either bow because they want to, or they will be forced to bow at the end of time, at the name of Jesus Christ. Jesus is king. That’s the way he starts his address. Hey, I want you to know I am king. I want you to know that I am him. I’m the man from someone, then with complete authority flows to these eleven kind of normal people, unschooled, ordinary, wise people, not great. The disciples stand there, they sort of take in his authority, and then they breathe for a second, and then Jesus gives them their mission. Therefore, go. Imagine you’re that person. Who? Me? Yes. You couldn’t be. Then who? Who, me? Like, it’s one of the most profound truths in all the scripture. God’s plan to multiply his goodness on earth all the way back in Genesis was to do it through dust born people.
And they failed, and they failed miserably. And we needed to kind of create this whole thing where, you know, he needs to choose the people of Israel and have a nation and then have his divine son be born out of that whole thing. And his divine son is born out of it. And then he says to those guys again, hey, remember that plan that we had back in Genesis chapter one? You have to do it again. You go. The gathering of all the nations of Daniel chapter seven is not going to be done by the angels. It’s not going to be done by the professionals. It’s going to be done by all the dust born people, specifically those who are disciples at first, and then eventually it will include every person who claims to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. You go. Go and do what? Make disciples of all nations. Make disciples? Their job is to help the whole world understand the wholehearted commitment, the commitment which was required of those who became disciples at the beginning of Jesus ministry. What is a disciple? A disciple is a follower of Jesus Christ, someone who has replaced their view of the world with his, someone who has replaced their dreams with his dreams, someone who has relinquished control of their lives in the service of their master.
And he tells them, look, I want you to make disciples of all nations. You know how you follow me for three years? You know how everywhere I went, you went, I want you to make the whole world into people who do that very same thing. And this ragtag group of fishermen were given this charge, go. Infect the world with the transcendent message of Jesus Christ, with the transcendent message of the gospel. The gospel message that we have been looking at so closely, that we have talked about so intimately, the message that gives men and women freedom from the power of sin, the message that gives men and women freedom from the powers of evil, freedom from our own lives that are there to just destroy us so that we can be a gospel that allows us to be disinfected by that stain of blood that we carry, that the victory of Jesus, who was proven to be victor over death can also be given to us. It’s available that we can rid the world of evil, that we can die to ourselves and live for him, that we can find a reconciliation with God. That’s the gospel message, right?
We’ve been talking about it. That we can be found righteous, that we can live in harmony with our maker. That grace is available to all who suffer. That freedom is given to the those who are bound. That family is provided to those who are lonely. And we get all of this. We get this incredible gospel message as disciples of Jesus Christ. And what he says is, you now are participating in the work of bringing these amazing, amazing blessings of heaven down to earthly men. Jesus says, you do that. I am king. He says, you go infect the world with the gospel. You do it. You do it. I’m not going to do it. You do it. There’s a great story in the beginning of the exodus. After the people are set free from Egypt, there’s that moment where they’re just before the Red Sea, and Moses needs to depart the Red Sea. And Moses has this incredible line as he’s standing before the Red Sea, and behind him is the immense sea, and in front of him is the egyptian soldiers trying to come and take back their slaves. And so there’s this moment where he’s just standing there, and everyone’s like, what should we do?
What should we do? And Moses says this prayer. Moses says, I want you to know that the sovereign God, the God of Israel, will protect us and will defend us and will encourage us, and we’ll kill that foe, and blah, blah, blah, blah. And he says this amazing speech, and then he turns to God in prayer. And you know what God says? Why are you talking to me? You do something. And in the same breath, in the same breath, I’m telling you, the work of helping the world know Jesus is yours. He has given it to you. What an amazing work. It’s overwhelming, it’s profound. But it’s your work. It’s yours alone, no angel. And it echoes for all time. Listen to romans, chapter ten. I love this text. It says, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Amen. How then can they call on whom they have not believed in? So he goes, all right, you want to be saved? The top. What do you have to do before that? You have to believe. Great. Amen. We all believe that. Okay. And how can they believe the one whom they have not heard?
That makes sense logically, right? You want to be saved, you have to believe. If you want to believe, you have to hear, well, what comes before that. And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? Next line. And how can anyone preach unless they are sent as it is written? How beautiful are the feedback of those who bring good news. What’s the idea? The goals of the gospel are only achievable when men and women fulfill their duty as preachers of the gospel. The gospel wants to fix every issue in all of creation. And the only way that goal can ever be fulfilled is if men and women achieve their duty, do their duty of being preachers of the gospel. You do it and you say, well, God is the one who saves, right? Absolutely. But for whatever reason, he wants you to talk to them before he saves them. I don’t really fully understand it, but these guys did this. In fact, many of you have done it. Many of you have led people to Jesus Christ. And others of you are brand new and you’re trying to figure out how to do it.
And you still need to gird up some courage for some of you. You’ve been, you know, on vacation from doing it for a long time and you haven’t done it for whatever reason, you know? And I just want to encourage you, brothers and sisters, that it’s still up to you. The gospel. The gospel. The goals of the gospel can only be achieved if you become a preacher of the gospel and if you’ve lost it, amen. Okay, you can repent, get your boldness back. Go out and share your faith again. Tell people about the beauty of Jesus. Invite them to your community group. Invite them to listen to wherever the word is preached to church. Share a link. Do something. Talk to someone about Jesus Christ. Go and make disciples. I want to ask you, this is a question that I know you’re going to answer, but how are you going to answer? But I’m going to ask you to participate anyway. If you have been profoundly impacted by the message of Jesus Christ, can you just raise your hand for a second? All right.
That’s like all of you, hopefully put your hand up. Those who haven’t, amen. You stick around, you know, one day, okay? If you’re. If someone had to help you have that profound impact, can you also raise your hand studying the Bible, inviting you to church? Yeah. Okay. Put your hand down. My guess is everyone who raised their hand the first time, raised their hand the second time. What I’m trying to illustrate is that this whole thing doesn’t happen by osmosis. It’s not like you’re sitting there and you’re like, whoa, I’m profoundly changed by the message of Jesus. Somebody had to say something to you. You have to listen to something. You’re like, well, no one helped me. I just watched a video. But someone in the video, you know, like. Like, somebody has to do something. Someone has to do something. And so guess what? You’re that someone for someone. You’re that someone for someone. That should be the title of the sermon, Shane. You’re the someone for someone. Here you go. What are they to do? Go and make disciples of all nations. The phrase all nations speaks of the scope of the message and the extent of the jurisdiction of the Son of man.
It’s all people, all tribes, all tongues, all nations, all language. This is for the Muslims. This is for the Jewish. This is for those who are atheists. This is for the black and the white and the Asian, all the Latinos. This is for those who are from wherever. This is a message for all people in all races in all time. That’s what this is saying. And what are they to do? Or rather, how are they then to make disciples? Here’s what it says. Baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. The way the sentence works is like this in the Greek. So there’s the verb go and make disciples. That’s the verb. It’s followed by two participles. Baptizing them and teaching them. Those are two things that spell out the process of making disciples. That’s the way this phrase works. And here’s what’s interesting. The order in Matthew, chapter 28 is that baptism comes before the teaching them to obey everything. Baptism is not a graduation after you have learned, baptism is the enrollment into the process of being a learner, which is never complete.
Right? So the way it works is the christian community is a school of learners at various stages because none of us are fully obeying. So we’re all at different phases. We have fully come to grips that Jesus Christ is Lord, and then we’re initiated into his community. And I’ve heard people say this, you know, I am not ready to be baptized. And I’ve often wondered, what does that mean? Like someone who says that and then says, because I’m not sure that Jesus Christ is Lord, I go, you’re right. You’re not ready to be baptized. You’re right. But if you. But if this means I believe Jesus Christ is Lord, but I’m waiting to be perfect to be baptized. I’d like to encourage you that that’s not the view that the Bible has of what this process is. The Bible tells us that baptism is where you enter the community of faith. And when you learn, then you learn to mature and to grow. This is what baptism is. According to romans six, it says, or do you not know, that all of us who were baptized into Christ were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him into baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
For if we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him, so the body ruled by sin might be done away. With, that we should no longer be slaves to sin, because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. Do you know what this text teaches us? That baptism is the place where you come into contact with Jesus Christ. It’s the place of identification. It’s a place of dedication. It’s a place where you literally die to yourself in this ceremony, where you die, and then you come to grips with the idea that Jesus Christ is fully Lord and I will live for him forevermore. In that moment, you are born of water and the spirit, as Jesus says. The Bible tells us that baptism is the place where we put on Christ. Galatians actually explains to us that it’s the place where you come into contact with the covenant community of Christ. And we know that in the book of acts. And I’m going to put this slide up there because I think it’s so important that baptism in the name of Jesus was the unquestioned initiation rite of the post Easter church.
This is how you are initiated into the community of God. And I want to tell you, there are some of you in this room today who have been flirting with this idea for a long time. You are sort of kind of deciding whether or not you want to be fully in. And I want to invite you. If you have come to faith, if you believe that Jesus Christ is Lord, if you come to the grips with the idea that a life led by you is a terrible life, and a life led by Jesus Christ is a better life, and you participate in the process of repentance, I want to encourage you to get baptized. Do it. Some of you in this room get baptized. The water up there is warm. Actually, that is a lie. That is a lie. And I strike that, but it’s okay. Cold water is totally fine. There is a pool behind me. You can do it. I’ll clean it myself. I’ll hop in there, make sure there’s nothing in there for you. Do it. What are you waiting for? What are you waiting? You cannot wait to be perfect. You’re not perfect.
None of us are perfect. None of us are even close to perfect. But if you believe that Jesus Christ is Lord, what are you waiting for? And if you’re brand new here and you’re like, I don’t want to do that yet, and amen, that’s cool, like, you don’t have to just sit around and enjoy. And hopefully you’ll be convinced by the words of Jesus Christ. Or if you’re like, you know what? I do want to do that. We want to help you get into the process of figuring out what that means for you. By the way, if you’re thinking, why is he asking me to do this? It’s because Jesus just told me to.
Ask you, you to do this. So there you go. How can we believe in the one if they are not preached to? Okay, see, this is what the task of the early christians were. They went and they made disciples. Jesus says, I’m king, king of heaven and earth. And now I’m commissioning you to go to every part of the globe, to every people group, to everyone, and go and make disciples. Baptize them. And then do what? Teach them to obey everything. Baptizing them into who? Baptizing them into the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. I want to make a comment here. This is so important because humans in the church can become the objects of worship. Preachers can become the objects of worship. People who are your mentors can become the objects of worship. And so I love that Jesus clearly lets them know, this is not about Paul. This is not about Peter, this is not about Barnabas. This is not about some of the apostles. This is not about Tony the preacher. This is not about your favorite youtuber. You are being baptized into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
And then what are they to do? They are to teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. They’re to teach them, not their own ideas, but the commandments of Jesus. A term, commandments has basically been associated with the commandments given to God through Moses. But now Jesus says, those commandments, the new commandments, are the commandments. I want you to follow the way I interpret the commandments. Jesus says, I want you to teach everyone who becomes a disciple to obey all of my commandments. Then he concludes, and surely I’m with you always, to the very end of the age. In the Old Testament commissioning scenes, the assurance of God’s presence was a way to empower his often inadequate servants to do the task they were called with. Called to do. You can think about Exodus three, Joshua one, Jeremiah, chapter one. And so here in this commissioning, you have the same thing. Jesus is saying, I am with you on this journey. I am your strength. When you need help, when people doubt, when people persecute you, when people say they hate you, when people talk badly about you, I want you to know that I am with you always to the very end of the age.
So who are we in this story, and what are we to do? I want to conclude, I know the sermon has been a little shorter, but there’s nothing else I could pull from this text. If we’re disciples, this is as much our commissioning as it was theirs. And I know some of us are out of practice, but I want to encourage you to get back to it, man. And here’s a recommendation. Share with someone every day. Here’s my takeaway. My big takeaway is, don’t let a week go by without inviting someone to listen to the gospel with you. Don’t let a single week go by without you thinking, man. I am praying and hoping that someone. That this person will join me at church or that this person will join me in my community group or that this person will join me in that Bible study. You know, don’t let a single week go by without there being a hope that someone would come that you’ve invited. I met a guy playing pickleball yesterday. I hope he’s here. If you’re not here, it’s cool. Jeff, if you’re here, sorry I gave you a shout out.
Good to see you. I love. But I love this. I love this idea. Like, my goal in life is to make sure that there are people who come into contact with Jesus Christ and his gospel. And this is your mission. And as you do it, as you do it, what we get to see is that the power. The power of the gospel of Jesus infects more and more lives, and so that evil is diminished in more and more souls, that the problem is sin is destroyed in more and more families, that there are less and less divorces, and there are less and less murders, and there are less and less lies told, and there is less and less racism, and there is less and less hatred, and there are less and less wars. And what we do is we don’t stand up for all these wonderful, and I’m sure some of these things are wonderful political movements. What we do is instead we infuse people with the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the whole world is changed by it. And that’s the way we do it. That’s the way we change the world. This is our mission church.
This is our calling. I love what we do here. It makes so much of an impact to me. It should make an impact to you. If you have participated, if someone helped you, I pray to God that you will help someone else as well. We’re going to close with a song that is a song that we wrote that’s on the last album. It says there’s a line in it. It’s called following the footsteps of your way. And I want to encourage you, as you sing that line, to consider what it means for you. Consider what it means to follow in the footsteps of Jesus way to think about the people you can engage with to help them be infected with the transcendent message of Jesus Christ our Lord. Let’s sing together we can all stand.