1. The first reason we can confidently accomplish our mission is our authority
2. The second reason we can confidently accomplish our mission is our assignment
3. The third reason we can confidently accomplish our mission is our assurance
MATTHEW 28:16-20
Back in the ‘80s, there was a big push in the business world for everybody to come up with mission statements. The object was to come up with a short statement that told the world what their company was about. It was also supposed to tell all the employees what they were about. I love some of the mission statements companies came up with. Some of them sound really plastic and corporate—like a bunch of lawyers came up with them. But some of them are pretty good. I like Wal-Mart’s—“To give ordinary folks the chance to buy the same thing as rich people.” Isn’t that good? It gets the point across to everybody. What about Walt Disney’s. They have a good one—“To make people happy.” That’s a good mission statement. Everybody knows what they’re talking about. I think the folks at Nike had a sense of humor when they came up with theirs. Theirs is about the most clear and concise mission statement I’ve ever heard. Nike’s mission statement is: “Crush Reebok.” Mission statements have been a trendy thing for businesses for about 25 years. Shareholders like them. CEOs like them. Wall Street likes them. So, following the lead of the world, churches started to jump on the bandwagon too. If mission statements were good enough for IBM and GE, they ought to be good enough for churches, right? So, before you knew it, church leaders wrote books and churches formed committees. And then many of them came up with these wonderfully creative mission statements. Some are pretty good. And some of them are not so good. Some are just pure fluff. One thing becomes very clear when you look at the early church. Not one time in the book of Acts did James or Peter or Paul sit down with the churches of Jerusalem and Asia to develop unique mission statements. Not one time did Paul address the need for unique mission statements in any of his letters. When Paul placed Titus over the churches in Crete, he gave him a lot of instructions. Not one of them concerned him developing a unique mission statement for each of the churches in Crete. Not once did he instruct the young pastor Timothy on the need for him to develop a unique mission statement for Ephesus. I’m not saying that unique mission statements for individual churches are wrong. What I am saying is that they are unnecessary. They are unnecessary because Jesus already gave us our mission statement in our passage this morning. And it’s not something that’s unique. It applies to every church just the same. It applied to the church in Jerusalem the exact way it applies to Brushfork Baptist Church today. After Jesus died, was buried and rose again on the third day, He stayed around for 40 days to teach and encourage the disciples. About 25 or 30 days after the resurrection, they met Jesus on an unspecified mountain in Galilee. The text specifically calls out the eleven apostles as being there. But it doesn’t limit it to them only. As a matter of fact, this was probably where Jesus revealed Himself to the over 500 people that Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians 15. So there was quite a group of people there. Jesus told the ladies who had gone to His tomb to have the disciples meet Him in Galilee. They obeyed. And so did the disciples—lots of them. They obeyed even though some of them still doubted. But when they saw Jesus and heard Him speak, they worshipped Him. After they recognized Jesus for who He really is, He gave them a job to do. He gave them a mission. He gave them their mission statement. And it’s the same mission statement He still gives us today. This sermon is a call to urgent action. It is a call to urgently accomplish our mission—both as individuals and as a church. I want each of us to know the mission that Jesus gave us. But most of the time, knowing what to do isn’t the problem, is it? The problem comes with actually doing it. That’s why I want each of us not only to know what our mission is—I want us to do it. And I want us to do it with confidence. I want each of us to confidently accomplish the mission that Jesus gave us to accomplish. In order to do that, we’re going to look at three reasons we can confidently accomplish our mission. The first reason is our authority. Look with me in verse 18:
MATTHEW 28:18
The first reason we can confidently accomplish our mission is our authority. A story is told about the Governor of Massachusetts. He had a long day of gripping and grinning, trying to round up votes for the upcoming election. That afternoon was a BBQ fundraising dinner hosted by a local ladies’ group. When the governor went through the line, he was starved. Doing exactly like she did for everybody else, the lady who was serving put one piece of chicken on his plate. He looked at her and asked for another piece. She told him, “No, I’m only supposed to put one piece on each plate.” He looked at her and said, “Lady, do you know who I am? I’m the man in charge of this stated and I want another piece of chicken.” She looked at him over her glasses and said, “Do you know who I am? I’m the lady in charge of this chicken—move along.” Sometimes we get position and authority confused, don’t we? When we looked at the crucifixion and the resurrection over the past few weeks, there were plenty of people with positions. Pilate had a powerful position. Herod had a powerful position. Caiaphas and Annas had powerful positions. But even though they used their powerful positions to have Jesus crucified, they had no authority over Him. Jesus is the One who laid down His own life. He is the One who joyfully endured the cross. And He is the One who took His life up again. In John 10:17-18, Jesus prophetically made that clear. He said, “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.” Pilate and Herod and Caiaphas and Annas all had positions. They just thought they had authority. When Jesus laid down His life and took it up again… He proved He had authority. As a matter of fact, He has the very authority of God. Because He is God. And as God, He passes that authority on to us. One of the most challenging lessons that any leader has to learn is how to delegate. But even when a leader learns how to delegate, there is the matter of authority. There are just some things that a leader can’t delegate because he is the only one who has that authority. Well, Jesus has all authority. Colossians 1: 17-19 tells us, “And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell.” Jesus has all authority. He said to these gathered disciples on that hillside in Galilee, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.” By the authority of His Word and in the power of His resurrection, Jesus gave them a mission. And He gave us a mission. When we accept that mission, we go in the power of His authority. Jesus never expects us to accomplish our mission in our power. We have no authority on our own. That’s why He gives us His. Jesus gives us a mission. He delegates His authority. So when we go out on mission for Him, we go out in His power, His strength and in His authority. So why are we afraid? Why are we timid? Because we don’t really believe Him. You see, if we really believe that Jesus is who He said He is, we will believe that all power and authority is His. And when we’re on mission for Him, He delegates that authority to us. That is power. That is mission-accomplishing power. That is the kind of power that will give us confidence to accomplish our mission. The first reason we can confidently accomplish our mission is our authority. The second reason is our assignment. Look with me at verses 19 and 20a.
MATTHEW 28:19-20a
The second reason we can confidently accomplish our mission is our assignment. I’ve been a Southern Baptist all my life. And one thing about being a Southern Baptist is that we use this verse a lot. At least we use it a lot twice a year. We use it during Christmas and Easter. During the Lottie Moon International missions offering time. And during the Annie Armstrong North American mission offerings time. But this passage isn’t just a way to put us on a guilt trip to give money to missions. One author that I read this week put it like this. He wrote, “This passage is the climax and major focal point not only of this gospel but of the entire New Testament. It is not an exaggeration to say that, in its broadest sense, it is the focal point of all Scripture, Old Testament as well as New.” What is it about this passage that’s so important? It’s so important because it gives us our assignment. It gives us our mission. I can’t help but think of the old TV show Mission Impossible. “This is your mission should you choose to accept it.” Well, guess what? Verse 19 and 20 are our mission—whether we accept it or not. And the tape might not self-destruct in five seconds… but if we don’t accept our Lord’s mission, our fellowship with Him just might self-destruct. And our rewards and blessings just might self-destruct. So what is our mission? What is our assignment? When we look at verses 19-20 in our English Bibles, we see several action words. We see several verbs that might make us think that we have a list of things we need to do here. But in reality, in the original language, there is only one command. There is only one imperative in these verses. And it might surprise you which one it is. As mission-minded Southern Baptists, we might automatically think that the imperative command is to go. But it’s not. The imperative command is translated “teach” in the King James. That is an unfortunate translation. Because it’s a different original word than what is translated “teaching” in verse 20. The word that’s translated “teach” in verse 19 literally means “make disciples.” That’s the command. Think about it. Who is Jesus talking to here? He’s talking to a group of His disciples. And He tells them to make more of themselves. He tells them to reproduce themselves. Make more people who are sold-out followers and worshippers of Jesus. And that’s where the other verbs in the verse come into play. The other verbs are not imperatives. They are what are called participles. OK, here’s your grammar lesson for the day: participles modify the main verb in a sentence. In other words, since the main verb in our passage is “make disciples”… the participles tell how you’re going to do that. The first one is “go”. In other words, “as you are going”, make disciples. As you are going about in whatever area God has given you, make disciples of everyone you meet there. And as you make those disciples, you are to be baptizing them. The idea of being a Christian apart from being baptized is foreign to Scripture except in extreme circumstances. Let me put it this way—if you are saved while hanging on a cross, you are excused from being baptized. Otherwise, it’s the first step of obedience to our Lord. But I want you to notice the order. A person is made a disciple—they’re saved—before they’re baptized. We don’t baptize people just to get them wet. We are commanded to baptize disciples. And the only way we can baptize disciples is to baptize them into full fellowship with believers. That’s why baptism is an ordinance of the local church. As we are going, we are to make disciples. An integral part of making disciples is baptizing them into the local church. The reason for that is because that is the primiary environment where God designed for teaching to take place. “Teaching” in verse 20 is another participle. Yes, we read the Bible on our own. Yes we study the Bible on our own. But the primary place for teaching is when we gather together as a body of believers and open God’s Word together. So here’s our mission. Our mission is that, as each of us are going along in the places God allows us to go, we are to make disciples of Jesus. When we make disciples, we are to bring them into full obedience to Jesus and into the full fellowship of the church in baptism. And we are to continue to grow them in discipleship by teaching them the Word. That’s our command. That’s our mission. Our mission is to reproduce ourselves. If Jesus has saved you, He expects you to lead others to Him. When was the last time you did that? When was the last time you made a disciple? You go every day. Do you make disciples as you go? Or is your tape self-destructing without you accepting the mission? If it is, then so are your rewards and your blessings. As 1 Corinthians 3:15 says, you will be saved, but only as through fire. We can confidently accomplish our mission because of our authority and because of our assignment. The third reason we can confidently accomplish our mission is our assurance. Look at the last part of verse 20.
MATTHEW 28:20
The third reason we can confidently accomplish our mission is our assurance. What is the number one reason that people don’t make disciples? “Well, I just don’t know what to say.” “I just don’t know enough Bible to witness to people.” “I can’t answer all the questions that people will ask.” Those are common responses. But they’re not reasons. Those are excuses. The number one reason that people don’t make disciples is because they’re scared to talk to people about Jesus. I have seen just about every evangelism training program that’s out there. And there are a lot of them. But in and of themselves, not one single one of those programs will get one single person to make one single disciple. Because each and every one of us is afraid to open up to people in that way. Each and every one of us is afraid of being rejected. But guess what? Jesus told us to do it anyway. And not only did He tell us to do it anyway, He promised us His power. Remember back in verse 18? All the power is His. And when we step out in obedience to His command to make disciples, He gives us His power to do it. And not only that, He promises that He is right there with us—forever. So when the homeowner turns his dog loose on you—Jesus is there with you. His power is your power. When the kids at school make fun of you and ostracize you—you’re not alone. Jesus assures you that He is there with you. When you’ve talked to your lost family until you’re blue in the face and you’re ready to give up—Jesus is there with you, giving you His authority. You don’t know what to say? Just talk. You don’t have to have a formula. If you did, Jesus would have given us one. God loves you so much that He doesn’t want to be apart from you. Your sin is what keeps you apart from Him. And there’s only one price that can be paid for sin—death. God doesn’t want you to die, He wants you to live with Him forever. So He sent His Son to die in your place. If you understand that you’re a sinner. If you understand that there’s nothing you can do for your own sin. If you understand that Jesus died for your sin so you wouldn’t have to. If you accept that—if you believe that… then turn from your sins and turn to Him in faith believing and He will save you. It’s that simple. It’s not a sales pitch. We’re not selling a product and closing the sale with a canned prayer. We’re making disciples under the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ. And lo, Jesus is with you always even unto the end of the world.
