Summary: Often as Christians we need to take a mental trip around the world to see the needs of the world today, as well as revisiting places like the Mount of Olives, Calvary, and the empty tomb to remind ourselves of the Great Comission we have been given.

Trip Around the World

Matthew 28:19

Intro

Tonight with the aid of the Holy Spirit, I would like to take a trip around the world, so that you might discover the desperate needs of the world in which we live. I would also like to take you back to some significant events in history that provide us with both a message that our world needs and the motivation that we must have if we would carry that message to our world.

I. A Visit to Mount of Olives (Matt. 28:19)

a. Before we begin our journey around our modern world, we need to listen closely to one who conquered death, hell, and the grave.

i. As we listen, he reveals his purpose of worldwide redemption:

1. We are to make disciples.

ii. He promises his personal presence:

1. I am with you always

2. His inexhaustible power is available to us.

b. We need to refresh our minds from time to time the Master’s claim.

i. We need to stand at attention as we hear the Master’s command.

ii. We should rejoice with joy beyond measure because of the promise Christ gave us in His companionship.

c. After twenty centuries of Christian history, the church finds itself in the embarrassing position of having been disobedient to the Master’s mandate

i. The majority of the inhabitants of this earth are still not Christians.

d. This world is becoming more and more pagan with the passing of every year.

e. Christianity is becoming the minority movement everyday.

II. Visit our Modern World

* Now I want us to seek to discover the world’s need for Christ.

* If we could hover over the earth and watch, just what would we see.

a. Our world is filled with fear

i. Countries are involved in wars and internal conflicts in many pars of the world.

ii. Terrorists strike in a variety of places and manners all over the world, even the US isn’t as safe as it once was.

b. Our world is filled with hate

i. One nation hates another

ii. One race hates another

c. Our world is filled with selfishness

i. On an individual level

ii. On national and international levels.

d. Our world is foolish

i. People have become captivated and fascinated by the technical marvels of our age

ii. They worship at the shrine of science

iii. They are interested in breaking all kinds of speed records

iv. They construct more and more complex computer technology.

v. They invest the bulk of their resources on temporal things

vi. They give their deepest devotion and their greatest energy to athletic achievements and scientific research and leave spiritual matters and matters of social justice untouched.

e. Our world is groping with spiritual darkness

i. People have shut God out

ii. Many have shut God in.

1. They refuse to turn him loose in their lives.

f. Our churches are unconcerned with the spiritual destitution right outside their doors.

III. Reaction and response

a. Alarm

i. As those who claim to have the truth about God, we should be greatly alarmed by our cold-hearted complacency toward the desperate spiritual needs of our world.

ii. The impact we are Christians are making is very difficult to discern.

iii. It is embarrassing to have to confess that we are not seriously engaged in a crusade to win this generation to faith in our Lord.

b. Compassion

i. The alarm and concern for the world in which we live should provoke compassion in the hearts of Christians.

1. When Christ beheld the multitude, his heart was filled with a trembling agony of concern that led him to go to the cross.

ii. NASA has giant electronic ears listening for sounds from outer space.

1. May God grant us ears that can hear the cries of distress from hearts that are in spiritual darkness in our world.

iii. The space agency has also places satellites in orbit around the earth to photograph cloud formations so as to predict the weather.

2. May God give us eyes that will see the desperate needs of those about us.

c. Frustration or defeatism

i. One possible reaction to our trip around the world is to be overcome with the immensity of the tasks before us.

ii. An attitude of defeatism could easily become the prevailing spirit.

iii. To adopt this attitude is to forget both the presence of the living Lord and the power of the gospel to save.

d. A Crusade of compassion

i. Jesus believed that there was hope for the world (Matt. 28:18-20)

ii. Paul believed that there was hope for his world (Rom. 1:14-16)

iii. If we will but revisit Calvary, the empty tomb, and the upper room, and respond to the compassionate command of our living Lord, there is hope for our world.

IV. Motivation for the task

* If we would be adequately motivated for the overwhelming task that confronts us, we must take a trip to a few more places.

a. Visit Calvary

i. Calvary is where God so loved the world (John 3:16).

ii. Calvary is where we see the Lamb of God taking away the sin of the world (John 1:29)

iii. Calvary is where Christ himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree (1 Peter 2:28)

iv. Calvary is where Christ was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities, where the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and where, by his stripes, we are healed (Isaiah 53:6)

v. Calvary is where God commended his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly (Rom. 5:8)

vi. Calvary is where the cry echoes, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved (Acts 16:31)

b. Visit the empty tomb

i. Visit the empty tomb where tragedy was transformed into triumph.

ii. Visit the empty tomb where Christ was declared to be the Son of God with power (Rom. 1:4)

iii. Visit the empty tomb where Jesus was declared to be a divine and infallible Teacher.

iv. Visit the empty tomb where we learn that death has been conquered and the grave wins no lasting victory (1 Cor. 15:57)

v. Visit the empty tomb where Christ is declared to be the adequate and all-sufficient Savior (Heb. 7:25)

vi. Visit the empty tomb where immortality was demonstrated beyond any shadow of a doubt (Rev. 1:18)

vii. Visit the empty tomb where we discover that our Lord is our contemporary in this day in which we live (Matt. 28:20)

viii. Visit the empty tomb where we see demonstrated the exceeding greatness of the power of God that is available to us who believe (Eph. 1:19)/

Closing

By prayer we can take a trip to every portion of the world and bring the blessings of God upon the work of his witnesses. A convert on a mission field expressed a desire to study geography so as to pray for other Christians more individually. God can hear your prayers and answer on the other side of the world.

The real imperative in the Great Commission is to be found in the word that is translated “make disciples.” The words translated “go” is really a participle with the force of an imperative. It literally means, “in your going about from place to place, make disciples. Each of us needs to get on with the wonderful opportunity of telling others about our Savior.