Messiah's Mandate
Text: Matt. 28:16-20
Introduction
1. Illustration: It is easy to determine when something is aflame. It ignites other material. Any fire that does not spread will eventually go out. A Pentecostal church without evangelism is a contradiction in terms, just as a fire that does not burn is a contradiction.
2. If we are going to be the kind of church that God has called us to be than we have acquire a burning passion to fulfill the Messiah's Mandate.
3. There are three aspects to the Messiah's Mandate...
a. Worship
b. Obedience
c. Instruction
4. Let's all stand as we read together Matt. 28:16-20.
Proposition: Making disciples is not something that we do, but rather it is a lifestyle that we live.
Transition: The first aspect of the Messiah's Mandate is...
I. Worship (16-17).
A. They Worshiped Him
1. Now some of you may be thinking, "Wait a minuet Pastor, isn't this the Great Commission? Are we going to talk about witnessing or singing?"
a. I want to contend with you that fulfilling the Messiah's Mandate is an act of worship.
b. Furthermore, I want to contend with you, as I have in the past, that worship is more than singing a song.
c. As we begin to look at our text today you will see that the Great Commission begins with worship.
2. Matthew begins this final section of his Gospel by telling us, "Then the eleven disciples left for Galilee, going to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go."
a. The 11 disciples (because Judas was gone) went to Galilee to meet Jesus just as the women had instructed them.
b. Jesus wanted to give His disciples their commission in Galilee, which shows that the teaching of the risen Jesus did not replace the teaching of the Jesus of Galilee put was a continuation of it (Horton, 655).
c. It seems appropriate that the Lord told them to meet Him on a mountain.
d. God had often revealed himself on mountains in biblical tradition, especially in the narratives about Moses (Keener, IVP Bible Background Commentary – New Testament).
3. Now let's look at what happened once they got there. Matthew says, "When they saw him, they worshiped him—but some of them doubted!"
a. For the first time in Matthew's narrative, the disciples encounter the risen Jesus, and appropriately their response is to "worship" him.
b. All along Jesus has been leading them to understand his true identity as the Son of God, a fact in his earthly ministry that was difficult for them to comprehend.
c. But now that he has been raised, which is the declaration that he is indeed God's Son, and they have received at least two to three appearances from the risen Jesus prior to this in Jerusalem, they are prepared to give him the worship that is due him (Wilkins).
d. When the disciples saw Jesus they worshiped Him. It was much more than homage. As the opposite of doubt it included belief.
e. However, you will notice that it says some of them doubted.
f. What did they doubt? It seems obvious that their doubt was whether this was actually Jesus.
g. Belief in Jesus rising from the dead was not something that they all had grasped, even though Jesus had told them He would on the third day.
h. This shows how absolutely mind blowing this whole event had been, but it was a God thing.
i. Notice that both the believers and the doubters received the commission and promise (Horton, 655).
B. What Is Worship?
1. Illustration: True biblical worship so satisfies our total personality that we don’t have to shop around for man-made substitutes. William Temple made this clear in his masterful definition of worship: "For worship is the submission of all our nature to God. It is the quickening of conscience by His holiness; the nourishment of mind with His truth; the purifying of imagination by His beauty; the opening of the heart to His love; the surrender of will to His purpose—and all of this gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable and therefore the chief remedy for that self-centeredness which is our original sin and the source of all actual sin" (Warren W. Wiersbe, The Integrity Crisis, 119).
2. Worship means giving ourselves over to the Lordship of Jesus.
a. 1 Chronicles 16:29 (NLT)
Give to the LORD the glory he deserves! Bring your offering and come into his presence. Worship the LORD in all his holy splendor.
b. Worship means giving God the glory He deserves.
c. Does worship mean singing His praises? Yes it does!
d. Does worship mean giving Him control over our finances? Yes it does!
e. Does worship mean giving Him control over our desires? Yes it does!
f. Does worship mean doing things that make us uncomfortable? Yes it does!
g. Does worship mean telling people about Jesus? Yes it does!
3. Worship should cause us to spring into action.
a. Acts 13:2 (NLT)
One day as these men were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Dedicate Barnabas and Saul for the special work to which I have called them.”
b. If we are truly worshiping the Lord it should inspire us to do His work
c. If we are truly worshiping the Lord it should inspire us to want to share the Good News with people.
d. If we are truly worshiping the Lord it should create in us a passion to reach out to the lost.
Transition: The Messiah's Mandate is about worship, but it is also about...
II. Obedience (18-19).
A. Make Disciples
1. Charles Finney once said, "Revival is nothing more than a new obedience towards God."
a. Revival should bring at least two things: a new passion for God and a renewed passion to reach out to unbelievers.
b. A renewed passion for God brings obedience to His commands, which of course leads to a passion to reach unbelievers because He has commissioned us to do so.
c. But what was His command?
2. First of all we need to understand how Jesus sets this up. Matthew tells us, "Jesus came and told his disciples, 'I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth.'"
a. Notice that Matthew says that "Jesus came and his disciples," which indicates that He stood at a distance at first and then came closer to them.
b. He said that all authority, power, and might had been given by God to Him.
c. All Authority: The ability, the power, the right to do something (Practical Word Studies in The New Testament).
d. He would be seated at the right hand of the Father, a place of authority and privilege, and would be given all authority in heaven and on earth (Horton, 655).
e. Daniel 7:14 (NLT)
He was given authority, honor, and sovereignty over all the nations of the world, so that people of every race and nation and language would obey him. His rule is eternal—it will never end. His kingdom will never be destroyed.
3. Now look at what Jesus says next, "Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit."
a. The commission in v. 19 is a direct result of Jesus' position in v. 18.
b. He is saying, "because I have been given all authority, go and make disciples."
c. They had preached before, but that was only to the Jewish community. Now they were to take the Gospel to everyone, although it took them a while to figure that out.
4. Most people misunderstand the great command of the great commission.
a. Many think that the imperative here is to go, but the only imperative is to make disciples.
b. The going here is a foregone conclusion. What Jesus is actually saying here is "as you are going make disciples."
c. This means more than just bringing people to a place of decision for Christ. It means dealing with them, teach them, guide them, inspire them into a closer relationship with Jesus.
d. Jesus spent a great deal of time guiding and instructing the disciples in their growth.
e. He now sends them out to do the same. The process will not be exactly the same as what Jesus did, for the circumstances after Pentecost change the process.
f. However, the process will be similar in many ways. As a person responds to the invitation to come out of the nations to start life as a disciple, she or he begins the life of discipleship through baptism and obedience to Jesus' teaching.
g. Baptism is the initiation of a disciple, and is a public declaration to the world that you now belong to Jesus (Horton, 657).
5. We must also understand the "all-encompassing" nature of the Messiah's Mandate.
a. The object of making disciples is "all the nations." People of every nation are to receive the opportunity to become Jesus' disciples.
b. To obey Jesus' commission may require some to leave homeland and go to other parts of the world, but the imperative nature of the entire commission requires all believers to be involved in it.
c. The completion of the commission is not simply evangelism.
d. Rather, it means calling unbelievers to be converted and embark on the process of being transformed into the image of Jesus in lifelong discipleship (Wilkins).
B. Imperative
1. Illustration: John Piper said, ‘there are three possibilities with the great commission You can go, You can send. Or you can be disobedient. Ignoring the cause is not a Christian option.
2. Telling people about Jesus and making disciples IS NOT AN OPTION!!!!!
a. 1 Samuel 15:22-23 (NLT)
But Samuel replied, “What is more pleasing to the LORD: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams. 23 Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft, and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols. So because you have rejected the command of the LORD, he has rejected you as king.”
b. I am going to say something that is going to shock some and make others angry.
c. The Messiah's Mandate to make disciples applies to anyone who calls themselves a Christian, and if you are not making a conscious and deliberate attempt to make disciples you are in rebellion against God.
d. According to this verse if you are in rebellion against God it is as bad as participating in witchcraft or worshiping an idol.
e. God has commanded us to make disciples and it is not an option.
3. A Pentecostal Church is a Soul Winning Church!
a. Acts 1:8 (NLT)
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
b. The purpose of being Pentecostal and baptized in the Holy Spirit is more than just speaking in tongues.
c. The purpose of being Pentecostal and baptized in the Holy Spirit is not so we can wave our arms and show everyone how spiritual we are.
d. The purpose of being Pentecostal and baptized in the Holy Spirit is to be empowered to make more disciples of Jesus.
Transition: The Messiah's Mandate is about worship, it's about obedience, and it is about...
III. Instruction (20).
A. Teach These New Disciples
1. The role that Jesus has given us is to be disciple makers. The only way to make disciples is to teach them to follow Jesus.
2. Jesus said, "Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you..."
a. The final participial phrase in Jesus' Great Commission, "teaching," indicates the process by which disciples of Jesus are continually transformed through discipleship and the discipling process.
b. Discipleship is the process by which a disciple (Christian) is transformed, while discipling is the involvement of one disciple helping another to grow in his or her discipleship.
c. Today many incorrectly use the title "disciple" to refer to a person who is more committed than other Christians or to those involved in special "discipleship programs."
d. But we can see from Jesus' commission that all Christians are disciples. It is just that some are obedient disciples, while others are not.
e. The activity of discipleship is involved with "teaching."
f. Teach: to provide instruction in a formal or informal setting (Louw and Nidda, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Symantic Domains).
g. New disciples are to be taught the rudimentary elements of the Christian life, while more advanced teaching is given to mature disciples as they advance in the Christian life.
h. But the emphasis is not simply on acquiring knowledge; the distinguishing feature is always that disciples are to obey or conform their lives to the teaching. Obedience was the hallmark of Jesus' disciples (Wilkins).
3. Jesus final words in Matthew's Gospel are, "...And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
a. Here Jesus promises His continuing presence among us.
b. We know that He does this through His Holy Spirit, and that He will continue to protect us by His authority and power against all opposition.
c. John Calvin said, "The nature of that presence which the Lord promises to his followers ought to be understood spiritually; for it is not necessary that he should descend from heaven in order to assist us, since he can assist us by the grace of his Spirit, as if he stretched out his hand from heaven. For he who, in respect of his body, is at a great distance from us, not only diffuses the efficacy of his Spirit through the whole world, but even actually dwells in us" (Calvin's Commentary's Online).
d. By the "end of the age" Jesus meant from then until He comes a second time in glory (Horton, 657).
e. He has given us a big task, but He himself will supply everything we need to accomplish it.
f. Remember, the will of God will never call you where the grace of God cannot keep you.
B. Mentoring
1. Illustration: Dr. James Dobson said in his book Parenting lsn’t for Cowards, `Attach a boy to a good man, and he seldom goes wrong." Dr. Terry Wise defines mentoring as: "A relational experience in which one person empowers another by sharing God given resources."
2. Messiah's Mandate calls for women to mentor women.
a. Titus 2:4-5 (NLT)
These older women must train the younger women to love their husbands and their children, 5 to live wisely and be pure, to work in their homes, to do good, and to be submissive to their husbands. Then they will not bring shame on the word of God.
b. You older ladies, when was the last time you asked one of the younger ladies to go shopping or out to eat with you?
c. You younger ladies, when was the last time you asked one of the younger girls to do something with you?
d. What are you doing to teach others?
3. Messiah's Mandate calls for men to mentor men.
a. Titus 2:6-7 (NLT)
In the same way, encourage the young men to live wisely. 7 And you yourself must be an example to them by doing good works of every kind. Let everything you do reflect the integrity and seriousness of your teaching.
b. Older men, when was the last time you asked one of the younger men to go fishing, or out for coffee?
c. Younger men, when was the last time you asked one of the teenagers to hang out with you?
d. What are you doing to teach others?
Transition: What are you doing with the Messiah's Mandate?
Conclusion
1. There are three aspects to the Messiah's Mandate...
a. Worship
b. Obedience
c. Instruction
2. Are you making disciples?
3. Is it a priority in your life?
4. If Jesus came back today how pleased would he be with you?
