Matt

Matt. 28:18-20

6/29/2008

“I Will Be with You Always”

As we get ready to be organized as a particular church, we want to remind ourselves of the mission, for which God established us and has sustained us up to this point. As many of you know, in our passage, Jesus issues what is known as the Great Commission. This title is most appropriate. It should be called the Great Commission because of its great scope: Christ calls us to make disciples of all the nations. It should be called the Great Commission because of its great importance: this commission defines the primary mission of the Church. It should be called the Great Commission because of the great King, who issued it: this commission was issued by the great One, to whom all authority in heaven and earth has been given. As long as we exist as a church, we would do well to put this Great Commission at the forefront of all that we do and all that we plan.

The Great Commission consists of one main command: make disciples of all nations. All other injunctions are in participial form (“going”, “baptizing”, “teaching”), which inform how, or what it means, to make disciples.

What Jesus demands in this commission is making of disciples--not just church-goers and nominal Christians, not just evangelical Christians, not even just Reformed Christians but disciples of Jesus Christ! What does it mean to be Jesus’ disciple? Jesus has been showing specific pictures of His disciple throughout Matthew’s Gospel.

· Jesus said to Peter and Andrew, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him (Matt. 4:19-20). A disciple is someone, who follows Christ at His command, immediately leaving behind everything, which may hinder him from following Jesus. It should be obvious who’s following whom: it is the disciple who follows Christ, not the other way round. Being a disciple also includes “fishing men” for Christ, or making other disciples of Christ--some in an official way and others in more informal ways.

· At the end of His Sermon on the Mount, which He preached to His disciples (5:1-2), Jesus said, “[W]ho hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock” (7:24). A disciple is more than someone, who is simply intrigued and enamored by Jesus’ teaching. A disciple not only hears the words of Christ but does them and thus grows in wisdom.

· Jesus said to His disciples, “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” (10:37). Whom do we love more than our father and mother? Whom do we love more than our sons and daughters? Even if we had twelve children, losing a child would be unthinkable! Yet the love Jesus demands from His disciple must be more intense, more sacrificial, more generous, more willing and far greater than the love we have for our dearest ones! A disciple of Jesus Christ loves Him more than anything or anybody in the whole world.

· And we read in 16:24, “Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.’” A disciple of Jesus Christ is someone, who follows Him all the way, even to the point of taking up a cross. A disciple of Jesus Christ loves Christ more than his own life. Even the greatest of humiliation and suffering, even the most miserable death, all of which the cross represented at the time of Jesus, the disciple will gladly endure for Jesus’ sake.

Why? And how could Jesus demand such a thing? Either He would be a lunatic and an egomaniac cult leader or Someone, who is really worthy and fully deserving of such love. The answer is obvious. If we have a hard time following Christ and loving Christ that way, it is only because we do not know Him as we ought. It is like someone, who owns a most powerful personal computer yet only knows how to use a word processor. But when we stand in glory on that appointed day, we will see how “worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing” (Rev. 5:12). And we will regret nothing more than not loving Christ more, loving Him in a more daring and radical and sacrificial way!

Jesus demands that we be such disciples and we make such disciples of all nations. The most immediate and direct recipients of this commission were Jesus’ Apostles, who were all Jews. Jesus was telling these Jewish men to make disciples of all nations. In doing so, Jesus was announcing that the time had arrived for the prophecies of old to be fulfilled through the missionary efforts of the disciples. Although most of the Jews had forgotten about it, it was always their Lord’s intention to have all the nations to be saved to worship Him! Even when the Lord set apart Abram from the world to start a chosen race, the Lord spoke of blessing all the families of the earth through Abram and his Seed (Gen. 12:3; 22:18).

How, then, are we to make disciples of all nations? Jesus says, “Going” or “As you go”. We must note that this is a drastic reversal of orientation. In the Old Testament, the religious movement was centripetal in its orientation (that is, moving toward a center or axis), with Jerusalem, particularly the Jerusalem temple, as the center. Although the whole earth is full of God’s glory (Isa. 6:3), it was the Jerusalem temple, where God’s presence was most concentrated in all the earth! So all the Jewish men were to present themselves at the temple at least three times a year at their national feasts. And when people prayed, they were to pray toward the temple (1 Kings 8:29-30). And when the great day of the Lord should come, all the nations were to stream toward it (Isa. 2:2; cf. Micah 4:1-3; Isa. 27:13; 56:7; 60:20).

But the Great Commission signals that this direction has been reversed. The movement is now centrifugal in orientation (that is, moving away from a center or axis). The apostles were not to wait in Jerusalem for all the nations to come to it; rather, they were to go from Jerusalem to all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8) so that they might make disciples of all nations. Why this great reversal in orientation? This reversal implies that the center has lost its significance as the center. If anything, it is not much more than where the movement starts outward. That means, the presence of God is no longer confined to the Jerusalem temple. The temple is not even a symbol of God’s special presence any longer. How did all this come about? Remember what happened when Jesus died on the cross: the temple veil was torn in two from top to bottom (Matt. 27:51). This meant, first and foremost, that the people of God has been granted an unprecedented and open access into God’s holy presence! It is as though the gate had been torn down and nothing stood between the sanctuary of God and us.

But the rending of the veil also meant that God’s presence could not be confined to the Most Holy Place behind the veil. To be holy is to be set apart from what is secular and common. And it was the veil, which (symbolically) kept the presence of God from the view and access of the people. So when the veil was rent in two, the temple was no longer a holy structure. As such, it could no longer serve the purpose it had served. The temple was where animal sacrifices were offered. These animal sacrifices were but a shadow and type of something greater. When Jesus offered His once-for-all sacrifice, an earthly temple, in which animal sacrifices were offered, became no longer necessary; it lost its holy status. Now, the people no longer need to come to the temple in Jerusalem. God’s holy presence is no longer defined by geographical, spatial demarcation, by a symbolic arrangement. God dwells in a living temple, made up of His redeemed people. He is present wherever His people gather in His name at His call. Wherever and whenever they gather in His name at His call, they enter into the heavenly temple, as it were. His people no longer need to pray toward an earthly temple. When they pray, as they pray in the name of Jesus Christ, they pray upward, toward the heavenly temple, yea, in the heavenly temple!

This centrifugal orientation of the Great Commission also shows another drastic reversal in redemptive history. Because of the centripetal orientation of the Old Testament, being scattered was not viewed as something good. At the Tower of Babel, God punished the people there by confusing their language and dispersing them throughout the face of the earth. This was especially true for the people of Israel, particularly on account of the Promised Land. God warned that their covenant disobedience would result in their being cast out of the Promised Land and scattered throughout the nations of the world, which did happen. Jesus’ Great Commission indicates that there is no longer any earthly Promised Land! The land of Palestine was but a shadow land of the true Promised Land! The era of types and shadows is over! The time to leave it behind has arrived! So we can sing, “What matters where on earth we dwell? / On mountain top, or in the dell, / In cottage, or a mansion fair, / Where Jesus is, ’tis Heaven there.” That is why the church of Jesus Christ can be dispersed all throughout the world without wondering whether we are cursed or not! That is why we can gather as we do in La Jolla and know that we have access to the throne of God, that we are accepted by God. In fact, our presence here and the support we give to our missionaries show that Christ’s Great Commission is being fulfilled right here among us and everywhere God’s people meet!

This centrifugal orientation of the New Testament church, this attitude of going, reminds us that ultimately we are pilgrims, passing through this world as strangers and aliens. This world is not our home. Even this great country of ours is not our home. As Abraham did a long time ago, we look for a country far better than these Unites States of America. This doesn’t mean that we do not care for our country. We should pray and work hard for the wellbeing of this country as God placed us here. So then, we are to live in a challenging and healthy tension of our dual citizenship, yet without losing sight of our primary citizenship in heaven.

This centrifugal orientation of the New Testament church calls us to humility in our interaction with the world. We do not sit around in our Christian cliques and wait for the world to come to us. We are to go to them even before they ask us. We go to them as humble servants of Christ to serve them with the Gospel. We go to them, not in the spirit of “I am better than you” but in the spirit of humility and love.

But this does not mean that we let the world define our ministry according to its likeness and preference. The world would like nothing more than the church to be just a social service organization, building schools and hospitals, feeding the poor, etc. But the mission of the church cannot be defined by the world; it must be defined by Christ, the Head and King of the church! His Great Commission sets before the church its ultimate goal: to make Christ’s disciples out of all nations! And we do this by going out to the ends of the earth. And we do this also by administering baptism.

We are to baptize the would-be disciples of Christ in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Here, Jesus is talking about water baptism, which is a sign of the Holy Spirit baptism: only Jesus can baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire (Matt. 3:11).

Water baptism is also a visible seal of the new covenant in Jesus Christ. As such, it is, among many things, a divine seal of ownership by the triune God. It means that we belong to God--if anyone messes with us, he messes with God. So, when Saul of Tarsus persecuted the Christians, he was persecuting Jesus Himself (Acts 9:4). You see, when we are baptized, we are made God’s possession. When that happens, we also receive the promise and commitment from the triune God: from the Father, who decreed our salvation from the foundation of the world with an unbreakable, irrevocable, immutable decree, who delights in His own glory more than anything and therefore will never fail to glorify Himself through our salvation; from the Son, who delights in His Father with an infinite delight, who fulfilled His Father’s decree to the point of laying down His life for us sinners, whose love for us is powerful and efficacious to actually save us from the eternal fire of hell; from the Holy Spirit--that almighty, divine Spirit--who delights in honoring the Son and is able, more than able, to regenerate and sanctify us and thus apply Christ’s salvation to us without fail! What an amazing thing it is to be baptized in the name of the triune God! When a seal of approval is stamped on a product, a commitment is made by the manufacturer that all of its expertise and reputation and resources will back up the product. When we are sealed with baptism, we have the commitment from the triune God to make us and treasure us as His own, to let no one snatch us from His mighty hands! This also means that we no longer belong to ourselves but to God, wholly, completely and fully! It is the first formal step we take as a disciple of Jesus Christ, as a pledge to leave the world behind us and follow Him all the way to the end.

But baptism is also an ecclesiastical sign. It is not just a sealing of our relationship with God as an individual but also of our relationship with His church as its members. So we are told in Acts 2:41 that, after Peter’s preaching on the day of Pentecost, three thousand souls were added. Added to what? To the church of Jesus Christ, where they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers (Acts 2:42). You see, all the baptized persons were brought into the church of Jesus Christ to be taught, to have fellowship with other saints, to be engaged in mutually discipling relationship. In fact, this is exactly what Jesus Himself prescribed in the Great Commission: after being baptized, they are to receive the teaching to observe all that Christ has taught--that is, they are to be brought into the covenant community, in which they are further taught of the things of Christ as His disciples!

A disciple of Jesus Christ is not a lone ranger. A disciple of Jesus Christ is a member of the church of Jesus Christ. As I said many, many times, no Christian is saved merely as an individual; every Christian is saved as a member of the body of Christ. This is always and spiritually true the moment a person is saved. But this is to be true also physically and visibly by one’s baptism, which brings him into a local congregation as its member. Except in extraordinary cases, one cannot be a disciple of Christ without being a member of His church!

The Great Commission also shows us that a disciple of Jesus Christ is a teachable person. When he follows Christ as a disciple, he is committing himself to a lifetime of learning and growing. Why? Because there is so much to learn! What we are to learn is all that Christ has taught. The Word of God is simple enough for children to understand. But it is also profound enough to confound scholars. It will take us a lifetime and eternity to fathom the depth of God’s Word.

But Christ demands more in this Great Commission. The goal of discipleship is not just to teach; it is to teach the disciples to observe all that Christ has taught. We have not taught well just because those who learn from us can recollect and recite what they have learned. We have not truly taught until those we teach have learned to live by it! And we have not truly learned until we have learned to live by what we know with our mind! Of course, there are varying degrees of knowing. None of us will fully know until that appointed day. Obviously, this requires a lifetime of humility and teachability. This is true especially because we are to learn not just directly from the Word of God but also to learn from one another, especially from the pastors and teachers appointed by God for this very purpose! Would you agree that Jesus’ Great Commission is a challenge far beyond our abilities, a mission impossible? Our mission is not just to gather up enough people to build a building and establish a lasting organization. Our mission is make disciples of Christ, who love Christ more than anything or anyone, more than their own lives, who are ready to make greatest of sacrifices for the sake of Christ because they no longer consider their lives and all their possessions as their own but Christ’s.

This is why we can never lose sight of the basis of this Great Commission: “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to Me….” Obviously, the authority that Jesus is talking about here is not the authority He had always had as the eternal Son of God. The authority here was given to Jesus after His death and resurrection. What kind of authority is this? This authority, according to Rev. 5, is the authority to take the scroll and to break its seven seals, which sets off the very last phase of history and brings history to its intended end. This authority, according to Rev. 20, is the authority to bind Satan for a thousand years, throw him into the pit, shut it and seal it over him so that he might not deceive the nations any longer (vv. 2-3). This is the authority to forgive sin and save sinners from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. This authority may be called Christ’s redemptive authority.

There is a sense in which Christ has always had the redemptive authority--how can there be anything the all-sufficient God has not always possessed from all eternity? In fact, this redemptive authority is a uniquely divine authority: only God can forgive (Matt. 9:2-6). But we must understand that this redemptive authority is not an arbitrary one, which simply belongs to His sovereign lordship. The righteousness of God demanded that His forgiveness be not just gracious and free but also righteous and just. If the Son of God had the authority to forgive sins and save sinners from all eternity, it was on account of what He would accomplish in the fullness of the times through His death and resurrection. For it was decreed from the foundation of the world that the Son of God should live, die and rise again for our redemption (Eph. 1:4; Rev. 13:8, NIV). And now that Christ did live and die and rose again from the dead, He rightfully possesses all authority in heaven and earth to forgive sins and save sinners from every tribe, tongue, people and nation!

Do you see why carrying out the Great Commission is so important? Billions of people have been under Satan’s deception, headed toward hell and eternal punishment. Now the time has come for them to hear the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ for their redemption for the very first time! This is because all authority in heaven and earth has been given to Jesus! This is the most significant turning point in all of history! But many say, how is that so? The world does not seem to have changed too much. Then, consider the recent California Supreme Court decision regarding the definition of marriage. It was made by seven justices by a close vote of 4-3. Many of us were not even aware that such a decision was made. And except for some headlines for a few days, things don’t seem to have changed much in our daily life. But many legal experts say that the legal, socio-political and religious ramifications of that decision are HUGE! Some taunt it as the beginning of the end of the Western civilization, which it may well be. You see? A simple, one-time decision of seven fallible mortals can create a domino effect of unimaginable consequences. How about the death and resurrection of the eternal Son of God made man, who died to pay for our sins and cancel our debt once for all, who rose again from the dead, conquering death forever? As a result, this world is passing away, giving way to the new creation. This age of temporary life is being replaced by the age of eternal life, resurrection life.

And as we make disciples of Christ by going, baptizing and teaching, we have the assurance that the One, to whom all authority in heaven and earth has been given, will be with us always, to the end of the age. And how wonderfully this is demonstrated in Matthew! The book begins with the birth of Jesus Christ, the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel" (which means, God with us)” (Matt. 1:23; Isa. 7:14). Now the book ends with the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who promises to be with us always, to the end of the age! Those who read the Gospel and do them find themselves enfolded and surrounded by these bookends, the double-witness, the double-oath of divine promise to His people, to His disciples! One promise of God should be enough for us, for God cannot lie, He cannot fail. But we have been given the double-oath of the almighty, infallible God, whose name is True and Faithful! What shall we fear, no matter how great the commission, how impossible the task!

Someone once said that we can do some great things when we say, “I can!” But we can do even more amazing things when we say, “I will!” I am not calling you to the fairytale of positive thinking. But how should we respond to all that we have heard in this message? Christ told us what the Great Commission is about--making His disciples--and how it is to be accomplished--by going, by baptizing and by teaching to observe all that He has taught. Christ also told us how it can be done--because all authority in heaven and earth has been given to Him, because He is with us always! It is not enough that we believe we can. I believe God is calling us to say, “We will in faith and obedience!”

Why are we here at New Life Mission Church week after week? I hope that all of us are here because we heeded Christ’s call to discipleship--to follow Him, leaving behind anything and everything that pulls us back from following Him immediately and wholeheartedly, whether it be some habitual sins or crippling habits, certain ambitions or idols of our hearts, whatever it may be; to love Christ more than anything and anyone, even our own dear life.

Brothers and sisters, as we find ourselves at this important juncture as a church, let us affirm together why we are here together. It is on the basis of the Great Commission that we have been established as a church. We are here to be made disciples of Christ and grow as such. And we are to help one another in fulfilling the Great Commission by discipling one another. Let us commit ourselves to a ministry that is wholly dedicated to making disciples of Christ, who are not just intrigued or enamored with Christ but who actually follow Christ, denying ourselves and taking up the cross and following Him all the way to the grave through the narrow gate so that we too might be raised with Him in glory. Let us help one another not to be conformed to this age but to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. For the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord, let us move beyond polite acquaintance, which keeps us at a safe distance from one another to effect any change. Let us commit to one another as fellow disciples of Christ to challenge and encourage and spur on one another to follow Him without straying to the left or to the right but with steadfastness and great joy, to follow Him all the way to the end, which is our glorious eternal life in the kingdom of heaven!