Matthew 28:16-20
Any person’s last words are usually among the most important words he or she will ever speak. When someone is speaking for the final time we often find people leaning in just so they can listen carefully to what is being said. Look through the Old Testament stories of the patriarchs of Israel and listen to them as they come to the final hours of their lives. What you hear is them uttering words of challenge, warning and prophecy concerning their loved ones and the nation. Those “last words” are among the most important words spoken in the unfolding drama of the nation of Israel, through whom Christ was ultimately delivered into our world.
In this series of messages, I have been asking you to lean in and listen carefully to some of the “last words” of Christ following His resurrection and before His ascension back to Heaven. Too often, we think of Jesus’ last words as those He spoke while hanging on the cross. But, the “real” last words of Christ are the ones recorded after He arose from the grave.
Even after Christ’s ascension He did not stop speaking altogether. We have at least four other accounts of the resurrected/ascended Christ appearing to people at different times. In three of these accounts He spoke: twice to Paul and once to the Apostle John (Acts 7:55; 9:3-6; Acts 22:17-21; 23:11; Revelation 1:10-19).
All of these “real” last words of Christ remind us that He is very much alive and is still speaking to His children today...through the scripture.
Among the most significant "last words" of Jesus are the ones He spoke to His disciples on a mountain in the region of Galilee (Matthew 28:16). We are not told the exact location of this mountain where He gave what is called “The Great Commission,” but it was obviously a place well known to all of the remaining disciples.
There is good reason to think that not only were the eleven disciples present at this post-resurrection appearance of Christ, but that more than five hundred others may have been there and heard these “final words” of Jesus recorded for us in the Gospel of Matthew. We know from 1 Corinthians 15:6 that at least on one occasion there were that many people that saw Christ at one time after His resurrection. It seems reasonable that this could have been that occasion. As Dr. David Brown observes, “Nothing can account for such a number as five hundred assembled at one spot but the expectation of some promised manifestation of their risen Lord; and the promise before His resurrection, twice repeated after it, best explains this immense gathering.” (Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. [1997]. Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible [Vol. 2, p. 63]. Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.) Dr. B.H. Carroll says, “...by having this big gathering in Galilee, it would avoid creating a disturbance, for if a meeting had been held in Jerusalem, not so many could have attended, and there they would be liable to interruption by the excited people.” (B.H. Carroll, An Interpretation of the English Bible, 13 Vols. [Nashville, BRoadman, 1942], Vol. 11) What we can deduce from these two comments by these eminent scholars is that between five and six hundred people may well have heard Jesus give “The Great Commission” to the disciples on the mountain that day.
One thing's for certain: the disciples must have known that what they were going to hear from Jesus was going to be important. The reason is because when Jesus previously gathered with His disciples on mountains, each occasion held a place of great significance.
For instance:
- Jesus called the twelve to be His disciples on a mountain (Mark 3:13-14; Luke 6:12-13).
- He preached His “Sermon on the Mount” on a mountain (Matthew 5-7).
- He was transfigured before three of His disciples on a mountain (Matthew 17:1-8).
- He unveiled the eschatological future to His disciples on a mountain (Matthew 24-25).
Surely the disciples understood that meeting Jesus on this mountain at this specific time in Galilee meant something big was about to happen.
After the large crowd had gathered that day, Jesus approached them and the disciples immediately fell before Him in worship (Matthew 28:17). Others, in the larger body of people, did not immediately recognize Him as the resurrected Christ and “doubted” (or “hesitated to believe”) it was Him. It wasn’t long, though, before they also recognized Him and worshipped Him with the others.
Matthew records that Jesus then spoke to the eleven disciples, but the command they were given would have far-reaching implications well beyond the disciples themselves. His central imperative was for them to “make disciples” and in doing so, He spoke about four universal truths:
1. He has “all authority” to send them on this mission (Matthew 28:18).
2. The mission is to be to “all nations” (Matthew 28:19).
3. They are to teach the new disciples “all things” He has commanded (Matthew 28:20).
4. He promised to be with them “all the days” (Matthew 28:20).
It’s important to grasp the real significance of this singular command ("make disciples") that Jesus gave these men on this day. Too often we read these words to say something like, “Go, and make converts of all the nations,” but that is not what Jesus told them to do. Dr. William Hendrickson writes, “‘Make disciples’ ...is not exactly the same as ‘make converts,’ though the latter is surely implied.’” Another well-known preacher, John Wesley wrote, “The Church changes the world not by making converts but by making disciples.” In other words, making converts and “making disciples” are not necessarily synonymous terms.
Obviously, the first step in becoming a disciple of Jesus has to involve a decision that a person makes to trust Christ alone for personal salvation (conversion). No one has his/her sins forgiven or has the promise of eternal life apart from the decision to receive Him personally. The “door” (Jesus-John 10:7, 9) through which all people must enter to be right with God may seem exclusive to the person who has no spiritual understanding. But, part of our task in obeying “The Great Commission” includes our making sure every person knows that Jesus is not just one of the ways a person approaches God. Rather, it is our task to make sure everyone knows that He is the ONLY way of coming to God!! The scripture is clear that no one comes to the Father but through Jesus Christ (cf. John 14:6) Who paid for our sins on the cross and rose again to bring salvation to all that receive Him (cf. John 1:12).
However, the initial step of becoming a believer in Jesus is just the beginning of what Christ commanded these men (and all of us) to do in “making disciples.” Once a person has made the decision to trust in Jesus, there is still the matter of each new believer becoming a fully devoted follower of Christ. This is a continuing process that involves entering into the life of the church, sound instruction in the faith, and ultimately, each believer reproducing other disciples of Christ that continue this same pattern.
For too many years we’ve been content to count the people that make “decisions for Christ” without understanding and obeying the full extent of "The Great Commission." Consequently, we have failed to obey Christ’s command fully and in the process, have left new believers struggling to understand all that it means to be His disciples. Sadly, some of these fell away from the faith simply because they were not nurtured and instructed in how to follow Christ!
For us to be obedient to "The Great Commission" we not only have to proclaim the Good News of Christ (the Gospel) to those without Him, we must also bring new believers into the church through the initiatory ordinance of baptism and then, within that fellowship of believers, teach them to observe all that Christ has commanded so they can repeat the process themselves with others.
God has not left it up to us to develop a disciple-making strategy. He has recorded the basic principles of how He expects the process to work and it is found in three subordinate participles (“go,” “baptize,” and “teach”) that take on the force of imperatives because of their relationship to the central command Christ gave to “make disciples”!
The first step in this process of “making disciples” is that we must “go.” Actually, this could read, “as you are going,” such that the first step of the process of obeying “The Great Commission” is to incorporate disciple-making into every aspect of our daily lives. In other words – as you are going about your daily business – as you are going to school – as you are going to work – as you are going to the doctor – as you are going to buy groceries – as you are going to get gas – as you are going to visit relatives – as you are going on vacation – as you are going to the ball game – as you are going out to eat – as you are going wherever you are going - you are always going into your mission field.
At least in part, our mission field is right here in the everyday ordinary things of life where we live. If God has you in a distant land or in the Tri-State...that is your mission field. If He has you in an office or at a remote work site...you represent Christ to all those around you. We have to stop thinking of our witness for Christ as only being an extraordinary work that is accomplished in an extraordinary way. Sometimes we make people feel guilty if they aren’t doing something “exceptional” and extremely sacrificial in sharing the Gospel. The fact is that being a good neighbor to those that live around you, being a good employee in your company, treating your employees like you want to be treated yourself, living a Christ-honoring life right where you are right now, etc., are just some of the ways we “go” about “making disciples” as Christ commanded.
Sadly, some have imposed a new form of legalism on the church today that is as deadly as the old forms of legalism that used to prevail among us. In their zeal to obey “The Great Commission,” they have decided that the only forms of evangelism/outreach that are acceptable or viable are the ones which are characterized by something radical and/or revolutionary that is done among people that need to know Jesus. They’ve coined a host of new spiritual-sounding buzz words to let everyone know that their particular form of evangelism/outreach is the most biblical, committed and pleasing to the Lord. Then they judge everyone around them as being less spiritual and less interested in reaching the lost simply because they don’t live up to the new “high-commitment” paradigm for reaching the masses.
The truth is...every one of us is to be an “incarnational evangelist” right where we live, work and play every day of our lives. That is...we are supposed to bring the reality of Christ through our own lives to the people with whom we already have connections so that they will see Jesus in us every single day. Granted, we also have to share the message of the Gospel itself with those same people, but they will most likely believe what they “see” in your life before they will listen to what you “tell” them about your life.
“The Great Commission” commands us to “make disciples” and that process begins with the people that live across the street and around the corner in your community. Until we see our own neighbors, friends, family and co-workers as our first mission field we have missed the very first aspect of what it means to obey the command to “go”!
We should note that our “going” is also to be to “all the nations.” The commission that was given to the disciples on that mountain in Galilee did not stop with their own local communities to the neglect of the rest of the world. They were to “make disciples” among every ethnic group (panta ta ethne) wherever they are found in the world.
We have to stop for a moment and think about the significance of Matthew recording this aspect of the command from Jesus to “make disciples.” Matthew’s Gospel is written primarily to convince the Jewish people that Jesus is their Messiah. The book is filled with Old Testament references that are shown to be fulfilled in Jesus Christ. His references to Jewish life that aren’t as familiar to us, were easily understood by the primary audience he was trying to reach. That’s what makes this aspect of “The Great Commission” so significant because he is telling the Jews reading this Gospel that Gentiles have been included in the salvation Jesus has made possible in His death, burial and resurrection. Matthew has recorded this command from Jesus at the end of his Gospel, explaining the far-reaching implications of what He has commanded them to do in “making disciples.”
Consequently, while it is true that we are all to be “missionaries” wherever we may live and do our work, some of us will be called out to be missionaries to ethnic groups located in the various countries of the world. Thankfully, God is still sending from among us the ones He wants to take His glorious Gospel to those we cannot necessarily reach ourselves. The question that has to be in the forefront of our minds is...are we listening for His call to this international disciple-making work? And, are we willing to answer that call should He issue it to us and/or encourage our children to answer His call to this same work? Though we are not all called to an ethnic group in another part of the world, don’t you think we also have an obligation to help those that have been called to “go” to “all the nations”? The truth is, “The Great Commission” has not been fully obeyed by the church until every person in every generation and in every nation is given the opportunity to hear the Gospel so that they, too, may become faithful followers of Christ (i.e., disciples). There is much work to be done by us all...at home and abroad!
The second part of the command from Jesus to “make disciples” is to “baptize” those that have trusted in Jesus, which effectively brings them into fellowship with the church community where they can be nurtured and taught the ways of God.
Baptism is not an option that new believers may choose, but a command that every believer is to obey. It depicts the inner union believers have with Christ as having died to their old life and risen with Him to newness of life (Romans 6:1-10). It is a public declaration or confession of our personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and a pledge to follow Him as His disciple. The idea that a person would receive Christ as Savior and not be baptized, thus preventing him from participating in the full fellowship of the local church, was completely foreign to the early New Testament church.
David Platt, who is the president of the Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board, as well as a bestselling author, speaks accurately to the matter of the importance of the local church in disciple-making. He says, “When it comes to talking about making disciples, it’s not about individual followers of Jesus, on their own, lone rangers making disciples. It’s about being a part of a body and together making disciples. Those unbelievers need to see evidence of community around Christ. They need to see the love of Christ in action. They need to see the mercy of Christ in action. The church needs to become a picture that, especially for hardened hearts of unbelievers, softens their hearts towards the goodness of Christ in the community of faith. We don’t just walk in isolation. We walk in love and service to one another. We’re teaching the Word to each other and the Word is spreading through each other. All of that has to happen in the context of relationships with other people. And so disciple-making is intricately tied to commitment with a local church.”
The local church is God’s plan for making disciples that faithfully follow Christ. It’s in the loving environment of a church family where we best learn how to be His disciples. I read about one church that emphasized their strategy for making disciples with three very simple words. The article said their church existed to: “gather,” “grow” and “go.” That’s a pretty good description of how the church should function. We “gather” on Sundays with other believers to celebrate Jesus, encourage one another, serve one another, and be the family of God. We “grow” through the teaching and preaching of the Word of God in worship services and through connection to Life Groups where we interact, pray and are accountable to each other so that scripture is worked out in our lives through shared life experiences and circumstances with other believers. We “go” from these other settings to spread the Gospel and “as we are going,” we interact, befriend and practice being good neighbors and witnesses to those that need Jesus.
Leading people to Christ and leaving them without a church or in a church that doesn’t teach the truth is a failure to fulfill “The Great Commission”!
The last part of “The Great Commission” that tells us how to “make disciples,” has to do with “teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you.”
Teaching people the truth of God is fundamental to the church’s role in fulfilling “The Great Commission.” We live in an entertainment culture that has relegated “teaching” (especially scripture) to a secondary role in the church.
- We too often gather for the Sunday performances that take place on the platform, rather than the truth that is proclaimed that can change our lives for the eternal good.
- We’ve developed such a short attention span that we now prefer soundbite sermons filled with self-help methodology, rather than the sound exposition of the scripture.
- We love to hear preachers/teachers talk about the scripture and tell us stories, but we don’t want to be bothered by any systematic instruction in doctrine or theology.
- We’re not grounded in the Word of truth and consequently, we are often blown about by every wind of doctrine (cf. Ephesians 4:14) that comes along.
- We’ve allowed the world to do more to change our churches internally than our churches have done to change the world externally.
- Our foundation for life is too often the shifting sand of pop psychology and positive thinking, rather than the solid rock of truth.
- Our worship gatherings sometimes feel more like a local high school pep rally than the people of God gathering for the worship of the holy God of Heaven!
And, all of this is because we have failed to “make disciples” who have been taught “to OBSERVE all things that I have commanded you.”
This teaching would include things like the marvelous discourses that Christ gave, the parables and the many precious sayings of Christ dealing with things like, ”abiding” in Him, “loving each other,” “bearing witness” of Him, “denying yourself,” “taking up your cross” and other similar truths. They were to teach about His predictions and His many promises and assurances that He gave to His followers. They were to instruct them about the cross, hypocrisy, proclaiming the Gospel, prayer, humility, trust, a forgiving spirit, marriage and the Law. They would explain about Christ’s healing work, His travels, His suffering, His death and resurrection, etc. They were to teach about all of these things and the implications of them on daily life.
In addition to all this, we have the rest of the New Testament encompassing His continued ministry, instructions and commands to His church. This is a lifetime endeavor and none of us ever mines all of the depths of all that God has given us in His Word.
In the original language of the New Testament, this command to “teach” is a present tense participle, meaning that this is to be a continuing task. (It also implies the continued willingness of the disciple to be taught.) Every new believer quickly realizes that there is much to be learned of doctrinal and ethical truth once you have come to Christ.
Let’s remember again, we aren’t instructed to just teach disciples “some” of what Jesus commanded, but we are to “teach” it “all.” In other words, as one scholar notes, “Nothing may be suppressed and nothing may be added, nothing may be watered down or given a new meaning.” (Wolfgang Thrilling, The Gospel according to St. Matthew [New York: Harper & Herder, 1969], 2:270)
What Christ desires is that Christian teaching so permeate our hearts and minds that we are controlled and molded by it in every aspect of our life and character. Apart from this kind of teaching we may have a crowd of people that are fans of Jesus, but too few that are truly His followers!
It is these three things that are the divinely given pattern for making disciples: “go,” “baptize” and “teach.”
Where are you in this process?
- As you go from here today you are entering the mission field where Christ wants you to “make disciples.”
- As you humbly live out your faith and share the Gospel story, you should be encouraging others to make the right decision to trust Jesus as their Savior.
- When a person makes the decision to receive Christ, you should bring them into the church through their public profession of faith in baptism and connect them to worship services and Life Groups where they can begin growing in grace.
- As they begin to understand their new found life in Christ, you should encourage them to reach out to others to continue the process of making more disciples of Christ.
