The Great Commission

Good morning, church! Thank you to the worship team, and thank you, Hope, for your testimony. That was really encouraging. It’s so good to come together as the body of Jesus and encourage each other with our stories.

If you’re new, we’ve been on a ten-week journey reading through Matthew together as a community, trying to see Jesus the way the early disciples did, the way Matthew portrays him. It’s been amazing, not only in the sermons but in people’s daily lives, as families read the word at home and encounter Jesus for themselves.

Sadly we’re at the end: week ten, the epilogue. I have the honour of wrapping it up with the Great Commission. It’s very close to my heart and something I’m passionate about. I hope you’ll be encouraged, and also challenged. If I’m a bit harsh or too challenging today, please understand my heart for you. I’ve been journeying with you for about a year and a half now, and you know my heart. I just want to encourage you to see the calling Jesus has for your life.

Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

— Matthew 28:16–20

Father in heaven, thank you for the Great Commission. May this be the calling we take on and the thing that drives our lives forward. You’ve given it to all of us. May this not be a pat on the back, but an encouragement to live as disciples totally yielded to you and your purposes. Anoint my lips and speak through me. If anything I say is not of you, let it fall away. Be magnified today, Jesus. In your name, amen.

Why Galilee?

The Great Commission happens after the resurrection. Jesus died, and three days later the tomb couldn’t hold him. When the women come to the tomb with spices, an angel tells them, “He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him” (Matthew 28:7). Then Jesus himself appears to them and says, “Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me” (v. 10).

Why Galilee? Throughout Matthew, Galilee is special to Jesus. The region included places like Capernaum and Nazareth, and it’s where he did much of his ministry: feeding the 5,000 and the 4,000, walking on water, calling the twelve, healing the centurion’s servant, sending out the twelve, and the Sermon on the Mount, also on a mountain in Galilee.

Jerusalem was where Jesus was rejected and cast out. Galilee was where he was welcomed and invited and people’s hearts were open. It held great memories for Jesus and his disciples. So Jesus says, “Let’s go back to Galilee.” On that mountain he overlooks the region with his disciples, all the places where they’d done ministry together, and the memories must have come flooding back.

Authority released

Then Jesus says, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go…”

Get this. Jesus has been raised from death to life and carries full resurrection authority. Now he says to his disciples, “I’m releasing that authority to you. With it you’ll go and make disciples and be a blessing to the world. The ministry you saw me do, you’re going to be part of it now, part of what I’m building in the world.”

How powerful is that? The God who holds all authority isn’t content to keep it to himself. He entrusts it to his disciples, to you and me. The power structure of Jesus’ kingdom isn’t a neat triangle of power and control. It’s a messy circle of sending and releasing.

Jesus could have used angels, perfect beings who never stuff up. Instead he chose imperfect disciples who kept stuffing up and couldn’t quite grasp his vision for the kingdom. People like you and me, broken and falling short. And he invites us into his Great Commission. He sends us and releases us.

Here’s something I’ve realised as I’ve followed and served Jesus: Jesus doesn’t need me, but Jesus wants me. He could send angels, but he chooses broken people like me to be part of what he’s doing in the world. How beautiful is that?

A blessing for all nations

“Go and make disciples of all nations.” That’s a big vision, not just local but to the ends of the earth. I believe we gather today because that vision became reality. Australia is a long way from Galilee!

This commission echoes the Old Testament. God blessed Adam and Eve and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it” (Genesis 1:28). To Abraham he said, “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:3).

From the very beginning, humans were called to be multipliers of blessing, extending God’s beauty into the world. The Great Commission builds on what God called Adam, Eve and Abraham to do. Making disciples is about multiplying beauty, sharing the good news of the kingdom, and extending it into every nook and cranny we step into. Multiplication has always been at the heart of Scripture’s story.

Disciples go to the misfits

What does it mean to be a disciple? I find apprentice the most helpful word. If you’ve done a trade, you’ll know an apprentice works alongside someone who knows the trade and learns on the job. Being a disciple of Jesus means walking alongside him, being with him, becoming like him and doing as he did.

In Jesus’ day Jewish boys went through rigorous schooling, memorising the Torah and the Hebrew Scriptures. If they made it, they approached a rabbi and asked to be his disciple, and the rabbi said yes or no.

Jesus did it differently. He didn’t wait for students to come to him. He went to them: fishermen, outcasts, people who hadn’t made it through the system. He chose misfits. “Whoever wants to be my disciple…” It doesn’t matter who you are. Discipleship isn’t for people who have it all together. It’s for misfits, outcasts and people who don’t fit. Those are the people Jesus called to be his apprentices.

Now he says, “You’ve been journeying with me. Now you’ll disciple others and show them what it means to follow me, by baptising them and teaching them to obey everything I’ve commanded you.”

Baptism isn’t graduation

Baptism is part of the discipleship journey. It isn’t the be-all and end-all. We often treat it as graduation: once someone’s baptised, they’ve made it and completed what it means to be a Christian. But baptism is one step on the journey.

To put it another way: if you make disciples, baptisms will happen. Baptisms are inevitable when discipleship is the priority, and discipleship has to be the main focus for a follower of Jesus.

Teaching to obey

“Teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” Jesus taught them so much over three years, and now they get to teach others. He invites them to be teachers, and not just to teach, but to teach people to obey.

Many of us are educated far beyond our obedience. We know a lot, but our application lags far behind.

So who’s the more mature disciple: someone who has heard 10,000 sermons and applied 10% of them, or someone who has read only the Gospel of Matthew and applied all of it? God is after obedience, wholehearted application of his word, not just hearing it.

Hebrews 5:11–12 rebukes its readers: “We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!” In other words, you should be teaching others by now. You can’t just be a consumer living on milk. A maturing disciple moves from consumer to teacher.

Ellen White has a striking quote:

Much of our ministerial force is exhausted on the churches, in teaching those who should be teachers; enlightening those who should be the light of the world; watering those from whom should flow springs of living water; enriching those who might be veritable mines of precious truth; repeating the gospel invitation to such as should be scattered to the uttermost parts of the earth, communicating the message of heaven to many who have not had the privileges which they have enjoyed; feeding those who should be in the byways and highways heralding the invitation, “Come; for all things are now ready.”

We need to be teachers, not just consumers. Those of you into health know it isn’t only about breathing good air (prayer) and eating good food (reading the word). You also need exercise: putting it into practice and sharing what you’ve learned. That’s how you grow as a disciple, by sharing what you’ve experienced of Jesus with someone else.

The metric Jesus cares about

Erton Köhler, now president of the General Conference, said in a sermon that we can’t measure growth just by the ABCs: attendance, buildings and cash.

There’s nothing wrong with measuring those. It’s lovely to walk into a full church. God has blessed our church with an amazing building, and it’s great to see tithe and offerings grow. But those aren’t the metrics Jesus is after. We need a “D” measure: disciple-making. Jesus’ question is, are disciples being made?

That’s usually qualitative, not quantitative. We like quantitative measures because they’re visible and countable. But Jesus is often after the unseen. Disciple-making is usually unseen, sacrificial and away from the spotlight and the stage. It’s real, messy and hard, because it involves people with struggles and problems. But it’s Jesus’ priority and our calling.

Three shifts

I believe there are some paradigm shifts we need to make as a church.

From volunteers to disciples. The church is often good at producing volunteers to make programs happen. What it often lacks is disciples who live out the kingdom in everyday life and carry the light of Jesus into every space they touch.

From programs to people. Jesus cares far more about people than programs. His ministry was real, skin to skin, among people and personal. Discipleship isn’t just informational. It’s relational. It doesn’t happen at arm’s length. It happens when you invite people into your life and journey alongside them.

From seating to sending. It’s not just about getting people seated for a program. It’s about sending them out for the kingdom. I’ve given you this analogy before, but I’m a big believer that the church should be like an airport: a place of temporary arrival and ongoing sending. The church can’t just be about getting people and keeping them. God has put dreams and desires for his kingdom in people’s hearts, and if we can call them out and encourage people to live out their calling, that’s what Jesus is after.

As you go

Many of you are thinking, “That sounds like a lot of extra work. Life’s already hectic with work, kids and family. How do I fit discipleship in?”

Interestingly, the “go” in the Great Commission is a participle in the Greek. Any English teachers here? A participle describes something ongoing. Think “-ing” words: not run but running, not swim but swimming. So you could translate it, “Going, make disciples,” or “As you go, make disciples of all nations.”

Discipleship isn’t something you add on to your life. It’s the driving force behind your life. It’s what you organise your whole life around. It’s not something you try to fit in. It’s why and how you live.

If you’re a teacher, hats off to you, going to school with kids who don’t want to be there. That’s an amazing opportunity for discipleship. If you’re a nurse, you’re with people who are sick and struggling. What an opportunity. As you go about your day, be a disciple of Jesus and extend his blessing wherever you go. That’s what it means to be a disciple who makes disciples.

Salt out of the shaker

Let me take you back to the Sermon on the Mount. Steve, would you come up?

You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

— Matthew 5:13

Steve, can you put some salt on this teaspoon? Great. Now… eat it. (This feels like a stitch-up. I didn’t tell you what was going to happen!) How was that? Not great? But salt is supposed to be good, right? Too much of a good thing. Thanks, Steve, you can sit down. Thank you for suffering for the rest of us.

We’re called to be the salt of the earth, and salt is good. But salt works best when it’s in the food. It isn’t meant to stay in the shaker. It’s meant to come out, mix into the food and bring out the flavour.

That’s what we’re called to as disciples. When salt stays stuck in the shaker, we become salty Christians: critical, hating everything. Salt works best mixed in. We need to be out in the world bringing flavour and blessing to those around us. That’s what it means to be a disciple who makes disciples.

A response

We’re at the end of the series, and I want to give you a chance to respond. For ten weeks in Matthew we’ve seen what it means to follow Jesus. The rich young ruler showed us that discipleship means giving up the things of this world for the sake of Jesus’ kingdom and a better world. “Blessed are the poor in spirit” showed us that discipleship means being among the poor and the marginalised. Being a disciple is whole-life devotion to Jesus and his causes.

So if you want to choose today to be a disciple of Jesus, or to renew that commitment, I invite you to do something bold. Stand with me.

How good is this? Jesus can do far more through one wholly committed disciple than through 10,000 lukewarm consumers. And he’s inviting us not only to be disciples, but to be disciples who make disciples.

So, for those standing: if you want to commit to making disciples as you go, raise your hand.

It’s so good to see so many choosing to be disciples who make disciples. This is where multiplication happens and where the kingdom reaches new places.

Prayer

Father in heaven, thank you that you invite us to be your disciples. You don’t need us, God, but you want us. You invite us into your kingdom and your purposes, and that means making disciples of all nations.

As we go about our daily lives and our work, may discipleship be the driving force behind everything. May it not be something we tack on and tick off, but the thing that shapes our whole lives. May we make disciples as we go, because you’ve called us to be multipliers of beauty in the world, not consumers, but people who pour into others’ lives and help them follow you and step into the beautiful calling you have for them.

Lord, we commit to you today, and we want to follow you. Thank you, Lord Jesus. In your name, amen.