Reaching the World

Published by Stanley Pouw in 2015 · 18 October 2015

Matthew 28:16-20, “Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 And when they saw Him they worshiped Him, but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

We enjoy Christian fellowship and it is rich and rewarding but that is not our primary responsibility. We are also called to praise and worship and that too is lovely and enriching but that is not our primary responsibility. We are also called to learn the Word of God, to teach, that we might understand better the Scripture but that too, as vital as it is, is not our primary responsibility. Our primary responsibility is summed up in one sentence here in this passage in verse 19, "to make disciples of all the nations." That is the primary reason the church is here!

If we were saved for fellowship then we would be taken to heaven where fellowship is perfect. If we were saved for praise and worship we would be taken to heaven where praise and worship is perfect. If we were saved for the sake of teaching and training in knowledge and wisdom we should be taken to heaven where knowledge is perfect. The reason we are left here is in order that we might make disciples of all the nations. That is our God given priority as a church. Jesus came, the Bible says, to seek and save the lost and we have the same task to seek and bring the good news to the lost.

The Bible indicates that we are commanded to make disciples, to make followers of Jesus Christ. This is a command. The Bible also says in Acts 1:8 that we are equipped to do it. After the Holy Spirit comes you shall be witnesses. Having received the spirit at conversion we therefore have the resource for witnessing. Teaching, ministry, fellowship and worship are all important but the primary goal is not to do something with the believers but to do something for the lost.

We get so involved in spiritual ministry and in Christian fellowship and Christian relationships and so busy in church activities and service that we forget the needs of lost people. Sometimes even our theology is a little inaccurate and we assume that the elect are the elect and then the Lord will never close the kingdom down on earth until the elect are all in. So we have feel less responsible to be faithful to this commission. But all of these other things are less important than this command.

So what is necessary to make me effective in making disciples of all nations? What is my qualification and my motivation? What are the influences in my life that will cause me to fulfill the Lord's command? There are five of them in this text. And they sum up in great measure all of the necessary ingredients and qualifications for effective evangelism. In the text they are explicit and implicit. One way or another, they appear here for our instruction.

There are five keys to making disciples. Number one, availability. Everything starts at this particular point. And this is implicit in Matthew 28:10, "go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee.” Effective ministry starts with showing up, with being initially available. No matter what other ability you might have if you are not available the other ability is not of any consequence. It was at a mountain which Jesus had prior designated as a meeting place. We don't know even the time that this occurred. It was after the meeting with the seven that occurred in John 21 where they were in the midst of fishing.

Somewhere between three or four weeks, after the resurrection, Jesus meets with his disciples. This is most likely the meeting that is indicated in 1 Corinthians 15:6-7 as a meeting in which Jesus appeared to 500 at one time. Not only were the disciples there but also the women who were believers. Galilee was where most of the believers were. When the believers in Jerusalem gathered in the upper room for the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost there were only 120 of them.

In this crowd were believers with all their weaknesses, with all their questions, with all their fears, with all their bewilderment about how it was Jesus wound up dying on a cross and now Christ is here for all to see. Apart from the women and the disciples those in Galilee had no opportunity to have seen Him before this. Remember again these are not the elite, not many noble, not many mighty, they are the poor and the common, those who put their faith in Christ taken from the masses of the people.

When Isaiah 6:8 says, "Here am I. Send me," he was reiterating the point of availability which is the starting point of any effective service to Christ. They wanted to see the living Christ. There was enough desire in their hearts to follow Him to bring them there. Because they were there, they were privileged with His presence, His promise and His great commission. They were the little people and they submitted themselves to this designated time and place with the desire to be with Christ. There are some big people, who have their own agendas who never bother to show up and consequently miss it.

So fulfilling the mission duty of your life to make disciples of other people begins with meeting the Lord in the Word, in prayer and in the assembly of the redeemed. Not forsaking the assembly of yourselves together as some do and much the more as you see the day approaching. You are never going to have an impact on the world unless you are willing to set aside that designated time and place to be in the presence of the living Christ, with His people, in His Word, in communing prayer with Him.

Many people never bother to go to the lost because they cannot even bother to get together with the saved. You have to ask yourself about your availability because those people who are most effective in making disciples are doing that because there is an overflow of communion with the living Christ. They choose to be in the Word, they choose to be in prayer, they choose to be in the assembly of the redeemed and out of that fellowship with the living Christ comes the impetus to carry out His cause.

There is a second necessary ingredient that flows out of verses 17-18, it is the word worship. Verse 17, "And when they saw Him they worshiped Him." They prostrated themselves in adoring worship, which is the right response. This is consistent with Matthew's emphasis in the very beginning as he introduces the coming of Christ and His birth, he is careful to point out that wise men came and worshiped Him. And here as he finishes his Gospel he is pointing out again that He was worshiped.

But notice however at the end of verse 17 that “some doubted.” Why does Matthew say that? Doesn't it seem an unnecessary addendum that might give some justification for their unbelief today? The answer is simply because that really happened. The Bible always has transparent honesty. The biblical writer is never caught up in some human effort to convince people of the resurrection by contrived and selective reporting. They just record the fact, and the truth is some were doubtful. They had their doubts because that's part of human sinful nature and they had not seen the resurrected Christ before.

And Jesus did another interesting thing, verse 18 says, "And Jesus came and said to them." Why do you think He did that? It was to give them more evidence. What did he say to Thomas in the upper room? Do you want to know who I am, see My scars. That is plenty of evidence. This is the first time for them. So Jesus came nearer and nearer to erase their doubt. And so they saw His beauty, that appearance, so mild and yet so almighty. So entirely human and yet divine. Here is the lion of the tribe of Judah, the conqueror of death and hell and yet the Lamb of God with the marks of the slaughter upon Him.

To worship it to acknowledge deity, majesty, sovereignty and glory. That is essential in the life of a disciple maker. Only when you are consumed with love and praise to Christ you are literally controlled by that. You evangelize out of a worshiping heart. If you really love the Lord Jesus Christ with all your heart, soul, mind and strength then His cause is your passion, right? People who are not worshiping as they should, do not champion His cause and preach His message because they are more occupied with their own agendas. Where is your heart? If your heart is set on Christ then Christ is all, His kingdom is all, His cause is all, and His purpose is all you live for.

There is a third word out of the text, submission. Verse 18 continues, "All authority in Heaven and earth has been given to Me.” This is a staggering, far reaching statement beyond my ability to conceive. But let me begin to explain. When Matthew began this gospel he introduced Jesus as king. He gave His royal lineage and had a group of wise men acknowledge Him as king. Being a king means being almighty, sovereign. And now as he ends his gospel with the same thing. This means we are called to submit.

Now this particular authority is not what a great conqueror gets when he conquers a nation and on the basis of what he has done he is the authority. This is authority based innately on who Jesus is, not on what He has done. He is God. And it is the authority that belongs to deity. But this authority has been reaffirmed by what He has accomplished on the cross and through the resurrection. Thus as the conquering hero and one who is God He has complete freedom to do exactly what He wants when He wants, how He wants to whomever He wants.

There is a fourth word, obedience. Verse 19, "Go therefore," This means, if you are available and if you are worshipful and if you are submissive, therefore go. We have a command in this verse to make disciples. There are three participles: going, baptizing and then one in verse 20, teaching. In Mark 16:15 Jesus says, "go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation." Luke 24:47 says, "that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nation." It all starts with going.

Mark's gospel says to preach the gospel. Luke's gospel says preach forgiveness of sins. Matthew says to make disciples by going and baptizing. Where is the gospel here? Well that word ‘baptizing’ is loaded with gospel preaching because to be baptized is to be visibly show a symbol which illustrates the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Baptism is a public sign and confession of that. It assumes the preaching of the gospel; the death and resurrection of Christ and all that was involved in its significance.

That ordinance of immersing a person in water, is a way for a person who put their faith in Christ, to demonstrate their faith and their union in Christ. If a person was converted to Jesus Christ they were baptized. And every believer is to call others to be baptized. It seems to be that many people are going but not all who are going are baptizing. Salvation is a matter of faith not water baptism but water baptism is the sign of true faith because faith without works is dead. The very first work that is visible in public is that of baptism.

If you are claiming to be a Christian and have never been baptized there is reason to be suspicious of the reality of your claim unless you have never heard this before. When we preach Christ we should call people to be baptized, to make that public pronouncement of their union with Christ, confessing Jesus as Lord with their mouth and with actions show that we are His. If they are unwilling to take that stand there is reason to assume theirs is less than a saving faith. One who refuses baptism is likely not exercising true faith.

Calling people to salvation is the mark of baptism. Somebody might say well, I might get persecuted if people know that I was baptized. Well if persecution stands between you and baptism then you do not really believe that Christ is God almighty and He says that you are blessed when that happens. I'm not saying that if you have not been baptized you are not a Christian. But I'm saying there is reason to overcome whatever is holding you back. Some people are afraid to be identified as Christian in a Moslem country. Others fear ridicule or gossip. The important thing really is fearing God and not fearing men.

The fifth word is teaching. In verse 20, “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” Making a disciple does not end when they believe; and it does not end when they are baptized. You have a task at hand and that is to teach them to observe all all the things that Jesus has taught you. Making disciples involves going, preaching the gospel including the forgiveness of sin, calling for saving faith, baptism and then it involves instructing them to a lifelong obedience to the Word.

There's no discipleship apart from personal faith. There is no discipleship apart from a willingness to be taught the commandments of Christ in order that you might obey His Lordship in your life. Let's not cheat on what is the message we are to obediently proclaim. We start with availability, worship, submission and obedience. We make disciples the way the Lord said to do it because He knows what is needed.

And finally, the last word, power. Such a noble responsibility, such an eternal task, demands something beyond our own resources. So at the end of verse 20 this great promise, “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” I am with you till the second coming is what Jesus has in mind. You shall receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you. He is with you always in the form of His indwelling Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 2:5, “so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” Ephesians 3:7, “Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given me by the working of His power.” 2 Thessalonians 1:11, “that our God may make you worthy of His calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by His power.” Ephesians 3:20, “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us.”

David said to the people in 1 Chronicles 29:5, "Who is willing to consecrate his service this day to the Lord?" That's the question. Who is willing to be available to the Lord's presence? To worship the Lord's person? To submit to the Lord's authority? To obey the Lord's plan? To be empowered by the Lord's might and resource? Are you?

Yes, He is with us always. “It is not by human strength but by My spirit” says the Lord in Zechariah 4:6 and until the ultimate consummation of everything, until Jesus comes He is our power, He is our resource. Those are the words that lie behind the life of effective evangelization. Availability, worship, submission, obedience and power, and when those are part and parcel of your life you will be effective for God. Let us pray.