Commissioned By The King

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In Matthew 28:16-20 we come to the conclusion of a journey with Jesus, a journey that began with His birth and has continued through His life, His teaching, His miracles, His death, and in the previous section of Matthew 28, His resurrection. Now in this final passage in Matthew's Gospel, we come to what has been called the Great Commission, a commission given by the Lord Jesus to those early disciples and to all His followers in subsequent generations. It's a call we need to hear afresh in our own day.

The Great Commission was not simply meant to be analyzed, though there is much here to think through. These few verses ought to, by the working of God's Spirit, awaken our hearts, both individually and collectively in our churches, with a renewed zeal to make disciples in our own communities and among all nations. For some followers of Christ, this might even result in going to an unreached people group to make known the glory of Christ.65

One commentator has referred to Matthew 28:16-20 as "the climax and major focal point not only of this gospel but of the entire New Testament. It is not an exaggeration to say that, in its broadest sense, it is the focal point of all Scripture, Old Testament as well as New" (MacArthur, Matthew 24-28, 329). Whether or not it can truly be said that this passage is "the focal point of all Scripture" is up for debate, but at the very least this is a reminder of the extreme significance of Jesus' final words in this Gospel. In verse 16 the 11 disciples66 met Jesus in Galilee, just as He directed in verse 10. Matthew tells us that the disciples worshiped Jesus, though "some doubted" (v. 17). It was in this setting that the resurrected Lord Jesus gave us the Great Commission of verses 18-20.

Matthew's point in writing this book was not only to show us that Jesus is King; if that were the case, he would have stopped in the middle of chapter 28 after the resurrection. Instead, Matthew ends by telling us how Jesus sent out His disciples to proclaim Jesus as King to the ends of the371 earth, and that's a story that continues even today. The beauty of this text is that you and I are a part of this story; we are disciples of Jesus the King, commissioned and sent out by Him to proclaim His life, death, and resurrection all over the planet. There are three implications for followers of Jesus based on this text and in light of all that we've seen so far in the Gospel of Matthew.

We Will Believe in the Authority of Christ

Matthew 28:18

As Jesus gathers His disciples on this mountain, He doesn't start with a command; He starts with a claim: "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth" (v. 18). We have here the fulfillment of Daniel's prophecy centuries earlier, when the prophet spoke of a "son of man" (Dan 7:13) in this way:

Jesus' authority is the basis for everything else that follows in this text. His authority over heaven and earth means that Jesus is not just the personal Lord and Savior over us. We often speak of the moment of our conversion by saying, "I decided to make Jesus my personal Lord and Savior." While there is much truth to that statement, we need to be careful not to miss the point of Christ's lordship. As we've already seen, you and I don't decide to make Jesus Lord; He is Lord regardless of what we think of Him. Jesus died on the cross and rose from the grave, and now He is exalted at the Father's right hand as the Lord over all creation. All those things are true regardless of what you and I think or decide. Philippians 2:9-11 speaks to this truth in no uncertain terms:

One day every knee is going to bow and every tongue is going to confess, "Jesus is Lord"—that's a guarantee. So will you confess Jesus as Lord now, or will you confess Him as Lord when it is too late?

Further, while Jesus saves us personally, loves us personally, and rules over us personally, He is not only the personal Lord and Savior over you, me, or any one people group. Instead, Jesus is the universal Lord and Savior over all. Christ died to save people from every nation and tongue and tribe (Rev 7:9). This worldwide purpose was life-changing for these Jewish disciples who were following a Jewish Messiah. From the beginning of Matthew's Gospel, Jesus' Jewish heritage has been highlighted, beginning with Abraham and then running through the line of David, king of Israel (Matt 1:1). Jesus was born King of the Jews. Nevertheless, Jesus was intent on showing His Jewish disciples that He was not simply their Lord and King, but Lord and King over all nations.

Throughout Matthew's Gospel we have seen Jesus' universal lordship. Consider some of the ways this has played out in these 28 chapters.

He has authority over nature and nations. Jesus calmed the sea with a rebuke (8:26), showing His mastery over nature. His authority over nations is one of the central themes of the Great Commission, since all peoples are to be His disciples.

He has authority over disease and demons. When Jesus speaks, the blind see, the lame walk, lepers are healed, and disease is gone (4:23-24). He speaks, and demons flee (8:28-34).

He has authority over sin and death. As the Son of God, Jesus has authority to forgive sin against God (9:1-7). He also has authority to overcome man's ultimate enemy, death, which is the payment for sin (28:1-10).

He has authority over our lives. Jesus' authority extends to every individual, which for us means dying to self (16:24-25). For the believer, there should be a glad submission to the lordship of Jesus. This means, in relation to the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20, that we must be open to whatever the Lord calls us to, including serving Him in another cultural context.

He has authority over every life. Jesus has authority over every life in this world (25:31-33), and this is why we seek to make disciples of all nations.373

Obedience to the Great Commission isn't a man-made program, nor is it our own willpower that leads us to go. Jesus' authority compels us to go, for missions only makes sense if He has all authority in heaven and on earth. However, we don't go reluctantly, as if we're being forced to follow just any king. His worth is the fuel of our mission. In other words, we go because Jesus is worthy of the worship of every person on the planet. Our Savior deserves all praise (Rev 5:9-10), so we long to hear all people confess, "Jesus is Lord!" This also reminds us that His worship is the goal of our mission. Followers of Christ live for the day when every tribe and tongue and people and nation gather around our God to give Him the global glory that He is due (Rev 7:9-10).

While the Great Commission certainly compels us to go, even to difficult places, we're not left on our own in this mission. Jesus' authority gives us confidence as we go. Who are we to go to another people group, or even coworkers, and tell them that they are following false idols, and that if they don't turn to Jesus, they will die forever? The world views this as arrogant, and even as far as many people in the church are concerned, communicating this to people makes no sense. However, if Matthew's Gospel is true—that is, if Jesus died on the cross for the sins of the world, if He rose from the grave in victory over sin and death, and if there is no one like Him and He reigns as Lord over all—then telling a lost world about Jesus is the only thing that makes sense! What doesn't make sense is millions of Christians sitting back and saying nothing to the nations. Instead, we ought to go with confidence, knowing that the One who sent us is sovereign over all and worthy of worship from all.

One of the promises we have as we engage a lost world with the good news of Jesus Christ is that this gospel will save. This is true no matter where we are or how unlikely it may seem that someone will believe our message. I was recently in a Hindu home in the middle of an Indian slum with Hindu gods all over the walls. When I shared the good news of Christ, a Hindu woman whose family for generations had never even heard the gospel responded, "I believe in Jesus, and I want Him to save me." I was reminded that this gospel is powerful, and it will save. Do we believe that?

In addition to having confidence in the saving power of the gospel, we can have confidence on a larger scale concerning Christ's purposes for the church. His mission will succeed because His authority guarantees it. After Jesus spoke His final words to the disciples, He ascended to heaven (Acts 1:9) where He now sits at the right hand of the Father.374 Now in His exalted position, Jesus empowers His people, directing, guiding, and providing them with everything they need to bring this mission to completion. Matthew 24:14 is a guarantee: "This good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed in all the world as a testimony to all nations. And then the end will come." We are on the front lines of a spiritual battle that is raging for the souls of men and women around the world, and the all-sovereign Son of God, our Savior, is in command of a commission that will be accomplished. This leads us to the next part of this passage.

We Will Obey the Command of Christ

Matthew 28:19

After telling us of His authority over heaven and earth, the next words out of Jesus' mouth are, "Go, therefore" (v. 19). It is as if He's saying, "In light of My authority, go!" Here is Jesus' full command in verses 19-20:

This is not a comfortable call inviting most Christians to come, be baptized, and sit in one location. Yet, that is exactly what we are tempted to turn our mission into, and if we are not careful, this is what our Christianity will consist of. We may come to a worship service, participate in the life of the church, serve in the church, and give regularly, all the while neglecting to make disciples. The church is filled with people who have been Christians for 5, 10, 15, or even 50 years, who have never led someone outside of their family to be a reproducing disciple. We have missed our mission. In his penetrating book, Born to Reproduce, Dawson Trotman comments on our tendency in the church today:

The curse of today is that we are too busy. I am not talking about being busy earning money to buy food. I am talking about being busy doing Christian things. We have spiritual activity with little productivity.

Trotman continues,

The Gospel spread to the known world during the first century without radio, television or the printing press, because [the writings of the apostles] produced men who were375 reproducing. But today we have a lot of pew-sitters—people think that if they are faithful in church attendance, put good-sized gifts into the offering plate and get people to come, they have done their part.... If I were a minister of a church and had deacons or elders to pass the plate and choir members to sing, I would say, "Thank God for your help. We need you. Praise the Lord for these extra things you do," but I would keep pressing home the big job—"Be fruitful and multiply." All these other things are incidental to the supreme task of winning a man or woman to Jesus Christ and then helping him or her to go on.

If Matthew 28:19 is not a comfortable call for most Christians, then what is it? This is a costly command directing every Christian to go, baptize, and make disciples of all nations. This has been the plan from the beginning. In Jesus' initial introduction to the disciples in this Gospel, He said, "Follow Me... and I will make you fish for people!" (Matt 4:19). From the very beginning, Jesus made clear that everyone who followed Him would fish for men. Consider how Matthew 28 serves as a fitting conclusion to this initial meeting between Jesus and His disciples in Matthew 4:

• Jesus' introduction in Matthew 4: Every follower of Jesus is a fisher of men.
• Jesus' conclusion in Matthew 28: Every disciple is a disciple-maker.

According to Jesus, from beginning to end, to be a disciple is to make disciples. Scripture knows nothing of disciples who aren't making disciples. Yet, if you were to ask Christians today what it means to make disciples, you'd likely get jumbled thoughts, ambiguous answers, and probably even some blank stares. Consequently, we urgently need biblical guidance on this foundational command.

There's one imperative verb in Matthew 28:19—"make disciples"—and it is surrounded by three participles: going, baptizing, and teaching. Based on this verse, we'll look at four non-negotiable facets of disciple making.

First, we share the Word. This is absolutely foundational to making disciples. We speak about the gospel as we live according to the gospel. The Spirit of God lives inside God's people so that they can bear witness to the gospel to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). The evangelistic376 strategy of the church is built upon every member of the church engaging the world with the gospel.

Yet making disciples doesn't end when people respond to the gospel. When people turn from their sin to Christ, we baptize them. This is another part of making disciples—we show the Word. Baptism is a part of what it means to make disciples because baptism symbolizes identification with the person of Christ and inclusion in the body of Christ. Every disciple of Jesus is baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (v. 19). This is a command of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The number of people who say they are Christians today but have not been baptized is, quite frankly, shocking. If you are a follower of Christ and have not been baptized, you are living in direct disobedience to Christ. The New Testament knows nothing of unbaptized Christians. It's not that one has to be baptized in order to become a Christian, but once you are a Christian, your public declaration of faith in Christ necessarily involves baptism. To neglect baptism is to dishonor and disobey Christ. In fact, if you continue to be unrepentant in this area, refusing to identify with Christ in baptism, then there is serious reason to question whether or not you are a Christian at all.

Once someone is baptized, showing the word involves sharing life together as a member of the church. Disciple making is not simply what happens in a classroom for an hour or so each week; it's what happens when we walk through life together as a community of faith, modeling for one another how to follow Christ. We show one another how to pray, how to study God's Word, how to grow in Christ, and how to lead others to Christ. This is what Christ's body is to be about.

Third, as we make disciples, we teach the Word. Jesus speaks of "teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you" (v. 19). We don't just receive the Word; we reproduce the Word. God has certainly gifted some in the church to teach, especially elders (Titus 1:9; see also 1 Tim 3:2; Jas 3:1). However, every disciple of Jesus should saturate their words with God's Word. Our conversations ought to be filled with Scripture as we teach people all that Christ has taught us.

Fourth and finally, making disciples means that we serve the world. Jesus speaks of making disciples of "all nations," a phrase which in the original (panta ta ethne) refers not simply to nations or countries as we usually think of them, but rather to tribes, families, clans, and peoples, what we call "people groups" today. The Old Testament refers377 to such people groups: Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, etc. Today there are more than 11,000 people groups spread throughout the world. These groups share similar language, heritage, and cultural characteristics. So this is not just a general command to make disciples among as many people as possible. Rather, this is a specific command to make disciples among every people group in the world. There are, as of this writing, more than 6,000 people groups who have still not been reached with the gospel. Therefore, obedience to the Great Commission necessarily involves intentionality in going after these 6,000 people groups.

In light of the massive needs and the commission Christ has given us, may we make disciples and multiply churches in our neighborhoods and among all peoples. We live in a world of sin, rebellion, suffering, and pain, a world where over three billion people live on less than $2 a day, and a billion of those people live in desperate poverty. Hundreds of millions are starving and dying of preventable diseases. Yet the spiritual condition of the world is even worse: billions of people across the world are engrossed in false religions, and approximately two billion of them have never even had a chance to hear the gospel. According to Scripture, they are all on a road that leads to an eternal hell. Yet as believers, we know that Jesus is Lord and that He has died on the cross for our sins and risen from the grave. The Spirit of God has opened our hearts to see and to believe. He has saved us to know God and to enjoy Him, and very soon we will be with Him forever in heaven. But while we're here, God has given us His Spirit for one purpose: We have been charged with reaching the world with the gospel.

We Will Depend On the Presence of Christ

Matthew 28:20

Finally, after seeing that we must believe in the authority of Christ and obey the command of Christ, we get the assurance in Matthew 28:20 that we can depend on the presence of Christ. The final words of this Gospel are comforting and encouraging, and they remind us of Matthew's description of Jesus in the first chapter: "See, the virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they will name Him Immanuel, which is translated 'God is with us'" (1:23). It is fitting, then, that Matthew would close His Gospel with Jesus' words, "And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age" (28:20).378

Be encouraged, follower of Christ, for this mission is not based on who we are or what we can do. This mission is assured based on Christ's presence through His Spirit. When I first came to the church I now pastor, I recall thinking that the church had such potential with all of its gifts and resources. But that's not a biblical mind-set. It doesn't matter how gifted a church is or how blessed it is materially, for the people of God can do nothing apart from power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8). However, when the Spirit works among a people, that church can shake the nations for God's glory.

Rather than being based on what we can do, this mission is based on who Jesus is and what He is able to do in and through our lives. Christ is able to do "beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us" (Eph 3:20). Oh, how we need to put aside small dreams and worldly ambitions. We need to give Christ a blank check with our lives and then see where He leads.

Together, let's experience the power of His presence with us. We want to be a part of something that is beyond us, something that requires supernatural strength. We don't want to be preoccupied with programs and practices that we can manage on our own. We should be desperate for the power of Jesus.

We know that obedience to the Great Commission will not be easy, and we know it will be costly. But we also know that it will be worth it. Jesus will return and His reward will be infinitely greater than any cost we have paid. So together, let's hope in the promise of His return for us. The kingdom of our Lord Jesus will one day be fully and finally established, and we will see His face (Rev 22:4). We are living—and longing—for that day. Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!

Reflect and Discuss

1. What is the church's mission?
2. How can the church do good things and yet miss the Great Commission?
3. Why is it crucial to recognize and believe in the authority of Christ as we seek to obey the Great Commission?
4. Explain the idea that the Great Commission is intended for all Christians.
5. How important is baptism to making disciples? Is it optional?379
6. What is the result of aiming for converts but not following up with teaching Christ's commands? Describe the church's role in this process.
7. Explain the following statement: The Great Commission is not so much a call to "come and see" but rather to "go and tell."
8. On a day-to-day basis, what does it mean to depend on Jesus as you carry out the Great Commission?
9. What characteristics would you expect to find in a church being faithful to the Great Commission?
10. What might obedience to the Great Commission look like for a stay-at-home mom? How about a homebound member of your church? What about a student?380

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