December 3, 2025 • 47 mins
In this message from Matthew 28:16–20, David Platt reminds us that following Christ means obeying the commission that he has given us.
Explore more content from Radical.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
You are listening to David Platt Messages, a weekly
podcast with sermons andmessages from pastor, author,
and teacher David Platt.
SPEAKER_01 (00:09):
You got a Bible, and I hope you do.
Let me invite you to open withme to Matthew chapter 28.
As you're turning there and pullout those notes that you
received in the celebrationguide when you came in, and we
come to the last last week inthis follow me series, diving in
to what it means to makedisciples of all nations.
(00:31):
We started this series, firstSunday of the month of January,
looking at Matthew chapter 4,simple verse, follow me and I
will make you fishers of men,teaching us what it means to be
a disciple of Christ.
And we've spent the last fourweeks walking through various
components of what it means tomake disciples based on the life
of Christ and what he did in thelives of these guys that
(00:52):
surrounded him.
And so we come to theculmination here in Matthew
chapter 28, end of Matthew.
We started where he began withhis disciples.
Now we're seeing where he endedin this book with his disciples.
The thing that excites me is itwas almost exactly a year ago
that we had the opportunity tostudy this text together.
I was a stranger to you, justthis fill-in speaker, and you
(01:14):
were a stranger to me.
And we dove in and we read thisand we studied it together.
Now a year later, we don't justapproach the Great Commission as
this text.
We approach it as the verymission of our lives and the
mission of our church.
This is the text, this is thecommand around which everything
revolves.
We're not just reading this textthis morning from the sidelines.
(01:35):
We are in the middle of thefield and we are getting the
plays called in from thesidelines, and we are getting to
the line of scrimmage day in andday out.
What does it mean to makedisciples of all nations?
We're not just talking about thebattle plans anymore.
We are anchored down in thebunker and we have staked
everything on this mission.
And so, with that perspective,let's dive into Matthew chapter
(01:56):
28, verse 16.
The Bible says the elevendisciples went to Galilee to the
mountain where Jesus had toldthem to go.
Just a pause there.
Remember that whenever we seeJesus going to a mountain,
really God meeting with hispeople all throughout Scripture
on a mountain, it signifies avery important message.
Even in the book of Matthew, hisministry starts with his
(02:16):
teaching, the sermon on themount.
And then in the very middleyou've got the mountain of
transfiguration, and then at theend here you see Jesus taking
his disciples to the mountain.
Verse 17 says, When they sawhim, they worshiped him, but
some doubted.
Then Jesus came to them andsaid, All authority in heaven
and on earth has been given tome.
(02:37):
Therefore go and make disciplesof all nations, baptizing them
in the name of the Father and ofthe Son and the Holy Spirit, and
teaching them to obey everythingI have commanded you.
And surely I am with you alwaysto the very end of the age.
I've got to be honest with you.
We could camp out on this textfor weeks.
I could preach, and I know youdon't find that too hard to
(02:58):
believe, that I could preach onthis text for weeks.
It is so full of meaning.
It is so thick.
What I want us to do is I wantus to look at this text.
Why'd you laugh at that?
Okay.
I want us to look at this textthis morning through the lens of
it being like a covenant.
As we come to the end of thisseries, and by a covenant I mean
a commitment.
Covenant is a commitment youmake before God and before each
(03:19):
other.
I want us to look at this textthrough the lens of this church.
What does it mean for this textto become a reality in our
church?
And I want us to break down,unpack three facets of a
covenant that I believe we needto make together based on this
text.
The first facet of that is thiswe will be a church that trusts
in the authority of Christ.
(03:42):
We will be a church that trustsin his authority.
Jesus starts this GreatCommission thing by saying, All
authority in heaven and on earthhas been given to me.
That is the foundation uponwhich this great commission
rests.
All of his words spring fromthat foundation.
If we skip over verse 18, wemiss the whole point, the whole
(04:03):
fuel behind this passage.
All authority in heaven and onearth has been given to me.
Now, the authority of Christ,this is about the tenth time
that that's been seen,referenced in the book of
Matthew alone.
It's all over the Gospels.
Over and over again, eitherpeople looking at Jesus and
seeing his authority, Jesusdoing things that demonstrate
his authority, his authority isemphasized over and over and
(04:24):
over again throughout thegospel.
So this is not something new,but I want you to see two facets
of author, his authority thatare stressed here that relate to
the Great Commission.
First of all, I want you to seethat his authority is universal.
All authority in heaven and onearth has been given to me.
That word all is mentioned overand over again throughout this
passage.
All authority.
Make disciples in all nations,teach them all things.
(04:47):
I am with you all the days ofyour life.
It is a universal authority.
If he has all authority inheaven and on earth, that pretty
much sums it up.
He's got it.
He's got all authority.
And like I mentioned, this isnot a new picture here at the
end of Matthew.
It's something we've seenthroughout.
If we had time, we could dive inand just do a uh this is one of
(05:08):
those sermons we could camp outfor a while on and just look at
the authority of Christ as it'smentioned over and over and over
again in the Gospels.
Let me give you a summarythough.
You've got a list there.
Think about the universalauthority of Christ.
Number one, he has authorityover disease.
Jesus has the authority to go toa blind man and say, I give you
sight.
He has the authority to go tothose who are lame, who have
(05:30):
never stood on their feet intheir entire lives and say, Get
up, take your mat, and walk.
He has the authority to go tothe lepers who are outcasts in
their culture and to heal them,turn their lives upside down.
He has authority over disease.
Isn't it good to know that JesusChrist has authority over
cancer?
Jesus Christ has authority overevery disease, any illness we
(05:51):
may come in contact with that'saround the corner in any one of
our lives or in the lives of ourfamilies.
Jesus has authority overdisease.
Second, he has authority overdemons.
Some of the great texts in thegospels are seeing the demons
flee from Jesus.
He casts them into pigs.
He is able to do whatever hewants with the demons.
They run from him.
People say the evil spirits fleefrom him.
(06:12):
They bow to him.
He has authority over disease,over demons.
Third, he has authority oversin.
He has authority over sin.
You look at the progressionthroughout the Gospels.
John chapter 5, he talks abouthow he has the authority to
judge sin.
But then if he stopped there andJesus just has the authority to
judge sin, that's not a goodthing for us.
However, he has the authority toforgive sin as well.
(06:34):
He has the authority to conquersin.
He conquered sin, death in thegrave.
Therefore, sin has no reign inall those who place their faith
in him.
That's good news.
He has authority over sin.
Fourth, he has authority oversuffering.
Come to me, all you who areweary and burdened, and I will
give you what?
Rest.
(06:54):
When the world has piled thingson you, you're confused,
anxious, don't know what's goingon, to know that there is a
Savior who has authority overany suffering this life might
bring.
And that his satisfaction overthe suffering of this world is
eternal.
(07:14):
To those who were hungry fromthe things of this world, not
filling them, he said, I'm thebread of life, and if you eat
from this bread, you will neverbe hungry again.
Drink from this water, you'llnever be thirsty again.
He has authority over suffering.
Next, he has authority overnature.
Jesus is on the boat with hisdisciples.
There's a big storm that comesup.
They're all panic.
(07:36):
He wipes the sleep from hiseyes.
He yawns and he raises his handand speaks a word, and all of a
sudden the storm stops.
That's authority.
Another time, his friends, hisbuddies are out in the middle of
the lake.
He needs to get to them.
They're in the boat out in themiddle of the lake.
Jesus needs no wave runner.
He just takes a stroll acrossthe lake because he has
(07:57):
authority over nature.
He has it all.
He has authority over disease,demon, sin, suffering nature,
and he has authority overnations.
He has authority over allnations.
Daniel chapter 7, verse 13 and14.
You might write that down and golook at it because it's a
prophecy that gives us a pictureof Jesus.
Talks about the Son of Man whohas sovereign dominion, power,
(08:18):
and authority over every nationand every people, and his
dominion will last forever.
That's what it means for him tohave authority.
Not just power.
But authority is the right touse that power.
If you have a lot of power andyou have a lot of strength, but
you don't have a right to useit, or have an avenue where you
can use it, then it doesn'tmatter how much power or
strength you have.
(08:39):
He has authority.
He has all the power and he hasall the dominion, the right, the
rule to use it.
He has authority over all ofthese things.
I want you to think about howthat changes everything.
The fact that he has authorityover a nation changes the way,
the way we watch CNN or FoxNews, the way we look at what's
going on around us in the world,to know that Jesus Christ has
(09:02):
all things under his feet, thathe is in control.
And all of these areas, allauthority.
It's exactly what Psalm 148gives us a picture of.
Great sea creatures, all oceandepths, lightning and hail, snow
and clouds, stormy winds, theydo his bidding.
Mountains, hills, fruit trees,cedars, wild animal, small
cattle, flying birds, kings ofthe earth and all nations,
(09:23):
princes, all the rulers on theearth, young men and maidens,
old men, every children, all ofthem bow to the authority of
Jesus Christ.
He is universal in his rule andhis dominion.
Now, he has universal authority,but second, his authority is not
just universal, it's purposeful.
And this is where I want you tosee how the Great Commission
(09:43):
needs this statement at the verybeginning.
How this statement fuels whathe's about to say.
Because it's not Jesus justbragging, look what I've got.
I've got all authority.
He's saying, I have authorityfor a purpose.
Don't miss the picture here.
Jesus is saying that all thingsare at his disposal to
(10:05):
accomplish the mission that theFather had given to him.
Everything under his authorityto accomplish that mission.
And the beauty of it is when youget into the picture of the
church and the rest of the NewTestament, we have a Savior who
does not hoard his authority, hepours it out freely on his
people.
He entrusts his authority, hegives his authority to his
people.
He even said it to his disciplesin John 15, part of those
(10:28):
passages we've been looking atthe last four weeks when he
said, You can come to me and askfor anything you need, anything
you want to accomplish thismission, and I promise I will
give it to you.
The authority of Jesus Christdwelling and residing in each
(10:48):
one of you.
There is no limit.
There is no way that thismission cannot be accomplished
with the authority of Christbehind it.
This is the beauty of this text.
Our success, ladies andgentlemen, is not based on who
we are or what we can do.
It's not about how smart we arein this room.
(11:11):
It's not about how educated weare.
It's not about how talented weare, how gifted we are.
It's not about what greatintellects we have.
It's not about how much money wehave.
It's not about who we are andwhat we do.
It's not about what we bring tothe table.
Our success is based on whoJesus is and what he is capable
of doing in our lives.
That's the beauty of the GreatCommission.
(11:31):
That it's not dependent on whatwe bring to the table.
And so let's not be so bold asto think that we've got that
much to offer in and ofourselves.
Jesus Christ and it's his powerand what he is capable of doing
in your life and my life thatmakes this commission so
exciting.
That our God delights to showhis grace in our lives for his
(11:53):
glory.
So his authority, his fullsponsorship is behind this whole
thing.
We will be a church that trustsin his authority.
Not in ourselves, not in thecharisma of this leader or that
leader, not in the ability ofthis person or that person, but
in the authority of JesusChrist.
And we will trust in theauthority of his word.
(12:13):
Everything we do will bedominated by this word.
Our plans, our dreams, ourhopes, our ambitions, everything
will be driven by this word.
Apart from this word, we havenothing to bring to the table.
But with his word, we have apicture of a plan that he has
(12:34):
promised to bless by hisauthority.
That leads us to the secondfacet of this covenant, I think,
that springs from this text.
Number one, we'll be a churchthat trusts in his authority.
Second, we will be a church thatobeys his strategy.
We'll be a church that obeys hisstrategy.
Now we start to get into verse19.
But before we get there, I wantyou to think about the contrast
(12:56):
or tension that I think we'veseen throughout the Gospels up
to this point between Jesus andthe disciples.
I think there's a constanttension in the Gospels between
the strategy of Christ on onehand, and on the other hand, the
self-directed strategy of thedisciples.
There's a constant tensionbetween the two.
You see, Jesus talks about howhe had compassion on the crowds
(13:19):
because they were harassed andhelpless like sheep without a
shepherd.
And then you see pictures likeLuke chapter 9, and the
disciples get frustrated inSamaria because they aren't
treated very well.
And so they come out to Jesusand they suggest that we call
down fire from heaven on thoseguys.
Well, that's not exactly theplan that Jesus had for Samaria
(13:39):
at that point.
You see Jesus with a couple ofdisciples on the Mount of
Transfiguration, and they'relike, let's build a house up
there, let's camp out here for awhile.
And he said, No, you're missingthe whole point.
You see Jesus at many pointstalking about the suffering that
he was going to experience, eventhe death that he was going to
experience.
And one time Peter is even boldenough to pull Jesus to the side
(14:00):
and say, Jesus, not sure whatyou're thinking, but as your PR
manager, I'm going to need tosuggest we go a different route
than the one you're planning.
There's a constant tensionbetween the strategy of Christ
and the strategy of thedisciples.
Could it be that that is thecase not just in the gospels,
but it's the case in the churchtoday as well?
(14:23):
That it's possible that wecould, as a church, as his
disciples, actually try to comeup with strategies that miss out
on the whole point of hisstrategy.
Do you think that's possible?
If that's possible, I think weneed to be careful as a church
to avoid that.
And so I want you to think aboutit.
They come to this mountain withJesus, they've got their ideas,
(14:45):
who knows what they might be ofhow they can take the world with
this message.
And Jesus comes to them with hisstrategy.
And what they've got is twooptions in front of them.
The first option is this aself-directed strategy that they
come up with that hopes for hisblessing.
What I mean by that is thedisciples, these were guys with
good motives all throughout.
(15:06):
They're not always pictured asthe sharpest tools in the shed,
but they at least have goodmotives at their heart, at their
core.
They want to do good things.
They want to see the kingdomadvanced.
And so they've got good motives.
Same picture today.
I have no question that when yougo to the Christian bookstores
(15:26):
in this community and you lookon the bookshelves and you see
book after book after book afterbook giving a new strategy for
the church, a new plan for thechurch, a new method for the
church.
This will work in your church.
You see book after book afterbook.
I have no question that thereare good motives behind that.
And I have no doubt that wecould, as a church, with the
(15:50):
talent and the thought processesin this room come up with some
good strategy, with some goodmotives.
But here's what we need torealize nowhere in Scripture
does God promise to bless usbased solely on our motives.
Now let that soak in.
(16:12):
I'm not saying motives aren'timportant.
I think motives are veryimportant.
I think scripture teachesmotives are very important.
Do whatever you do for the gloryof God.
That is important.
However, we've got to realizethat if we come up with a
strategy and have a Godglorifying motive, then all we
can do at that point is hope forhis blessing.
However, on the other hand, ifwe give ourselves to the
(16:32):
strategy that Christ hasoutlined, we don't have to hope
for his blessing.
Maybe it'll come.
We are actually guaranteed hisblessing at that point.
Two options (16:40):
a self-directed strategy that hopes for his
blessing.
Second, a Christ-directedstrategy that is guaranteed his
blessing.
Do we realize that when Jesusoutlines in verse 19 the Great
Commission, therefore go andmake disciples of all nations,
he is saying, This is my plan.
You don't have to come up withanother plan, a new method, or a
(17:01):
new strategy.
This is it.
Give yourself to this.
And he has promised by hischaracter to bless that plan.
Could it be that this frees usup from our personal agendas for
what we think needs to happen inthe church?
And it focuses us on onestrategy that drives us to the
(17:22):
church.
We're going to make disciples ofall nations and all other
agendas fall by the wayside atthat point.
I'm convinced that if Christiansaround our country would lay
down their personal agendas andstart giving themselves to the
agenda that Christ has alreadylined out for us, that we would
have huge impact in the worldfor the glory of Christ.
Untold impact.
(17:43):
So the question is, are we goingto come up with our own
strategies and hope for hisblessing, or are we going to
give ourselves to the strategyhe has already outlined and be
guaranteed his blessing?
Well, what is that strategy?
I'm glad you asked.
I want you to think about aChrist-directed strategy in a
few different ways.
First of all, think about visionand the strategy.
Christ is our vision.
Christ is our vision.
Now, all of this springing fromthe word.
(18:05):
This is not my proposal for anew method.
I hope this is just exposingwhat Christ has laid out for us.
Remember where this wholejourney started?
Two words in Matthew 4, 19.
Follow me.
Give yourself to me.
I will make you fishers of men.
I'll do the work.
Your primary vision is on me.
You follow me, you become likeme.
Remember?
(18:26):
No formal school with Jesus, noseminaries, no membership
classes, no highly organizedprocedures and rituals.
Follow me.
Give yourself to my person.
Our vision as individualsbelievers and our vision as a
church is single-minded.
We are growing into the image ofChrist.
That's why we study the wordlike we do week in and week out,
(18:47):
because we want to grow into theimage of Christ.
Because we are focused onbecoming like Christ, being
conformed into his image.
That's our vision.
Alright?
Second.
Second, making disciples is ourmission.
Christ is our vision.
Second, making disciples is ourmission.
When you get to Matthew chapter28, verse 16 through 20, the
passage we just read, in theoriginal language of the New
(19:09):
Testament, there is only oneimperative verb in this passage.
Just to remind you, just in caseschool's been a while, you don't
remember the imperative verb, animperative is a command.
When my wife Heather gives me animperative, that's a command.
Do it right then.
Or should do it right then.
In this passage, there's oneimperative verb, one command
(19:30):
around which this whole thingrevolves.
It's one word in the NewTestament.
In the Greek, it's two wordshere in the English.
It's make disciples.
It's make disciples.
And some translations even havego and teach all nations, which
really is it's a much it's acompletely different word than
what we see later with teachingthem to obey everything I've
commanded you.
So we need to make sure toseparate the two.
Make disciples of all nations.
(19:52):
That is the mission that I'mgiving you, Jesus says.
So at that point we ask thequestion well, how do you make
disciples?
Well, thankfully, all of us knowthat answer.
As a result of the last fourweeks, we've walked through
different components of disciplemaking.
First component was to what theword?
Share the word.
The second component was to showthe word.
(20:13):
Third component was to teach theword.
And last week we talked aboutserving the world.
Okay?
Those are the four components.
You know what's reallyinteresting?
I want you to look with me athow making disciples is
described in the in the GreatCommission.
First verb that we've got,therefore, go.
Go just like I've gone, Jesussaid.
(20:34):
Same, it's a participle, justlike baptizing and teaching.
It's helping describe how tomake disciples.
And he says, Going.
Just as I have gone, proclaimingthe word, you go proclaiming the
word.
When we go, we do what with theword?
We share the word.
Let's connect the dots from thelast few weeks and Matthew 28,
16 through 20.
Going is to share the word.
(20:54):
Then he says, baptizing theminto the name of the Father and
the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Baptism, what we saw thismorning, is the biblical picture
of us identifying our life withChrist, with his life and with
his death.
This is a picture of we are weare in him.
We are in his body, in hisfamily.
It's our identification withChrist and with his church.
(21:16):
And so not only are we sharingthe word, but we are showing the
word.
We are showing that we areidentified with Christ.
Then he says, teaching them toobey everything I've commanded
you.
We go and we share the word.
We baptize, we show the word.
We teach, teach the word.
Connecting the dots, it's allstarting to make sense now.
Teaching them to obey everythingI've commanded you.
(21:39):
And then he says, do it in allnations.
Go, baptize, teach in allnations.
We share the word, we show theword, we teach the word, then we
serve the world.
It's all a part of this processof discipline.
Now, before you turn over andstart going to something else, I
got to show you something reallycool.
Okay, so let me stop you beforeyou're ready to get to the next
blank.
(21:59):
All right?
Here we go.
I want to show you somethingreally neat in the book of
Matthew, even the way this bookis structured when it comes to
going and baptizing andespecially teaching.
I want you to hold your placehere and I want you to go back
with me to Matthew chapter 5.
I want you to look at Matthewchapter 5.
And what I want to show you isfive different times in this
(22:19):
gospel where Matthew emphasizesJesus' teaching and Jesus'
instruction to his disciples.
Five different times where thatis emphasized.
I think the outline of the bookof Matthew revolves around these
five blocks of teaching.
And what we're going to see isat the beginning of each one of
(22:40):
these, his disciples cometogether, either he pulls them
together or they come to him,and then he teaches them for a
block of teaching.
And at the very end, we're goingto see a statement repeated
every single time that basicallygives closure to that teaching.
So start with me in chapter 5,verse 1.
It says, when he saw the crowds,he went up on a mountainside and
sat down.
His disciples came to him, andhe began to teach them, saying,
(23:02):
and then he starts to teach orpreach the Sermon on the Mount.
Now go to the end of it, chapter7.
And maybe underline this phrasein verse 28, because it's the
same phrase you're going to seefive different times.
Matthew chapter 7, verse 28.
First phrase, beginning of thisverse.
(23:24):
So Matthew gives some closurethere, okay?
Finish saying these things.
And he goes on.
The crowds were amazed.
He taught as one who hadauthority, not as their teacher
the law, and he came down fromthe mountainside.
He gives closure when Jesus hadfinished teaching them these
things.
Okay, that's number one.
Let's go to number two.
Turn over to Matthew chapter 10.
Look at Matthew chapter 10.
Again, we're going to see himpulling his disciples together,
(23:45):
the disciples surrounding Jesusfor some teaching and
instruction.
Verse 1, chapter 10.
He called his twelve disciplesto him and gave them authority
to drive out evil spirits and toheal every disease and sickness.
These are the names of thetwelve apostles.
He lists their names, and thenit says in verse 5, these twelve
Jesus sent out with thefollowing instructions.
He gives them this teaching.
(24:07):
And then you get to the end,chapter 11, verse 1.
And we're going to underlinethat phrase that we saw, very
similar to the last one we saw.
After Jesus had finishedinstructing his twelve
disciples, he went on from thereto teach and preach in the towns
of Galilee.
So he finished teaching and hemoved on.
Go to the next one.
Turn to me to chapter 13.
Look at chapter 13, verse 1.
(24:31):
So we've seen him given theSermon on the Mount and some
instructions as the discipleswent out.
Look at the parables here inchapter 13, verse 1.
That same day, Jesus went out ofthe house and sat by the lake.
Such large crowds, large crowdsgathered around him that he got
into a boat and sat in it whileall the people stood on the
shore.
And then he told them manythings and parables, saying, and
(24:51):
he begins to teach them thiswhole chapter.
You get to the end.
Look at verse 53.
Matthew gives the closure.
Very intentionally.
Says in verse 53, when Jesus hadfinished these parables, same
phrase underlined there, hemoved on from there.
So he finishes his teaching andmoved on.
Now let me show you two more.
Look at Matthew 18.
(25:11):
Matthew chapter 18, verse 1.
Now, in between all of these,Jesus is healing, he's doing all
kinds of different things, butthere's a focus here on his
teaching, these blocks.
Look in 18, verse 1.
At that time the disciples cameto Jesus and asked, Who is the
greatest in the kingdom ofheaven?
And so he begins to teach themall the way through the end of
this chapter.
(25:32):
You get to chapter 19, verse 1,and you see the phrase, another
time.
When Jesus had finished sayingthese things, he moved on.
He left Galilee and went intothe region of Judea to the other
side of the Jordan.
Okay, one more.
Go to chapter 24.
Chapter 24.
Look at verse 1.
(25:52):
Again, we're going to see thedisciples and probably others
come around Jesus to hear fromhim.
Chapter 24, verse 1 says, Jesusleft the temple, was walking
away when his disciples came upto him to call his attention to
its buildings, and he begins toteach.
We've got a concentratedteaching time all the way to
chapter 26, verse 1.
And there, for the last time, weunderline when Jesus had
(26:16):
finished saying all thesethings, he said to his
disciples, and then he moved on.
So he finished.
Every time he finished histeaching, and that was a
transition point in the book ofMatthew.
Now, Matthew, pretty goodwriter, has given us this
picture very intentionallythroughout.
So now we come to the sixth timethat Jesus intentionally pulls
(26:37):
his disciples together to givethem a teaching, brings them on
the mountain, same place that hefirst taught them back in
Matthew chapter 5.
He begins to teach them, givesthem this commission.
But what you'll notice isMatthew doesn't give that
closure at the end.
Now, if he were a literaryscholar, he would have known it
really would have worked outbest to add a verse 21 in there
(26:59):
and say, after teaching thesethings, a few days later he went
up to heaven.
And now we've got this closedpicture.
But that's not what Matthew isintending to do, not what the
Holy Spirit is intending to dothrough Matthew.
Why do we not have the closureafter Jesus' teaching here?
Why does it say after hefinished saying these things?
It would naturally say that.
Then he went to heaven.
The reason we don't have thatclosure is because the book of
(27:22):
Matthew is intended to beintentionally left wide open in
the end for the fact that theteaching of Jesus was not
finished with these disciples.
The teaching of Jesus would bereproduced through the lives of
these men throughout history.
The teaching of Jesus is stillbeing taught day in and day out,
week in and week out by men andwomen across this room who are
raising up and saying we'regoing to make disciples of all
(27:44):
nations.
Could it be that we are stillrewriting the end of the book of
Matthew with the way we arereproducing the teachings of
Christ?
That's what the picture is.
It's left open-ended.
Jesus' teaching is beingreproduced, sharing the word,
showing the word, teaching theword, and serving the world.
Now, with those components, nowturn over to the back here, and
(28:05):
I want you, I want you to lookwith me at a diagram kind of
picture that maybe, maybe, maybewill help us get a grasp on this
process called disciple making,this journey of what it means to
make disciples.
Start with the world there inthe middle, and we're going to
go to the right from the world.
We go into the world and weshare the word.
It's where disciple makingbegins, leading people to
(28:27):
Christ.
We talked about that a few weeksago.
When we share the word, thatfirst blank there is we lead
people to believe in Christ, totrust in Christ.
So you can put believer rightthere.
Those who trust, who put theirfaith in Christ.
That's where disciple makingbegins.
But if we stop there, we'llnever impact the world for the
glory of Christ.
We've got to continue on.
We show the word.
(28:49):
We show our identification withChrist, and we lead others to be
identified and identified withChrist or with His church.
So that we're not just believingin Christ, but we are
established as that top-blankdisciples, a disciple of Christ.
I have identified with him.
He is my master, my Lord.
I'm his follower.
I'm a Christ follower.
Now, we don't stop there,because if we did stop there,
(29:12):
then we still haven't engagedthe world with the gospel.
And so we teach the word.
We reproduce the teachings ofChrist.
We teach people to obeyeverything Christ has commanded
them so that they are not justbelieving in Christ and
disciples of Christ, but so thatthey are themselves able,
equipped to make disciples.
Put in that final blank to theleft, disciple maker.
(29:33):
And then when we begin to makedisciples, people are equipped
to follow Christ and do this inothers' lives, then we're able
to go into the world and servethe world together with each
other.
Now that's a little picture, andI'll be honest, it's flawed in
some ways.
It's flawed most particularly,and the reason I even hesitated
to use it was because I'mconvinced that a true disciple
of Christ is a believer inChrist and a disciple maker.
(29:56):
But I think this pretty muchpictures.
How we have missed the point ofdisciple making.
You say, what do you mean, Dave?
Well, let me ask you, let me askyou two questions.
First question, where would youput your Christianity, your
(30:17):
Christian life in this journey,in this circle right now?
I want to ask you that questionbecause there's a there's a
pretty big temptation for us toplace our faith in Christ, trust
in him for forgiveness of oursins, and then pretty much stop
and camp out there in our churchculture today.
(30:39):
And we can come to church andremain pretty anonymous,
particularly in a room likethis, and never really begin to
engage what it means to live mylife identified with Christ.
A temptation to not even noteven be baptized or be a part of
a faith family.
There are probably many of us,many of us this morning who have
(30:59):
never been baptized, neveridentified our lives with Christ
in the biblical way that He hasshown us to do that.
Why not?
We stop at number one, or maybe,maybe many of us go on and we
stop at number two.
The top there.
(31:20):
But we never take personalresponsibility, personal
responsibility, not just theresponsibility of the church as
an institution, personalresponsibility to show and to
teach and to lead others in howto follow Christ, to teach them
to obey everything Christ hascommanded them.
You say, well, what do you mean?
Maybe we stop without doingthat.
(31:41):
Well, just imagine when we thinkof praying and studying the word
and sharing our faith, the most,the most often avenue that we
look to to teach people to prayand study the word and share
their faith is we we put peoplein classes in the church.
The church and that class willteach them how to pray.
So put them in a prayer class orput somebody in a Bible study
(32:02):
class where they'll learn tostudy the Bible.
Instead of, wouldn't it be moreeffective if a new believer who
is identified with Christ neededto learn to pray?
Wouldn't it be more effective ifyou took them aside and said,
Let me show you how I pray, letme teach you what God has taught
me about prayer, and you beginto invest your life in that way
in them.
Do you think that's going to bemore effective?
How about studying the Word?
(32:23):
I'm guessing many of us, when itcomes to studying the Word,
really aren't sure where tostart.
And the best thing for us to dowould not be to sit in a class
where we get all these tools,which would be helpful.
Wouldn't it be better forsomebody who studied the Word to
sit down with us and say, hey,let me show you how to study the
Word.
Let me show you how to walkthrough the Word.
Let me show you what I do when Icome to the Word.
(32:45):
Sharing our faith, a thing thatmost, if not all, of us, are
somewhat timid about doing.
Maybe the most effective thingis not to come up with a bunch
of classes on how to share yourfaith, but to go with each other
and learn to share our faithfrom each other.
I want you to see the personalconnection that's at the center
of this, that's disciple making,that many of us have stopped
short of.
(33:09):
So where are you on this?
And second.
Who have you taken through thisjourney?
Is there anyone that you've ledto Christ, showed Christ to, in
such a way that they areequipped to make disciples
(33:32):
themselves so that now they aredoing the same thing in other
people's lives as a result ofyour life?
The stark reality is, we've gotto be honest with each other on
this.
There are many of us who havebeen Christians for five, ten,
(33:55):
fifteen, twenty, twenty-fiveyears, who can't name one person
who is producing for Christ andmaking disciples with their life
as a direct result of our onelife.
And we come to church and we sitin the seat and we sing the
(34:15):
songs, we even serve oncommittees and teams and do
different things.
But if we give ourselves tospiritual activity with no
productivity, and the way thatJesus is outlined, we miss the
whole point.
And this is a this is aquestion, this is an issue, we
(34:38):
need to stop ignoring in church.
Are we making disciples?
Because it's when we're goingthrough this journey that we
begin to engage the world withour one life.
Now it's at that point that someof you, as I've mentioned that
in a couple different times,you've said, okay, I don't get
it, Dave.
Engage the world with my onelife.
(34:59):
How can my one life engage theworld with the gospel?
Well, I'm really glad you askedthat one.
Okay, I want to give you twoscenarios.
I want you to follow with mehere, okay?
One scenario.
I want you to imagine with methat all of us in this room,
well, not just us in this room,the 4,000 people that will
worship in this room today.
Imagine together, combined, overthe next year.
(35:23):
Imagine working together.
We were able to lead one personto Christ every single day.
It'd be tough.
Maybe we could do it.
At the end of this year, 365people would have come to faith
in Christ.
It'd be an exciting year.
Imagine we were to do that thenext year and the next year and
the next year.
It'd be tough, but just imagine.
After 30 plus years, you wouldsee over 10,000 people come to
(35:46):
know faith in Christ.
We would make a small dent inthe lost population of the
United States of America.
Let me give you a secondscenario though.
What if just one person fromthis room over the next year
didn't lead somebody to Christevery single day?
(36:06):
But over the next year, oneperson from this room led just
one person to faith in Christ.
But you didn't stop there.
You showed the word to them.
And you showed them,intentionally showed them, what
it means to be a Christfollower.
So that they were identifiedwith Christ in this church.
And you began to teach them topray, and you began to teach
(36:27):
them to study the word, and youbegan to equip them from your
word, uh, from God's word tomake disciples, so that at the
end of that year it would be youand one other person.
Picture that Jesus has given ushere going out and serving the
world.
Suppose that were to continue.
The next year, it would be fourpeople.
(36:49):
The next year it would continueto multiply, not adding,
multiplying.
You do the math in the same timeframe over there that we see
over 10,000 people come to knowfaith in Christ.
In this scenario, same timeframe, you would see nearly four
billion people come to faith inChrist.
Maybe Jesus knew what he wastalking about.
(37:10):
When he said, make disciples,give yourself to this command,
this strategy.
I promise to bless it.
Think about it.
If your life, if all of ourlives in this room over the next
year, with the grace and mercyand compassion of Christ that's
been entrusted to each one ofus, if it was produced in just
(37:31):
one other life, immediately ourinfluence in this community
would double.
Not to mention the partnershipsthat we would now have with
people all over the world,through the trips we're taking,
making disciples, engaging theworld with our one lives.
This is the strategy He hasgiven, He has outlined.
God help us not to go on withspiritual activity that misses
(37:54):
the whole point.
We've got to be intentionalabout this.
This doesn't happenaccidentally.
Let me ask you a question.
I want you to imagine with methat tomorrow God were to give
you the opportunity to leadsomebody to faith in Christ.
Whether it's at home, at work,in your neighborhood, in
Walmart, wherever.
(38:15):
Tomorrow you had the opportunityto lead somebody to faith in
Christ.
My question is, what is yourplan if you lead somebody to
Christ tomorrow?
What is your plan over the nextsix months to begin walking them
through this journey?
I'm guessing most of us probablydon't have a plan along those
(38:37):
lines.
And that signals one of twothings.
Either number one, we're notplanning on leading somebody to
Christ tomorrow, which is not agood thing.
Or second, we're planning onleading somebody to Christ and
then leaving them there.
What would happen if our liveswere intentional about taking
the grace and the mercy ofChrist and pouring it into the
lives of others?
Sharing the word, showing theword, teaching the word, serve
(38:58):
the world.
This is our mission.
And everything is secondary tothis mission.
Christ is our vision, makingdisciples is our mission.
Third, people are our dreams.
By the way, that blank below theworld, there's nothing in there.
I'm not sure why that blank'sthere.
So everybody's looking at eachother, like, do we miss it?
What did he say?
(39:18):
No, it's not there.
Okay.
People are our dreams.
People are our dreams.
And this is the beauty of it.
This is the beauty of it.
When people ask what your churchis doing, it's no longer about
this method or this meeting.
It's now about the people thatwe are pouring our lives into.
And we're starting to get to theheart of New Testament ministry,
(39:40):
what it means to be concernedabout the needs of people and
not to be concerned about theprograms that we come up with.
That is our dream.
That was Jesus' dream.
We've seen it all along.
When he comes to Matthew 28, 18through 20, and he looks at
these guys and he gives themthese words.
He knows that this whole missionis now staked on their
faithfulness to this mission.
And praise God, the disciplesgave themselves to this journey.
(40:04):
Praise God, the disciples didnot stop like we often do at
step one or step two.
Praise God, the disciples didthis and they multiplied the
gospel.
Acts chapter 17, verse 6, theyturned that generation upside
down with the gospel.
People are our dreams, and theworld is our goal.
The world is our goal.
Make disciples of all nations.
(40:27):
Pantata ethne.
This is used four differenttimes in Matthew.
Beautiful phrase talking aboutthe gospel going to every nation
without distinction.
It's really interesting.
You do a little study in theJewish roots of Matthew, which
is it's heavily Jewish book.
In the very beginning, startsoff with a picture of Abraham.
And you go back and you look atGenesis, the picture of Abraham
(40:48):
there, and you see God'sblessing on Abraham.
And what does he say in Genesischapter 12?
Very beginning of God's blessingon Abraham.
I'm going to bless you.
I'm going to bless those whoblessed you and curse those who
curse you.
And all nations of the earthwill be blessed through you.
It's the same picture there.
Genesis 18, 18.
God comes to Abraham and says,All the nations of the earth are
(41:08):
going to be blessed through you.
Genesis 22, 18, all the nationsof the earth are going to be
blessed through you.
That was the picture from thevery beginning of the Bible.
It's the picture that is comingto fruition through Christ.
All nations blessed through him.
Over the last couple of years,in those times with Asian
believers, this is what I'vecamped out on with them.
(41:33):
Teaching what it means to be adisciple maker.
I remember the first time Iwalked through, I asked them the
same question I asked you.
And I said, if you were to leadsomebody to Christ tomorrow,
what are you going to do overthe next six months?
They said, Well, we don't know.
And I said, Well, let's walkthrough.
We walk through 25 truths thatthey can teach and show to
people they lead to Christ.
(41:54):
By the time I get back, lessthan a month later, they email
me and say, We took the bestnotes that we could, but we need
you to send us that stuffbecause since you've left, we
led a hundred people to faith inChrist and we want to make
disciples.
They're catching it.
So when you hear all nations,know that we are not the only
ones who have this mission infront of us.
There are brothers and sistersaround the world that are
(42:16):
literally sacrificing theirlives for their mission, this
mission, and I say we join them.
I say we give ourselves to thesame mission and partner with
them and engage the world withthe grace and the glory and the
majesty and the beauty of JesusChrist.
We will obey his strategy as achurch.
And we will make everythingsecondary compared to that
strategy.
(42:36):
Number one, we will trust in hisauthority.
Number two, we will obey hisstrategy.
Third, we will be a church thatdepends on his presence.
That depends on his presence.
It's interesting.
You go back to the verybeginning of Matthew, chapter 1,
verse 23, and you see Jesusintroduced his birth.
The angel says that you willgive birth to a child and you
(42:58):
will call his name Emmanuel,which means what?
God with us.
That is how Jesus is introducedin chapter 1, verse 23.
You get to chapter 28, verse 20,and you got the same exact
picture.
God with you.
Jesus with you.
Now you can imagine.
Put yourselves in the disciples'shoes at this point.
You went from the most extremelow to the extreme high.
(43:20):
Jesus died on the cross.
He was gone.
What in the world are we goingto do now?
Three days later, did you hearJesus is alive?
Well, now we're really talking.
We're in business.
We've got all kinds of things wecan do now.
And then for a few days he'sthere, and then he checks out.
What's he thinking?
He's thinking that when heascends into heaven, his
(43:44):
presence is no longer confinedto one body on the face of this
earth.
His presence now fills thebodies of men and women all
across this room who aredisciples of Christ.
His presence infuses all of us.
His presence dwells in all ofus.
Now, here's the deal.
We know that.
We see throughout Scripture thatGod is with us.
(44:05):
I'll never leave you or forsakeyou.
It's repeated over and overagain.
God is with his people.
We never have to question hispresence.
He's always with us.
Scripture teaches that veryclearly.
Why would Jesus say that righthere?
Why would he come to the end ofthe Great Commission and focus
on, hey, don't forget, I am withyou.
The emphasis is there.
It's almost like he's saying, Imyself am with you always.
(44:26):
Why would he focus on that here?
Because the presence of Christis absolutely and completely
necessary for the mission ofChrist.
Here's the deal.
If we in our individual lives,and if we as a church give
ourselves to this mission ofmaking disciples, two things.
(44:46):
Number one, we will need thepromise of his presence.
We will need it.
We will need the promise of hispresence.
I am convinced that it ispossible for us to coast through
this Christianity thing and ourchurch world and even be
(45:11):
successful and not even need hispresence to do it.
This haunts me.
It haunts me that it is possibleto be successful in ministry and
our church world that we'vecreated with the right marketing
and the right charisma and theright strategic planning.
(45:33):
You can be successful in ourchurch world.
And never once need the presenceof Christ to see it happen.
And I want to live my life andmy ministry.
And I want us to be a church.
That if his presence is notthere, we will fall flat on our
faces.
(45:54):
That this whole operation willabsolutely fall apart if he's
not true to this promise righthere.
Because I'm convinced.
I'm convinced when we lean onhis presence like that, when we
need the promise of hispresence, it's only then, only
then that we will see and knowthe power of his presence.
(46:14):
I believe God is honored in apeople who know that without him
they can do nothing.
Because it's then when he isable, he delights in showing his
greatness in our weakness, hisglory in our inadequacy.
We will need the power, we willneed the promise of his presence
(46:35):
and we will know the power ofhis presence.
He's faithful.
Our God has promised, Jesus haspromised to give us everything
we need to see this missionaccomplished.
Now that's our covenant.
We will be a church that trustsin his authority.
We will be a church that ourbase is strategy.
(46:55):
And we're going to be a churchthat depends on his presence,
for without it, we fall apart.
That's our covenant.
I want us to come to ourconfession now.
SPEAKER_00 (47:08):
We hope you've enjoyed this week's episode of
David Platt Messages.
For more resources from DavidPlatt, we invite you to visit
radical.net.
You are listening to David Platt Messages, a weekly
podcast with sermons andmessages from pastor, author,
and teacher David Platt.
SPEAKER_01 (00:09):
You got a Bible, and I hope you do.
Let me invite you to open withme to Matthew chapter 28.
As you're turning there and pullout those notes that you
received in the celebrationguide when you came in, and we
come to the last last week inthis follow me series, diving in
to what it means to makedisciples of all nations.
(00:31):
We started this series, firstSunday of the month of January,
looking at Matthew chapter 4,simple verse, follow me and I
will make you fishers of men,teaching us what it means to be
a disciple of Christ.
And we've spent the last fourweeks walking through various
components of what it means tomake disciples based on the life
of Christ and what he did in thelives of these guys that
(00:52):
surrounded him.
And so we come to theculmination here in Matthew
chapter 28, end of Matthew.
We started where he began withhis disciples.
Now we're seeing where he endedin this book with his disciples.
The thing that excites me is itwas almost exactly a year ago
that we had the opportunity tostudy this text together.
I was a stranger to you, justthis fill-in speaker, and you
(01:14):
were a stranger to me.
And we dove in and we read thisand we studied it together.
Now a year later, we don't justapproach the Great Commission as
this text.
We approach it as the verymission of our lives and the
mission of our church.
This is the text, this is thecommand around which everything
revolves.
We're not just reading this textthis morning from the sidelines.
(01:35):
We are in the middle of thefield and we are getting the
plays called in from thesidelines, and we are getting to
the line of scrimmage day in andday out.
What does it mean to makedisciples of all nations?
We're not just talking about thebattle plans anymore.
We are anchored down in thebunker and we have staked
everything on this mission.
And so, with that perspective,let's dive into Matthew chapter
(01:56):
28, verse 16.
The Bible says the elevendisciples went to Galilee to the
mountain where Jesus had toldthem to go.
Just a pause there.
Remember that whenever we seeJesus going to a mountain,
really God meeting with hispeople all throughout Scripture
on a mountain, it signifies avery important message.
Even in the book of Matthew, hisministry starts with his
(02:16):
teaching, the sermon on themount.
And then in the very middleyou've got the mountain of
transfiguration, and then at theend here you see Jesus taking
his disciples to the mountain.
Verse 17 says, When they sawhim, they worshiped him, but
some doubted.
Then Jesus came to them andsaid, All authority in heaven
and on earth has been given tome.
(02:37):
Therefore go and make disciplesof all nations, baptizing them
in the name of the Father and ofthe Son and the Holy Spirit, and
teaching them to obey everythingI have commanded you.
And surely I am with you alwaysto the very end of the age.
I've got to be honest with you.
We could camp out on this textfor weeks.
I could preach, and I know youdon't find that too hard to
(02:58):
believe, that I could preach onthis text for weeks.
It is so full of meaning.
It is so thick.
What I want us to do is I wantus to look at this text.
Why'd you laugh at that?
Okay.
I want us to look at this textthis morning through the lens of
it being like a covenant.
As we come to the end of thisseries, and by a covenant I mean
a commitment.
Covenant is a commitment youmake before God and before each
(03:19):
other.
I want us to look at this textthrough the lens of this church.
What does it mean for this textto become a reality in our
church?
And I want us to break down,unpack three facets of a
covenant that I believe we needto make together based on this
text.
The first facet of that is thiswe will be a church that trusts
in the authority of Christ.
(03:42):
We will be a church that trustsin his authority.
Jesus starts this GreatCommission thing by saying, All
authority in heaven and on earthhas been given to me.
That is the foundation uponwhich this great commission
rests.
All of his words spring fromthat foundation.
If we skip over verse 18, wemiss the whole point, the whole
(04:03):
fuel behind this passage.
All authority in heaven and onearth has been given to me.
Now, the authority of Christ,this is about the tenth time
that that's been seen,referenced in the book of
Matthew alone.
It's all over the Gospels.
Over and over again, eitherpeople looking at Jesus and
seeing his authority, Jesusdoing things that demonstrate
his authority, his authority isemphasized over and over and
(04:24):
over again throughout thegospel.
So this is not something new,but I want you to see two facets
of author, his authority thatare stressed here that relate to
the Great Commission.
First of all, I want you to seethat his authority is universal.
All authority in heaven and onearth has been given to me.
That word all is mentioned overand over again throughout this
passage.
All authority.
Make disciples in all nations,teach them all things.
(04:47):
I am with you all the days ofyour life.
It is a universal authority.
If he has all authority inheaven and on earth, that pretty
much sums it up.
He's got it.
He's got all authority.
And like I mentioned, this isnot a new picture here at the
end of Matthew.
It's something we've seenthroughout.
If we had time, we could dive inand just do a uh this is one of
(05:08):
those sermons we could camp outfor a while on and just look at
the authority of Christ as it'smentioned over and over and over
again in the Gospels.
Let me give you a summarythough.
You've got a list there.
Think about the universalauthority of Christ.
Number one, he has authorityover disease.
Jesus has the authority to go toa blind man and say, I give you
sight.
He has the authority to go tothose who are lame, who have
(05:30):
never stood on their feet intheir entire lives and say, Get
up, take your mat, and walk.
He has the authority to go tothe lepers who are outcasts in
their culture and to heal them,turn their lives upside down.
He has authority over disease.
Isn't it good to know that JesusChrist has authority over
cancer?
Jesus Christ has authority overevery disease, any illness we
(05:51):
may come in contact with that'saround the corner in any one of
our lives or in the lives of ourfamilies.
Jesus has authority overdisease.
Second, he has authority overdemons.
Some of the great texts in thegospels are seeing the demons
flee from Jesus.
He casts them into pigs.
He is able to do whatever hewants with the demons.
They run from him.
People say the evil spirits fleefrom him.
(06:12):
They bow to him.
He has authority over disease,over demons.
Third, he has authority oversin.
He has authority over sin.
You look at the progressionthroughout the Gospels.
John chapter 5, he talks abouthow he has the authority to
judge sin.
But then if he stopped there andJesus just has the authority to
judge sin, that's not a goodthing for us.
However, he has the authority toforgive sin as well.
(06:34):
He has the authority to conquersin.
He conquered sin, death in thegrave.
Therefore, sin has no reign inall those who place their faith
in him.
That's good news.
He has authority over sin.
Fourth, he has authority oversuffering.
Come to me, all you who areweary and burdened, and I will
give you what?
Rest.
(06:54):
When the world has piled thingson you, you're confused,
anxious, don't know what's goingon, to know that there is a
Savior who has authority overany suffering this life might
bring.
And that his satisfaction overthe suffering of this world is
eternal.
(07:14):
To those who were hungry fromthe things of this world, not
filling them, he said, I'm thebread of life, and if you eat
from this bread, you will neverbe hungry again.
Drink from this water, you'llnever be thirsty again.
He has authority over suffering.
Next, he has authority overnature.
Jesus is on the boat with hisdisciples.
There's a big storm that comesup.
They're all panic.
(07:36):
He wipes the sleep from hiseyes.
He yawns and he raises his handand speaks a word, and all of a
sudden the storm stops.
That's authority.
Another time, his friends, hisbuddies are out in the middle of
the lake.
He needs to get to them.
They're in the boat out in themiddle of the lake.
Jesus needs no wave runner.
He just takes a stroll acrossthe lake because he has
(07:57):
authority over nature.
He has it all.
He has authority over disease,demon, sin, suffering nature,
and he has authority overnations.
He has authority over allnations.
Daniel chapter 7, verse 13 and14.
You might write that down and golook at it because it's a
prophecy that gives us a pictureof Jesus.
Talks about the Son of Man whohas sovereign dominion, power,
(08:18):
and authority over every nationand every people, and his
dominion will last forever.
That's what it means for him tohave authority.
Not just power.
But authority is the right touse that power.
If you have a lot of power andyou have a lot of strength, but
you don't have a right to useit, or have an avenue where you
can use it, then it doesn'tmatter how much power or
strength you have.
(08:39):
He has authority.
He has all the power and he hasall the dominion, the right, the
rule to use it.
He has authority over all ofthese things.
I want you to think about howthat changes everything.
The fact that he has authorityover a nation changes the way,
the way we watch CNN or FoxNews, the way we look at what's
going on around us in the world,to know that Jesus Christ has
(09:02):
all things under his feet, thathe is in control.
And all of these areas, allauthority.
It's exactly what Psalm 148gives us a picture of.
Great sea creatures, all oceandepths, lightning and hail, snow
and clouds, stormy winds, theydo his bidding.
Mountains, hills, fruit trees,cedars, wild animal, small
cattle, flying birds, kings ofthe earth and all nations,
(09:23):
princes, all the rulers on theearth, young men and maidens,
old men, every children, all ofthem bow to the authority of
Jesus Christ.
He is universal in his rule andhis dominion.
Now, he has universal authority,but second, his authority is not
just universal, it's purposeful.
And this is where I want you tosee how the Great Commission
(09:43):
needs this statement at the verybeginning.
How this statement fuels whathe's about to say.
Because it's not Jesus justbragging, look what I've got.
I've got all authority.
He's saying, I have authorityfor a purpose.
Don't miss the picture here.
Jesus is saying that all thingsare at his disposal to
(10:05):
accomplish the mission that theFather had given to him.
Everything under his authorityto accomplish that mission.
And the beauty of it is when youget into the picture of the
church and the rest of the NewTestament, we have a Savior who
does not hoard his authority, hepours it out freely on his
people.
He entrusts his authority, hegives his authority to his
people.
He even said it to his disciplesin John 15, part of those
(10:28):
passages we've been looking atthe last four weeks when he
said, You can come to me and askfor anything you need, anything
you want to accomplish thismission, and I promise I will
give it to you.
The authority of Jesus Christdwelling and residing in each
(10:48):
one of you.
There is no limit.
There is no way that thismission cannot be accomplished
with the authority of Christbehind it.
This is the beauty of this text.
Our success, ladies andgentlemen, is not based on who
we are or what we can do.
It's not about how smart we arein this room.
(11:11):
It's not about how educated weare.
It's not about how talented weare, how gifted we are.
It's not about what greatintellects we have.
It's not about how much money wehave.
It's not about who we are andwhat we do.
It's not about what we bring tothe table.
Our success is based on whoJesus is and what he is capable
of doing in our lives.
That's the beauty of the GreatCommission.
(11:31):
That it's not dependent on whatwe bring to the table.
And so let's not be so bold asto think that we've got that
much to offer in and ofourselves.
Jesus Christ and it's his powerand what he is capable of doing
in your life and my life thatmakes this commission so
exciting.
That our God delights to showhis grace in our lives for his
(11:53):
glory.
So his authority, his fullsponsorship is behind this whole
thing.
We will be a church that trustsin his authority.
Not in ourselves, not in thecharisma of this leader or that
leader, not in the ability ofthis person or that person, but
in the authority of JesusChrist.
And we will trust in theauthority of his word.
(12:13):
Everything we do will bedominated by this word.
Our plans, our dreams, ourhopes, our ambitions, everything
will be driven by this word.
Apart from this word, we havenothing to bring to the table.
But with his word, we have apicture of a plan that he has
(12:34):
promised to bless by hisauthority.
That leads us to the secondfacet of this covenant, I think,
that springs from this text.
Number one, we'll be a churchthat trusts in his authority.
Second, we will be a church thatobeys his strategy.
We'll be a church that obeys hisstrategy.
Now we start to get into verse19.
But before we get there, I wantyou to think about the contrast
(12:56):
or tension that I think we'veseen throughout the Gospels up
to this point between Jesus andthe disciples.
I think there's a constanttension in the Gospels between
the strategy of Christ on onehand, and on the other hand, the
self-directed strategy of thedisciples.
There's a constant tensionbetween the two.
You see, Jesus talks about howhe had compassion on the crowds
(13:19):
because they were harassed andhelpless like sheep without a
shepherd.
And then you see pictures likeLuke chapter 9, and the
disciples get frustrated inSamaria because they aren't
treated very well.
And so they come out to Jesusand they suggest that we call
down fire from heaven on thoseguys.
Well, that's not exactly theplan that Jesus had for Samaria
(13:39):
at that point.
You see Jesus with a couple ofdisciples on the Mount of
Transfiguration, and they'relike, let's build a house up
there, let's camp out here for awhile.
And he said, No, you're missingthe whole point.
You see Jesus at many pointstalking about the suffering that
he was going to experience, eventhe death that he was going to
experience.
And one time Peter is even boldenough to pull Jesus to the side
(14:00):
and say, Jesus, not sure whatyou're thinking, but as your PR
manager, I'm going to need tosuggest we go a different route
than the one you're planning.
There's a constant tensionbetween the strategy of Christ
and the strategy of thedisciples.
Could it be that that is thecase not just in the gospels,
but it's the case in the churchtoday as well?
(14:23):
That it's possible that wecould, as a church, as his
disciples, actually try to comeup with strategies that miss out
on the whole point of hisstrategy.
Do you think that's possible?
If that's possible, I think weneed to be careful as a church
to avoid that.
And so I want you to think aboutit.
They come to this mountain withJesus, they've got their ideas,
(14:45):
who knows what they might be ofhow they can take the world with
this message.
And Jesus comes to them with hisstrategy.
And what they've got is twooptions in front of them.
The first option is this aself-directed strategy that they
come up with that hopes for hisblessing.
What I mean by that is thedisciples, these were guys with
good motives all throughout.
(15:06):
They're not always pictured asthe sharpest tools in the shed,
but they at least have goodmotives at their heart, at their
core.
They want to do good things.
They want to see the kingdomadvanced.
And so they've got good motives.
Same picture today.
I have no question that when yougo to the Christian bookstores
(15:26):
in this community and you lookon the bookshelves and you see
book after book after book afterbook giving a new strategy for
the church, a new plan for thechurch, a new method for the
church.
This will work in your church.
You see book after book afterbook.
I have no question that thereare good motives behind that.
And I have no doubt that wecould, as a church, with the
(15:50):
talent and the thought processesin this room come up with some
good strategy, with some goodmotives.
But here's what we need torealize nowhere in Scripture
does God promise to bless usbased solely on our motives.
Now let that soak in.
(16:12):
I'm not saying motives aren'timportant.
I think motives are veryimportant.
I think scripture teachesmotives are very important.
Do whatever you do for the gloryof God.
That is important.
However, we've got to realizethat if we come up with a
strategy and have a Godglorifying motive, then all we
can do at that point is hope forhis blessing.
However, on the other hand, ifwe give ourselves to the
(16:32):
strategy that Christ hasoutlined, we don't have to hope
for his blessing.
Maybe it'll come.
We are actually guaranteed hisblessing at that point.
Two options (16:40):
a self-directed strategy that hopes for his
blessing.
Second, a Christ-directedstrategy that is guaranteed his
blessing.
Do we realize that when Jesusoutlines in verse 19 the Great
Commission, therefore go andmake disciples of all nations,
he is saying, This is my plan.
You don't have to come up withanother plan, a new method, or a
(17:01):
new strategy.
This is it.
Give yourself to this.
And he has promised by hischaracter to bless that plan.
Could it be that this frees usup from our personal agendas for
what we think needs to happen inthe church?
And it focuses us on onestrategy that drives us to the
(17:22):
church.
We're going to make disciples ofall nations and all other
agendas fall by the wayside atthat point.
I'm convinced that if Christiansaround our country would lay
down their personal agendas andstart giving themselves to the
agenda that Christ has alreadylined out for us, that we would
have huge impact in the worldfor the glory of Christ.
Untold impact.
(17:43):
So the question is, are we goingto come up with our own
strategies and hope for hisblessing, or are we going to
give ourselves to the strategyhe has already outlined and be
guaranteed his blessing?
Well, what is that strategy?
I'm glad you asked.
I want you to think about aChrist-directed strategy in a
few different ways.
First of all, think about visionand the strategy.
Christ is our vision.
Christ is our vision.
Now, all of this springing fromthe word.
(18:05):
This is not my proposal for anew method.
I hope this is just exposingwhat Christ has laid out for us.
Remember where this wholejourney started?
Two words in Matthew 4, 19.
Follow me.
Give yourself to me.
I will make you fishers of men.
I'll do the work.
Your primary vision is on me.
You follow me, you become likeme.
Remember?
(18:26):
No formal school with Jesus, noseminaries, no membership
classes, no highly organizedprocedures and rituals.
Follow me.
Give yourself to my person.
Our vision as individualsbelievers and our vision as a
church is single-minded.
We are growing into the image ofChrist.
That's why we study the wordlike we do week in and week out,
(18:47):
because we want to grow into theimage of Christ.
Because we are focused onbecoming like Christ, being
conformed into his image.
That's our vision.
Alright?
Second.
Second, making disciples is ourmission.
Christ is our vision.
Second, making disciples is ourmission.
When you get to Matthew chapter28, verse 16 through 20, the
passage we just read, in theoriginal language of the New
(19:09):
Testament, there is only oneimperative verb in this passage.
Just to remind you, just in caseschool's been a while, you don't
remember the imperative verb, animperative is a command.
When my wife Heather gives me animperative, that's a command.
Do it right then.
Or should do it right then.
In this passage, there's oneimperative verb, one command
(19:30):
around which this whole thingrevolves.
It's one word in the NewTestament.
In the Greek, it's two wordshere in the English.
It's make disciples.
It's make disciples.
And some translations even havego and teach all nations, which
really is it's a much it's acompletely different word than
what we see later with teachingthem to obey everything I've
commanded you.
So we need to make sure toseparate the two.
Make disciples of all nations.
(19:52):
That is the mission that I'mgiving you, Jesus says.
So at that point we ask thequestion well, how do you make
disciples?
Well, thankfully, all of us knowthat answer.
As a result of the last fourweeks, we've walked through
different components of disciplemaking.
First component was to what theword?
Share the word.
The second component was to showthe word.
(20:13):
Third component was to teach theword.
And last week we talked aboutserving the world.
Okay?
Those are the four components.
You know what's reallyinteresting?
I want you to look with me athow making disciples is
described in the in the GreatCommission.
First verb that we've got,therefore, go.
Go just like I've gone, Jesussaid.
(20:34):
Same, it's a participle, justlike baptizing and teaching.
It's helping describe how tomake disciples.
And he says, Going.
Just as I have gone, proclaimingthe word, you go proclaiming the
word.
When we go, we do what with theword?
We share the word.
Let's connect the dots from thelast few weeks and Matthew 28,
16 through 20.
Going is to share the word.
(20:54):
Then he says, baptizing theminto the name of the Father and
the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Baptism, what we saw thismorning, is the biblical picture
of us identifying our life withChrist, with his life and with
his death.
This is a picture of we are weare in him.
We are in his body, in hisfamily.
It's our identification withChrist and with his church.
(21:16):
And so not only are we sharingthe word, but we are showing the
word.
We are showing that we areidentified with Christ.
Then he says, teaching them toobey everything I've commanded
you.
We go and we share the word.
We baptize, we show the word.
We teach, teach the word.
Connecting the dots, it's allstarting to make sense now.
Teaching them to obey everythingI've commanded you.
(21:39):
And then he says, do it in allnations.
Go, baptize, teach in allnations.
We share the word, we show theword, we teach the word, then we
serve the world.
It's all a part of this processof discipline.
Now, before you turn over andstart going to something else, I
got to show you something reallycool.
Okay, so let me stop you beforeyou're ready to get to the next
blank.
(21:59):
All right?
Here we go.
I want to show you somethingreally neat in the book of
Matthew, even the way this bookis structured when it comes to
going and baptizing andespecially teaching.
I want you to hold your placehere and I want you to go back
with me to Matthew chapter 5.
I want you to look at Matthewchapter 5.
And what I want to show you isfive different times in this
(22:19):
gospel where Matthew emphasizesJesus' teaching and Jesus'
instruction to his disciples.
Five different times where thatis emphasized.
I think the outline of the bookof Matthew revolves around these
five blocks of teaching.
And what we're going to see isat the beginning of each one of
(22:40):
these, his disciples cometogether, either he pulls them
together or they come to him,and then he teaches them for a
block of teaching.
And at the very end, we're goingto see a statement repeated
every single time that basicallygives closure to that teaching.
So start with me in chapter 5,verse 1.
It says, when he saw the crowds,he went up on a mountainside and
sat down.
His disciples came to him, andhe began to teach them, saying,
(23:02):
and then he starts to teach orpreach the Sermon on the Mount.
Now go to the end of it, chapter7.
And maybe underline this phrasein verse 28, because it's the
same phrase you're going to seefive different times.
Matthew chapter 7, verse 28.
First phrase, beginning of thisverse.
(23:24):
So Matthew gives some closurethere, okay?
Finish saying these things.
And he goes on.
The crowds were amazed.
He taught as one who hadauthority, not as their teacher
the law, and he came down fromthe mountainside.
He gives closure when Jesus hadfinished teaching them these
things.
Okay, that's number one.
Let's go to number two.
Turn over to Matthew chapter 10.
Look at Matthew chapter 10.
Again, we're going to see himpulling his disciples together,
(23:45):
the disciples surrounding Jesusfor some teaching and
instruction.
Verse 1, chapter 10.
He called his twelve disciplesto him and gave them authority
to drive out evil spirits and toheal every disease and sickness.
These are the names of thetwelve apostles.
He lists their names, and thenit says in verse 5, these twelve
Jesus sent out with thefollowing instructions.
He gives them this teaching.
(24:07):
And then you get to the end,chapter 11, verse 1.
And we're going to underlinethat phrase that we saw, very
similar to the last one we saw.
After Jesus had finishedinstructing his twelve
disciples, he went on from thereto teach and preach in the towns
of Galilee.
So he finished teaching and hemoved on.
Go to the next one.
Turn to me to chapter 13.
Look at chapter 13, verse 1.
(24:31):
So we've seen him given theSermon on the Mount and some
instructions as the discipleswent out.
Look at the parables here inchapter 13, verse 1.
That same day, Jesus went out ofthe house and sat by the lake.
Such large crowds, large crowdsgathered around him that he got
into a boat and sat in it whileall the people stood on the
shore.
And then he told them manythings and parables, saying, and
(24:51):
he begins to teach them thiswhole chapter.
You get to the end.
Look at verse 53.
Matthew gives the closure.
Very intentionally.
Says in verse 53, when Jesus hadfinished these parables, same
phrase underlined there, hemoved on from there.
So he finishes his teaching andmoved on.
Now let me show you two more.
Look at Matthew 18.
(25:11):
Matthew chapter 18, verse 1.
Now, in between all of these,Jesus is healing, he's doing all
kinds of different things, butthere's a focus here on his
teaching, these blocks.
Look in 18, verse 1.
At that time the disciples cameto Jesus and asked, Who is the
greatest in the kingdom ofheaven?
And so he begins to teach themall the way through the end of
this chapter.
(25:32):
You get to chapter 19, verse 1,and you see the phrase, another
time.
When Jesus had finished sayingthese things, he moved on.
He left Galilee and went intothe region of Judea to the other
side of the Jordan.
Okay, one more.
Go to chapter 24.
Chapter 24.
Look at verse 1.
(25:52):
Again, we're going to see thedisciples and probably others
come around Jesus to hear fromhim.
Chapter 24, verse 1 says, Jesusleft the temple, was walking
away when his disciples came upto him to call his attention to
its buildings, and he begins toteach.
We've got a concentratedteaching time all the way to
chapter 26, verse 1.
And there, for the last time, weunderline when Jesus had
(26:16):
finished saying all thesethings, he said to his
disciples, and then he moved on.
So he finished.
Every time he finished histeaching, and that was a
transition point in the book ofMatthew.
Now, Matthew, pretty goodwriter, has given us this
picture very intentionallythroughout.
So now we come to the sixth timethat Jesus intentionally pulls
(26:37):
his disciples together to givethem a teaching, brings them on
the mountain, same place that hefirst taught them back in
Matthew chapter 5.
He begins to teach them, givesthem this commission.
But what you'll notice isMatthew doesn't give that
closure at the end.
Now, if he were a literaryscholar, he would have known it
really would have worked outbest to add a verse 21 in there
(26:59):
and say, after teaching thesethings, a few days later he went
up to heaven.
And now we've got this closedpicture.
But that's not what Matthew isintending to do, not what the
Holy Spirit is intending to dothrough Matthew.
Why do we not have the closureafter Jesus' teaching here?
Why does it say after hefinished saying these things?
It would naturally say that.
Then he went to heaven.
The reason we don't have thatclosure is because the book of
(27:22):
Matthew is intended to beintentionally left wide open in
the end for the fact that theteaching of Jesus was not
finished with these disciples.
The teaching of Jesus would bereproduced through the lives of
these men throughout history.
The teaching of Jesus is stillbeing taught day in and day out,
week in and week out by men andwomen across this room who are
raising up and saying we'regoing to make disciples of all
(27:44):
nations.
Could it be that we are stillrewriting the end of the book of
Matthew with the way we arereproducing the teachings of
Christ?
That's what the picture is.
It's left open-ended.
Jesus' teaching is beingreproduced, sharing the word,
showing the word, teaching theword, and serving the world.
Now, with those components, nowturn over to the back here, and
(28:05):
I want you, I want you to lookwith me at a diagram kind of
picture that maybe, maybe, maybewill help us get a grasp on this
process called disciple making,this journey of what it means to
make disciples.
Start with the world there inthe middle, and we're going to
go to the right from the world.
We go into the world and weshare the word.
It's where disciple makingbegins, leading people to
(28:27):
Christ.
We talked about that a few weeksago.
When we share the word, thatfirst blank there is we lead
people to believe in Christ, totrust in Christ.
So you can put believer rightthere.
Those who trust, who put theirfaith in Christ.
That's where disciple makingbegins.
But if we stop there, we'llnever impact the world for the
glory of Christ.
We've got to continue on.
We show the word.
(28:49):
We show our identification withChrist, and we lead others to be
identified and identified withChrist or with His church.
So that we're not just believingin Christ, but we are
established as that top-blankdisciples, a disciple of Christ.
I have identified with him.
He is my master, my Lord.
I'm his follower.
I'm a Christ follower.
Now, we don't stop there,because if we did stop there,
(29:12):
then we still haven't engagedthe world with the gospel.
And so we teach the word.
We reproduce the teachings ofChrist.
We teach people to obeyeverything Christ has commanded
them so that they are not justbelieving in Christ and
disciples of Christ, but so thatthey are themselves able,
equipped to make disciples.
Put in that final blank to theleft, disciple maker.
(29:33):
And then when we begin to makedisciples, people are equipped
to follow Christ and do this inothers' lives, then we're able
to go into the world and servethe world together with each
other.
Now that's a little picture, andI'll be honest, it's flawed in
some ways.
It's flawed most particularly,and the reason I even hesitated
to use it was because I'mconvinced that a true disciple
of Christ is a believer inChrist and a disciple maker.
(29:56):
But I think this pretty muchpictures.
How we have missed the point ofdisciple making.
You say, what do you mean, Dave?
Well, let me ask you, let me askyou two questions.
First question, where would youput your Christianity, your
(30:17):
Christian life in this journey,in this circle right now?
I want to ask you that questionbecause there's a there's a
pretty big temptation for us toplace our faith in Christ, trust
in him for forgiveness of oursins, and then pretty much stop
and camp out there in our churchculture today.
(30:39):
And we can come to church andremain pretty anonymous,
particularly in a room likethis, and never really begin to
engage what it means to live mylife identified with Christ.
A temptation to not even noteven be baptized or be a part of
a faith family.
There are probably many of us,many of us this morning who have
(30:59):
never been baptized, neveridentified our lives with Christ
in the biblical way that He hasshown us to do that.
Why not?
We stop at number one, or maybe,maybe many of us go on and we
stop at number two.
The top there.
(31:20):
But we never take personalresponsibility, personal
responsibility, not just theresponsibility of the church as
an institution, personalresponsibility to show and to
teach and to lead others in howto follow Christ, to teach them
to obey everything Christ hascommanded them.
You say, well, what do you mean?
Maybe we stop without doingthat.
(31:41):
Well, just imagine when we thinkof praying and studying the word
and sharing our faith, the most,the most often avenue that we
look to to teach people to prayand study the word and share
their faith is we we put peoplein classes in the church.
The church and that class willteach them how to pray.
So put them in a prayer class orput somebody in a Bible study
(32:02):
class where they'll learn tostudy the Bible.
Instead of, wouldn't it be moreeffective if a new believer who
is identified with Christ neededto learn to pray?
Wouldn't it be more effective ifyou took them aside and said,
Let me show you how I pray, letme teach you what God has taught
me about prayer, and you beginto invest your life in that way
in them.
Do you think that's going to bemore effective?
How about studying the Word?
(32:23):
I'm guessing many of us, when itcomes to studying the Word,
really aren't sure where tostart.
And the best thing for us to dowould not be to sit in a class
where we get all these tools,which would be helpful.
Wouldn't it be better forsomebody who studied the Word to
sit down with us and say, hey,let me show you how to study the
Word.
Let me show you how to walkthrough the Word.
Let me show you what I do when Icome to the Word.
(32:45):
Sharing our faith, a thing thatmost, if not all, of us, are
somewhat timid about doing.
Maybe the most effective thingis not to come up with a bunch
of classes on how to share yourfaith, but to go with each other
and learn to share our faithfrom each other.
I want you to see the personalconnection that's at the center
of this, that's disciple making,that many of us have stopped
short of.
(33:09):
So where are you on this?
And second.
Who have you taken through thisjourney?
Is there anyone that you've ledto Christ, showed Christ to, in
such a way that they areequipped to make disciples
(33:32):
themselves so that now they aredoing the same thing in other
people's lives as a result ofyour life?
The stark reality is, we've gotto be honest with each other on
this.
There are many of us who havebeen Christians for five, ten,
(33:55):
fifteen, twenty, twenty-fiveyears, who can't name one person
who is producing for Christ andmaking disciples with their life
as a direct result of our onelife.
And we come to church and we sitin the seat and we sing the
(34:15):
songs, we even serve oncommittees and teams and do
different things.
But if we give ourselves tospiritual activity with no
productivity, and the way thatJesus is outlined, we miss the
whole point.
And this is a this is aquestion, this is an issue, we
(34:38):
need to stop ignoring in church.
Are we making disciples?
Because it's when we're goingthrough this journey that we
begin to engage the world withour one life.
Now it's at that point that someof you, as I've mentioned that
in a couple different times,you've said, okay, I don't get
it, Dave.
Engage the world with my onelife.
(34:59):
How can my one life engage theworld with the gospel?
Well, I'm really glad you askedthat one.
Okay, I want to give you twoscenarios.
I want you to follow with mehere, okay?
One scenario.
I want you to imagine with methat all of us in this room,
well, not just us in this room,the 4,000 people that will
worship in this room today.
Imagine together, combined, overthe next year.
(35:23):
Imagine working together.
We were able to lead one personto Christ every single day.
It'd be tough.
Maybe we could do it.
At the end of this year, 365people would have come to faith
in Christ.
It'd be an exciting year.
Imagine we were to do that thenext year and the next year and
the next year.
It'd be tough, but just imagine.
After 30 plus years, you wouldsee over 10,000 people come to
(35:46):
know faith in Christ.
We would make a small dent inthe lost population of the
United States of America.
Let me give you a secondscenario though.
What if just one person fromthis room over the next year
didn't lead somebody to Christevery single day?
(36:06):
But over the next year, oneperson from this room led just
one person to faith in Christ.
But you didn't stop there.
You showed the word to them.
And you showed them,intentionally showed them, what
it means to be a Christfollower.
So that they were identifiedwith Christ in this church.
And you began to teach them topray, and you began to teach
(36:27):
them to study the word, and youbegan to equip them from your
word, uh, from God's word tomake disciples, so that at the
end of that year it would be youand one other person.
Picture that Jesus has given ushere going out and serving the
world.
Suppose that were to continue.
The next year, it would be fourpeople.
(36:49):
The next year it would continueto multiply, not adding,
multiplying.
You do the math in the same timeframe over there that we see
over 10,000 people come to knowfaith in Christ.
In this scenario, same timeframe, you would see nearly four
billion people come to faith inChrist.
Maybe Jesus knew what he wastalking about.
(37:10):
When he said, make disciples,give yourself to this command,
this strategy.
I promise to bless it.
Think about it.
If your life, if all of ourlives in this room over the next
year, with the grace and mercyand compassion of Christ that's
been entrusted to each one ofus, if it was produced in just
(37:31):
one other life, immediately ourinfluence in this community
would double.
Not to mention the partnershipsthat we would now have with
people all over the world,through the trips we're taking,
making disciples, engaging theworld with our one lives.
This is the strategy He hasgiven, He has outlined.
God help us not to go on withspiritual activity that misses
(37:54):
the whole point.
We've got to be intentionalabout this.
This doesn't happenaccidentally.
Let me ask you a question.
I want you to imagine with methat tomorrow God were to give
you the opportunity to leadsomebody to faith in Christ.
Whether it's at home, at work,in your neighborhood, in
Walmart, wherever.
(38:15):
Tomorrow you had the opportunityto lead somebody to faith in
Christ.
My question is, what is yourplan if you lead somebody to
Christ tomorrow?
What is your plan over the nextsix months to begin walking them
through this journey?
I'm guessing most of us probablydon't have a plan along those
(38:37):
lines.
And that signals one of twothings.
Either number one, we're notplanning on leading somebody to
Christ tomorrow, which is not agood thing.
Or second, we're planning onleading somebody to Christ and
then leaving them there.
What would happen if our liveswere intentional about taking
the grace and the mercy ofChrist and pouring it into the
lives of others?
Sharing the word, showing theword, teaching the word, serve
(38:58):
the world.
This is our mission.
And everything is secondary tothis mission.
Christ is our vision, makingdisciples is our mission.
Third, people are our dreams.
By the way, that blank below theworld, there's nothing in there.
I'm not sure why that blank'sthere.
So everybody's looking at eachother, like, do we miss it?
What did he say?
(39:18):
No, it's not there.
Okay.
People are our dreams.
People are our dreams.
And this is the beauty of it.
This is the beauty of it.
When people ask what your churchis doing, it's no longer about
this method or this meeting.
It's now about the people thatwe are pouring our lives into.
And we're starting to get to theheart of New Testament ministry,
(39:40):
what it means to be concernedabout the needs of people and
not to be concerned about theprograms that we come up with.
That is our dream.
That was Jesus' dream.
We've seen it all along.
When he comes to Matthew 28, 18through 20, and he looks at
these guys and he gives themthese words.
He knows that this whole missionis now staked on their
faithfulness to this mission.
And praise God, the disciplesgave themselves to this journey.
(40:04):
Praise God, the disciples didnot stop like we often do at
step one or step two.
Praise God, the disciples didthis and they multiplied the
gospel.
Acts chapter 17, verse 6, theyturned that generation upside
down with the gospel.
People are our dreams, and theworld is our goal.
The world is our goal.
Make disciples of all nations.
(40:27):
Pantata ethne.
This is used four differenttimes in Matthew.
Beautiful phrase talking aboutthe gospel going to every nation
without distinction.
It's really interesting.
You do a little study in theJewish roots of Matthew, which
is it's heavily Jewish book.
In the very beginning, startsoff with a picture of Abraham.
And you go back and you look atGenesis, the picture of Abraham
(40:48):
there, and you see God'sblessing on Abraham.
And what does he say in Genesischapter 12?
Very beginning of God's blessingon Abraham.
I'm going to bless you.
I'm going to bless those whoblessed you and curse those who
curse you.
And all nations of the earthwill be blessed through you.
It's the same picture there.
Genesis 18, 18.
God comes to Abraham and says,All the nations of the earth are
(41:08):
going to be blessed through you.
Genesis 22, 18, all the nationsof the earth are going to be
blessed through you.
That was the picture from thevery beginning of the Bible.
It's the picture that is comingto fruition through Christ.
All nations blessed through him.
Over the last couple of years,in those times with Asian
believers, this is what I'vecamped out on with them.
(41:33):
Teaching what it means to be adisciple maker.
I remember the first time Iwalked through, I asked them the
same question I asked you.
And I said, if you were to leadsomebody to Christ tomorrow,
what are you going to do overthe next six months?
They said, Well, we don't know.
And I said, Well, let's walkthrough.
We walk through 25 truths thatthey can teach and show to
people they lead to Christ.
(41:54):
By the time I get back, lessthan a month later, they email
me and say, We took the bestnotes that we could, but we need
you to send us that stuffbecause since you've left, we
led a hundred people to faith inChrist and we want to make
disciples.
They're catching it.
So when you hear all nations,know that we are not the only
ones who have this mission infront of us.
There are brothers and sistersaround the world that are
(42:16):
literally sacrificing theirlives for their mission, this
mission, and I say we join them.
I say we give ourselves to thesame mission and partner with
them and engage the world withthe grace and the glory and the
majesty and the beauty of JesusChrist.
We will obey his strategy as achurch.
And we will make everythingsecondary compared to that
strategy.
(42:36):
Number one, we will trust in hisauthority.
Number two, we will obey hisstrategy.
Third, we will be a church thatdepends on his presence.
That depends on his presence.
It's interesting.
You go back to the verybeginning of Matthew, chapter 1,
verse 23, and you see Jesusintroduced his birth.
The angel says that you willgive birth to a child and you
(42:58):
will call his name Emmanuel,which means what?
God with us.
That is how Jesus is introducedin chapter 1, verse 23.
You get to chapter 28, verse 20,and you got the same exact
picture.
God with you.
Jesus with you.
Now you can imagine.
Put yourselves in the disciples'shoes at this point.
You went from the most extremelow to the extreme high.
(43:20):
Jesus died on the cross.
He was gone.
What in the world are we goingto do now?
Three days later, did you hearJesus is alive?
Well, now we're really talking.
We're in business.
We've got all kinds of things wecan do now.
And then for a few days he'sthere, and then he checks out.
What's he thinking?
He's thinking that when heascends into heaven, his
(43:44):
presence is no longer confinedto one body on the face of this
earth.
His presence now fills thebodies of men and women all
across this room who aredisciples of Christ.
His presence infuses all of us.
His presence dwells in all ofus.
Now, here's the deal.
We know that.
We see throughout Scripture thatGod is with us.
(44:05):
I'll never leave you or forsakeyou.
It's repeated over and overagain.
God is with his people.
We never have to question hispresence.
He's always with us.
Scripture teaches that veryclearly.
Why would Jesus say that righthere?
Why would he come to the end ofthe Great Commission and focus
on, hey, don't forget, I am withyou.
The emphasis is there.
It's almost like he's saying, Imyself am with you always.
(44:26):
Why would he focus on that here?
Because the presence of Christis absolutely and completely
necessary for the mission ofChrist.
Here's the deal.
If we in our individual lives,and if we as a church give
ourselves to this mission ofmaking disciples, two things.
(44:46):
Number one, we will need thepromise of his presence.
We will need it.
We will need the promise of hispresence.
I am convinced that it ispossible for us to coast through
this Christianity thing and ourchurch world and even be
(45:11):
successful and not even need hispresence to do it.
This haunts me.
It haunts me that it is possibleto be successful in ministry and
our church world that we'vecreated with the right marketing
and the right charisma and theright strategic planning.
(45:33):
You can be successful in ourchurch world.
And never once need the presenceof Christ to see it happen.
And I want to live my life andmy ministry.
And I want us to be a church.
That if his presence is notthere, we will fall flat on our
faces.
(45:54):
That this whole operation willabsolutely fall apart if he's
not true to this promise righthere.
Because I'm convinced.
I'm convinced when we lean onhis presence like that, when we
need the promise of hispresence, it's only then, only
then that we will see and knowthe power of his presence.
(46:14):
I believe God is honored in apeople who know that without him
they can do nothing.
Because it's then when he isable, he delights in showing his
greatness in our weakness, hisglory in our inadequacy.
We will need the power, we willneed the promise of his presence
(46:35):
and we will know the power ofhis presence.
He's faithful.
Our God has promised, Jesus haspromised to give us everything
we need to see this missionaccomplished.
Now that's our covenant.
We will be a church that trustsin his authority.
We will be a church that ourbase is strategy.
(46:55):
And we're going to be a churchthat depends on his presence,
for without it, we fall apart.
That's our covenant.
I want us to come to ourconfession now.
SPEAKER_00 (47:08):
We hope you've enjoyed this week's episode of
David Platt Messages.
For more resources from DavidPlatt, we invite you to visit
radical.net.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by Audiochuck Media Company.
NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal
Gregg Rosenthal and a rotating crew of elite NFL Media co-hosts, including Patrick Claybon, Colleen Wolfe, Steve Wyche, Nick Shook and Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic get you caught up daily on all the NFL news and analysis you need to be smarter and funnier than your friends.