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Sermon text: Matthew 28:9–20
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When it comes to viral movements, the oddest things can turn viral nearly overnight.
Take, for instance, the Ice Bucket Challenge from 2014, where friends, celebrities, and politicians poured ice-cold water over their heads, and then urged others to record themselves doing the same. And so for the next several months, the internet was flooded with these videos. But do we recall why they did this? It wasn’t just for fun, but to raise awareness and funds for ALS - which is also known as: Lou Gehrig’s disease. Yet, what truly propelled this movement to go viral wasn't just the information about ALS, No, what made it go viral was the shared experience of laughter and shock for a noble cause.
Similarly, in 2016 there was the viral movement of the phone game, Pokemon GO. And despite Pokémon games having been around for decades, this one took the world by storm! Why? Not because of better graphics or features, But because of the shared experience of exploring the real world with other people, while capturing virtual creatures together.
See, that’s the thing about viral movements: They are almost always based upon a shared experience! Whether it be the dangerous, braincell-destroying Tide Pod challenge. The planking challenge The Mannequin challenge, Or the no Makeup Selfie challenge, All of these viral movements were driven by a shared experience. And that shared experience is what made them go viral.
Which leads us to the greatest viral movement of them all - the gospel of Jesus Christ. Which is a movement that is rooted in the most profound shared experience imaginable! An encounter with the love, power, healing, of the triune God.
This morning find ourselves at the very end of a long journey through Matthew’s Gospel, which is a journey we’ve been on together as a church since December of of 2020! And so here we are, 2 and 1/2 years later, turning now to our final 122nd sermon in Matthew’s Gospel, Which is a passage commonly referred to as: “The Great Commission!”
And I don’t say that as some sort of brag for us as a church. I say that as a brag to the power of God’s Word! Because God’s Word is powerful! For as the author of Hebrews says:
12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Hebrews 4:12 ESV
And so knowing this as God’s people, we saturate ourselves in God’s Word in order to experience it’s life-changing power in our lives. And we aren’t just talking about intellectual power. It’s not just learning new facts. No - We are talking about the spiritual power we receive from encountering our Lord and Savior in His Word! For it is out of this encounter that we are called to participate in His gospel message going viral to all the nations of the earth!
But if we are going to do that, it cannot just be based upon the dissemination of information! No! It’s not just the passing along of facts! Instead, like all things that go viral, it is based upon the shared experience of three things: Which are:
The great commission is driven by the shared experience of:
- Encountering the triune God
- Trusting the triune God
- Depending upon the triune God.
1. Encountering the triune God
The last several weeks, we’ve been looking at Jesus’s Passion week Which was the week of His death, burial, and resurrection. And when we come to the end of Matthew’s gospel, we find this little section called “The Great Commission” Which until now, I always sort of thought of it as a tack-me-on ending. Because to me it always sort of seemed abrupt and a bit out of place. Almost as if Matthew had run out of parchment to write on, and so He just closed His gospel out quickly, with this sudden directive given by Jesus.
But... as we’ll see this morning, it’s not. It’s not at all! In fact - it is a perfect ending to Matthew’s Gospel which fits perfectly with how His gospel began!
See back in Matthew chapter 1, it began with a remarkable promise given to Joseph, that Mary would bear a son, who would be called Immanuel: which means: “God with us!” Which is exactly what what we find Matthew 28 verse 20: Matthew 28:20 (ESV) 20 … And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
And the One who is promising to be with us is the TRIUNE God, who is Father, Son, and Spirit. And it is this One God, who exists in three persons, who has not only brought us into relationship with Him! BUT NOW INVITES US TO INVITE OTHERS to live in relationship with Him! Which is THE most remarkable truth of ALL coupled with the most remarkable experience of them all! Which explains why Christianity is the most remarkable viral movement of them all.
But in order to understand this, we have to understand and experience triune nature of God which is made visible in Jesus Christ!
When we say the God of the Bible is ONE God who is triune in nature, existing as Father, Son and Spirit, what do we mean? Well, for starters, we know what we don’t mean! And what we don’t mean is that God is one person who wears 3 different hats That’s the heresy called modalism!
Modalism says that God’s triune nature is similarly to how I am one person who exists in 3 parts: For example, I am the son of my parents I am the husband of my wife, And I am the father of my children... and that’s basically what God is when it says He’s Father, Son, and Spirit. But as we said, that’s heresy. And it’s heresy, because it’s not AT ALL true!
Instead, the God of the Bible is 3 in 1! He is Father He is Son And He is Spirit, Who are completely distinct from each other, while all being ONE! And if you’ve think you’ve figured that out with clever illustrations like God being like Water, which comes in a solid, a liquid, and a gas, Well, then not only are you flirting with heresy but you’ve missed out on coming to know and experience the Triune God as He is! For our God is 3 in 1! Father, Spirit, and Son!
And in the gospel of Jesus Christ, we find that this triune God, who has existed for all of eternity in perfect, loving harmony, INVITES US INTO THAT RELATIONSHIP! and once we’ve entered into it, we are then commissioned by Him to GO AND INVITE OTHERS TO COME AND EXPERIENCE THE HEALING, LIFE-GIVING, POWER of that RELATIONSHIP! Which is precisely what we were created for!
In the Bible we find that the Triune God of the universe created humanity for the purpose of living in perfect, loving community with God and others. See, unlike other religions, which certainly includes atheism, Christianity teaches that love lies at the very center of the universe, since, “God is Love” And the reason Christians have sole claim on God BEING love, is that God is triune in nature!
Think about it: Unless God is a triune being, He can’t be a God of love. Sure, He could still be a God of wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth, but not love. Because love only exists between persons. Which means that if God is not triune in nature, If He is unipersonal - just one person.. Well then that means that love didn’t exist until God created other beings. And if love didn’t exist in God until He created other beings then that means means that love is not an essential part of God’s nature. But… if God is triune in nature, just as Bible teaches us, then that perfectly explains how LOVE can be an essential a part of WHO GOD IS!
Does that make sense? OK - let’s take this one step further If God is TRIUNE in nature, then that means He didn’t create humanity to fill a relational void in His life. And why not? Because He already had that, PERFECTLY, within His triune self, where the Father, Son, and Spirit lived in perfect loving relationship for all of eternity!
C. S. Lewis once brilliantly described this as, “the dance of God.” He said: “In Christianity God is not a static thing - not even a person - but a dynamic, pulsating activity, a life, almost a kind of drama. Almost, if you will not think me irreverent, a kind of dance. The union between the Father and Son is such a live concrete thing that this union itself is also a Person.”
Do you see what Lewis was saying? He’s saying that within the triune God, each part of the trinity circles around the other, just like in a dance. And in this dance, the Father, Son, and Spirit love, adore, and glorify each other perfectly, as they center their happiness on the happiness of one another.
And yet, what did this Triune God do? He created us, Not to fill a gap or a relational need He had NO! He created us to share in this perfect love. and despite the fact that we rejected Him He lovingly came to die for us so we can rejoin the dance of God.
And once we have, Once we’ve experienced His live-changing Love, He invites us to bring others into it as well. Which is why in verse 19, Jesus commands us saying: Matthew 28:19-20 (ESV) 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
But here’s the thing church. If we haven’t come to experience His life-changing love, We will not follow His great commission to invite others into that love. Not really! Because if all we have as professing Christians is a shared set of intellectual propositions, We ain’t gonna viral with it! We absolutely won’t! Because that’s not how viral movements operate! They don’t operate on a shared set of intellectual facts! No! They operates on facts centered around a shared experience! And as Christians, our movement is centered upon the facts of resurrection, Coupled with our personal, life-changing experience of encountering the triune God through the risen Christ!
And you know what? THAT TRUTH, makes my job this morning as a preacher REALLY, REALLY EASY! And why’s that? I’ll tell you why. Because I don’t stand up here and guilt you all into obeying the great commission! I don’t have to point this passage and then shame you for all the time you spend binge watching TV, golfing fishing, or working What do I have to?
I simply have to point you to the resurrected Christ and the great commission He gives us and say: “HAVE AT IT!” and you WILL have it! And you’ll have it, NOT BECAUSE OF GUILT or BURDEN BUT BECAUSE OF THE EXPLOSIVE JOY you’ve come to EXPERIENCE in our TRIUNE GOD who brought you back into the dance of God through the blood of His Son!
Lesslie Newbigin, the famous missionary to India, once wrote about this explosive joy, and how it was the key true Christian missions: Here’s what He said:
“There has been a long tradition which sees the mission of the Church primarily as obedience to a command. It has been customary to speak of ‘the missionary mandate.’ This way of putting the matter is certainly not without justification, and yet it seems to me that it misses the point. It tends to make mission a burden rather than a joy, to make it part of the law rather than part of the gospel. If one looks at the New Testament evidence, one gets another impression. Mission begins with a kind of explosion of joy. The news that the rejected and crucified Jesus is alive is something that cannot possibly be suppressed. It must be told. For who could be silent about such a fact? The mission of the Church in the pages of the New Testament is more like the fallout from a vast explosion, a radioactive fallout which is not lethal but life-giving.”
Do you see what Newbigin is saying? He’s saying the idea of “a mission’s Mandate” that requires church leaders to regularly beg and plead for Christians to obey is not a necessary thing! And it’s not a thing because if you’ve come to truly experience love and power of the resurrected Christ in your life! You don’t need a mandate to tell others about it! You simply need a commission! Which is exactly what we find in Matthew 28! For in this passage, we don’t find Jesus giving us a pep talk about living for Him since He lived and died for us! You find Him removing the restraints and saying: “GO AND TELL EVERYONE YOU WANT!” Which we do, because that’s exactly what we want to do!
In the gospels, we find a handful of occasions where Jesus heals people, and then promptly tells them NOT TO TELL ANYONE about it. And yet what do they do every single time? They tell EVERYONE! And why? Because when when you couple life-changing truth, with a life-changing experience you can’t help but tell others about it! and the same true 100-fold for us as Christians!
As Christians, we’ve encountered the resurrected Christ! And not only have we encountered the resurrected Christ, but we’ve experienced HIS LIFE-CHANGING POWER in our lives! Which is an infinitely greater experience that the mere healing of leprosy or blindness! For we have experienced the healing power of the gospel to wash away our sins and bring us back into the dance of God, where we experience His loving kindness in ways beyond Words!
And yet, He doesn’t command us to silence! He doesn’t command us to secrecy! Instead, HE UNLEASHES US WITH A COMMISSION TO GO AND TELL ALL how they too might be saved!
Do you see now why it is that the New Testament is full of pep talks calling us to a mission mandate! Do you see why the epistles don’t plead and beg the church to be strong witnesses for Christ? It’s because they don’t need to! Because if you’ve truly experienced the life-changing power of the gospel, you don’t need to be mandated or drafted in to this cause! You simply need to be unleashed. For just like the Blind Men and the lepers couldn’t hold their tongues, NEITHER WILL YOU!
And so when you hear Jesus unleash you, saying: Matthew 28:18-19 (ESV) 18 “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
Do you what happens? You instinctively GO tell others where they too can experience the same healing you have!
But what about people that don’t? What about people who won’t? “I mean come on preacher… don’t they need a mandate?” And to that question I say: “Not if they’ve truly encountered the triune God!” For if they have, they don’t need a mission’s mandate, all they need is a mission’s commission! Which is exactly what Jesus gives us here in Matthew’s Gospel.
And we see that natural response with the women in verses 9-10, don’t we? For once they encountered the Triune God in the person of Jesus Christ, they do what is only natural, and they go and tell GLADLY!
But… those who didn’t encounter the resurrected Christ, what did they do? In verses 11-15, we find how they desperately try to cover up the truth! They try to suppress it, They ignore it, They act as if Christ is not raised! And yet, sadly, how many professing Christians today live in a similar way.
instead of looking for every opportunity they can to share the good news of Jesus Christ, they continue their lives as if Christ is not risen! They are silent witnesses, And why? It’s not because they need a stronger mission’s mandate or a good pep talk, it’s because you cannot and will not share what you yourself do not have!
But… for those of us who have encountered the life-changing love and power of the Triune God through Jesus Christ, When we find Jesus’s mission commission like the disciples in the book of Acts, we become UNLEASHED! And then out of OUR EXPLOSIVE JOY we find ourselves unable to remain silent as we go and tell all how they too can come to experience what we have in Christ Jesus!
The truth is, if we have truly encountered the love and power of the triune God in our lives, we are going to want to share it! We are going to want to speak of it! That’s just how it works... We are programmed to be that way. That’s why whenever we find a new great restaurant, or see an amazing movie, or take a trip somewhere wonderful, we naturally and instinctively look for people who want to listen to us about it! And if that’s true with experiences like fun Pokemon games and exhilarating ice bucket challenges, HOW MUCH MORE TRUE IS IT OF THE EXPERIENCE OF BEING BORN AGAIN!? I believe the answer there is INFINITELY MORE!
And so no church, I don’t stand before you today feeling the need to beg and plead with us as a church to live missionally! I stand before us and simply point us to Jesus’s commission which gives us the permission to go and share with others the new life we’ve found in HIM! Because if you have, you will. And if you haven’t, you won’t. and it really is that simple. The reason some of us say NOTHING, is because we have NOTHING to say.
But, if we have something to say, we can go forth in confidence knowing that we can trust Him completely.
The great commission is driven by the shared experience of:
2. Trusting the triune God
After reading about all of the nefarious acts of the religious leaders who tried to cover up the empty tomb with lies and receipt, we read in verses 16-17 about the 11 disciples who finally went to Galilee to meet Jesus. And though Judas the betrayer wasn’t there, we know that other 11 betrayers were. Which included Peter.
And what’s remarkable is that Jesus doesn’t scold them, He doesn’t reprimand them for their small faith, Nope. He accepts their worship and then commissions them IN SPITE OF THEIR DOUBTING! That’s what verse 17 says: It says: Matthew 28:17
17 And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted.
Matthew 28:17 ESV
Do you know what this tells us church? Well, A LOT of things... More things than we have time to address this morning. But one of the things it tells us has to do with how much faith we need to worship Christ and serve Him faithfully. and how much faith is that? A mustard-seed amount. Which is clearly all the amount that some of these disciples had! Which is why Matthew says: “When they saw Him they worshiped Him, but some doubted.”
And Jesus doesn’t stop and say: “Whoa guys… we got a problem here… I’m about to unleash you on the world, but some of you don’t have enough faith!” He doesn’t say that, does He? No He doesn’t. And the reason is, and we’ve seen this so many times before, It’s not the size of our faith that matters BUT THE OBJECT OF OUR FAITH that matters!
If one person is confidently climbing up a ladder that is too weak to hold him, And another person is cautiously climbing up a ladder that is powerful enough to hold him, but inspite of his fear and concern he continues to climb up it anyways, what happens? Captain confidence in the weak ladder falls and doubting Thomas doesn’t! Because it’s not the size of our faith that saves us it is the object of our faith that saves us! For strong faith in a weak object is INFINITELY INFERIOR to a weak faith in a strong object! And the 11 weak disciples here PROVE THAT! And so to an great follower of Christ who fulfills the great commission doesn’t require great faith, but simply trust in the great object of our faith, which is Christ Jesus! And PRAISE GOD FOR THAT! Because if this entire thing depended up on your or I, this great commission would have been a great failure! But it’s not. And why? Because the success of our mission doesn’t depend up on us, but upon the all-powerful triune God.
The great commission is driven by the shared experience of:
3. Depending upon the triune God.
18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:18-20 ESV
One of the reasons we often fail to live as faithful witnesses of Christ is that we forget who all of this depends on. When we hear the pastor asking for volunteers to head up our evangelism team, Or we hear about the need to engage in door-to-door ministry, We think: “Oh I could never do that!” Or.. maybe we think: “I’m not a leader, I’m more of a follower...” “I’m not gifted enough! I wouldn’t know what to say!”
Well, if that’s you, then take comfort in knowing you’re not the first person to ever think or say that, Because that’s pretty much exactly what Moses told God in Exodus chapter 4.
10 But Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.” 11 Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.”
Exodus 4:10-12 ESV
Christian, if you’re a doubting your ability to be a faithful witness, If you are questioning your capabilities, then please know that WHO GOD CALLS GOD EQUIPS! For He never calls us to something He will not equip us for! And if you don’t believe me, believe Moses, And if that’s not enough, look at the 11 disciples! NONE OF THESE were qualified in and of themselves!
I mean look at PETER! On His own, He’s a pebble! But in Christ, HE BECAME A ROCK! - The pillar of the church upon which Christ was going to build! Which is exactly what He did, despite Peter’s EPIC FAILURE!
And you know something... isn’t quite interesting how God uses weak to shame the strong? that’s exactly how God works!
18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” 20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
1 Corinthians 1:18-31 ESV
Church, the commission we are called to is not contingent upon OUR POWER BUT HIS! FOR THIS IS CHRIST’S CHURCH THAT HE IS BUILDING AND THE GATES OF HELL WILL NOT PREVAIL! For CHRIST HAS “ALL AUTHORITY!” Not partial authority, Not occasional authority, HE HAS ALL AUTHORITY, and in His authority HE WILL BUILD HIS CHURCH! And in His authority He graciously invites us into sharing in the privilege and joy of doing so! and oh what a privilege and joy it is!
In verses 19-20, Jesus says: Matthew 28:19-20 (ESV) 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
Now notice here with me if you would, that Jesus tells us 3 things to do here:
Teach them to observe all that I have commanded you.
Which means a few things:
We teach them what Jesus has commanded, not what we have commanded.
So real quickly here: First off, we lovingly share the gospel with even our worst enemies . Why? Because while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.
Second off, we invite them into relationship with the triune God through God’s One and only Son, Jesus Christ. And then we PROMPTLY BAPTIZE THEM! Not because Baptism saves, but because baptism is the outward sign of the inward heart change. And so while baptism doesn’t save, Someone who has not followed Christ in baptism - which is THE FIRST ACT OF OBEDIENCE that Christ calls us to, puts the validity of their faith into SERIOUS question. Which is why we ask all those who have not followed Christ in obedience to believer’s baptism to avoid putting themselves into threat of Divine judgment by taking part in the Lord’s Supper, until they have. that’s the normative order Saved Baptized Added the church, where they then participate in the Lord’s Supper as the body of Christ. And just incase I’m not being clear enough here, if you have not been baptized as a believer, I STRONGLY ADVISE you NOT to take part in the Lord’s supper. Because one of the requirements for that is to not be living in unrepentant sin. And disobeying the Lord’s command to be baptized is sin, is it not?
Alright then, the third observation here, we teach only what Christ commanded. And there’s two applications of this application 1. We don’t go beyond what Christ has commanded 2. We don’t leave out anything Christ has commanded. Pretty straight forward right? Now you know another reason why we took 2 & 1/2 years to preach through Matthew. We are trying to teach ALL that Christ has commanded, and you simply can’t do that taking chapters at a time.
But another thing this tells us it that evangelism cannot be separated from discipleship! Two go hand in hand! Which is sad, because there’s a lot of churches today that brag about being Evangelistic churches, who don’t really emphasis discipleship! I’ve even heard some churches say that they specialize in evangelism and then fully expect their converts to eventually get plugged into another discipleship based church. Not how that works! And the reverse is also true! For the two go hand in hand.
And finally, back to where were started, in all of this, WE MUST DEPEND ENTIRELY UPON GOD NOT MAN! Which includes ourselves. For as Jesus promises in verse 20: Matthew 28:20 Matthew 28:20 (ESV) 20 And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Church, the reason we can have any confidence at all here is that JESUS IS WITH US! And that doesn’t simply mean that Jesus is with us in prayer closet, Or with us in our car with when we are driving while listening to Christian music. No, The word “YOU” here is the good ole southern word for YA’LL! it’s the collective “YOU” It’s US as Christ’s CHURCH!
And as Christ’s church, WE ALL can have great confidence knowing that we can depend upon a God who is our IMMANUEL: GOD WITH US! For as Matthew showed us, that is precisely why Jesus was born into the world.
Hebrews 13:5 (ESV) 5 for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
The truth is, as Matthew has told us in these 28 chapters, Jesus is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, And He has ALL AUTHORITY IN HEAVEN AND EARTH, And because of this, we can trust him and depend upon completely no matter what, until He one day, very soon, returns to rule and reign with us in His Kingdom!
Are you ready for that day? Have you encountered the Triune God through God’s one and only Son? Have you experienced His healing in a way that leads you to trust Him and depend upon Him completely? And has all of that led to you to go forth and boldly and joyously make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you!
Well my friends. That is the book of Matthew. I trust and pray your encounter with Christ in it has changed you for the better just as it has for me.
By God’s grace may we serve our Lord and Savior faithfully as salt and light until He returns, As we bring the gospel message of salvation to ends of the earth But as we do, we pray: “Come quickly, Lord Jesus!”
This is the manuscript the sermon was preached from, so the recording may differ in places.
Series
Sermon 107 of 107 in The Kingdom.