Through the Kingdom Eyes of Jesus (Matthew 28:16-20)

Would you please stand now for the reading of God's word will

be in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 28.

Matthew 28 · chapter mention

The last few verses that Matthew records to set the scene.

Jesus had been killed dying the death that we all deserve to

die. Gory murder of the King of

Kings. He's been in the tomb.

His disciples have scattered. Now they've gathered together

again. Can only imagine the grief.

And Matthew tells us that Mary Magdalene and the other Mary are

on their way to see the tomb, to tend to his body.

But on their way, they see an Angel.

The Angel gives them instructions to go back and tell

the 11 disciples. So Mary and Mary turn and go

back to where the disciples are. These are the words that Jesus

said to them in verse 9. Jesus met them and said

greetings, and they came up and took hold of his feet and

worshipped him. Then Jesus said to them, do not

be afraid, go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee and

there they will see me. So this morning we're going to

that mountain in Galilee. We're going to see the Lord

Jesus. We're going to see and hear what

he says to his 11 as they meet him there.

We pick this up in verse 16. Now the 11 disciples went to

Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them,

and when they saw him, they worshipped him.

But some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them,

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

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, teaching them to observe all that I have

commanded you. And behold, I am with you always

to the end of the age. This is the word of the Lord.

Let's be to God. You may be seated.

Father, thank you that we believe this is Your word, for

it's the gift of the Spirit in our life, illuminating these

truths, enabling us to see, enabling us to hear, enabling us

to affirm that all Scripture is God breathed.

Father, we pray that the Holy Spirit would do a work now and

giving us eyes to see again the glory of Christ, to listen to

his words, to be transformed even this day for your glory and

our good. We pray this in Jesus name,

Amen. Starting last Sunday is Paul

beautifully preached. We have been focusing on seeing

the passion of Christ through others eyes.

We saw last Sunday through the eyes of the prophet about the

triumphal entry of Christ. We saw Monday through the eyes

of sleepy disciples who couldn't stay awake as Jesus suffered in

the garden crying to the Father. Father, if you're willing, take

this cup from me, yet not my will be done, but yours.

We saw through the eyes of a violent, murderous criminal

Barabbas, who was set free by pilot as they shouted free

Barabbas and then crucify Christ.

We saw through the eyes of soldiers who mocked and beat

Jesus beyond recognition. We saw through the eyes of

Malchus at night in the garden as Peter sought with his sword,

probably to take off his head, but instead got his ear.

We saw on Friday, Good Friday, through the eyes of Joseph of

Arimathea, what it was like to care for the body of Jesus, our

Lord, who is dead. And today we come to this

mountain to see the Kingdom, His Kingdom, through the eyes of the

Messiah. And what we're asking and

inviting you to is to come and see.

To come and see and hear what it is that Christ says.

I want you to know as you look at verse 16, that the 11

disciples were distraught. This is not what they expected

to happen. They did not expect their Savior

to die even though He had told them.

Now that he's been dead, they know that they denied even

knowing Him. You can imagine the grief that

they're experiencing. It's deep and profound.

But now these two ladies return. He's alive.

He wants to meet you and see you as planning to do so in Galilee

on the mountain. And so they go as they arrive.

This is what we're told happened verse 17.

When they saw him. This is the 11.

Judas is dead. He hung himself.

And when they saw him, they worshipped him.

But some doubted how gracious of Matthew to include this.

That's just like what's happening here today.

Not just in this sanctuary, not just in this hour, but at 8:00

and 9:30. This sanctuary has been full all

morning in churches all over the globe.

There are people who come who truly are followers of Jesus,

who've been born again, who love him and want to worship him.

Alongside, though, are others who doubt.

They're skeptical. They're not sure that day on

that mountain. Speaking of the 11, Matthew

tells us some worshipped him, but some doubted.

Maybe that's you today. No matter where you are, if you

know you're in Christ and you're a worshipper, whether you know

you're in Christ but you you have doubts, whether you are

here just to make a relative happy or a friend, we are so

grateful and we want you to come and see what God's Word says

from the Word himself, Jesus. What's interesting is the word

doubt here is not the normal word for doubt.

Dan Doriani, our dear friend, professor at Covenant Seminary,

points this out. He says this is not the ordinary

term for doubt. It does not mean they were

unsure whether they believed or not.

Rather, they believed but hesitated.

Their hesitation reminds us that the journey towards mature faith

is difficult. Even believers hesitated time.

No one understands everything all at once.

No one obeys perfectly, not even the 11 here today as Jesus is on

this mountain. Some are worshipping, some are

doubting, they're hesitating. This word for doubt that Matthew

uses is only used one other time in the book of Matthew, and it's

interesting where it occurs. The disciples are in a boat and

as they're floating on the water, suddenly there is an

image moving towards them. And then they discover that it's

Jesus and he's walking on water. Peter the bold disciple calls

out in verse 28 of chapter 14. Lord, if it is you, command me

to come to you on the water. And many of you know what

happened. Jesus says come.

So Peter got out of the boat. He did not get out on the boat

where the water was shallow. He did not get out of the boat

onto another boat or onto a dock.

He got out of the boat and stepped on the same water that

Jesus was walking on. And like Jesus, he walked.

He walked on water. Only two people in the history

of the world have walked on water, Jesus.

And then Peter for a moment. But as Peter is walking towards

Jesus on the water, Matthew tells us he saw the wind, he was

afraid, and he began to sink. And as he sank, he cried out.

Lord, save me. That's what some of us need to

cry out today. It's actually what all of us

need to cry out today. Lord, save me.

And Jesus immediately reaches out his hand.

He takes hold of Peter, saying to him, O you of little faith,

why did you doubt the same word, the same word he's now using to

describe the 11? They had faith.

They believed Peter had faith. He was the only one that got out

of the boat. There's no record of other

saying I want to go, I want to turn.

But then the wind, the circumstances, the world around

him caused him to take his eyes off a Christ and he began to

sink. And when he sinks, what does he

cry out? Lord save me.

Maybe today you're here and you've never cried out that to

Jesus. Maybe you have cried out that

and you have walked with Jesus. But in the circumstances of your

life now, the wind, you see it, it's great.

And you have doubt. You're hesitant, you're not

willing to trust Him fully. Well, I pray you will listen to

these words because they're powerful.

While some worshipped and some doubted, we then move into what

Jesus says. There's three things Jesus is

going to say that we're going to pay attention to this morning.

The first one is significant. They're all significant, but

it's significant because it's first what will be the first

words. Matthew records that Jesus says

to the 11. Listen to this verse 18 And

Jesus came and he said to them, all authority in heaven and on

earth has been given to me. I want you to hear this again.

The first thing Jesus says to the disciples according to

Matthew's Gospel is when he sees the 11 on this mountain where he

told Mary and Mary to tell them to come is all authority in

heaven and on the earth has been given to me.

He doesn't say some authority, a portion of the earth, this

region, this much power. He says all authority has been

given to me in heaven and on earth.

What does that mean? It means that Christ is

revealing to them His full and eternal authority.

All spiritual, metaphysical, philosophical and religious

power in heaven is under him. All social, physical, political

and economic power on earth is under him.

Not some of it. What Jesus is saying is that

every person, Everything, Everywhere and always is under

me. Every person.

Look around, every person, everything, everywhere, not just

what you can see, but beyond what we can see is under me.

It's full rain. It's full power.

It's full authority overall, it's one inch equals 1 inch full

scale. Why did Jesus say this?

He's the Son of God. Didn't he always have power?

Didn't he always have authority? Yes.

In fact, he had authority when he taught.

Those listening to him said He teaches US1 Who has authority?

Because he, the word of God, was speaking the very word of God.

He had authority over illness and disease.

The disciples watched him heal people.

He watched him raise people from the dead, like Lazarus.

He had authority over nature. He's walking on water, but on

that same body of water, when the sailors were scared to death

that they might drown while Jesus was sleeping, he woke up

and said be calm and be still. And it was.

He had authority, but in His earthly life, His earthly

ministry, He only practiced a fraction of it.

Remember this conversation on another mountain recorded

earlier in the book of Matthew. The Holy Spirit in Matthew 4 has

LED Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan.

Satan brings 2 temptations, and in each case Christ uses the

word of God to refute what Satan has said.

But now comes the third temptation recorded in Matthew

48. Again the devil took Jesus to a

very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the

world and their glory. And he said to Jesus, All these

I will give to you, if you will fall down and worship me.

The devil had authority, but he didn't have ultimate authority

or eternal authority. Jesus responds again as he did

the prior 2 times with the word of God.

And he says, be gone Satan. For it is written, you shall

worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve now

after his death, Right after his resurrection, he tells the

disciples to meet him on another mountain, high on this mountain

between heaven and earth, so to speak.

Jesus says all authority has been given to me in heaven and

on earth. Why does that matter?

If you are a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, that means

that you are one with Jesus. It means that you have union

with Christ, you're married to Christ.

It's that kind of picture, that kind of intimacy.

And what that means is the one to whom you have been saved by,

the one who is risen, the one who now saying be gone, Satan

has defeated Satan. He lives in you and you live in

him. The one who has all authority.

Not some authority, All authority, all reign.

Let's think about this. Do you know anybody that's a

name dropper? Some of you are doing this.

Are you a name dropper? Do you know what I mean by that?

A name dropper? Somebody who kind of delights in

letting people know that they have a connection to someone who

has got power or prestige, could be an athlete, could be a

president, could be a theologian, could be an artist.

And then the conversation, something comes up and this

individual says, oh, well, if you would like me to connect

you. And they let you know that they

somehow have a connection to this person.

It's really kind of a fulfillment of the six degrees

of separation, the idea that was born in 1929 when an individual

said any two people are connected by a chain of

acquaintances with no more than six intermediaries necessary.

And So what that means is Tom knows Scott and Scott knows

Sheila and Sheila knows. Fill in the blank and fill in

the blank knows. And somehow what happens is we

begin to over exaggerate lots of times the relationships that we

have. Remember just a couple weeks ago

I told you how close I am to Bob Costas.

If you didn't hear that, you can listen to that sermon later.

We over exaggerate because it does something to our identity.

It affects our identity. It affects how we see ourselves

and how we want other people to see us.

In this church, there are some pretty significant people who

know some even more significant people.

Sometimes somebody might ask me a General Assembly does so and

so go to your church. I can run that race and make it

sound like me and whoever you're thinking I'm talking about are

really close friends, when the truth is we're like this.

I'm out here. But if you're in Christ Jesus,

if you're in Christ Jesus who has all authority over everyone,

everything, everywhere, all the time, if you've been saved by

him, you belong to him. You can never over exaggerate

what it means to be in Him. You cannot over exaggerate His

Holiness. You cannot over exaggerate His

power. You cannot over exaggerate His

Grace. You cannot over exaggerate His

mercy. His mercy is made new each day.

You can't over exaggerate how much mercy He offers.

You cannot over exaggerate if you're in Christ Jesus, His love

for you. We'll see it in Ephesians soon.

It's so wide, so long, so deep, so high.

We can't for us who are in Christ over exaggerate who we

are in Him. The 6th degree of separation

doesn't apply. There are no intermediaries that

are necessary. You do not need a priest.

You do not need a pastor. You do not need a Bible study

leader to take you to Jesus. He is the intermediary.

He is the high priest and the final priest.

He's the 1:00 and we have access to Him by His grace.

We cannot over exaggerate, but we can have false assurance and

presumption. We can assume that we're in

relationship with Jesus because we don't really understand what

the Bible means by being a follower of Christ.

This is important especially in the Bible Belt, where we might

think we're in Christ because a relative is, or we might think

we're in Christ because we're conservative politically.

We might think we're in Christ because we admire Jesus.

We might think we're in Christ because we attend church.

It's not how it works. Jesus tells us why as he moves

on from his statement about authority.

Here's what Jesus says. All authority has been given to

me. All authority in heaven and on

earth has been given to me. Now verse 19 Go therefore, based

on that authority, based on that power, 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, and teaching

them to observe all that I've commanded you.

Notice what Jesus says. All authorities been given to me

in heaven and on earth. Now my followers go therefore

and make. He doesn't say converts.

He doesn't say go and make moral people who can then think they

can save themselves. He doesn't say go and make

people who will embrace Christianity as the most

conservative worldview. He doesn't say go and make

people attend meetings. He says therefore go and make

disciples. Now, you cannot be a disciple if

you're not born again, if you're not converted to Christ.

You can't. But you can think you're in

Christ when you really aren't because you are not a follower

of him. You see, Jesus tells us what a

disciple is. It is someone who follows him.

That's what the word disciple means.

We need to define it in its shortest definition.

A disciple is a follower of someone.

Therefore, you could be a disciple of many things and many

people. But Christian discipleship is

different because it's centered on following the Lord Jesus

Christ and by his grace and for his glory, and by the power of

the Spirit seeking to obey all that He has commanded.

We live in a time where we really like things to be short.

We like definitions to be pithy and crisp.

We like them to have things attached to them that we can

check. Therefore, our definition of

discipleship can sometimes be very short sighted.

So I'm going to give you 1 and I'm going to tell you right now,

it's long. It is not hard to understand,

but I want you to hear it because sometimes we think being

a disciple, a disciple of Jesus is just simply saying, OK, sign

me up, I'll begin to obey. Much more has to be at play and

much more is. Listen to this.

A disciple of the Lord Jesus is by faith a follower of the Lord

Jesus and all of his teaching. Not some of his teaching, not

the parts we like only, but all of his teaching.

A disciple of the Lord Jesus by faith is a follower of the Lord

Jesus, and all of his teaching who is a result of God's

sovereign grace has been called by God.

In the book of Matthew, Jesus the 11 at some point he said,

come follow me, I'll make you fishers of men.

They've been called by Christ. Disciples have been called by

Christ. We've been called by Christ even

more and made alive in Christ. Why does that matter?

Because Paul tells us in Ephesians 2, all of us were dead

spiritually. We weren't just morally sick, we

were spiritually dead. And in order for us to be a

disciple of Jesus, in order for us to become a follower of

Christ, we had to be made alive. And the very words Jesus uses in

John 3 to Nicodemus is that we had to be born again and all

true followers of Jesus are born again.

Paul says therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he's a new

creation, the oldest gone, the newest come.

You're a new person, you have a new identity.

So disciples of the Lord Jesus are made alive in Christ, given

a new identity, and its identity is permanent and its primary.

They're given a new purpose as they are adopted into God's

family. And from their true union with

Jesus, not like this, but like this true union with Christ and

the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit that lives in them.

They're learning to obey, desiring to obey, fighting to

obey, in the strength of God's grace all that Christ has

commanded. And in doing so, we are bringing

glory to the Father as we abide in Christ and bear much fruit.

You're probably going to have to listen to that later, but that's

what it means to be a disciple. Sometimes it helps to define

what a disciple is not a disciple of the Lord Jesus is

not just being an admirer of Jesus.

Many people admired him and many people hated him and still do.

But a disciple is not someone that just admires Jesus.

It is not someone who is just familiar with his teaching and

even admires his ethic. A disciple of Jesus does not

want someone who thinks of Jesus as a motivational coach or a

cultural mascot. A disciple of Jesus is one who

has said, Lord who he is, save me.

And because he does, they want to spend the rest of their life

learning and obeying all that Christ gives, all that Christ

calls us to. Well, one of the things that

Christ calls the disciples to is very clear here.

Did you see it? Therefore, go.

Disciples of Jesus are to go to go into your families, into your

neighborhood, into your schools, into your places of work, into

your places of recreation, go and make disciples.

And he says of all nations, and he says teaching them to be all

I have commanded. Have you seen the word all three

times? All authority and power, all

nations, all of my words. For many, this is where our

faith has pretty significant hesitation.

Though we know Christ, the zeal to go isn't what it should be.

Bishop JC Rile, Speaking of this passage, said these words.

It is still the duty of every disciple of Jesus Christ to do

all he can in person and by prayer to make others acquainted

with Jesus. He doesn't mean admires of

Jesus. He doesn't mean people just know

about Jesus. He means those who are walking

in Jesus. He says, where is our faith if

we neglect this duty? Where is our love?

It may well be questioned whether people know the value of

the gospel themselves if they do not desire to make it known to

all the world. And if that's true of you, and

if it's true of me, we must cry out.

Lord, save me. Give me eyes to see again the

glory of this mission. Why would I not want to tell the

world about the One who is all powerful, has all authority, and

has done everything necessary to save his people?

Something's missing. You can't fix it.

Ask God to fix that. But how Jesus ends this section,

the last thing recorded by Matthew that he says on this

mountain is so amazing and it's so encouraging.

I want you to think about this. What the disciples have been

through for three years following Jesus.

It did not end how they expected.

And then when he died on the cross, they didn't expect to see

him again on another mountain. But here on this mountain, he

says, first all authority and heaven and on earth has been

given to me. Therefore go and make disciples

of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son,

and Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all I've commanded

you. But then comes this last

statement in Matthew's Gospel, and it's not a command, it's a

comfort. Following the Great Commission

comes the great comfort, Jesus says in the second part of verse

20. And behold, I am with you always

to the end of the age. If you're in Christ Jesus, that

means He is with you and He is going to be with you every day,

all day, to the end of the age. What a comfort it is that Jesus

gives to know that not a single day will pass in which the

presence of Christ is missing from his people.

Not a single day. Your darkest day, your brightest

day, your hardest day, your easiest day.

Christ, if you're in him and He is in you, is with you.

And who is he? He's the one with all authority

and power, the one who tells them this after just dying on

the cross but being raised from the dead.

That's who he is today. If you're here, first of all,

I'm glad everyone is here. Those who are in overflow, those

who are watching this online now or even later, I'm so glad

you're here because the invitation has been for you to

come and see the real Jesus. And this is who he says he is.

In seeing who he is, He tells us what he wants the disciples do

in order to make the other disciples.

And you've heard what a disciple is.

So the question is, are you a disciple of Jesus?

If you know today you're not a disciple of Jesus, then all

that's been said is what you don't yet have.

And if this is something in your heart, now you're saying I want

that, I want that assurance, I want to know him.

Then just cry out as Peter did. Lord save me.

I'm a Sinner. I need you.

You're the only one who can give me salvation.

Save me. Pray that prayer now.

Pray it as we close. Not the day you were here and

you know you've been saved by his grace.

You've been born again. You're a follower of Jesus, but

more than being a worshiper, maybe the doubters describes

you. There's hesitation, hesitation

that maybe wasn't there before. Cry out to Jesus, Lord, save me.

It's not a prayer of salvation. You've already been saved, but

it's a prayer that comes to Christ who reaches out and will

give you what you need. And today, if you are a follower

of Jesus, then when you leave this place and by his power take

his name and drop it. Drop it everywhere you go.

Let me tell you about Jesus. I know Him.

Let me tell you how I know Him and how I know I know Him.

Now that can be scary. Certainly it was for the

disciples. So that's why Jesus sandwiched

the Great Commission for all statements with the first one.

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me and

the bottom of the sandwich. And behold, I am with you all

the days of your life, living in that reality.

Fellow follower of Jesus, go and tell the world who you know and

who knows you. He's the one who has risen.

He's the one who is all powerful.

He is the one who is all present.

He is the one who reached out to save his people.

He is the one who lives. He's the one who lives in US,

the Lord Jesus. That mountain was a real

mountain, as you were a real man who had just been raised from

the dead. And you spoke real words of real

authority, not the idea of authority, not the metaphor or

hyperbole of authority, real authority.

And then you spoke of a comfort, which is your presence, not the

idea of a comfort, not a statement of comfort, but the

person. So Lord, in this sanctuary now,

if there are any who want to know, they know you speak to

them through your spirit and friend.

Just cry out. Lord, save me.

For those who know they're in Christ this day, rejoice.

And what that means. You can never over exaggerate

what Jesus tells you about who you are in him.

Thank you for this Christ, for this day, for this time, this

space. Thank you for your presence and

thank you for your power. In your name we pray.

Amen. Please stand.