Jesus Mission, Our Mission

Let's pray.

Gracious Father, we thank you for the Holy Scriptures,

their precepts, promises, directions, and light.

In them may we learn of Christ,

grasp his truth, and have grace to follow in his steps.

Amen.

Quick show of hands,

who's seen the movie Mission Impossible?

Or one of them?

There's about 20 of them, isn't there?

When you watch the movie Mission Impossible,

the mission is clear.

They have to protect the CIA's list of covert operatives,

or vindicate themselves from being framed,

or steal a piece of top secret tech from the bad guys.

There is a specific mission, you know what it is.

And if there was confusion about the mission

in a movie like Mission Impossible,

well, it wouldn't make for a very good movie.

It'd be a bit confusing.

You'd wonder, what's the point?

Well, churches have a mission, a mission from Jesus.

Yet sometimes, churches are not clear about their mission.

And this leads to confusion.

Is our mission to fill our buildings?

Is it to be a voice in the community?

Is it to raise funds to maintain our property?

Is it to speak about Jesus?

Is it just to keep the place going so it doesn't die?

What should our mission be as a church?

As a group of saints meeting here in Rockhampton

in the Anglican Cathedral, the first church in Rockhampton,

what should we be on about?

What is our mission?

Well, as we look at Jesus' Great Commission today,

Jesus gives us clarity about the mission of the church.

We're looking in the Gospel of Matthew,

Matthew 28:16–20

chapter 28, verses 16 to 20.

It'd be good if you had that open in front of you.

Where Matthew records in this gospel,

Jesus' final words to the disciples.

We see in verse 16 that Jesus has planned this encounter.

He's directed the disciples to go and meet him

in Galilee on this mountain.

And Jesus plans to make his mission clear to his disciples.

Now, upon arriving at the mountain,

the disciples, they see Jesus and they worship him.

Now, this is appropriate.

Jesus, in his death and resurrection,

has shown that he is indeed God in the flesh

and that he alone is worthy of worship.

The word disciple means someone

who learns from and follows Jesus.

But we can add to that a disciple

is also a worshipper of Jesus.

As Christians, as disciples of Jesus,

we worship the resurrected Jesus Christ.

He is part of the Trinity.

One God in three persons.

Jesus is our God.

You cannot claim to be a Christian and not worship Jesus.

Now, it's recorded here that some of the disciples doubted.

A human faith can have its ups and downs.

And if you're here today and maybe you've got some doubts,

you're not alone.

Some of the first disciples had doubts.

But those doubts do not change what Jesus is about to say

or the mission that he's about to give his disciples.

So as we look at what Jesus says,

we see his authority, his mission, his means,

and his promise.

First, Jesus' authority.

Verse 18, Jesus came and said to them,

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

Not just some authority, but all authority.

Not just over some things, but over all things.

Jesus,

Jesus is the CEO of all creation, the commander-in-chief.

He has authority over the largest planets and stars

down to the smallest atoms that form everything we touch.

Jesus has authority in the throne room of heaven

over the angels, the prophets, the prophets of God,

authority in the throne room of heaven over the angels,

over the seraphim, over the cherubim,

authority over every living thing in this world.

In the Disney movie, Aladdin, Jafar is the bad guy.

He has this moment where he becomes an all-powerful genie.

And as he realizes his power,

he becomes very large and very scary and says,

the universe is mine to command, to control.

Power, ultimate power.

Jafar probably did it better than me.

And he says that just before Aladdin points out

that the genie's power is limited by the lamp

where the genie has to live.

But a lamp does not limit Jesus.

Jesus has all the authority,

ultimate power over heaven and earth without limitation.

And it's given to him by God the father.

You see, in Jesus's death and resurrection,

Jesus defeated the powers of evil that stood against God.

Jesus defeated the curse of sin

by being the perfect sacrifice, the sinless savior,

dying in our place on the cross

to take the punishment of our sin from God that we deserve.

Jesus defeated the devil by resisting temptation

and he made it possible so that sinners like you and me

can be forgiven.

If we have faith in Jesus Christ,

there is no accusation that the devil can make

before God that will stand.

Lastly, Jesus defeated death by rising again,

making it possible for us to rise and have eternal life.

On the cross, all that stood opposed to God was defeated.

And so God the father gives his good son all the authority.

But even though Jesus has all the power and authority,

he does not scare his disciples into submission.

He does not do the Jafar and demonstrate his power

in a great visual display in a scary voice.

No, Jesus is approachable.

The disciples come, they worship Jesus,

including those who are doubting.

They do not cower in fear because Jesus is approachable.

And Jesus invites us to come to him, to worship him.

And it's not scary at all because he gives us hope

and peace and love because of his death for us.

He invites us today to come and worship him,

to be one of his disciples.

Now you might be thinking, well, hang on a second.

Life from our perspective can still be chaotic

and unpredictable.

Evil is still present.

Sin still inhabits our world and our hearts.

How can Jesus have all authority?

Well, at the moment we live in what's called

the overlap of the ages.

Jesus is risen and he has all authority,

but we don't yet see it fully revealed.

When we place our faith in Jesus,

we recognise Jesus's authority.

And Jesus wants more and more people to do that,

to come and to worship him.

Jesus also promises a time when he will return

and everyone will see his authority fully revealed.

And everyone will know that Jesus has all authority.

But when that happens, it will be too late

to receive the blessings available to us now

through faith in Jesus.

So come, trust Jesus.

So now that Jesus has all this authority,

what does Jesus do with it?

Well, Jesus gives his disciples a command, a mission.

The disciples, as they hear these words,

are hearing them knowing they come with the authority

of the one who is Lord of heaven and earth.

These words are not a great suggestion,

they're a great commission.

And so we come to Jesus's mission.

Go and make disciples.

That's what Jesus says.

Disciples of Jesus are made.

And Jesus uses the disciples to make disciples.

And this rings true for us, doesn't it?

Disciples make disciples.

A person in most instances becomes a disciple of Jesus

through the ministry of another disciple.

Think of how you became a follower of Jesus.

Maybe it was your parents who faithfully discipled you

by bringing you to church.

Maybe it was a faithful Sunday school teacher

or maybe your story is a little bit more like mine

where later in life, a friend shared with you

the good news of Jesus

and then you became a disciple of Jesus.

God uses his disciples to make disciples.

God uses us as his disciples to make disciples.

Now I know that there are examples,

I think we find them in the Bible,

there are examples,

I think we find them in the Muslim world particularly,

of people having dreams of Jesus,

being led to God's word, learning the gospel

and then turning to Christ.

Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth

and we should not be surprised

when he supernaturally works by his spirit

through his word.

But Jesus' command to us is go and make disciples.

The normal means Jesus gives us

for making disciples is through us.

If we want to see Jesus' church grow,

we can expect God to use us as we obey his command.

Because you notice it's an active, it's a go.

You have to do something, not stay still, but go.

Now, who are we to make disciples of?

Jesus tells us, of all nations, everyone,

people from every tribe and nation.

We should support world mission with prayer and finances.

If God calls you to it,

you should be willing to leave Rockhampton

to go and make disciples anywhere in the world.

But at a local level,

the people who live in Rockhampton

and the surrounding suburbs are our mission field.

They are all the nations that we are to make disciples of.

So that's the mission.

How are we to do that?

What's the means?

How does one make a disciple in Rockhampton?

Well, Jesus tells us.

And he says, if you want to make disciples of God,

Jesus tells us,

baptizing them in the name of the Father

and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

So there's two things there, isn't there?

To make disciples, we baptize.

This means presenting the gospel of Jesus to people

so that they would turn and put their faith and trust in him.

Jesus is not saying here,

just go and dunk as many people as possible.

If that were the case, growing the church would be easy.

We just have to wait for a hot summer day,

put a pool out the front,

grab people as they walk past and dunk them.

Done.

That's clearly not what Jesus is talking about here.

See, water baptism is a symbol

of an internal spiritual reality,

a reality where someone willingly becomes a disciple of Jesus

who comes to worship him and recognizes his authority.

Baptism without that spiritual reality

does not make a disciple of Jesus.

In the Anglican church, we baptize infants,

but we do so based on the spiritual reality

and faith of the parents.

So if we are to baptize people,

if we are to obey this command,

we need to share the good news of Jesus with people.

And we need to trust that God will work in their hearts

and their minds so that they would turn to Jesus.

And we learn here that baptism itself is Trinitarian.

It's in the name of God, the Father, God, the Son,

God, the Holy Spirit,

because all of us have been baptized

in the name of God, the Father, God, the Son,

God, the Holy Spirit,

because all three persons of the Trinity

are at work in our salvation.

Now, the second way we are to make disciples

is to teach disciples to obey Christ.

This is how we grow as disciples.

We need to be taught.

One of the key qualifications

for a leader of God's people in the church

is that they are able to teach God's word faithfully.

A kids' church leader, a Bible study leader,

need to be able to teach God's word faithfully.

Parents, grandparents need to be equipped

to be able to teach their families God's word faithfully.

We need to teach each other God's word faithfully.

See, the task of being a disciple is an ongoing one

where we are continually learning from Christ.

That's what a disciple is, a learner, a follower.

We're always learning, always growing.

Imagine that you were dropped into a house

and this house had a thousand rooms

and each room was big and filled with all sorts

of random treasures to discover.

Well, exploring those rooms is a bit like

it is learning Christ.

One room contains the depths of the love of Christ.

The room under the stairs, the spiritual blessings

we receive through faith in Christ.

The room at the end of the hall,

the depths and wonders of God's love for us

in sending Jesus to die on the cross.

At the other end of the house,

there's a room that has us marvel

at the wonders of God's creation and power.

There's another room in which we turn

and we see that Christ dwells with us by his Holy Spirit.

The point is this side of heaven,

we can never exhaust what we can learn of Christ.

There's just always more to learn.

There's so much to know.

And if we think we know everything there is to know

about being a disciple, well,

I encourage you to spend more time reading God's word

because a disciple is a learner

and we need to keep learning and to learn,

we need to be taught.

And we need to keep being taught.

Now, what does this mean for us?

Well, it means we need to be intentional

in sharing the good news of Jesus.

And it means we need to be intentional

in providing opportunities to teach Jesus's commands.

If we are to grow as a church,

we need to be doing these two things.

Now, some people, they have an objection to all of this

and think, well, surely Jesus doesn't mean me.

I don't have to go and make disciples.

Surely that's someone else's job.

Some people read the Great Commission

and think, well, Jesus was only talking

to the 11 disciples that were with him, right?

Not me.

Well, there are two things that are in this commission

that lead us to believe

that it is for everyone who follows Jesus.

The first is this.

Jesus still has all authority in heaven and on earth.

That has not changed.

The second is that Jesus finishes the Great Commission

with, I am with you to the very end of the age.

The end of the age refers to Jesus's return.

Yet the 11 disciples died 2,000 years ago.

But Jesus's work of disciple-making is not finished.

It's for all of us.

And so now we come to Jesus's promise.

As we do this mission,

Jesus teaches us that we don't do it on our own.

Jesus says, surely I am with you to the end of the age.

It's Jesus's mission.

He's with us every step of the way.

How comforting.

It's comforting, especially as you think about

obeying this command of going

will likely mean stepping outside of our comfort zone.

Maybe doing things we wouldn't normally do.

Because Jesus is with us, we can be bold,

we can be daring, we can risk failing.

We can do things and take risks and they might not work.

And then we can try something else.

Our churches that grow often try lots of different things

to reach all the nations.

Some work, some don't.

But what they don't do is they don't stop

trying to make disciples.

And they can continue on because Jesus has promised

that he is with us.

Jesus is with us to the very end of the age.

This isn't based on a feeling,

but it's based on the truth of Jesus's word to us

and Jesus does not lie.

So what is Jesus's mission for us?

Make disciples.

What is our mission?

Make disciples.

Share the gospel and baptise and teach Jesus's commands

so we can be obedient.

There doesn't need to be any confusion about this.

Jesus is clear.

Go and make disciples.

Now, it's easy to write, it's easy to say.

We don't need to be confused.

But it is harder to do, isn't it?

To go and make disciples, it might require us changing

where we put our time and our energy.

We're limited, finite human beings.

We can only do so many things.

We can only do so many things.

Are the things that we are doing helping us make disciples?

In order for us to make disciples,

we might need to spend some time learning

some different skills

to make the most of the opportunities that God presents us

so that we can be prepared to make the invitation to church,

so that we can give an answer for the hope that we have,

so that we can teach our kids faithfully in Sunday school

or kids' church.

It might mean that we need to make some changes as a church

so that we can better welcome people,

so that we can make clearer in our services

the good news of Jesus.

Now, I'm not preempting any changes at this point.

I'm just suggesting that maybe we do need to make some.

What it definitely means is that we need to be more prayerful

because it's not our mission.

We do it under the authority of the risen Lord Jesus

who is with us.

And so we need to ask for his wisdom and his discernment.

We need to ask that he would bless our efforts

as we go and try and make disciples.

It was encouraging through the week

to be able to meet with some members of the congregation

and pray.

If we're going to take Jesus' commission seriously,

we need to be a church that is devoted to prayer.

So let's make disciples.

It's Jesus' mission.

It's our mission.

Jesus said,

All authority in 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 and of the Son

and of the Holy Spirit

and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you that Jesus has all the authority

that he's given us the promise that he is with us to the end of the age

and he's given us this mission,

his mission,

to go and make disciples.

So, Heavenly Father, we ask that you would equip us for that task.

So, Heavenly Father, we ask that you would equip us for that task.

That you would help us to

know what the best way of doing that is

in the context and the place that you have put us.

Please give us wisdom and discernment.

Give us a zeal and a commitment to try new and different things

so that we can see many, many more disciples of Jesus made

and many more people grow to be more mature disciples of Christ.

We ask this in Jesus' name.

Amen.