Matthew 28:16-02 — Sermon by Rev. Drew Ibach

May I speak to you in the name of the

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. You

may be seated.

There's a movie from the 1970s

starring Robert Redford called The

Candidate.

It tells the story of a longshot

candidate in a Senate race in California

who ends up winning against all odds.

And at the celebration party, after he

is declared the winner after a long and

rigorous campaign season, Robert

Redford's character gets a moment alone

with his campaign manager and he asks a

very simple question.

What do we do now?

We, the church, are at a pivotal moment

in the church calendar. Over the past

several months, we have rehearsed the

story of the gospel. In Lent, we took

time to lament and repent from our sin.

And we were reminded that we are dust

and to dust you shall return.

At Easter, we celebrated the

resurrection of Jesus Christ and reme we

remembered that the love of our Lord and

Savior is stronger than death.

At the ascension, we recognized that

Jesus Christ is seated at the right hand

of the father and is lord over all

things. And just last week, we

commemorated the outpouring of the Holy

Spirit at Pentecost.

And this week, as we transition into

ordinary time on this Trinity Sunday,

the question remains,

what do we do now?

And perhaps there is no better passage

in all of scripture to address this

question than our gospel lesson for this

morning. Matthew 28

Matthew 28:16–20

verses 16- 20. For it is here that the

disciples receive their marching orders.

It is here that the church receives her

great commission.

Jesus had just been crucified. And at

the beginning of Matthew 28, he

resurrected from the dead. And he

appeared to Mary Magdalene and the other

Mary, instructing them to tell his

disciples that he had risen from the

grave and to meet him in Galilee.

And our gospel for this morning picks up

with the disciples going to Galilee to

gather at the mountain to which Jesus

directed them.

Then Jesus comes to them and when the

disciples see Jesus,

verse 17 says that they worshiped him

but some doubted

which is striking. You'd think after all

they had seen,

all they had gone through,

after they had witnessed Jesus feed

5,000 people with a few loaves of bread

and some fish,

after they had seen him walk on water,

after they had watched him defy the

authorities of the Pharisee of the

Pharisees and the Roman elites,

after they had witnessed him cast out

demons and calm a storm

Now that Jesus had defeated death

itself,

you'd think that doubt would be the

furthest thing from their mind. But here

they are in the presence of the risen

Christ, both worshiping and doubting.

And perhaps you are here this morning

and you resonate with the worshippers.

Maybe it feels like God is close to you.

Or maybe you resonate with the doubters.

Perhaps you are here this morning

feeling like God is nowhere to be found.

Or maybe you're somewhere in between.

No matter the case, notice what happens

next.

Notice what Jesus doesn't do.

He doesn't pull the worshippers aside

and say, "Thank goodness you're here.

You must have been paying attention.

You'll be the ones to go make

disciples."

And he doesn't say to the doubters,

"Really?

I've risen from the grave. What's a guy

got to do to get some confidence?"

No, he comes to them. He comes to all of

them. To worshippers and doubters alike.

And he says

in verse 18, "All authority in heaven

and on earth has been given to me.

Therefore, go and make disciples."

And this is very important, friends. In

a world of competing authorities with

different powers demanding our loyalty

and attention and in the midst of doubts

and confusion, our responsibility

as disciples, as those who have been

called by Jesus Christ is not dependent

on our worship or our doubt, our

confidence or our confusion.

Our responsibility as disciples depends

on the fact that Christ has been given

all authority in heaven and on earth. He

is Lord over all things and no one else

is.

And quite frankly,

if this is not true,

if all authority in heaven and on earth

does not belong to Jesus,

then we ought to follow someone else.

We ought to ignore the great commission

and do something else.

But he has all authority and he is Lord

and his lordship is not dependent on our

belief.

Believe it or not, Jesus Christ is Lord

and he has all authority.

And we, the church, will only be able to

live out our calling when we accept the

authority of Jesus Christ. He is Lord

and nothing will ever change that. If

you are worshiping, he is Lord. If you

are doubting, he is Lord

and he loves you and he has called you.

He has called us.

No matter where we find ourselves, he

has called us to go and to make

disciples of all nations.

This is our task to make disciples to

make people who join us in living under

the rule of Jesus Christ our Lord.

And we do this in two ways.

As Jesus explains in verse 19 and 20, we

make disciples by baptizing them in the

name of the father, son, and holy

spirit.

and we teach them to obey all that Jesus

Christ has commanded.

These are the marks of a disciple,

baptism

and obedience, identity and action.

For it is in our baptism that we are

given a new identity. In our baptism, we

are united to Christ. We are buried with

him and raised with him. As St. Paul

explains in Romans,

at our baptism, we renounce the world,

the flesh, and the devil, and we

proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord. It

is in our baptism that we are initiated

into the church, the people of God. We

become sons and daughters of God.

This is the truest thing about us, each

and every one of us. This is the core of

our identity.

But disciplehip doesn't stop there.

Disciplehip not only transforms our

identity, it also transforms our

actions. Disciplehips requires obedience

to all that Christ has commanded.

Those who follow Jesus are people who

bless those who curse them, who turn the

other cheek, who give their cloak when

someone takes their coat. They let their

yes be yes and their no be no. They give

to all who ask of them. They reserve

judgment,

seek reconciliation with a brother or

sister, love their neighbors as

themselves, love their enemies. They

pick up their cross and follow Christ.

This is what disciplehip is. It is

baptism and obedience, identity and

action.

And it's very important to note that

these two are two sides of the same

coin. We cannot have one without the

other. Changing our identity without

changing our action leads only to nice

feelings of sentimentality.

While changing our actions apart from

our identity in Christ leads to strict

legalism and self-righteousness.

If we are to be disciples, if we are to

make disciples, we must baptize and

obey,

which I'll be the first to tell you is

not easy.

The world, the flesh, and the devil, the

very things that we renounce at our

baptism, are constantly competing for

our identity.

The world, the flesh, and the devil will

tell us that the truest thing about us

is something other than our baptism,

something other than our identity in

Christ. The world, the flesh, and the

devil will tell us that the truest thing

about us is our national identity, that

we are Americans before we're

Christians.

They will tell us their identity is tied

up in our work or success or lack

thereof. what jobs we have, how much

money we make, how much influence we

have.

In our culture, we seem to believe that

the core of our of who we are lies in

our sexuality.

And how often do we hear that our true

identity is wrapped up in who you voted

for, whether you're a Republican or a

Democrat?

What's more, the world, the flesh, and

the devil also encourage us to ignore

the commands of Christ. With all that is

going on in the world, we can't help but

feel that we are justified when we hate

an enemy. After all, we are at war with

them.

Certainly in a culture that is as lost

as ours, Jesus wouldn't mind if we

ignore the log in our own eye and judge

the world around us.

Surely Jesus would understand if we

don't share our possessions.

After all, our possessions are ours.

It's our land, our stuff, our money, our

rights.

so we can do with them as we please.

If Jesus knew just how much people are

cursing these days with people hurling

insults left and right on social media,

surely he wouldn't expect us to bless

those who curse us.

And in a world where we have to fight to

get ahead, surely he wouldn't ask us to

be servants to all,

to pick up our cross and to die for the

sake of another. This is just all too

unrealistic,

and it certainly isn't practical.

The world, the flesh, and the devil tell

us all sorts of lies.

And if I'm honest with you, I often buy

what they're selling.

I often forget who I am in Christ. I

forget that I have been united to him

and baptism.

And I often ignore the things that he

has asked me to do, feeling that his

commands are just simply too much.

But friends, we must remember our

baptism and follow the commands of

Christ. When we are tempted to find our

identity in something else, we the

church must remember that we have been

claimed by the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We have been claimed by it.

In a world of greed, we must be people

who are radically generous.

In a world of outrage, we are called to

be people who seek reconciliation.

In a world of revenge, we are asked to

be people who turn the other cheek.

In a world of hatred,

we are called to be people who love even

our enemies. The world has enough

hatred, greed, revenge. We, the church,

must be an alternative.

We can be light.

And we do this. We follow the commands

of Christ. Not because it's effective,

not because it will save Western

culture. We obey the commands of Christ

because it is what he has asked us to

do. And he is Lord.

>> Amen.

>> That's why we follow his commands

because he is Lord and he has asked us

to.

This is our task.

We have our marching orders.

We are called to make disciples to make

people who have a new identity in Christ

and to teach teach people to obey what

he has asked us

which will be difficult.

The world, the flesh and the devil are

still raging.

So what can we do practically?

How can we be people who remember our

identity and follow the commands of

Christ when we are constantly being

tempted to forget them?

I want to make three brief suggestions.

First,

if we want to remember the identity that

we received at baptism and to do what

Christ has asked asked us to do, we must

be people who take our life together

seriously.

We need to be people who hold one

another accountable to what we have seen

and to what we have heard.

We need to recognize that as baptized

believers, no matter the differences

that may lie between us,

our identity in Christ is deeper.

This, of course, is why we make vows at

one another's baptisms.

When someone is baptized, the

congregation is asked if they will do

all in their power to support the person

being baptized.

And the congregation responds, "We will.

We have to take this vow seriously.

We have to take our life together

seriously.

We must pray together, talk about tough

issues together. We have to remind one

another of who we are in Christ and the

commands that he has given us. We will

not be able to do this on our own."

The second thing, if you want to

remember who you are in Christ, follow

his commands.

Even when you don't feel like it,

even when you are in the midst of doubt

and confusion, do what Christ asked you

to do to the best of your ability.

I don't say this out of some type of

legalism or as a means of earning grace.

I say this because sometimes the best

way to remind yourself of your identity

is to act it out

>> even if you don't believe it. When you

find yourself in the midst of cursing,

respond by offering a blessing. Why?

Because that is who you are in Jesus

Christ.

If you feel that you're tempted to be

greedy,

be generous. Why?

Because that is who you are in Jesus

Christ. When you're tempted to hate,

love. Why? Because that is who you are

in Jesus Christ.

Finally,

if we want to be disciples of Christ,

if we want to be people who remember our

identity as baptized Christians and who

act on his commands,

remember the final thing that Jo Jesus

told the 11 who gathered on that

mountain 2,000 years ago.

Remember that Jesus Christ is with us

always.

Don't ever forget it. Christ is with

you.

If you are doubting or worshiping, he is

with you. If you find it easy to be a

disciple or difficult, he is with you.

He has been given all authority on

heaven and on earth. He is Lord and he

has called you and he loves you and he

is with you even to the end of the age.

Amen.