Date of Article: 12/11/2008 Matthew 28:19. The Great Commission:
This passage is called the great commission it is the final instructive word from JESUS to his church: Jesus had just risen; Jews had killed Him and were equally ready to do away His disciples. There was a great tension between the Jewish community and the Roman power system. The Jews wanted to be free from Roman rule. The Roman wanted this small strange country called Israel to be peaceful. I wouldn’t want to dwell much on this avenue, it’s not the focus of my message today.
This gospel of Matthew ends with Jesus meeting with His disciples in Galilee; this was a meeting of distributing authority. A meeting a saying: look! I have done my part its time for you to perform yours. A meeting of concluding what has been done over a period of three years: grooming, equipping, teaching people and preparing them for the long road. these were the disciples that where with him in the garden before he was taken to die: the same disciples who watched him walk on water, who saw him heal the sick and made the lame walk. He invited them to this crucial/ very important meeting: it was a meeting filled with mixed emotions and some were doubtful, He didn’t reject those who doubted him; he minister to them too. This may have been the occasion where over 500 saw Him at once, and some may have wondered what they were seeing. It was a meeting in which Jesus gave His disciples a command (a) To make disciples of all nations (b) Baptize and teaching them.
The first question I would like to ask in order to come closer to my theme today is that:
What makes a great commission great?
The right and authority from Jesus makes this great commission great
• Jesus has been given all authority: He had original right to all things
• All authority has been given to him: both on earth and in heaven; he rules: the provider of the authority rules. You cannot accept authority from the person who is not authorized; you only accept authority from the source of authority: Jesus in this case is the source of authority. He has been give authority. According to John 1:1-3 Jesus had an inherent right to authority because of his being the creator: the heir according to Hebrew 1:2 and the purchaser according to Acts 20:20.
• Authority to forgive sins
• Authority over Satan our enemy
• Authority to mediate to the father; authority to give eternal life
• Authority reveal the father; to open hearts and minds of the people
• With that authority and on the basis of such great authority Jesus gives “The Great commission” and the great commission is great.
The great commission:
Means Jesus has done his part, disciples are ready for work.
They were to go into the entire world, and preach to every creature the Good New: the message from the Master- from the source of authority. The sender is now giving you the authority and mandate to change the world: This is not only for Jews but for all nations
They were to be witnesses to the uttermost parts of earth; to all the nation not only to Israel but to the gentiles too. Jesus would have us think globally not just locally, the problem sometimes is national: while we should be mindful of our local congregations, local communities, we should also be thinking of those abroad.
Today these disciples are given a mandate to honor the great commission in their live by
• Submitting to the authority of Jesus, which makes the great commission great; please as you are about to leave do not abuse that authority: its given to you for healing for comforting and counseling:
• It has nothing do with self enrichment, popularity and fame.
• Honor the great commission by working to make disciples in all nations of the world, this is a non-racial commission that is why it is so great
• Abiding in His word and thereby ensuring His abiding presence in their lives.
Shortly after giving The great commission Jesus ascended to heaven and his earliest disciples took that commission and did great things with it. This is exactly what is expected of you from today; go and make miracles.
The great teacher, the lecturer, the professor has disappeared and let the students do the great job alone: The great commission: very soon you are going to be alone and do the job assigned to you by Jesus “The great commission”
Application:
As young theologians you are commissioned to go and make disciples of all people; to go out into the world and teach and live the truth of the cross of redemption.
• You are commissioned to go and change the world, go and influence your communities
• You are commissioned to go and bring hope to the hopeless
• You are commissioned to go and preach the uncompromised gospel
• Do not be transformed by the powers and influences of the modern world: your biblical mandate from the Master is crystal clear, do not confuse it do not compromise it.
• Remain vigilant and be prepared to face the challenges that risk surprising us in this country.
• This university, the church has made investment in your education; you are now given time to go and deliver: Jesus said GO: you are not going to relax you will always be on a mission: The duty of a Christian minister is to make disciples for Christ’ and the word go should be translated ‘now then as you go’. This is not an instruction to merely go from one point to another and act only when you have reached your destination. It is an instruction to live ones life always with a view of making disciples. That is, to seek total conversion of others to Jesus Christ. Not only is making disciples an attitude but it is also an activity. The second part of verse 19 and the first part of verse 20 make this fact abundantly clear. Word ‘baptizing them…’ and ‘teaching them…’ express the activity of making disciples. The duty of teaching the new believer all that Christ has commanded. This is an aspect of ministry which is most neglected. Most of our ecclesiastical problems come from this neglect. Most men who occupy our pulpits prefer to do anything from and outside the pulpit but not to teach ‘all that Jesus has commanded’. This aspect of our duty is the reason why people call us ‘mfundisi’, because we are to teach all that Christ has commanded.
• As a disciple of Jesus Christ, you have been also commissioned to participate in a great assignment to go and make positive impact to the lives of people who are affected and infected by HIV AIDS, to the lives of the people who has been dehumanized by poverty: you are commissioned to mend broken families. You area commissioned and assigned to talk sense to people who have been deeply hurt and disappointed by political situation in this country and this assignment through out the years has been called the great commission.
• Be firm you are commissioned with authority, authority means power and right to do something. The person who has commissioned you has absolute right and all power to do as he pleases in heaven and on earth. No one can question his authority.
• You are commissioned as the church to read the signs of time; preach against domestication of the church;
• Be the voice of the voiceless, downrotted, poor and helpless.
• In this changing time of political confusion, people are asking what the church saying they want to hear the voice of God: go and tell them the church is about the great commission.
• It is for the people who lost their dignity because they were jobless. Tell them the church has nothing to do with the politics of power, the politics of opportunities. The church is on the side of the power and suffering.
• There is confusion because some are in the wilderness some have crossed the river Jordan and forgotten about others: go and remind them of their mandate.
Do not confuse the mission, don’t pollute it: defend the originality of the message of the great commission,
Don’t be like Jona who betrayed the message of entailed in the great commission; whose directions have led to detrimental consequences and to the loss of valuables.
Ladies and gentlemen the failure to uphold the principles of the great commission affects those whom we suppose to reach with the message of great commission.
On the way to fulfill the commission no matter what would be the challenges: please do not change the message of the great commission. Remember the Lord the Master who commissioned he says: I am with you always; yes to the end of time.
Therefore you have no reason to be afraid, don't be anxious about tomorrow. God will take care of your tomorrow too. Live one day at a time.
This is not new; It happened to Abraham, Yahweh said leave your country, your family, your father’s house for the land I will show you. Brethrens most of the time you have no idea where you are commissioned to go, but It doesn’t matter where you are going: what matters most don’t loose the original message of the great commission. Remember: the master of the great commission says I will be with always. You will meet terrible challenges on your way, but by faith and authority given to you will overcome those challenges.
Don’t compromise the message of the great commission: you are commissioned because we believe you are ready, and you are unique, you are privileged not everyone is commissioned. Be yourselves behind the pulpit, in front of the nation, be yourselves in your unique style of fulfilling the message of the great commission.
Ladies and gentlemen go to the field of the Lord unshaken and do your small part, and do it at your best: remember the Words of Boaz to Ruth he said do not glean in any other field do not look any further stay close to my servant.
Today in order for you to master the mission bestowed upon you by this university by the church and by Jesus: Please stay close to the master of the great commission. Don’t forget that God’s business is about turning people to him.
Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen | |
