Tanilba Bay Baptist Church
Worship
  • Great In Power
  • God So Loved (Live At The Wheelhouse)
  • Living Hope

      • Matthew 28:16–20ANGLNIV2011

  • Whose job is it?

    I our family, we’ve tried to divide most of the regular chores into a roster. Over the years we’ve had various discussions and negotiations over who does what job and how frequently. One particular family member hates washing the dishes, and so she was able to negotiate some other chores. And so we’ve got this lovely little chart that sits in our pantry which says who does what on each day of the week.
    For the most part it works pretty good - there might be a little scheming happening with the occasional attempt to get out of their chore, but they do mostly get done.
    The bigger problem occurs when someone is away, for example on a school camp or maybe they’re sick or something.
    Now in a perfect world, the two remaining sister would get together and discuss with each other - now we wouldn’t want our parents to be left with extra chores, it would only be fair if we divide this chores up among ourselves and just get them done!
    Now - who believes that’s what happens in my household?
    Well, in case you think I have some little utopia going on in my house, you can rest assured, this does not happen.
    That actual response is more along the lines of - that’s not my job so I don’t have to do it.
    The truth is, this sort of thinking is not just in household chores.
    We figure out the tasks that we consider ours, anything else, well… that’s not my problem.
    Sometimes, that might be appropriate, after all, we can’t do everything, we do have to allow some tasks to fall to others.
    But this way of thinking can cause problems. You see, it partly depends on what sort of job we’re talking about.
    Let’s think in terms of church responsbilities - if we ask: who will clean the toilets? Or who will mow the lawn? The hope would be that a number of peoplee would put their hand up and say they are happy to take on that responsibility, but for various reasons, there will be quite a number of people where it’s just not really going to work out for them to do it.
    But they are specific tasks. What if we think about some more general responsibilities. Who’s job is it to care for people in the church? Who’s responsibility is it to provide hospitality to newcomers?
    Now, there might be a temptation to answer these questions with specific people. We might think about individuals that are really good for doing pastoral care, or who are really good at cooking up a great meal and inviting people to their houses.
    But the reality is, the answer to the questions I just asked should be… everyone!
    The specific of how you show love or hospitality to someone might vary according to your set of circumstances, but we should all care about it.

    Everyone is a missionary

    And it is the same with mission. The main point I want to argue this morning, is that if you are a believer and have a relationship with Jesus - then you are a missionary!
    Now, I wonder how that makes you feel?
    It might intially feel a bit confronting.
    I wonder when I say “missionary” - what do you have in mind.
    I must admit, when I think “missionary”, the image that comes to mind is usually a middle aged couple, often with a few kids, who have dedicated many years of their life to live in some far flung place, relying on financial supported back home.
    These people are incredible.
    But I suspect for many of you, you probably say with a fair degree of confidence - that’s not going to be me.
    Maybe some of you are thinking - well, maybe you could do the two week trip like what the seven of us are about to do, but that would just about be the extent of it.
    But when I suggest you are all missionaries, I don’t think you necessarily need to pack everything up and move to another country.
    (That being said, for some of you, you shouldn’t rule that out either - there is a lot of a need in other countries… countries that have far less resources than we do here in Australia).
    Now, I’m going to use the passage that was read earlier - the one known as the Great Commission to argue that this applies to all believers, and this might seem strange, as this is the passage that is usually taken to encourage global mission - and it does do that, but I believe it also has implications for all of us.

    Context

    But first, let’s think about what was happening when Jesus first said these words.
    This is the end of the earthly ministry of Jesus. For the last few years, Jesus had gone around preaching, doing miracles and essentially just setting up his kingdom.
    It all culminated in Jesus dying on the cross and then in the greatest moment of all of history, rose to life, breaking the bonds of death!
    Throughout this earthly ministry of Jesus, while there may have been quite a number of prominent hints that there was to be a blessing for all nations, he saw his mission primarily being through the Jewish people.
    Now if you heard my message last week, I argued that God’s heart was always for all nations, even in the Old Testament, and after the resurrection of Jesus we actually see how even the pre-resurrection ministry, things were always meant to move towards a blessing of all nations.
    And Jesus shows us this in our passage this morning.
    So, the start of Matthew 28, we we find two Mary’s going to the tomb that Jesus had been buried in, only to find it empty, and an angel telling the women that Jesus had risen!
    Now, unlike some of the other gospels, Matthew’s gospel doesn’t tell many of the stories between the resurrection and the ascesion - you might recall stories like doubting Thomas in John’s gospel, and the Road to Damascum in Luke’s gospel.
    Matthew instread takes us to a single moment, where Jesus instructs the eleven remaining disciples to go on to the mountain.
    Matthew highlights this incident, because this is the pivotal moment where we finally see how what Jesus had been doing was always meant as a blessing to all nations - the very thing that was promised all the way back when God made that promise to Abraham.

    Some doubted

    Now, it’s hard to piece together how this all came to be. The way it reads, I imagine Jesus telling the eleven at some prior time - right, I want you to go up this mountain at a particular time and just wait for me.
    Well, we know that Jesus has been visiting them in rather interesting ways. In John’s gospel, they are in a locked room, and we’re told Jesus just came to them - not as a ghost, because he was real flesh, something the passage made clear to the reader.
    Well, I wonder when the disciples arrived on the mountain, whether things were a bit mysterious again. I can kind of picture them standing around thinking - did we get the place right or not?
    But then it happens. Somehow Jesus is there.
    We’re not given much detail about how this happened - but we are told that at the sight of him, they worshipped him.
    Seeing Jesus brought them to a point of worship.
    But interestingly, we get this little added comment in Matthew’s gospel, one with vitually no elaboration… “but some doubted”.
    Now we know of the incident where Thomas doubted. But why were the doubting here?
    Was it because some thought that he wasn’t going to turn up? Maybe...
    Now in some ways, I don’t think they gave us enough information to know exactly what this doubt was about, however, my suspicion is that for some of the disciples it was all too much, and they just couldn’t figure it all out. They don’t quite get why Jesus is coming and going in the way that he is.
    Now here’s the thing… maybe the fact that it was glossed over so quickly in this narrative was actually deliberate. You see, Jesus is about to give some amazing instructions to these disciples. He’s not just giving them to the ones that didn’t doubt. He’s giving them to all of them, the doubters included.
    Could it be, that when Matthew wrote his gospel, he included the fact that some doubted to show that Jesus wants even the people who haven’t figured it out to work with him?
    What I’m saying is - you don’t have to have every little detail figured out - you can just trust: I know God loves me… I know he has saved me… and I want to now work for him!
    So don’t wait till you have it all figured out - you know what? even when you’ve been a beliver a long time and even after you’ve done lots of study - there are still things you won’t fully understand. That’s okay. God still wants you!

    All authority given

    So, let’s look at what Jesus tells them.
    Firstly, it’s worth looking at both how he starts what he says, and how he finishes.
    He starts with the statement: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”
    And then he ends “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age”.
    This is worth highlighting - because when we start thinking about the way in which we’re going to do our mission work (remember: I’m going to contend that we are all missionaries), we don’t just have a task put before us and then… well, good luck, cause you’re going to need it… rather the one who holds all authority in both heaven and earth… guess what? he’s going to be with us!
    This changes everything. Because, when you start to look at the task before us, we start to see a million reasons why it’s going to fail. There are people that are against us. Not only that, but there are spiritual forces that are against us. You might think you’re pretty strong, but when you come up against those spiritual forces, things are going to turn pretty nasty pretty quickly.
    But we don’t worry - because Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth, and he has promised to be with us to the very end of the age. Amen!

    Therefore Go

    And it is with this, that we get to the command - and it says: “Therefore go”.
    Now let me just stop with these first two words.
    Now the way this has been translated, the natural reading implies that you are to leave where you currently are and do a task somewhere else.
    In the context in which this is written, this reading is valid, in that the instruction will go on to say the task needs to be done to all nations. In other words, we are to leave where we currently are so we can do this task in other nations.
    But in the way the original Greek was structured, there is an alternate way in which this phrase “therefore go” could be translated.
    It is valid to translate it “as we go...” In other words, as you go about your daily business, this is what I want you to be doing.
    Now, Biblical scholars love to debate things like this, but my peersonal opinion is that both are true. That is, Jesus is saying, there is a task to be done that will require us to get up and move, but equally, this is a task that should be done by everyone, where ever you happen to be, and whatever you happen to be doing.
    And this is in part why I believe this Commission that Jesus is giving to his eleven disciples, is actually something that Jesus wants us all to be doing.

    The task

    So, what is the task?
    I’ve been saying we’re all missionaries, but actually, the passage itself does not use the word missionary.
    The task that Jesus gives to his disciples has three main components.
    First, make disciples of all nations.
    Second, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
    And third, teaching them to obey everything Jesus commanded.

    Make disciples

    Let’s start with making disciples.
    Some times, it can be easy to think that the task of a missionary is to make converts.
    Sometimes you see people operate with this mind set. That is, we try hard to convince people of the truth of Christianity.
    We want to convince them that they are a sinner. And that Jesus is the only way to save them from their sin. And then we get them to say the sinners prayer. Once this is done, our job is done, we’ve got another convert. Now we move to the next one.
    Now, don’t get me wrong, we are all sinners. People do need to come to a recognition of this. And we do want people to accept Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.
    But making disciples implies more than just conversion.
    A disciple is a follower of Jesus. Being a disciple is not a one time decision, but an ongoing relationship where you grow and learn.
    So making a disciple is actually about helping people on an ongoing journey. It doesn’t end. Each of us are still on a journey or discipleship. Some of us may be further along that journey than others but we’re all still learning.
    The reason I want to highlight this distinction is because we shouldn’t see our task as being done on someone after they’ve made a decision to follow Jesus. We keep working with them while ever God keeps them in our sphere of influence.

    Baptising them

    The next aspect is baptism.
    Now at a Baptist church, we love to talk about baptism by immersion, and actually, I do believe that when Jesus talks about baptism, all evidence points to the fact that he would have been thinking about baptism by immersion - that is, being fully dunked under water - but when Jesus talks about baptism here, rather than getting carried away by the method, it’s more important to recognise what it represents.
    Baptism is a statement that you belong to God. It’s putting a stake in the ground. I’m with Jesus. It’s no mere formula when it adds that the baptism is: “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”.
    When you are baptised, you recognise the Father for who he is and what he has done. You recognise Jesus as the Lord of your life. And you recognise the Holy Spirit as the one who guides and teaches us and who is always with us.
    So there is a sense in which Jesus is saying, we want disciples, but disciples who are willing to commit.
    The reason for this is not because we just want to grow our church numerically… rather it is our commitment to God that we find blessing.
    We’ve experienced this blessing and we want other to as well.

    Teaching them to obey

    The third aspect Jesus mentions is to teach them to obey.
    In some ways, this is just the natural outcome of someone who is a disciple and who been baptised.
    Unfortunately, sometimes obedience feels like it’s going out of fashion.
    Today’s moral code is quite different to what it has been in the past.
    Today, the general feeling is: if it feels right and you’re not harming anyone else, then it’s fine.
    We value individual choice. You’ve got the right to do what you want, it’s not up to me to tell you how to live.
    The problem with this way of thinking is that it forgets that there is a God who designed this world and actually does know what’s best for us. He hasn’t just created a bunch of rules because he likes to weild his power, he’s shown us what is best.
    While we might be people who are saved by grace, yet it is in obedience to Christ that we draw close to him and really know what it is to be blessed.

    All missionaries

    Now, I want to come back to my idea that we are all missionaries.
    I’ve just looked at the three aspects Jesus talks about in this Great Commission: making disciples, baptising people, and teaching people to obey.
    You might be thinking - but I can’t do any of those things, that’s not my gifting!
    But why can’t you?
    Are you amazed at what God has done in your life?
    Why wouldn’t you want other to experience that?
    You don’t have to do it all yourself, but yet you can be part of an amazing process where you encourage people along the way.
    You might think - but I’m never going to baptise anyone. And probably, for most of you, you won’t be the one actually performing the baptism. Yet each of us can be encouraging people to make this committment.
    And you might not actually be a teacher, but yet, as you go on your own journey as a disciple, and you try your best to obey the teaching of Christ, you can be an example for others to follow.

    Conclusion

    There will be some who will be called to actually go… to leave where they are and make disciples in another part of the world. We should celebrate this and encourage it as much as we can, but we should not think this means we don’t play a role in making disciples.
    We need to avoid being like the child getting out of a chore because it’s not their job, and instead see that we have something beautiful and wonderful to aspire to.
    It is actually a privilege to be given this task and to work with billions of other believers around the world and making more disciples, baptising them and teaching them to obey.
    How are you going to do your bit in this great commission?
    Let me pray...
Tanilba Bay Baptist Church
secretary.tbbc@gmail.com
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http://www.tanilbabaybaptistchurch.com
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