Episode Transcript
WEBVTT
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If you're able, please remain standing
in will and let's give our attention to
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Matthew, Chapter Twenty eight. Matthew
Twenty Eight, here Matthew accounts for us
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the resurrection and also the Great Commission
that follows. Let us get us our
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attention to the reading of God's word. Now, after the Sabbath, towards
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the dawn of the first day of
the week, Mary Magdalen and the other
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Mary went to see the Tomb.
And behold, there was a great earthquake,
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for an angel of the Lord descended
from Heaven and came and rolled back
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the stone and sat on it.
His appearance was like lightning and a clothing
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white as snow, and for fear
of him, the guards trembled and became
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like dead men. But the angel
said to the women, do not be
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afraid, for I know that you
seek Jesus, who was crucified. He
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is not here, for he has
risen, as he said. Come see
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the place where he lay, then
go quickly and tell his disciples that he
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has risen from the dead, and
behold, he is going before you to
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Galilee. There you will see him. See I have told you so.
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They departed quickly from the tomb with
fear and great joy and ran to tell
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his disciples. And behold, Jesus
met them and said greetings, and they
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came up and took hold of his
feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said
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to them, do not be afraid, go and tell my brothers to go
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to Galilee, and there they will
see me. While they were going,
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behold, some of the guard went
into the city and told the chief priests
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all that had taken place, and
when they had assembled with the elders and
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taken counsel, they gave a sufficient
sum of money to the soldiers and said
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tell people his disciples came by night
and stole him away while we were asleep,
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and if this comes to the governor's
ears, we will satisfy him and
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keep you out of trouble. So
they took the money and did as they
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were directed, and this story has
been spread among the Jews to this day.
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Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus
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had directed them, and when they
saw him they worshiped him, but some
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doubted, and Jesus came and said
to them all authority in Heaven and on
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Earth has been given to me.
Go, therefore, and make disciples of
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all nations, baptizing them in the
name of the father and of the son
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and of the Holy Spirit, teaching
them to observe all that I have commanded
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you. And behold, I am
with you always to the end of the
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age. May God bless his word
to us. Please be seated. I
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want to talk to you this morning
about the Great Commission. This phrase,
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the Great Commission, is what we
use to describe these last few verses here
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at the end of Matthew. Twenty
eight. Go there, for Jesus tells
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them, and make disciples of all
nations. This command to go and to
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make disciples, particularly through baptizing them
and teaching them. This command that Jesus
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gives really tells us and gives to
us the mission of the church. It
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really defines much of who we are
and what it is we are called to
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do. In another sense, it
explains how it is we are here.
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These eleven disciples and others after them
did exactly what Jesus said, and here
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we are, disciples, having been
baptized and learning to obey and know his
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commandments. But do we often think
about the when we think about the Great
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Commission, this mission that Jesus is
given to us. Do we think about
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it in terms of the resurrection?
Don't think we often do. We often
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think about it as isolated, something
separate on its own. But when you
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hear Matthew Twenty eight, you see
that it's not that way at all,
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is it? Jesus raises from the
dead and immediately there are these commands that
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are given, first to the women
and then to the disciples to go,
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go and tell this is why he
wants to meet with them. He grazes
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from the dead and he wants to
meet with them and he wants to tell
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them this thing, and the thing
that he tells them is very much based
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on his resurrection. All Authority and
Heaven on earth has been given to me.
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Go there for you see the connection
there. When we think about that,
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we think about the resurrection in general, we've come to see that the
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resurrection of Jesus from the dead is
one of the most important things that God
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has ever done on the earth.
Throughout history. There are these things that
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happen, these moments the change everything, that make everyone's life different from that
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point forward. He might think about
an invention, for example, or a
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certain kind of discovery. or You
could imagine a whether events are like this.
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Sometimes imagine a hundred year drought how
that event would affect everyone who is
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who in that area, everyone who
suffers under that drought. It affects daily
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life, it affects the way we
live. Or a forty day worldwide flood,
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it affects everything. Right. There
are these moments in history, there
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are these things that happen in life
that have a very big impact on humanity
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as a whole and on our individual
lives as well well. The resurrection of
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Jesus is something like that, only
on a much grander scale. Here we
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have, with the resurrection of Jesus, the binding of Satan, the defeating
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of death, the Eternal Kingdom of
God inaugurated. All the miracles that Jesus
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did in his earthly ministry were leading
up to this point. All of the
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exorcisms that he did, the casting
out of demons, the prophecies that he
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prophesied, the commanding things that he
did were all leading up to this point.
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In fact, all even all of
the Old Testament, all of human
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history, had been leading up to
this point. The flood included the promises
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to the Patriarchs, all the sacrifices, all the battles, all the kings
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that God had established and taken a
raised up and taken down, all of
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it was moving towards this point where
Jesus, the king, would rise from
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the dead and all authority in Heaven
and on Earth would be given to him,
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and by that authority he would establish, he would inaugurate and Eternal Kingdom
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of grace and of glory. God, The Sun, son of man,
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rising from the dead, victorious over
all of these things. That's what this
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resurrection is about and that's the context
in which Jesus speaks to his disciples and
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says go. Therefore, in light
of these things I have done, in
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light of the resurrection that has happened, in light of my victory over sin
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and death, I want you to
go notice the connections between this event and
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the commands in Chapter Twenty Eight.
First we have it with the women.
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They go to the tomb to see
the Lord Jesus and take care of other
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burial things of the other gospels mentioned, and when they get there they find
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an empty tomb. Now this is
very surprising for a number of things that
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come out in this chapter, and
we know about from other portions of scripture,
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but just focusing on the things here, we are reminded that previously,
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in Chapter Twenty seven, there was
a great stone rolled up to seal the
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tomb. You read about it in
verses sixty two through sixty six of chapter
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twenty seven. I'll read it to
you just so you can hear it.
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The next day, that is,
after the day of preparation, the chief
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priests and the Pharisees gathered before pilot, these leaders who had worked so hard
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to crucify Jesus. Now he's dead. That's taken care of. But they
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go before pilot with this concern and
they say, sir, we remember how
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that impostor said, while he was
alive, after three days I will rise.
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So they're co concerned. They're concerned
that even though they crucified him,
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even though he's dead, something's still
going to happen, and they ask pilot.
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They say, therefore, order the
tomb to be made secure until the
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third day, lest his disciples go
and steal him away and tell the people,
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tell the people he has risen from
the dead, and the last fraud
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will be worse than the first.
Pilot said, you have a guard of
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soldiers. Go and make it as
secure as you can. So they went
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and made the tomb secure by sealing
the stone and setting the guard. So
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there is Jesus placed in the tomb, a great stone set and sealed over
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the tomb, a guard, a
Roman guard, standing watch over this to
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make sure that nothing can be done. So you can imagine the surprise then
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when Mary and the other Mary get
there and the stone is rolled away and
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the guards are there as though dead
on the ground and there's an angel sitting
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on on the stone. Imagine coming
into any portion of your life and finding
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people lying on the ground as though
they are dead. It would be somewhat
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of a scary thing. I think. When it says that they are afraid,
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that makes some sense, doesn't it? They're seeing these terrifying things.
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What's going on? And indeed,
this angel, his appearance was like lightning,
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his clothing white as snow, and
for fear of him, the guards
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trembled and became like dead. So
instead of finding guards and a tomb sealed,
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they find the guards on the ground, an angel on the stone and
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the tomb empty. So the resurrection
has happened, just as Jesus said.
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It was happened exactly as the the
leaders were worried, exactly as the angel
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has said. Now what happens?
We read in Verse Seven. Go quickly
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and tell his disciples that he has
risen from the dead. That's the first
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thing that they're supposed to do.
Their reaction to the resurrection is to go
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and tell. Go and tell.
That's the connection. That's what God wants
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them to do. To go and
tell the disciples are very specific thing to
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actually one. He's risen from the
dead and too, he's coming to meet
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you to tell you something else.
And so they go. And then it
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happens a second time. Jesus meets
them and sees them on the way and
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he says greetings, and they take
hold of his feed and they worship him
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and he says, don't be afraid, go and tell, go and tell
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my brothers to go to Galilee and
there they will see me. And then
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what happens when they get there?
Jesus says, go and tell, he
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says go, he says to the
disciples. Go, therefore, and make
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disciples of all the nations. What
is a disciple? What's involved in making
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a disciple? Well, it involves
a lot of telling. A disciple is
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simply a student, a pupil,
a follower of someone else. Now,
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a disciple, though, is not
a kind of take it or leave it
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kind of student. Perhaps you've been
in classes where you just had to jump
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through a hoop to get a credit
or something, and you show up and
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you sit there and you leave.
That's not a disciple. A disciple is
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someone who goes and is dedicated to
this teacher, who wants to learn everything
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that the teacher has to say,
that will do what they say, listen
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to what they have up to tell
them, someone who seeks to learn whatever
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the master teaches to do whatever the
master says. That's what a disciple is.
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Interestingly, he gives this command to
go and make disciples to the disciples.
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They know something about what it means
to be a disciple, both the
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good and the bad. These eleven
men are people that have done well and
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have done very poorly at being a
disciple, mpele. They know what it
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means to follow the Lord, to
hear his teachings, to obey his word.
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For a few years now they have
been following, listening, obeying,
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and that's what Jesus wants them to
do. He wants them to go and
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make other disciples, and this is
important, this disciple word. He's not
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interested in people that are just wanting
to be famous in connection with the great
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resurrected Jesus. He's not seeking people
who are wont to be onlookers or curiosity
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seekers or people that just start looking
for something to do or someone to follow.
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He wants disciples and what they and
that's what he wants them to go
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and do. That's going to involve
calling people and or telling people about the
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risen Lord, about the things that
he said, the things that he's done,
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the thing, the resurrection that has
happened. It involves a kind of
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maximalist approach to Jesus's commands. Notice
what he says in Verse Twenty. Teaching
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them to observe all that I have
commanded you. He wants those who follow
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him to understand everything, everything that
he wants from them. That's a lot.
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Jesus doesn't tell the disciples. Boil
it down to the bare minimum.
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Boil it down to the bare minimum, give people a few bare facts and
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and encourage them to do the best
they can. He says. Teach them
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to observe all that I have commanded
you, everything Jesus said about love,
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everything Jesus said about service, everything
Jesus says about the sacraments and marriage and
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children and church, government and the
workplace and how we call elders and enroll
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widows and everything where. To be
followers of Jesus, disciples of Jesus,
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learning and desiring to know everything that
he has commanded. This is the command
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that he gives its disciples. Go
and make these kind of disciples, call
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them to make a commitment to me, baptize them in the name of the
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father, the son and the Holy
Spirit, teach them to observe all that
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I've commanded you. So let's pause
there for just a moment as we consider
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this command, and I want to
ask you, do you know everything that
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Jesus has commanded? He's called his
disciples to observe everything or to follow or
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to obey everything that he has commanded. Do you do that? Do you
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know it? Do you know what
he wants you to do? Does he
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know how he wants you? Do
you know how he wants you to live?
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That's what it means to be a
disciple. And when we go to
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our family and our friends and our
enemies and we seek to make disciples.
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Are we teaching them these things?
Are we telling them about Jesus? Do
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we have a kind of maximal list
approach to being a disciple of Jesus?
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Well, it's obvious that there is
a lot of weakness in that. Isn't
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there a lot of weakness in us
and our own discipleship, a lot of
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weakness as we, as the church, do this thing that Jesus has commanded
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us to do? There's all kinds
of reasons for that. One reason is
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that it's hard. It's very hard. Jesus has called us to do amazing
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and beautiful and wonderful things, but
things that are sinful. Nature fights against.
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You remember, Jesus is parable of
the so or sowing seeds and the
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seeds following falling in different places,
some in rocky ground, some in places
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where birds kind of grab it and
take it away, sometimes the sea needs
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fall, and places where the weeds
and the cares of the world choke them
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up. It's hard for these kinds
of seeds to grow. Jesus says part
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of the difficulty is the opposition that
we face, both as his disciples and
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as disciple makers. Notice the opposition
that's that we read of just here in
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this chapter. There's this going and
telling, right, that Jesus commands,
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but notice there's this other kind of
telling, that the that the leaders tell
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the soldiers verse thirteen. Tell people
his disciples came by night and stole them
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away while we were asleep. That's
what we want you to tell them.
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That's the lie we want you to
spread. There is real opposition involved against
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the Gospel, against being a disciple, against making disciples, and opposition that's
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not weak. These are the people
that crucified the son of God. These
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are the people that had the power
to command a Roman guard to watch the
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Tomb. These people are powerful.
They have money. To notice, they
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give a sufficient sum to these soldiers
to go and lie. Think about what
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that it doesn't say how much money
that would be, but how much money
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would do you think you would require, as a soldier who who's failed to
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do his job and could be executed
for that? How much money would it
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require for you to go and lie
about what had happened? Well, hopefully
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no amount of money would pay you
off, but you can imagine people,
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even in their sin, would would
ask a fair amount. Notice they're being
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asked to even lie about being asleep. They're being asked to lie and say,
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Hey, you know, we weren't
doing our job. It's true.
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We failed to stay awake and do
the one thing that we were commanded to
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do. And Yeah, his disciples
came into stolen the exact thing we were
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supposed to not let happen. That's
what they're being paid to say. And
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notice what they say. The first
of all, they convinced the soldiers to
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say it. They give them enough
money to do this. And then they
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say, and if all, if
this happens to come to the governor's ears,
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the one who could get you in
big trouble for saying this and falling
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asleep on the job, and so
on and so forth, don't worry,
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because we'll satisfy him, we'll pay
him a bribe to and we'll keep you
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out of trouble. You see what
I mean when I say there's real money
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involved here. A governor is not
going to take that lightly. He's going
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to require something fairly serious, and
the Jews are happy to pay it.
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Happy to pay it, happy to
keep this Qu I, happy to spread
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the lie. They're using their money, they're using their power to destroy the
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Christian message, to suppress the resurrection
and to keep the Commands of Jesus about
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making disciples from not happening. Nothing
has changed. There is still opposition to
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the Gospel and they're always will be
opposition to the Gospel. Being a disciple,
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making disciples is a hard thing.
It costs. It means not taking
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bribes, it means not cowering,
it means having conviction and saying yes,
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I'm a Christian, even when it
might mean being put to death. That's
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the kind of disciples Jesus once and
that's why it's hard and that's why we're
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afraid. But notice what Jesus says
to you would be disciples and to you
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who already are. He says in
his very last words here, the very
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last sentence of the book of Matthew, and behold, I am with you
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always to the end of the age, the resurrected Jesus, the one who
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has conquered sin and Satan and death, he is with us, he is
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powerful. Notice how this all his
book ended. This command comes with these
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two great statements on either end.
One all authority in Heaven on an earth
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has been given to me, go, therefore, and on the other side,
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and behold, I am with you
always to the end of the age.
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It's like the command is wrapped in
a big bear hug, this big
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promise, and Jesus says, I've
got you, I'm going to protect you,
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I will keep you. Do not
fear, have courage, be strong,
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be people of conviction, because I'm
the resurrected Lord. All Authority in
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Heaven on an earth belongs to me. Go be strong. This is the
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kind of promise that God gave the
Patriarchs, that he gave Joshua when he
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went into the land. This is
the kind of promise God gives to his
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people when he establishes his kingdom and
he says, I've got you and I
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will protect you and, as he
says in another place, even the gates
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of hell will not stand against you. I will build my church. And
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he has, and he has,
because here we are, and if you
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don't know Jesus today and you are
not yet his disciple, here you are
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being made a disciple, being told
about Jesus, hearing his promises, hearing
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of his power, hearing about the
resurrection and being called to follow him.
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So God gives us this command,
but it's a command that's rooted on this
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promise. So let us be courageous, let us not fear. Do you
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need to become a disciple of Jesus, and are you afraid? Don't be
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afraid, because all authority in Heaven
and earth belongs to him. There's no
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one else to follow, there's no
one else who can protect you and love
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you and keep you and bring you
into everlasting life like he can do.
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You need to be a disciple,
and are you afraid? Don't be afraid.
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Believe and trust in Jesus. And
if you are a disciple and you
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fear being a disciple, you fear
making disciples, you fear observing all the
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things that he has called you to
observe, do not be afraid, have
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courage, because it's not anyone who
sends you, it's Jesus, the risen
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king. Amen.
