2 Year Anniversary
Before we get into our passage this morning, there’s a bit of explanation that I need to give you in regards to the gospel of Mark. Go ahead and turn to chapter 16 of Mark. I want you to see something. You’ll notice, perhaps, that right after verse 8 there are brackets in your Bible: [Some of the earliest manuscripts do not include 16:9–20.] Most later manuscripts that have been discovered contain these verses, but the 2 earliest and most reliable manuscripts discovered do not. Many have dug into the language and grammar used, and most would agree that it does not align with Mark’s writing. It’s believed, then, that someone else added this section later on. Why? We don’t really know. But, this means that our journey through Mark ended rather abruptly last week. Mark makes mention of the Great Commission in these verses, but there is a more full telling of that moment in the gospel of Matthew, so we are going to spend our time there this morning.
Intro
Over the last year and 3 months, we have been on a journey with Jesus through the book of Mark. Hopefully we all have a deeper understanding of the man that He was when He walked this Earth; how He loved people, how He served people, how He wrestled with temptation but remained steadfast to the mission to which He was called. Hopefully we all have a deeper understanding of His deity as well; how He healed the sick, how He commanded creation, how He resurrected the dead. We have this grand picture of God become flesh and and then we spend the last month peering deep into the moments of physical, emotional and psychological pain that He endured for us. We looked into the betrayal and abandonment by those closest to Him. We looked at His willingness to endure all these things so that humanity might be reconciled back to the Father. And then we celebrated His victory over sin, and His victory over death, and we believe all of this to be absolutely and unequivocally true.
If you remember prior to all of this, Jesus told the disciples that He would meet them in Galilee. When the women went to the tomb, the angel told them that Jesus was going ahead of them into Galilee.
Read Matthew 28:16-20
All Authority In Heaven And On Earth Has Been Given To Me
This is an all encompassing statement. Jesus has authority in the spiritual realm, and the earthly realm. But He doesn’t just have authority, He has ALL authority, authority over everything. Here’s why from Philippians 2:5-11:
“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
In Ephesians 1 we see that “God raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.”
Jesus submitted His will to the Father’s and obediently went to the cross and died for the sins of humanity, and because of that, Scripture tells us, God the Father breathed life back into His body and gave Him the highest seat of authority in every realm.
THEREFORE. Like, I’ve just proved to all of you the kind of power that I have. You saw it with your own eyes through the miracles, my authority over my creation, my endurance on the cross and here I stand before you, look at the scars! Because of all of this, listen to what I am about to say. I say it with the authority handed to me by God.
GO (Kids, if your parents tell you to GO and do something, what do you do? Do you get in trouble when you don’t go?)
The truth of who I am and what I have done is too important to hold close to the chest and just go about your lives. This is a command that requires movement. Many have translated this, “as you are going,” which has produced a bit of debate with Greek scholars, but we can get to the same place no matter how it’s translated. We are on mission and that mission requires movement. If Jesus endured all of that for us, surely we can take the truth of that gospel and GO.
In our world today, we must be so much more intentional with our approach to “going.” We must be strategic with how we reach a world that is growing ever more hostile to the gospel. The mission to which we have all been called is to:
Make Disciples of ALL Nations
At it’s base level, a disciple can be defined as “someone who adheres to the teachings of another.” So in our Christian world, we would say that at the very elementary level, a disciple is someone who follows the teachings and ways of Jesus. But it goes much further than that. In fact, it goes so much further that we don’t have time this morning to dissect every area of discipleship. I mean it’s not easy, in fact Jesus in a few passages tells us just how difficult being His disciple can be. But we don’t need to overcomplicate it when we talk about the Great Commission. Plain and simple, we are called to evangelize the world with the gospel, and pray fervently that the Lord would save those who we are pursuing.
The process of discipleship has to start with someone being confronted with the truth of the gospel. And it’s our responsibility as followers of Jesus to share this message with the world. Romans 10:14-15 - “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent?”
We have the greatest message in the history of the world. And while this commission from Christ has global implications, we live in an incredible part of the country. If you’ve paid attention at all, you will have noticed that over the last 10-15 years the diversity of Apex and the surrounding towns has increased exponentially. International grocery stores and businesses are popping up everywhere. The demographics of our neighborhoods and our kids’ school classrooms have become a colorful display of the nations of the world. There is no doubt that God is bringing the nations to our doorsteps. I love it. What an incredible time in our history, especially as those who have been tasked with changing the world with the gospel. The nations are here! We live like Jesus and we love like Jesus and we show the world a different way to live in light of what Jesus did on the cross. Jesus tells us what to do next. When someone places their faith in Jesus, the next step is to baptize them!
Baptizing Them
Baptism is a symbol of the relationship that a new believer has just entered into with Jesus. Baptism is a public declaration that I have been joined with Jesus in His death, burial and resurrection. I have been cleansed of my sins. I am telling the world that I have new life in Christ! And then we teach them.
Teaching Them (Kids, do you like going to school? What’s your favorite subject?)
What do we teach them? All that Jesus taught! Our discipleship journey is a growth process that we call sanctification. It is a journey in which we become more like Jesus in word and deed. Somebody who is new to the faith needs help learning, and growing. I mean, even mature believers still need help learning and growing! We will never “arrive” at full knowledge of the things of God, it’s impossible. But how does a new believer learn and grow without someone to show them the way!
This is what we are called to!
GO
Make Disciples
Baptize
Teach
And while this might seem intimidating, Jesus knew that it would be, He leaves His disciples with this encouragement.
“I Am With You, ALWAYS”
Right after this command is given, Jesus tells His disciples that when He goes, they will be given the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit empowers the believer to move forward in their faith. The Holy Spirit that indwells us is with us every second of every day. And I don’t know if you have experienced this or not, but there is a boldness that we can get in moments of fear and doubt. There is clarity of thought the Holy Spirit can give when we are caught between ideas. There is clarity of speech the Holy Spirit can give when we don’t know what to say.
So while we may think of our mission as Christians and shy away out of fear, or doubt, or uncertainty, or feeling inadequate, or anything else, we can be sure that when we take a step of faith to shine the light of the gospel in a dark world, we are not doing it alone.
Application as a Church
Now, we all need to wrestle with this to figure out what this looks like in our own lives. Is it at work? At school? In my neighborhood? In my family? In what context do I live this out most effectively. Perhaps a better way of asking it is, what is my mission field? We all have one, or a few, or many. We don’t have to be missionaries to take the gospel to the nations. The nations are our neighbors, our co-workers, or classmates and our friends.
But this morning, as we have now closed the door on year 2 as a church, and we look forward to year 3, we recognize that as a church, we are also called collectively to live this out. We are on mission together. We want the name Family Church to be a flashing reminder in people’s minds to the beauty of the gospel.
I want to shift a bit and talk about what is coming this year. With all of this in mind, what does year 3 look like for Family Church?
Our vision is “to see our cities transformed by the life-changing message of the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
Our mission, how we get there, is by becoming “A family committed to making disciples for the kingdom and glory of God.” But these are just catchy statements if there isn’t movement to back it up.
And I want you to hear something real quick before I give you some exciting things that are coming this year. You guys are so generous. I just want you to hear that the Lord is doing something really cool here, and He is bringing all the right people to move His mission forward.
