Sent | Matthew 28:16-20 | Micah Hales

This is a partial recording of the sermon from 05/05/2026. The first portion was not recorded.

Transcript

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To do, and we'll have four ways that Jesus outlines for us in the text tonight. So if you're a note taker, here's the first one: four ways we can do what God wants us to do. The first one is go. Jesus tells his disciples, because I have authority over everything, everything in heaven and on earth, to go. He says, go. Go therefore in what? Make disciples of all nations. Jesus looks at his disciples in their worship and in their doubt, and he tells them to make more disciples everywhere. But what does it mean to make disciples? First of all, what exactly is a disciple? Okay, I want to give us two different definitions of discipleship. They'll be up here on the screen for you that I think will be helpful for us as we understand this passage tonight. So the first is what is a disciple? Okay, a disciple is someone who is following Jesus, being changed by Jesus, and is committed to the mission of Jesus. Okay, there's no half in or half out when it comes to the disciple term. Okay, the second is this disciple making. Okay, what is disciple making? When Jesus says make disciples of all nations, what Jesus is wanting the disciples to do is he's asking them to enter into relationships with people, not romantic relationships, okay, friendships, companionships, to help people trust and follow Jesus. Okay, which includes the whole process, this is key, the whole process from conversion, from believing in Jesus through maturation and multiplication. So it's the start through the finish. Okay? And the finish line in discipleship is when you are making more disciples. Okay, and that never stops. That just kind of keeps going. So these followers of Jesus, these disciples, are people who are being changed by Jesus and are committed to the mission of Jesus. And his disciples are being told to go and do what? They're being told to meet people. They're being told to care for people, they're being told to help people trust and follow Jesus. That's what they're being told to do. But wait. Jesus doesn't say, perform miracles in my name, and people will come to know me. Although that does end up happening, and at various times he does tell them to go perform miracles. But that's not what he says here. This isn't his parting words. Jesus doesn't say, be a strong enough Christian, and then you can influence people for the kingdom of God. Okay? Jesus doesn't say, have the spiritual gifting that makes the most sense and fits, and then you can make disciples for me. No. That's not what he says. He says, go and be a human being who actively cares about other people, but specifically cares for their souls, and share the gospel. That's what he says. Like the only prerequisite here for this mission that Jesus is sending the disciples out to do is faith in Jesus in the first place. That's it. That's the qualifier. So if that's you in the room, guess what? What he's telling the disciples right here is for you. This is the first and primary thing that Jesus wants you to do with your life. He wants you to seek him first. Jesus wants you to go first to the next person. Okay, this is a continuous thing to care for them and their soul, to help them see that following Jesus is better, and to share the explicit gospel with them. That's what Jesus wants. Okay, and for most of us in this room, in this season of life, a lot of your students, right? All of you are young adults, you're either working or you're in class, whatever. This process of making disciples will look like doing it right where you are. Okay, like this might look like just going across the hall of your dorm before finals are over. That might be your going. It might look like going to your hometown this summer break and talking to your friends from high school or your family members. Okay, it might look like going to the city where your internship is. Okay, I know some of you got internships in places you've never been before. That might be your going. That might be your next going. It might look like finally asking your coworker if they have any spiritual beliefs. Right? You know that person you've worked with for like a year and you've only ever talked to them about the weather and like how hard your job is and how much you hate it. Like, your going might be going and talking to that person about if they have a faith at all. It might even someday, for some of you, look like going overseas and equipping the international church. But here's what's true for each and every one of us is that we're all called to go to the next person. No one is exempt. This call in your life to go does not stop once you reach like a certain point. Like, like I'm on staff with a church, I can just stop sharing the gospel with people, like I'm done. Okay, that's not when it ends. It doesn't end. But instead, it changes in different seasons to match where God has called you to be. Whatever that career looks like, whatever that job looks like, whatever that major looks like, it changes. But it doesn't stop. And all Jesus is wanting us to do is to go, and to He will handle the rest. The second way we can do what God wants us to do comes from our text again, and it's baptize. Okay, baptize. Jesus doesn't just say to make disciples, like help people see the goodness of the gospel, and just kind of like leave them there. Okay, the next thing that he says is to go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Okay, I don't have time to do a whole diatribe on baptism here for you tonight. We've talked about this in other messages and late nights and things like that, but here's what we need to know about baptism. Okay? I'm gonna give you four things. Okay, it comes right after someone is made a disciple. It's after the fact. Okay? Two, Jesus mandated it for Christians. Right here. Three, baptism is done in God's name. Our passage tells us that. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And four, Jesus was baptized via immersion, aka getting dunked, publicly. Okay? That's Jesus. And what Jesus wants us to see by commanding people to get baptized is that it matters to him. Okay? Jesus doesn't tell people to do things that don't matter. Jesus has a desire for all who believe in him to be baptized because it's an incredibly powerful symbol, outward symbol for people to see of one what is going on in you, and one is going from death to life in the gospel. That's baptism. Okay, Jesus doesn't say it's required for salvation either. Okay, maybe some of you think that I got to get baptized to get into heaven. Not true. Otherwise, the thief on the cross in Luke 23, one of my favorite passages that Jesus verbatim says, You will be with me in paradise, would not be in paradise with Jesus and would make Jesus a liar. Okay? So it's not required for salvation, but Jesus does want the disciples to take the disciples that they make, okay, the new followers of Jesus, and have them take their next step of obedience to God and be baptized in God's name now that they believe. Okay, there isn't any qualifier for waiting this many days, or you've had this many verses memorized, then you can get baptized. Or you've told this many people, or you've waited months or years or whatever after you place your faith in Jesus. No, there's none of that. But the examples we see in Scripture, there's essentially no delay in being baptized once people get saved. Find a story where there's a really long delay. Let me know. I'd love to read it. Now, why is this? Well, I think it's because when you place your faith in Jesus, your life is so radically turned upside down that you can't do anything else but take your next step of faith in Jesus. Like when you see the goodness of Jesus and the gospel message and you're made into a disciple, a follower of Jesus, the rest of our priorities and things of the world just start to kind of fade to the back. And the red words of Jesus in our Bibles that we're reading start to go from just words on a page to words that change. And if Jesus has truly changed each and every disciple, okay, they're being transformed by Jesus, then each and every one of us should take the next step of baptism if we haven't yet. So that we can show others what God has done within us already. Okay, and Jesus doesn't call us to be baptized just to get dunked in some water to be clean. Okay, back then people were dirty. All right, that wasn't the primary reason for baptizing people. But he calls us to get baptized so that we can publicly proclaim what he's already done for us. Okay? So go baptize, and the next way we can do what God wants us to do is to teach. Okay, where are my teachers in the room at? We got a couple. Whoop, whoop. Come on, somebody. Okay. So once we get saved, once we get baptized, the journey with Jesus hasn't actually concluded. Okay, you need to know that. It's not over once you get baptized, but it's actually just begun. Jesus doesn't want his disciples to just like convert people, dunk them, and leave them to fend for themselves without a towel and say, I'm moving to the next town. Okay? That's not what he wants. But Jesus wants his disciples to actually teach them in the way of Jesus. He wants them to take their new disciples and actually teach them what Jesus has taught them and is currently teaching them. Okay, in other words, he wants the disciples to recreate themselves in others as Jesus is recreating them. That's what he wants. Okay, anybody know about the origin of the term Christian? Anyone off the top? Yeah, a couple of you. Come on. All right. So originally it was an insult. Okay, it doesn't come around until Antioch. You can read about it in your Bibles and Acts. Okay, it was originally an insult, but the meaning of Christian really meant little Christs. Okay? Meaning they were replicating Jesus in their actions and in their lives. Okay, when you were called a Christian, yes, it was an insult, but it meant you were just like Jesus. Okay, it was so obvious that they were following Jesus, whether the people around them liked Jesus or not, or believed in him or not, that there was no denying that they loved and followed him. Now let me ask you a question. Do y'all think this is true today? Like, do you think that Christians are so much like Jesus that the people around them will know without a shadow of a doubt that they belong to him? Like, if we're being honest with ourselves, most of the time not. Guys, we have to take discipleship and teaching others how to follow Jesus more seriously. Jesus is commanding his disciples to not just go and to baptize with urgency, but he's calling them to teach those who are now followers how to look more like Jesus. Jesus wants the world to be full of people who are just like him. Okay? Who are little Christs walking around. He wants there to be people that that walk like him. Okay, that talk like him and that strive to be just like him. And when I say that, that might sound daunting to us when we hear that. Like, how can I be just like Jesus? Like that sounds that sounds like too much, right? Jesus had a way, way better temperament than I do. Jesus was perfect. That sounds impossible. Well, you're kind of right. It is impossible to be the exact same as Jesus on this side of eternity. So as long as you're here running around on earth, you're not going to be exactly like Jesus. Like you're not going to be perfect because we all fall short in our sinful ways, whether you've placed your faith in Jesus or not. But Jesus never calls us to be perfect.

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Instead, he calls us to strive to be more like him by observing, okay, watching, and obeying what he taught. That's how we get to look more like Jesus. Okay, one of the most comforting things about the call to observe what he taught is that we never actually have to wonder what would Jesus do. Okay, you guys probably weren't around in the 90s, but in the 90s we had these sweet wristbands. It's a WWJD, right? Stands for what would Jesus do. Maybe they're back, I don't know, a lot of things in the 90s that I got made fun of or back. Okay. But WWJD, what would Jesus do? We don't have to wonder what Jesus wants us to do. Okay, we know the answer because it's right here. We don't have to wonder. Jesus has left his disciples, us included, with clear instructions on the need to teach others and how to teach others. And all we need to know is right here in this book. Okay, if you don't have a copy of the Bible, forgot to say this earlier, there's free ones in the back. Please take one home with you. We've given away a lot more than I thought. Keep taking them. Okay, if you don't have one, take one with you. Give them to a friend. But all the answers are right here. So Jesus says, this is what you do. Okay, and you don't need to be a biblical scholar to teach others. Okay, if you're like, dog, I don't know the first thing about the Bible at all. Okay, you don't need to be a biblical educator or scholar to teach other people. You don't need a seminary degree to teach somebody about the Bible. What you need is to be a willing student of God's word and dive in. That's what you need to teach someone else the Bible. Okay? You're never going to be the smartest person when you're first starting out. And you probably never will be the smartest person when it comes to the Bible. Okay? But it's not about being smart, it's about being willing. Okay, willing to learn, willing to teach others. Okay, so we go, we baptize, we teach, and finally, the fourth, we remember. Okay, remember at the first part of our passage when we, you know, saw the mixed reactions from the disciples when they got to the mountain to see Jesus. Okay, some of them they worshiped, but some of them they doubted. And Jesus not only draws near to the disciples to tell them about his authority and what they are to do, but he also leaves them with a message to remember. Let's read verse 20. Teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you and remember. I am with you always to the end of the age. Jesus says, remember. Don't forget. I am with you always to the end of the age. Jesus is, he doesn't want the disciples to think that they have to follow him and live out the Great Commission without him.

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But he wants them to know that they're not going to be alone. Because while Jesus physically wouldn't be with them later on, as we see when Jesus ascends back into heaven to be with God the Father, what does he do? He sends his Holy Spirit. Okay? We don't have time to get into the whole Holy Spirit deal. We could talk about that for a long time. We waste a lot of time tonight. But what we need to know is that the Spirit of Jesus Himself would live in the disciples. Not just for a short while, but their entire lives until the end of the age. Okay, why is this better than Jesus physically being present? Jesus himself describes the Holy Spirit coming to his followers as being a benefit over having him here in the flesh. Because his spirit would not dwell externally outside of them, but within them and never leave. Jesus is about to physically leave his disciples, and he says, I'm never going to leave you because I'm going to be here. Right here, and I'm not going anywhere. Jesus looks at his disciples, whether they're still doubting or full of faithful belief, and he says, Remember, I'm never going to leave you. Can you imagine for just a minute being one of those doubting disciples and hearing those words come out of Jesus' mouth? After all you've seen, after all you've experienced, you're still doubting. And Jesus is saying, Look, I'm never leaving you. Like you're sitting there, your rabbi has been resurrected. Like he went from death to life. He's done everything he said he was going to do on Easter weekend. Okay? He's invited you on this lifelong mission you get to take part in. He's sitting in front of you, holes in his hands, and you're still doubting, and Jesus looks at you right in the eyes, and he says with full assurance, I'm not going anywhere. Don't forget that. Would that not change your whole outlook on the mission that Jesus is calling you to do? Like if you knew that you were never alone in this whole process of living out the Great Commission, would that not give you incredible comfort knowing that Jesus, like the one who died in your place for your sins, he looks at you even in your doubting of who he is and what he came to do, even in your worry, even in your weariness, even when you stray from him, even when you sometimes wonder if this is all worth it, and he says he'll never leave you. That's incredible. Like he has every right to leave us if we doubt him because he is God. But instead, he stands up in our doubt and he says, I'm not leaving. I'm not going anywhere. I don't know about you, but that fires me the heck up. Okay? You're telling me that Jesus Himself dwells within me and that's never gonna change? It doesn't matter how stupid I am this side of earth, like that's not changing. You're telling me that Jesus will be with me every step of the way as I go to try to live out the Great Commission? Like, count me in. Alright? Like if that is true, like if that is true and we believe it is, then every single Christian in this room needs to either internally or externally be fired the heck up about that. However, you express your Emotions. Feel free to do it however you like. Okay? If you're a Christian in the room, like you know exactly what God wants you to do with your life above all else, and you know that God will never leave you as long as you live and are living that out. And so the question now becomes will you do what God wants you to do? Will you do it? Like if you're a Christian in the room, what God wants you to do is clear. He wants you to go. He wants you to baptize. He wants you to teach. And he wants you to remember. Okay, he wants you to live like he lives within you because he does. But if you're a non-Christian in the room, and I know in the room this size, some of you are in here. What God wants you to do is also clear. But it doesn't look the same as those who are already following him. See, what God wants you to do, if you're not a Christian, he doesn't actually want you to go make disciples. That wouldn't make any sense. You're not a disciple yourself yet. But rather, instead of going to make disciples, he wants you to go to the cross. Jesus does not want your effort, but he wants your heart. Jesus doesn't just want your belief, your verbal confirmation of who he is, but he wants your whole life. Jesus wants all of you because all of him has been given to you and for you. Jesus doesn't come to us as a God from an impersonal perspective. Okay? Jesus not only came down to live among us, dwelling in the flesh in human form, but he took it one step further, and he does what nobody in this room could do, nobody in this whole world could do, and live a perfect and sinless life. And he didn't stop at perfection, but instead he looked at us in our sin and in our mess and in our doubt and said, I'll pay for that. That's on me. Even when we didn't deserve it, even when he didn't deserve it, and he didn't have to. For all of us. But he doesn't even stop there. He doesn't stop at death. That'd be too simple. Instead, he rose from the grave after three days, bodily, with holes in his hands, defeating sin and death once and for all, all so that you and me and everyone here, everyone in this world could have forgiveness of sins. So that we could have grace upon grace upon grace, and that we, in the middle of our sin and brokenness, can have a restored relationship with our Creator. And if you desire to have a restored relationship with God, like if you desire to have forgiveness of sins, if you desire to be given a new life and a new purpose in living for Jesus, all you need to do is what Romans 10, 9 says. You need to confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and you need to believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead. And you're saved. And when you do that, you can now look at the Savior who gave all of himself and say, Here I am, Lord. Send me. I want in. I'll go. And imagine what would happen. If we had a room full of college-age students who heard what Jesus wanted them to do with their lives above all else in the Great Commission and actually did it. Like imagine what would happen to your campus, to your dorm, to your classmates, to your job, to the city. Like imagine how transformed the city of Milwaukee would be in the name of Jesus because of the simple step of doing what God has called each of us to do in Christ. Let's pray that this would be true of us tonight. God, I thank you for this room. God, I thank you for your word. Lord, I thank you for what you did through Jesus on the cross. God, I pray that as we go from this place, God, that we wouldn't just leave here the same. God, that we we wouldn't just do whatever we want to do, but we would do what you have called us to do. That we would go, that we would baptize, that we would teach, that we would remember, and that we would put our whole entire life in front of you and say, send me, I'll go. God, I pray that you would take this room and you would use it to transform this city to be more like you. God, I pray that you'd save tonight. I pray that you would send people out from this place tonight. And I pray that we would feel the ripple effect from your gospel tonight here in this room, out in our city, as we go from this place, God. I pray that this would be true of us. It's in your name we pray.