SPEAKER_00: All right, I have to say, I'm always impressed with our children's messages here at Trinity.
SPEAKER_00: They're very doctrinally sound, they connect well.
SPEAKER_00: Every now and then, though, there's just there's something I have to just have to correct.
SPEAKER_00: And today, come back, Taylor.
SPEAKER_00: It was uh it was better homes and gardens' fault.
SPEAKER_00: Meatless main dishes.
SPEAKER_00: That is an oxymoron.
SPEAKER_00: So just felt that needed some clarification.
SPEAKER_00: Other than that, all good.
SPEAKER_00: Uh grace and peace to you from God our Father, from our Lord and our Savior Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Um, these last few weeks have been quite a ride, haven't they?
SPEAKER_00: They've been pretty exciting.
SPEAKER_00: We've had some uh really special Sundays here at Trinity.
SPEAKER_00: Um, two weeks ago we got to celebrate our 100th anniversary, God's hundred years of faithfulness to Trinity here.
SPEAKER_00: And uh during that centennial celebration, we got to have the Reverend Dr.
SPEAKER_00: Jeff Gibbs share the message with us, which was incredibly special.
SPEAKER_00: He was a former Trinity vicar and uh was here to preach.
SPEAKER_00: Then last week, uh Reverend Dr.
SPEAKER_00: Andy Northrop, who is also a former Trinity victor, vicar, um, and victor, I suppose, in Christ, um, he shared God's word with us as we celebrated Pentecost Sunday and along with it Confirmation Sunday, where seven of our young people uh were confirmed in their faith.
SPEAKER_00: And today, our rejoicing continues, as it will soon be our privilege to witness three baptisms and welcome in a bunch of new members into our congregation.
SPEAKER_00: Uh but it is not all sunshine and rainbows for us today, because for one thing, we weren't anticipating being back in the Sanctanasium.
SPEAKER_00: And for another, perhaps more jarring still, uh, we are breaking our streak of sermons delivered by reverend doctors.
SPEAKER_00: Today you have to settle for just a plain old reverend.
SPEAKER_00: But today, uh, we see how God calls plain old people uh into his mission to share the hope of the gospel with the world.
SPEAKER_00: So we're going to be taking a look at a passage that's quite familiar to many of us, one that is usually called the Great Commission.
SPEAKER_00: In the closing verses of Matthew, Jesus gathers his disciples together after his resurrection, and he sends them out into the world as his emissaries, his missionaries, and he promises them his presence.
SPEAKER_00: They're familiar words to many of us, and they're a stirring call to action.
SPEAKER_00: And so I thought as we get into it, we could do so in the form of a fill-in the blank quiz with another set of familiar words that is itself a stirring call to action.
SPEAKER_00: Sound good?
SPEAKER_00: All right, you sound excited.
SPEAKER_00: All right, here it is.
SPEAKER_00: Fill in the blank.
SPEAKER_00: Ready, set, make disciples.
SPEAKER_00: All right, there's a good try.
SPEAKER_00: Of course, uh, you're right.
SPEAKER_00: The familiar phrase is ready, set, go.
SPEAKER_00: But the title for the sermon today is ready, set, make disciples.
SPEAKER_00: Because that is really what Jesus is saying to us today.
SPEAKER_00: More on that in just a second.
SPEAKER_00: But first, let's begin where Jesus does.
SPEAKER_00: We usually think of the Great Commission as being about, you know, what Jesus is commanding us to do, where he's sending us.
SPEAKER_00: It's kind of about us and our mission.
SPEAKER_00: But the first and last sentences of Jesus' words here are not about us at all.
SPEAKER_00: They're about him.
SPEAKER_00: The commission to which he calls us is sandwiched between these two statements about our Savior that bring us incredible comfort.
SPEAKER_00: And the first one is this All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
SPEAKER_00: All authority, all power, all dominion.
SPEAKER_00: This is the resurrected Jesus in his state of exaltation.
SPEAKER_00: Death has been defeated, sin has been destroyed, Satan has been dethroned.
SPEAKER_00: All authority in heaven and on earth rests in the nail-scarred hands of the risen Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And this is incredibly good news.
SPEAKER_00: It means that Jesus is the King of all things and that nothing is beyond the scope of his rule.
SPEAKER_00: It means that he is actively watching over us and caring for us, that he's providing for us.
SPEAKER_00: It means that nothing happens in all of creation that escapes his notice.
SPEAKER_00: And it means that in the end, all will be made right.
SPEAKER_00: All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him by his father for our sake.
SPEAKER_00: And I think that day when Jesus gathered them all together, the disciples kind of understood that.
SPEAKER_00: They were starting to get it.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew tells us that when they saw Jesus, they worshiped him.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew uses this exact same Greek word in chapter 2 to describe the worship of the Magi.
SPEAKER_00: The Greek word is pros kineo.
SPEAKER_00: It means really to prostrate yourself before someone in awe and wonder.
SPEAKER_00: The disciples worshipped the Almighty resurrected Son of God.
SPEAKER_00: But they did something else too.
SPEAKER_00: In a phrase so often ignored, Matthew also says, but some doubted.
SPEAKER_00: So that we can identify with them in our own doubts, whatever they may be.
SPEAKER_00: Because just like the disciples, we know Jesus to be the risen almighty Son of God.
SPEAKER_00: And like the disciples, we struggle with doubt and fear.
SPEAKER_00: And guess what Jesus says to his doubting worshipers?
SPEAKER_00: 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, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus gives his great commission to his followers who are still struggling.
SPEAKER_00: He bestows upon them the highest honor imaginable to be his vessels, to carry the hope of the gospel to the ends of the earth.
SPEAKER_00: It's just amazing stuff.
SPEAKER_00: This commission has been fulfilled by generation after generation of disciples, and it's come down to us.
SPEAKER_00: These are the words of Jesus to us today, here and now.
SPEAKER_00: So let's take a look at four of those words in particular.
SPEAKER_00: The first word of the Great Commission is perhaps its most famous.
SPEAKER_00: Go.
SPEAKER_00: In addition to collecting$200 every time you pass it in Monopoly, much has been made of this word over the years.
SPEAKER_00: Countless sermons have been preached talking about how Jesus has commanded us to go.
SPEAKER_00: It has served as the impetus for missionary efforts across the globe.
SPEAKER_00: It's often been understood as if Jesus is saying, ready, set, go, firing the starting pistol and sending us off.
SPEAKER_00: But allow me to give you a brief lesson in grammar today, and Greek grammar in particular.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you are excited?
SPEAKER_00: We're getting there.
SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_00: You ready for this?
SPEAKER_00: When someone commands someone else to do something, that is called an imperative verb.
SPEAKER_00: It's a command.
SPEAKER_00: So like go, fight, win.
SPEAKER_00: It's not only a really powerful cheer, right?
SPEAKER_00: It's also three imperatives in a row.
SPEAKER_00: The problem is, in the Great Commission, go, it's not an imperative.
SPEAKER_00: It's what's called a participle.
SPEAKER_00: It's a more of a kind of a helping verb, a supporting verb that helps describe how the main verb happens.
SPEAKER_00: The imperative verb in the Great Commission is actually make disciples.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus is really saying, ready, set, make disciples.
SPEAKER_00: Good.
SPEAKER_00: But how?
SPEAKER_00: Under what circumstances are we supposed to make disciples?
SPEAKER_00: For one thing, as we go.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is not so much commanding us to go here as he is simply assuming that we will, that we already are.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, some of us will go to far-off lands, some of us will be called by God away from our comfort zones to mission fields hundreds of miles away.
SPEAKER_00: But all of us go every day.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus isn't telling us to go.
SPEAKER_00: We're already going.
SPEAKER_00: He is telling us that as we go, we make disciples, as we go to work, as we go to school, as we go to CrossFit, as we go to play pinnacle, as we go to the baseball game, as we go on a hike or on a date or on a vacation, as we go back into the gym for worship, Jesus wants us to see every moment of our lives, everywhere we go and every stop along the way, as an opportunity to share the hope that we have in him.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus wants us to see every moment as an opportunity to make disciples.
SPEAKER_00: We are supposed to be disciples, making disciples.
SPEAKER_00: And what are disciples?
SPEAKER_00: Well, we've seen already today that disciples are those who worship Jesus and sometimes doubt.
SPEAKER_00: Disciples are those who know Jesus to be the one who has conquered death, who acknowledge that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him.
SPEAKER_00: Disciples are those who follow Jesus, who seek to conform their lives to his teachings, who learn from him and pay attention to the words that he speaks.
SPEAKER_00: Most of all, disciples are those who wholeheartedly place their trust not at all in themselves or in their actions, but in Jesus alone, whose faith clings to the hope that he has made all things new by his death and his resurrection.
SPEAKER_00: This is who we are.
SPEAKER_00: And this is who we are to make.
SPEAKER_00: Again, how?
SPEAKER_00: For one thing, as we go in the vocations that he's given us, wherever we are, but Jesus adds another participle, another helping verb.
SPEAKER_00: By baptizing.
SPEAKER_00: Today we get to do just that.
SPEAKER_00: Our Trinity family gets to celebrate three of God's children receiving the gift of baptism, this gift that God pours out freely, no costs, no requirements, nothing at all that we bring to the table.
SPEAKER_00: It's just a gift.
SPEAKER_00: Baptism cleanses and forgives us.
SPEAKER_00: It welcomes us into God's family as He places His name on us.
SPEAKER_00: It gives us new birth and new life.
SPEAKER_00: And this gift is for everybody, for all nations, Jesus says.
SPEAKER_00: And today we are so excited for Brittany and Annabelle and Elliot as they receive this gift.
SPEAKER_00: What about the rest of us?
SPEAKER_00: If you have received the gift of baptism, are you living in it?
SPEAKER_00: Are you returning to it day after day?
SPEAKER_00: Repenting of your sins, being assured of your forgiveness, claiming the identity that God has given you in your baptism as his child.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus teaches us that baptism is in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: We're part of his family.
SPEAKER_00: We are disciples of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Because we have been baptized into his death and his resurrection.
SPEAKER_00: We pray that God would enable us to point others to the waters of salvation.
SPEAKER_00: So as you go, make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And then Jesus adds one more participle: teaching.
SPEAKER_00: Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
SPEAKER_00: Last week was Confirmation Sunday.
SPEAKER_00: We celebrated seven of our eighth graders who have spent significant time in the scriptures and in the catechism together, being taught everything that Jesus has commanded.
SPEAKER_00: Today, along with baptisms, we also celebrate more confirmations.
SPEAKER_00: God continues to teach his people.
SPEAKER_00: Today we get to celebrate what God's doing in their lives.
SPEAKER_00: And the rest of us have been taught to.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe not in Christianity 101, but in your own confirmation, your Bible studies that you're a part of, your worship and daily reading and meditation.
SPEAKER_00: You have been taught by God through his word to observe all that he has commanded.
SPEAKER_00: The Greek verb that Jesus uses here is te reo.
SPEAKER_00: It means to observe, yes.
SPEAKER_00: To obey, maybe, to keep, to guard, to hold on to tightly.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is inviting us to keep watch like a sentinel as we observe all that he has taught us.
SPEAKER_00: And then to pass that teaching on to others.
SPEAKER_00: I have the privilege of doing that somewhat formally in sermons and Bible studies, but God is calling each and every one of us to share his word with the people in our lives, in our workplaces, in our families.
SPEAKER_00: As you go, make disciples, baptizing and teaching.
SPEAKER_00: This is God's mission for his church, for us.
SPEAKER_00: It's God's mission for you.
SPEAKER_00: But it's not Jesus' last word for us today.
SPEAKER_00: I mentioned before that this commission to which Jesus calls us is sandwiched between two statements about our Savior that bring us great comfort.
SPEAKER_00: And so he closes out the Gospel of Matthew with a promise.
SPEAKER_00: And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.
SPEAKER_00: You know, there are a lot of places in the Bible where God promises his presence.
SPEAKER_00: One of the more famous ones is Joshua chapter 1, verse 9, which happens to be my confirmation verse, and well, here is Marlene's as well.
SPEAKER_00: God promises to go with his people wherever they go.
SPEAKER_00: As David declares in Psalm 139, there is nowhere we can go that God is not.
SPEAKER_00: And here in Matthew 28, Jesus is promising that his presence will be with us, and not just everywhere, but always.
SPEAKER_00: The Greek here actually says, all the days.
SPEAKER_00: Yesterday, today, forever.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is here on days of celebration, and he's with us on days of sorrow.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is here on weekdays and weekends.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is here every day, all the days, until the end of the age, he says.
SPEAKER_00: By which he means when he comes again and is with us always and forever in every way.
SPEAKER_00: So today we celebrate and we rejoice.
SPEAKER_00: Today we we pay fresh heed to the words and the commission of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: We follow where he goes, we make disciples by baptizing and teaching, and we lay claim to all that we are and all that we have through him.
SPEAKER_00: So let's try it one more time.
SPEAKER_00: Ready, set, in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.