The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
Matthew 28:1-20primary text for the resurrection and great commission account
1 Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.
2 Behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from the sky, and came and rolled away the stone from the door, and sat on it.
3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow.
4 For fear of him, the guards shook, and became like dead men.
5 The angel answered the women, “Don’t be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus, who has been crucified.
6 He is not here, for he has risen, just like he said. Come, see the place where the Lord was lying.
7 Go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has risen from the dead, and behold, he goes before you into Galilee; there you will see him.’ Behold, I have told you.”
8 They departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring his disciples word.
9 As they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, “Rejoice!” They came and took hold of his feet, and worshiped him.
10 Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Go tell my brothers that they should go into Galilee, and there they will see me.”
11 Now while they were going, behold, some of the guards came into the city, and told the chief priests all the things that had happened.
12 When they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave a large amount of silver to the soldiers,
13 saying, “Say that his disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept.
14 If this comes to the governor’s ears, we will persuade him and make you free of worry.”
15 So they took the money and did as they were told. This saying was spread abroad among the Jews, and continues until today.
16 But the eleven disciples went into Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had sent them.
17 When they saw him, they bowed down to him, but some doubted.
18 Jesus came to them and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.
19 Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
Jesus emptying himself of divine rights and not grasping equality with the Father
1 If therefore there is any exhortation in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and compassion,
2 make my joy full, by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind;
3 doing nothing through rivalry or through conceit, but in humility, each counting others better than himself;
4 each of you not just looking to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others.
5 Have this in your mind, which was also in Christ Jesus,
6 who, existing in the form of God, didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men.
8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, yes, the death of the cross.
9 Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name;
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth,
11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
12 So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
13 For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.
14 Do all things without murmurings and disputes,
15 that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without defect in the middle of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you are seen as lights in the world,
16 holding up the word of life; that I may have something to boast in the day of Christ, that I didn’t run in vain nor labor in vain.
17 Yes, and if I am poured out on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice, and rejoice with you all.
18 In the same way, you also rejoice, and rejoice with me.
19 But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered up when I know how you are doing.
20 For I have no one else like-minded, who will truly care about you.
21 For they all seek their own, not the things of Jesus Christ.
22 But you know the proof of him, that, as a child serves a father, so he served with me in furtherance of the Good News.
23 Therefore I hope to send him at once, as soon as I see how it will go with me.
24 But I trust in the Lord that I myself also will come shortly.
25 But I counted it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker, fellow soldier, and your apostle and servant of my need;
26 since he longed for you all, and was very troubled, because you had heard that he was sick.
27 For indeed he was sick, nearly to death, but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, that I might not have sorrow on sorrow.
28 I have sent him therefore the more diligently, that, when you see him again, you may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful.
29 Receive him therefore in the Lord with all joy, and hold such in honor,
30 because for the work of Christ he came near to death, risking his life to supply that which was lacking in your service toward me.
a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways, halting between two opinions
1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are in the Dispersion: Greetings.
2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various temptations,
3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
4 Let endurance have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach; and it will be given to him.
6 But let him ask in faith, without any doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed.
7 For that man shouldn’t think that he will receive anything from the Lord.
8 He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
9 But let the brother in humble circumstances glory in his high position;
10 and the rich, in that he is made humble, because like the flower in the grass, he will pass away.
11 For the sun arises with the scorching wind, and withers the grass, and the flower in it falls, and the beauty of its appearance perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in his pursuits.
12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord promised to those who love him.
13 Let no man say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God,” for God can’t be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one.
14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed.
15 Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin; and the sin, when it is full grown, produces death.
16 Don’t be deceived, my beloved brothers.
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, nor turning shadow.
18 Of his own will he gave birth to us by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.
19 So, then, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger;
20 for the anger of man doesn’t produce the righteousness of God.
21 Therefore, putting away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, receive with humility the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
22 But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deluding your own selves.
23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his natural face in a mirror;
24 for he sees himself, and goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.
25 But he who looks into the perfect law of freedom, and continues, not being a hearer who forgets, but a doer of the work, this man will be blessed in what he does.
26 If anyone among you thinks himself to be religious while he doesn’t bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, this man’s religion is worthless.
27 Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
Pastor Mark preached on the resurrection and ascension accounts from Matthew, picking up a Harmony of the Gospels study he had been working through for the better part of two years. He came back from two weeks away having missed Easter Sunday, and walked the congregation through Matthew's account from the empty tomb to the Great Commission. The sermon centered on what it really means to believe the resurrection is true, and what that belief demands of ordinary people.
What was said
Matthew's account opens with Mary Magdalene and the other Mary arriving at the tomb, wondering how they would move the stone. What they found instead was an angel, radiant and terrifying enough that the guards collapsed. The angel's message was direct: Jesus had risen just as He said He would. The stone had not been rolled away to let Jesus out, Pastor Mark noted. The women were told to come see where He had been lying, and then to go tell the disciples.
While the women were running to report this, Jesus met them on the road. They grabbed His feet and worshiped Him. Pastor Mark held that moment up as the proper response of a believer who encounters the resurrected Christ: falling down in worship before Him.
The guards, meanwhile, went to the chief priests rather than to Pilate. The religious leaders paid them a large sum to spread the story that the disciples had stolen the body while the soldiers slept. Pastor Mark pointed out how politically dangerous that claim would have been for any Roman soldier, and noted that this explanation is still circulating today, just as Matthew said it was in the first century.
The eleven disciples made their way to Galilee, to the mountain Jesus had designated, and when they saw Him they worshiped. But Matthew adds a phrase that theologians have argued about for a long time: some were doubtful. Pastor Mark was careful about the Greek here, noting that the word describes a momentary wavering rather than a settled, ongoing unbelief, and that history records every one of the eleven dying a martyr's death convinced of the resurrection. The doubt was real, but it did not last.
Jesus did not wait for the doubt to resolve itself before He spoke. He addressed it directly, and what He said became the Great Commission. Pastor Mark walked through the grammar carefully: the only true imperative in the passage is "make disciples." The going, the baptizing, the teaching are all participles that hang off that one command. As you are going, be making disciples. The going was not limited to missionaries or to those called overseas. It belongs to everyone moving through an ordinary day.
Pastor Mark drew out the four times the word "all" appears in those verses: all authority, all the nations, all that He commanded, and always. He argued that Jesus was deliberately leaving no one out and no situation uncovered. The reassurance given to people who were still wavering was not a pep talk. It was a statement of authority: He had walked out everything required to secure salvation, and on that basis He was sending them, and He would be with them to the end of the age. The sermon closed with communion and a prayer asking God to help the congregation move past their own doubt and recognize that the commission belongs to all of them.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages
in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
Pastor John mentioned that the finality of death is one of the hardest things we face, and that the women at the tomb had worked through that finality about Jesus. When have you had to wrestle with the gap between what you believed God promised and what you were actually looking at in front of you?
The guards who witnessed the angel at the tomb went straight to the chief priests rather than reporting to Pilate, and took a large sum of money to spread a false story. What does it tell you about people that a firsthand encounter with something miraculous can still be explained away or covered up?
Speaker 1In fact, that might have been what made winter harder this year, honestly. I I had not considered that being a possibility. Yeah. He he did a lot to lift our spirits for sure. That's right.
Amen. That's good. And you have... What are you playing for the was gonna play this for a communion. I don't I don't know.
I got some of these. Good morning. Do you wanna sing something? We can do that too. Okay.
Thank you. I have... I was just gonna go with this. But
Speaker 2I thought that's an extra
Speaker 1I don't have words for that.
Speaker 2No? That's alright. It's okay.
Speaker 1It is good to be back. I'm glad to be here. I'm looking like y'all are glad to be here. We're few but fervent, but why don't we sing about it when we all get to heaven? Sing the wondrous love of Jesus.
Amen.
Speaker 2Sing the wondrous love of Jesus, sing his mercy, and his grace In the mansion's bright and blessed, he'll prepare for us a place. When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be when we all see Jesus. We'll sing and shout. Shout the victory. Let us then be true and faithful, trusting, serving every day.
Just one glimpse of him in glory will the joys of life repay. When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be. When we all see Jesus, we'll sing and shout the victory. Onward to the prize before us, soon his beauty will behold. Soon the pearly gates will open, he shall strut the treats of gold.
When we all get to heaven, when day of rejoicing that will be. When we all see Jesus, we'll sing and shout the victory.
Speaker 1Amen. I'll sound like a choir. This is good. Do you know the song Until Then? I know two songs called Until Then.
This is the lesser known for me of the two. But let's sing together.
Speaker 2My heart can sing when I pause to remember. A heartache here is but a stepping stone along a trail that's winding always upward. This troubled world is not my final home. But until then, my heart will go on singing. Until then, with joy I'll carry God calls me home.
This weary world with all its toil and struggle may take its toll of misery and strife. The soul of man is like a waiting falcon When it's released, it's destined for the skies. But until then, my the day my eyes behold the city. Until the day God calls me home. Amen.
Speaker 1Hey, the things of earth. Is that up there? Yes. They're out of order from the hymn book. I'm sorry.
Let's do it. Okay. The things of will dim and lose their value if we recall
Speaker 2The
Speaker 1they're borrowed for a while.
Speaker 2And things then things of of earth that caused the heart to tremble. Remember there will only bring a smile. But until then, my heart will go on singing. Until then, with joy, I'll carry calls me home.
Speaker 1Amen. Y'all can have a seat. That song reminds me of a dear friend of mine, my best friend growing up. I lost him in March 2017 and he wrote a song called Until Then, I'm the know his just like the back of my hand and I think of it all the time. Beautiful beautiful soul heaven is his and ours to be.
Super exciting happy happy good times budgeting workshop. Doesn't that sound like fun? It's a pink slide with a dog with a knit cap. Doesn't it look like fun? Super exciting happy happy good times budgeting workshop.
It's free here on April 16. It's interesting that it's right after April 15. Right? When you're thinking about these things, April sixteenth, twenty third, and thirtieth, '6 to eight in the evenings here at Firstbee. Nick Stern and Richard Yule and Jeremy Leiper will be helping out.
Help people who are looking to get out of debt or to save for retirement or just keep it chill, not be as worried about money as you have been to this point. You can RSVP to assistant@firstbjackson.org and let them know you're coming. And then he'll tell you everything that you need for whatever it is you're looking to to get done. Super exciting. Happy happy good times budgeting workshop.
Awana is back on and it is hero night at Awana. So dressing up like your favorite hero for the kids or for the adults also, but it is kids club starting at six, 05:45 for registration here till 07:30 tomorrow night. 05:45 till 07:30 tomorrow night right here. Hero night at Awana. We had a new slate of volunteers that did the fellowship hall connect hour this morning.
It was fantastic. It was really good. And she she came in yesterday. She said, I wanna just be sure I do a good job. And when she left, this is this is a part of this amount.
She said, well, next time. I was like, there's gonna be a next time. It's not that scary. It's great. So she was really excited about it.
So was... So both of them were. So anyway, if you wanna sign up, you can sign up at the end of the hall, down there in the fellowship hall, there's a sign up sheet or you can call Addy and she will sign you up. This is back on men's lunch study starting back up again Thursday, 1155. It'll be over at one so you can plan.
It's a businessman's lunch twelve to one time. You can bring your lunch with you. Come and go as you need to, but we're gonna start in first Peter. First Peter one one is just flipping the page from James and going forward. So that's what it's gonna be this Thursday, 11:55 in the Fellowship Hall.
Jackson Hole Men's Alliance meeting is like the men's fraternity of old, meeting on Wednesday mornings, April tenth, 06:30. Usually, it's the first Wednesday of the month but since that fell during spring break, it's gonna be this Wednesday, April 10, 06:30 in the Fellowship Hall. Vacation Bible School's theme this year is hometown Nazareth where Jesus was a kid. It'll be June 24 through the twenty seventh. You can sign up at firstbjackson.org or there's a sign up sheet in the lobby for that one.
And I think that might be the last. Is that the last one? I think it is. Would you stand and we will sing Jesus paid it all. I I missed being here for resurrection Sunday, but I will say I came back completely refreshed.
It's very, very nice to get away and thaw out every once in a while. And I spent a lot of time in the sunshine and the swimming pool, and I feel a lot better about life.
Speaker 2I hear the savior say, thy strength indeed is small, child of weakness, watch and pray. Find in me thine all in all. Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow. Lord, now indeed I find thy power and thine alone can change the lepers' thoughts and melt the heart of stone.
Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow. And when before the throne, I stand in him complete. Jesus laid my trophies down, all down at Jesus' feet. Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe.
Sin had left a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow.
Speaker 1Oh, on there. This is first service. This is, oh, praise the one who... That's weird. Yes.
It's really good. Sorry. The words went away and I forgot all of them. That's the way it goes. Alright.
Y'all can have a seat. No. No. Stand up again. We've got one more song.
I'm a little rusty. Little rusty. Two weeks. Two weeks off. You have to retrain me.
Golly. There is a Redeemer.
Speaker 2There is a redeemer, Jesus God's own son. Precious lamb of God, messiah, holy one. Thank you, oh my father, for giving us your son and leaving your spirit till the work on earth is done. Jesus, my redeemer, name above all names. Precious lamb of God, Messiah, hope for sinners slain.
Thank you, oh my father, for giving us your son and leaving your spirit till the work on earth is done.
Speaker 1Amen. Now, can have a seat. And as the ushers come forward, I'm gonna... I would you just pray with me. Lord God, thank you for a time of refreshing.
Thank you for resurrection, for resurrection Sunday, for conquering the grave. I thank you father for the wonderful magnificent plan. I thank you Jesus for emptying yourself of your divine rights. Not considering equality with the father something to be grasped. Lord, you emptied yourself and you walked it out.
We're gonna celebrate that here, your life that was so perfectly well lived. And then that sacrificial death that was given, Lord God Almighty, I thank you that the good news of the gospel is still going forward today. I thank you that we can be a part of it. I pray that you would allow us the the ability, Lord, to recognize the situations that we're in while we're in them, that you would allow your gospel good news to flow through us, that it would just be as natural as breathing in and breathing out, sharing your good news. Lord God, we pray that your will would be done in and among us through us today.
Your will, Lord, done your way. Amen. Here we go. Alright. Resurrection and ascension.
So, last week, I know it was Easter Sunday, resurrection Sunday, and I know Brad presented resurrection Sunday from Paul's point of view and from ours that if we don't believe in the resurrection, it's absolute foundation of beginning of the church, the resurrection. I walked all the way up through crucifixion when I was here two weeks ago and then when we left for that, it was Good Friday and just kinda waiting through Silent Saturday for these last two weeks to get to this. So we're gonna do resurrection and ascension today. Now, I've been doing this for a long time. It's been about a year, almost two years, year and a half, two years since I've been going through a Harmony of the Gospel study and I've said several times that each of the four gospels is a passion narrative with a long introduction.
And once you get to the cross, it's... That's that's a big event. Cross and resurrection is the climax of all of these and then it kind of tapers off after that. So, this is resurrection up to ascension basically and I'm not going to do Luke today because Luke is long. I will do it.
I will not skip it. I promised y'all that I wouldn't skip it but I wanna I don't wanna do Luke today and Mark, there is a debate among people for a long time about where Mark's gospel ends. Is it at sixteen eight or is it sixteen twenty? And there are three of y'all that I want to talk to that about before I preach that. So that is either sixteen one through eight or sixteen one through 20 and so we're going to do that.
But we are going to cover it from Matthew. So we're not going get the third x in the family feud up here today. But we're going to go into Matthew. Mark's version is pretty short one through eight. That's it.
And it leaves off with the ladies haven't been introduced and they're astonished and that's a big thing in Mark. It's a big thing astonishment at what's going on. There seems to be a lot of wow. That's amazing. But it doesn't go on into ascension, it doesn't go on into other things.
Nine through 20 does. It sounds like Matthew in some places, it sounds like Luke in some places, and and then it has a couple of additional things. The grammar is a little bit different. I'm not gonna argue about it here. That's the x, that's what we're talking.
I'm not gonna talk about that one today, but I wanna come back to it. But I do wanna cover from Matthew. Here we go. So this is Matthew's account. Now, the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week.
So after the Sabbath, Sabbath is from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday. After that, when it's getting to be close to dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the tomb. Now, it says right there, they came to look at the tomb because I'm sure that what they're wondering about is how are going move that stone? How are going to figure this out? I wonder, they're coming to look at the tomb and behold, a severe earthquake had occurred.
By the way, while we were gone, there were two severe earthquakes and we had people in both of the places from this congregation. We have people in both of the places where there are earthquakes. That is a very disturbing event when all of the sudden on land, you start kinda wiggling like this. We lived Costa Rica for a year way back when and we felt a lot of them. We were in one in Guatemala.
We've been around the world in different places. There's something just upsetting about when the earth moves under your feet. Sir, a severe earthquake had occurred. That's the explanation here. For an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it and its appearance was like lightning, its clothes was white white as snow, resplendent beauty.
The guards shook from fear of him and became like dead men. So knocked him out. Alright. They became like dead men. They they are out, shook from fear of this angel.
And the angel said to the women, y'all don't be afraid. It's funny. We don't hear if he said anything to those soldiers, but they passed out and the angel said to the women, do not be afraid for I know that you're looking for Jesus who has been crucified. Angels are messengers and this one has a message. He's not here for he has risen.
Just as he said that he would. Now, Jesus had said over and over and over that he would rise again but it's it's hard to imagine how that's gonna look especially when you've seen him dead. Now, one of the hardest things to deal with in our lives these days is when we lose someone, the finality of that death. I've seen more than a few people saying, it can't be. It can't be.
It can't be. The finality of it is so hard. What they had dealt and gotten through the finality of it and wondered what he meant, I'm sure. But when an angel, the Lord resplendent white clothing tells you he's not here, he's risen just as he said, come see the place where he was lying. He was here, but he's not here anymore.
And that in itself is amazing to think this is where a dead man was. And go quickly and tell his disciples that he's risen from the dead. And behold, he's going ahead of you to Galilee. He'll be there just like he said he would. There you will see him.
Behold, I've told you. Mark my words. This will come to pass. And they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and they ran to report to his disciples. All of the reconstructions and all of the harmonizing of the gospels and all the figuring out, the running about of that morning is so intricate.
And it it reads like a a script when you harmonize everything together. They left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and they're running to report to the disciples and behold, Jesus met them. I was thinking maybe Jesus walked away from the scene and they caught up with him. Jesus met them and said, rejoice and they came up and they took hold of his feet and they worshiped him. This is the response for a believer when they meet the resurrected Christ.
They fell on their faces before him and they worshiped him. Then Jesus said to him, don't be afraid. Go and bring word to my brothers. Now, before the angel said, go tell the disciples and Jesus, it's it's weird that he changes the word or maybe he doesn't change word. He just says, he's just calling them brothers.
Go bring word to my brothers to leave for Galilee. Go ahead and they will see me there. Now, if you take in the account Luke's record and you take in account John's record, they'll see him before they get to Galilee. Peter will see him three times. Most of the disciples see him twice.
Thomas sees him once but he's going to be going ahead of him to Galilee. Don't be afraid. Go bring word to my brothers to leave for Galilee and there, they will see me. Seen. Now, while they were on their way, some of the men from the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priest all that happened.
Now, this is also an interesting thing. It's some of the men from the guard, some of the guards came into the city. The guards that have been scared to death, scared to passing out at least. And when they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers. In Matthew, it doesn't sound like he's talking about Roman soldiers.
In the others, it does say there were Roman soldiers. When Pilate speaks to them and says, you have your guard and go. He is saying, you've got your temple guard yourselves. You have your guard. I'll give you one of our our...
Some of ours too. But this may be that the guard there is part of the temple guard. It's hard to say with absolute certainty. It seems kinda strange that the guard would go back to the chief priest instead of going back or running for their lives because it would be a death sentence for them to say they didn't do their job. When they had assembled the elders and they consulted all together, they gave these, some of the men of the guard, a large sum of money to those soldiers and they said, you are to say his disciples came at night and stole them away while we were asleep.
For a Roman soldier, that would be a real hard one to do. It was a large sum of money and it says so. If anyone... If any of this comes to the governor's ears, we will appease him and we will keep you out of trouble. So they had just shown an ability to sway the governor before the crucifixion, had they not?
I mean, the the group had had Pilate declared Jesus innocent five times that we read, not to mention the three other places where he's declared innocent by different people. Five different times, the Pilate, the governor says he's innocent and he crucified him anyway. They do have some sway over this governor, political prowess and leverage. If this comes to the governor ears, we will appease him and we will keep you out of trouble. Trust us.
And they took the money, large sum, and did as they had been instructed. And this story was widely spread among the Jews and it is to this day. And I can say at the writing of this in the first century, that was true and it's still true today. If you talk to certain circles, certain segments of people, I read an article this week about this. That that's still the line.
It's widely spread to this day. I've been working through that rather quickly to get to this. But the 11 disciples proceeded to Galilee to the mountain which Jesus had designated to them. So they have talked about this before and he's told them that he would be crucified and resurrected and he gave them a place to meet up afterwards. Well, that's an interesting thing.
The 11 disciples proceeded to Galilee to the mountain which Jesus had designated to them. He could have done that in that closed room where they were together behind the locked door and he comes through. He could have done it at various times after the resurrection but they knew where they were supposed to go. So, they went there where he had designated and when they saw him, now, what's the response? What was the response from the ladies before?
The ladies response from ladies was and they fell at his feet and worshiped him. So, what will this response be? They worshiped him. Praise God. That's wonderful.
Now, that's not the end of this sentence. There's a semicolon there but we'll come back to that. Alright, I wanna come back to this. I'm gonna skip it. It sets up what we all know.
The next few verses we all know, if you raised in a Baptist church, a Protestant church, you've probably heard this preach more than any other passage in the Bible. The great commission is the very next thing. What sets it up is what comes after the semi colon, I think. And Jesus came up, he met him where he said he would, he spoke to them saying, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Now, all authority in heaven on earth, that's pretty inclusive.
It's all. All is all. All authority in heaven and earth have been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and the son and the Holy Spirit. That's the most full way to say God, right?
In God's name, it is the Trinitarian formula, some people call it. Father, son, and Holy Spirit. So all all y'all be going therefore and make disciples of all the nations and all the Godhead is with you, teaching them to follow all that I have commanded you and behold, I'm with you even always, even to the end of the age. This portion of scripture we had Anders and Brooke Olsen spoke this morning before I did. They did a like a ten minute little missionary moment before I got up.
And this is almost always what we go to for missionaries. I I want you to look at at something. All authority, the nations, all I should say, all the godhead is included there. Follow all that I've... Teaching them, follow all that I've commanded you, and I'm with you all, added an L, always.
It's very, very universal, right? Do you think that that's only for missionaries? No. It's not. Grammatically speaking, you know how we go through sometimes and we'll do a whole sermon on these are the imperatives.
These are the commands. These are the things that have the force of a do this. The only imperative in this section here is make disciples. Be making disciples is the imperative. The rest of the stuff, the going, the teaching...
I mean, the going, the baptizing, the teaching is all... They're all participles and they all are bound to this make disciples. It's all a part of that. Make disciples is the imperative. Go is as you are going, while you are going.
So it sounds great and I do believe it is an imperative, make disciples is and go, you can take that and you could pick up a lot of that command force from it and feel the spirit of God moving in your heart and think, I need to go to Zambia is where they're going. Like for us, God wants me to serve in Rio Bravo, Mexico twenty four years ago or Costa Rica twenty years ago. And you can read that and go, my going is there. But we're all going all the time, are we not? Even when we take spring break, we're all going all the time.
All of the authority that was given to Jesus, he is saying, I'm giving it to you. And John, he says it specifically. Y'all be going because I have the authority and I'm living with you in your heart. Go therefore, be making disciples, be doing that of all the nations. That's all inclusive.
Baptizing them in the name of the father, son, and Holy Spirit, teaching them. I had one professor that that would say, what's the great commission? He was the professor for mission of God was the class. What's the great commission? First day of class.
Go there for and tell and make the... Go there and make make disciples. We know that. It's twenty eight nineteen twenty. And he'd say, what are you gonna...
It says baptizing and teaching, he says, but what are you teaching them? He would always bring it back to teach them to follow all that I commanded you. How best do you teach them to follow all that he commanded you? Be doing what he commanded of you. Is that just mind blowing to think about how simple that is?
As you are going every day in your life, as you are going as a child of God, be obeying what I've commanded of you and others will see that and that's my plan. All authority has been given to me, I came and did this. Now, we know that from Philippians and we know that he emptied himself of his divine... Of some of his divinity. Theologically, it's hard to say.
He was a 100% God. He's a 100% man, but he emptied himself and he walked it out as a human. And when he is resurrected, he makes this declaration that all authority has been given to him. And Johnny says, and I'm giving it to you to be going and to be making the disciples. Baptize them in the name of the father, son, and Holy Spirit.
Teach them to follow all that I've commanded you. And then this is the I'm with you always to the end of the age. When I said I was gonna skip something, this is what I skipped. But the 11 disciples proceeded to Galilee. Yeah.
He told us where to meet him to the mountain which he had designated. Yep. And when they saw him, they worshiped him. But some were doubtful. Does that bother you?
It bothers theologians. They fight about it all the time. There there are books and books and books that have been written about this. This is one of those things where you might write a position paper for what you think about. Some were doubtful.
Doubtful in this case is this is the word, it the heiress active indicative. So heiress means it happens that time and then it was over. It wasn't continuous habitual action on into the future, but third person plural, it's for some of them. We don't know which ones. They wavered or they doubted or they hesitated.
Properly thought out this word where it says, they worshiped him and they worshiped and we came together here to worship him, did we not? That's why we came here. But do we really believe it? Do we really believe that we are a part of the great commission or is that just for missionaries? Do we really believe that as I am going, can make a difference in the eternal destination for another person?
I think that we doubt that. I think that that's a place for some of us doubt that. Or we're shifting between two positions, choosing a double stance. I don't know about that. Hence, they vacillate or they waver.
Figuratively, it's uncertain and at a crossroads because of refusing to choose one way over the other. If I really believed that Jesus' crucifixion paid for my sin and his resurrection was for me to know that death had been conquered. If I really believe that, will I trust him with everything that bothers me? Will I trust him with everything that makes me anxious? Will I trust him with every step into the future?
To halt between two opinions as James says to a double minded man is unstable in all his ways. Now, if it says that these 11 disciples were up there, I think that limits the scope. I think there are probably other people there. But the 11 disciples proceeded to Galilee, Galilee, Galilee, Galilee. And they saw him and they worshiped him but some were doubtful.
Some of them didn't know what to think. History tells us that all of these all of these died Martyr's death. All of these believed in the resurrection. All of them were this the shivering mass of fear that they were on the night of the cross was completely gone after they saw the resurrection. How long did they doubt?
I don't know. Heiress indicative says that it... They doubted and then they moved beyond that doubt, which is great. Some of them were doubtful. And this is what follows.
Some of them were doubtful, and Jesus came and spoke to them. Jesus speaks to our doubt, and he reassures with this, I have the authority. All of it. It was given to me. I walked out what I needed to walk out to secure salvation.
All of the authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Now, as you all are going about your lives, be making disciples. You've seen me do it for the last three years, guys. I've been showing you the way just as I was telling you the way. Go and be making disciples of all the nations.
Don't hesitate. Go to all of the nations. There's not anybody that's not included in this. There are people who argue whether the Jews are included in this. They've said no.
So we're going no. It's all. The all authority, all the nations, all, all. Go therefore and disciple, make disciples of all the nations. Be baptizing them, bringing them into the name of the father, son, and Holy Spirit.
Be teaching them to follow all that I've commanded you and you do that by being obedient yourself. And behold, this is the answer to the doubt. I'm always gonna be with you even to the end of this age. Christ is present. Now, bodily resurrected, bodily ascended, and seated at the right hand of the father, yes, interceding for you.
He's paying attention to you. He understands what's going on in your life and he wants for you to give it over to him. He wants for you to get over the doubt. I think that's the last slide. I know that's the last that I'm planning to cover for Matthew.
As we go into a time of communion, I wanna get... Invite Judy back up to the front. I'm gonna invite some ushers to come forward. It looks like an usher. Here we go.
Here we go. God, would you help us? Some of us are doubting. And I think that if we're honest, some of us some of us doubt from time to time. And Lord, I think some of that is we don't understand grace, we don't understand the height and depth and understand how much it is that you love us and care for us and want to be present in every decision and every consolation.
Lord, would you help us with our doubt? Would you help us with our commission so that we would recognize it? We'd recognize what it is the mission that you have for us. That we would stop thinking of Christianity as a varsity and junior varsity where the varsity folks go to seminary or the mission field or the pastorate. But that you would use all of us, Lord.
I pray that you would rid us of the doubt as we trust you. This is an act of trust. We are saying, Lord, that we believe you. We believe in the resurrection. We believe in the...
That by your stripes, we were healed. We believe, Lord, in you. So I pray that you would, impress upon us, Lord, in a new way if we need it, or that you'd reinforce a way that we have known but laid aside, that you really are present with us in this age and you want to spread the good news through us. Lord, would you allow us to live it out in obedience to your command. Would you bless this bread as we distribute it, Lord, its representation of your body which was given for us.
Amen.
Speaker 2Hide. And its grace of free is sufficient for me. And deep is its fountain as wide as the sea. There's room at the cross for you. Room at the cross for before it's too late.
There's room at the cross for you. There's room at the cross for years. Oh, millions have come. There's still room for one. Oh, there's room at the cross.
Speaker 1On the same night that Jesus was betrayed, he broke bread after supper and after he had given thanks, he said to his disciples there and his voice rings to us today. He says, this is my body which is being given for you. Take this and eat of it and do it as often as you will in remembrance of me. Thank you Jesus for walking out perfect submission to the spirit. In the flesh, you walked out perfect submission, tempted in every way just as we're tempted yet without sin.
You were the only one who ever carried innocent blood. So God, I pray that you would bless this time where we celebrate that fact that you gave that innocent blood, your perfect record for our imperfect ones. In Jesus name, we pray for your blessing on this little plastic cup of grape juice representative of the blood sacrificial and voluntarily given of Christ. Amen.
Speaker 2Long. Through sunshine or rain, through loss or in gain, the blood flows from Calvary to cleanse every stain.
Speaker 1In the same manner that he had taken the bread, he also took the cup, common cup at the time, a little plastic cup for us. He says to them there that this is the new covenant in my blood. Take this and drink of it. Drink in and do it each time that you will in remembrance of me. Amen.
Paul says that as often as we do this, we proclaim his death until he comes again. I say, his death conquered sin proven by his resurrection and that's the very grounds of Christianity. Would you stand with me? And I think we'll sing, I need thee every hour. How about that?
Yep.
Speaker 2I need thee every hour, most gracious Lord. No tender voice like thine can be supper. I need thee. Oh, I need thee. Every hour I need thee.
Oh, me now my savior. I come to thee. I need thee. Oh, I need thee. Every hour I need thee.
Oh, bless me now my savior. I come to thee. I need thee. I need thee. Every hour I need thee.
Oh, bless me now my savior. I come to thee on the last. I need thee every arm, most holy one. Oh, make me thine indeed, thou blessed son. I need thee, oh, I need thee.
Every hour I need thee. Oh, me now my savior, I come to thee.
Speaker 1Amen. And the benediction today is from Ephesians three. This is a great prayer. I pray that out of his glorious riches, he may strengthen you with power through his spirit in your inner being so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith and I pray that you being rooted and established in love may have power together with all the Lord's holy people to grasp how wide and how long and how high and how deep is the love of Christ. Thank you lord that you really do care.
Would you overcome our, help us to overcome our doubt. In Jesus name, amen. Amen.
