TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH (MATTHEW 28:18-20)
A story recounts the return of Jesus to heaven after His time on earth. He returned bearing the marks of His earthly pilgrimage with its cruel cross and shameful death. The angel Gabriel approached Him and said, “Master, You must have suffered terribly for people down there.”
“I did,” said Jesus.
“And,” continued Gabriel, “Do they now know all about how You loved them and what You did for them?”
“Oh, no,” said Jesus. “Not yet. Right now, only a handful of people in Palestine know.”
Gabriel was perplexed. “Then what have You done,” he asked, “to let all people know about Your love for them?”
“Well, I’ve asked Peter, James, John, and a few others to tell people about Me. Those who are told will in turn tell others, and the Gospel will be spread to the farthest reaches of the globe. Ultimately, all of humankind will hear about Me and what I have done on their behalf.”
Gabriel frowned and looked skeptical. He knew that people weren’t dependable. “Yes,” he said, “but what if Peter and James and John grow weary? What if the people who come after them forget? And what if, way down in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, people get too busy to bother telling others about You? Haven’t You made any other plans?”
“No, I’ve made no other plans, Gabriel,” Jesus answered. “I’m counting on them.”
God has entrusted and charged the church with the Great Commission. This passage is traditionally called “The Great Commission,” not “The Great Suggestion,” as someone reminded. There is no alternative but to put God’s word to practice. If the church is not reaching the lost, the church becomes part of the lost, part of the problem and not part of the solution, just as many liberal churches who forsake the ministry of lost souls for social concerns found out.
A. B. Simpson shares his perspective on Matthew 28:18-20, saying: “Unless I am sure I am doing more at home to send the gospel abroad than I can do abroad, I am bound to go.”
The Greek text reads, “Go therefore, make disciples…baptizing them…teaching them.” As you can see, there is no “and” word connecting “go” and “make disciples.”
What is Christ’s challenge to the disciples and to the church? What happens to a church without evangelism and missions? Should we stop at conversion?
Avail Yourself to Christ
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations (Matt 28:18-19)
A communist once challenged a Western Christian: “The gospel is a much more powerful weapon for the renewal of society than is our Marxist philosophy, but it is we who will finally beat you...We Communists do not play with words. We are realists, and seeing our object, we know how to obtain the means...We believe in our message, and we are ready to sacrifice everything, even our life...But you people are afraid to soil your hands.” (“Called and Committed: Work-Changing Discipleship,” David Watson, Harold Shaw Publishers, Wheaton, Illinois, or Discipleship, Hodder and Stoughton pp 3-4, 1982)
What has happened to today’s witnesses? It is ever harder to go than before, because Christians are domesticated by the comforts of the world. Increasingly church leaders cannot leave their neighborhood schools and city conveniences to take up challenges out of town, never mind out of country. I remember persuading a seminary graduate with an expiring visa not to wait for offers from local churches but to leave Los Angeles for a church in the Midwest that was willing to sponsor his green card; it was like pulling teeth getting him to leave. They are too attached to their Ranch Markets, New Capital and Sam Woo restaurants. The much-admired Rev. Philip Teng said, “Out of 100 Christians, 95 do not preach the gospel, the other five have to shoulder the work of 100.” (Ten Great Visions of the Bible)
What is a disciple? The word disciple occurs 269 times in the New Testament, in contrast to the word “Christian” that occurs merely three times in the New Testament and KJV’s 61 listings for the word “saints.” A disciple is a learner and not a lodger, a student and not a stranger, a follower and not a fan. A disciple is not merely a Sunday Christian, a regular churchgoer, a voting member or a baptized convert. A disciple is a follower of Christ through thick and thin, have and have-not, near and far. The word “disciple” is not exclusive to Jesus’ disciples. John the Baptist had his disciples, the Pharisees had theirs (Mark 2:18, Luke 5:33) and so did Moses (john 9:28).
What separates Jesus’ disciples from others then? It is not their suffering, their humility, their knowledge. The marked distinction from other disciples is that His disciples cross national boundaries and racial lines. I did an interesting study on Jesus’ master plan of evangelism. Jesus taught and preached in the towns of Galilee. (Matt 4:23, 11:1, Mark 1:39), but He did not stop here. He kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea. (Matt 19:1) Then He made his way to Jerusalem. (Luke 13:22). Matthew gives us an insight into Jesus’ plans. After He had proclaimed, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few” (Matt 9:37) and chose his twelve apostles (Matthew 10:1), He sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel” (Matt 10:5-6)
Of course, this was not shocking to the apostles. They were foremost Jews, nationalists and patriots. The same word for “nation” is translated as pagans (Matt 6:32), Gentiles (Matt 4:15), nations (Matt 12:18), whole world (Matt 24:14) pagan world (Luke 12:30) and, strangely, even applied to the Jewish nation (John 11:51), but Jesus use of the plural “nations” means there is no misunderstanding; He is not referring to the Jewish nation or a Gentile nation.
To the Jewish disciples, benefiting aliens in their midst was still negotiable, but benefiting those abroad was not an option. As the Chinese say, “Rich water won’t flow into others’ field.” What was more shocking to them now was Jesus’ complete reversal and broad commission to go to all the nations (ethnos) or “Gentiles,” the very people that mocked and flogged and crucified Him (Matt 20:19) not too long ago, that will hate the disciples on account of Jesus (Matt 24:9) and will trample on Jerusalem (Luke 21:24).
So the Great Commission is quite a shock and a controversy. We are sent to people who humiliate us, harass us, hate us, hunt us and even harm and hurt us.
One of the most acclaimed spokesmen on discipleship is Dietrich Bonhoeffer. His book, The Cost of Discipleship, is the most widely cited book on the subject. Not only did he write about it, the German pastor experienced it first-hand and spoke strongly against Hitler and his policies, executed for his opposition when he was 39 years old, just before the war ended.
The words of Bonhoeffer stirred the church for over 50 years. He chastened the church, saying “Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our church. We are fighting today for costly grace. Cheap grace means grace sold on the market like the cheap jackwares. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.”
Acknowledge Him Before Others
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matt 28:19)
Baptism is the foremost public testimony of your commitment to the Lord.
There are two extremes in baptism. I find it strange that believers and unbelievers have such a differing viewpoint and understanding of baptism. They are like duck and chickens talking – they do not understand what the other is saying or thinking.
I know of a youth who was a high-schooler at the time of first ministry in the States. He was quiet, soft-spoken and more nerdy than most teens. When he accepted Christ in high school, he was determined to be baptized but his mother was adamant not to let him and told him to wait till he was 18; then he would be an adult and he could do what he wishes. When he was 18, mom again said “no” and told him to wait till he was 21. Not wanting to disobey his parents at just upon getting his wings, the UCLA student waited or another three years. When he was 21, he did not tell his mom about his decision but informed her about his baptism. Once he made his stand clear, she came for the baptism.
In Asia, unbelieving parents are scared to death when their believing kids tell them they want to be baptized. They are up in arms against their baptism, often citing they are too young and advising them to wait till they are married, especially the girls, for fear their baptized status would chase non-Christian suitors away and that they might suffer bullying from their unbelieving mother-in-law.
What do unbelieving parents know that believers take for granted? Low opposition from kids means low commitment. If you can delay their baptism, it means it is not that important to them. Unbelieving parents believe that baptism is not merely initiation into your faith; it is the final break and severance from their grip and authority over you and their opposition to your zeal for God. Unbelieving Asian parents follow this mindset and argument, as did my father: (1) “You can go to church, but you do not need to get baptized.” (2) “Wait till you are married to a believing spouse.” (3) “You re not old enough.”
To an extent, the parents are right. Baptism is the perfect way to illustrate a baby Christian’s birth. Just as babies cannot return to their mother’s womb at birth, baptized Christians cannot un-baptize themselves. While baptism is not peculiar to Christianity, it illustrates a fundamental point. There is no reversal, no turnaround, no regret. What is done is done. No chemical, surgery or disavowal can remove one’s baptism, as unbelieving parents fear validly.
Wishy-washy believers, however, take baptism for granted. There is no urgency to baptism, many because mom and dad, too, are believers. For them, baptism merely means dying to Christ (immersion into the water) and living for Christ (emerging from the water). (Rom 6:4, Gal 3:27) What’s the big deal?
Members who are excited that their kids finally consented to or requested for baptism often find me less than enthused when the parents, and not the kids themselves, notify me. I tell them if their kids don’t speak up for themselves now, how can they speak up for Christ in the future?
I find it strange that some churches advocate baptizing immediately every Tom, Dick or Harry that professes Christ or requests baptism. I do not advocate that. Passionate advocates point to countless examples of immediate baptism following conversion: the three thousand baptized on Pentecost day
(Acts 2:41), the Samaritans (Acts 8:12), the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:38),
Saul (Acts 9:18), Cornelius (Acts 10:48), Lydia (Acts 16:15), the jailer (Acts 16:33), the synagogue ruler (Acts 18:8) – 20 references to baptism altogether in Acts.
I insist that baptism must be understood from a historical perspective and its relevant context. What is the context to the baptism in the early church? To the early church, baptism not mere symbolism - being identified with Christ and joining the church, it literally means suffering and death, being stoned to death, burned at the stake and thrown to the lions before the 4th century. I point to baptism at the risk of countless references to persecution, the scattered church (Acts 8:1, 8:4, 11:19), being arrested/seized (Acts 4:3, 5:18, 12:1, 21:27), jail (Acts 4:3, 5:18), threats (Acts 4:21), prison (Acts 5:21, 5:23, 16:26, 20:23, 22:30, 23:29, 26:29, 26:31 – different Greek word from jail), flogging (Acts 5:40), stoning (Acts 7:59, 14:5, 14:19), mistreatment (Acts 14:5), hardships/persecution (Acts 11:19, 14:22, 20:23), death (Acts 22:4, 26:31, 28:18).
Ironically, instead of suffering persecution as the early church did, today’s baptized believers have the incentive of applying for political asylum from religious persecution to sweeten and hasten their conversion, as many Los Angeles churches and pastors have found out to their dismay. Once professing believers get their baptism certificates after a few lessons, they vanish into thin air.
Abide by God’s Word
20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matt 28:20)
There was once a young preacher who had just landed his first congregation. Now this church was rather a small one and was composed entirely of the population of a small logging town. Everyone in town worked for the town’s lumber mill, which was its only business and was involved in fierce competition with the mill just upstream.
The preacher wasn’t in town long before he had an experience that shook him up a bit. He was taking a walk through the woods and chanced to see workers at the town mill pulling logs branded from the other mill out of the stream, cutting off the branded ends, and running them through their own mill. The preacher was very distressed with this and so worked the rest of the week on a powerful sermon. That Sunday he got up and preached his sermon entitled “Thou Shalt Not Covet Thy Neighbor’s Property.” The sermon seemed to go over well. Everyone told him, as they went out the door, just how much they loved his preaching. “You really moved me, Preacher” and “Best sermon I ever heard.” were some of the remarks they made.
But that next Monday morning it was business as usual at the mill. They were still stealing logs.
So the next Sunday the preacher delivered a real “pulpit pounder” called “Thou Shalt Not Steal.” “Fantastic!” the people told him. “Wonderful!” they cried. But on Monday morning the other company’s logs were still being swiped by the town mill. Enough was enough!
There’s only so much a man can take and then he’s got to act - this time he wasn’t going to hold anything back. The following Sunday he got up and preached the topic: “Thou Shalt Not Cut the Branded Ends Off Someone Else’s Logs!” They ran him out of town! (Illustrations Unlimited)
The church’s lack of teaching and the believers lack integrity is dire and dreadful. This year is the first year I require baptized believers to join a post-baptism new believers class. I am shocked at the level of biblical illiteracy among believers. Most do not bring their Bibles, relying instead on powerpoint text. Many of them hardly know what and where the other books of the Bible are besides the four gospels. So I had them reciting the books of the Bible. Now they are experts.
Worse than knowledge wanting is lukewarm believers’ low commitment and partial obedience. Nowadays, Christians are so intent on getting inspiration they never study. This is true of most believers, leaders and pastors. Sadly we do not have Bible students; we don’t even have Bible readers. All we have are Bible thumpers. It’s been said, “There are ten men who will fight for the Bible to one who will read it.” (L.B. Akers). They know about the word of God, but not know the word of God. I am starting a class money cannot buy to correct this. I remember as a young lad of 18, I started to take a seminary-level class called TEE – Theological Education by Extension. I was not the only youth. The other attendee – year younger - is now a seminary professor.
There are three concerns in the church. First, the desire for inspiration without information, which makes Christianity into a self-help religion. Flaky TV evangelists waters down their message to cater to the culture of easy believism, prosperity gospel and mass consumerism. This group of people does not want a tune up; they just want a touch up. They want to be pumped up, cheered up and buttered up. The second concern is information without internalization. This crowd, especially second-generation believers, has so much Bible knowledge from nursery on, from Sunday school and from countless sermons that they are sick and tired of hearing. The last group is internalization without integration. The words integration and integrity are closely-related. Their learning did not affect their conduct and conversation. Learning is life long, shapes one’s character and has no borders, as the Chinese say.
The word “command” is also translated as “instructed” (Matt 17:9) “told them to” (Mark 11:6). “All” means no matching and mixing, picking and choosing, wheeling and dealing.
Conclusion: Commitment is wholehearted, not half-hearted. You do not just witness to your own people, but to others. You do not hide your commitment, but testify to Christ. You do not merely read but study God’s word. Are you in a study or learning program? Have you witnessed to at least one person each year? Do your coworkers and friends know you are a believer? Have you invited them to church? Have you been to short-term missions? Do you have a Bible-reading plan for the year?
Victor Yap
Other sermons in the series and other sermon series:
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