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WEEKLY
Volume 2 Number 45
6 April 2008
Go Ye Therefore
(Message delivered by Rev
Hien Nguyen at the Worship Service, 2:00 pm, March 30, 08)
Text:
Matt 28:16-20
Last week, we celebrated the resurrection
of our Lord Jesus Christ, our Creator and Maker, the Son of God, who
humbled Himself to become a Man, died for our sins and the sins of the
whole world (1 John 2:2), rose again and “shewed himself alive after
his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days,
and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God” (Acts
1:3).
The incident we are learning today is
recorded in Matthew 28:16-20 when our Lord appeared to his eleven and
above five hundred brethren on the mount in Galilee (1 Cor 15:6).
Actually, our Lord had told them to meet Him there before His passion,
“But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee”
(Matt 26:32), but the disciples had forgotten about it and the angel had
to tell the women to remind them, “And go quickly, and tell his
disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before
you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you” (Matt
28:7). “Then the eleven disciples went away into
Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had
appointed them.
And when they saw him, they worshipped him:
but some doubted” (vv 17-18).
Then our Lord gave His great commission to
His disciples as well as to us today: “All power is given unto me in
heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you:
and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen”
(vv 18-20). What do you and I learn from our Lord’s great commission?
Our Lord’s Great Commission
Go Ye Therefore:
To do our evangelistic work and to save souls, we must go and do. We
cannot just sit down and do nothing, just pray and expect God to bring
more souls to our midst. Our Lord’s Prayer is more powerful than ours,
but He still came to this world and “went about all the cities and
villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the
kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people”
(Matt 9:35; cf. Luke 13:22). This evangelistic work is not only for
Jesus’ apostles or disciples but also for all believers. When the church
in Jerusalem was persecuted, the believers were all scattered abroad,
except the apostles, and “went every where preaching the word”
(Acts 8:1, 4). If Jesus’ disciples and followers had not gone everywhere
preaching the Gospel, we would not have heard of the Saviour Jesus
Christ and believed and been saved. The apostle Paul gave a logical
argument, “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not
believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?
and how shall they hear without a preacher?
And how shall they preach, except they be
sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach
the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!”
(Rom 10:14-15). Dear friends, may the Lord graciously move our hearts to
love the lost and then move our feet to go and share the Gospel with
them. We just faithfully sow the seed and commit the results to the Lord
as salvation is of the Lord.
Make Disciples:
We must go out with a purpose of making
disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. The verb “teach” in verse 19 and
“teaching” in verse 20 are two different
Greek words. The first is matheteuo, which means teach and
make disciples of, and the latter is didasko, which means
teach, instruct. We are commanded to teach “all nations” or all
peoples without any discrimination on the grounds of race, gender, age,
educational background or social positions and make them disciples of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord expects us to be witnesses unto Him at
our home, our workplace or school, in our neighbourhood, our suburb, our
city, our country and unto the uttermost part of the earth (Acts 1:8).
It is really challenging!
We must follow our Lord Jesus’ pattern when
He called and trained His disciples so that they might continue His
saving work after His ascension. Our Lord did not use miracles or food
or material things to attract the multitudes. He did not preach a health
or wealth gospel as many churches do nowadays, even using worldly
methods for their “church growth” strategy with psychology,
user-friendliness, worldly music and entertainment, eye-catching
advertisements with hot topics appealing to unbelievers and their
interests, while ignoring “offensive” messages against sins,
worldliness, or wrong doctrines.
Our Lord Jesus still challenges those who
want to follow Him, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air
have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head…
Follow me; and let the dead bury
their dead…
If any man will come after me, let him deny
himself, and take up his cross, and follow me”
(Matt 8:20, 22; 16:24) and “No man, having put his hand to the
plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke
9:62). When many of His disciples were offended by His teaching and then
left Him, He did not lower His standard but challenged the twelve,
“Will ye also go away?” (John 6:60-67).
It is not easy to persuade others to follow
Jesus in the narrow and tough way of repentance of sins, denial of self,
humble submission to God’s Word, following Jesus’ steps and so forth
while the majority claims that they are also following Jesus but on the
broad and easy way with material blessings, worldly entertainment and
self-esteem!
Nevertheless, there is no other choice,
dear friends. We must follow our Lord with our trust in Him and
submission to Him and His Word, or else He will say to us, “I never
knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Matt 7:23). It is
much better for you and me to make one disciple of Jesus, who truly
believes in Him with his submission and is still committed to the Lord’s
great commission when we pass away rather than to draw so many who only
want to live for themselves and do their own will!
Baptize Them in the Name of the
Triune God: The next step is
the church planting, baptizing those who want to be disciples of the
Lord Jesus Christ in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit. Surely, they need to be taught the fundamental doctrines about
God and the Trinity, about the Lord Jesus Christ and His eternal Sonship,
His virgin birth, His death, His bodily resurrection and His second
coming, and about the Holy Spirit and His teaching and guiding ministry
in Christian lives, and so forth. Sadly, many churches nowadays are
compromising, affiliating with other churches or organizations that do
not hold to these fundamental doctrines or reformed faith for the sake
of love and unity! Then, how can they baptize believers in the Name of
the Triune God!
Teach Them to Observe All God’s Word:
The final step is the
training ministry, teaching believers to observe not only fundamental
doctrines but “all things whatsoever I have commanded you.”
That means teaching all the Scriptures, all God’s Word. Sadly, many
churches nowadays fail to obey our Lord’s command, teaching only what
pleases the hearers, ignoring Biblical separation from sins, self,
worldliness, wrong doctrines, or disobedient brethren (2 Cor 6:14-7:1; 2
Thess 3:6-15), avoiding “hard” doctrines or rejecting the verbal plenary
preservation of the Scriptures (Ps 12:6-7; Matt 5:18; 24:35, et al)! As
all God’s Word is God’s Truth, the foundation of our faith, salvation,
doctrines, worship, service and practices, we are to learn and teach all
God’s Word, to live by all God’s Word, to grow in all God’s Word and
then defend God’s Word or contend for God’s Word. Then, we should not
neglect our daily devotion, Sunday school, Bible study and preaching of
God’s Word. I do thank God for the sound and fundamental training at
FEBC. It is true that “Without proper Bible training, the church that
relies on self-taught evangelists or missionaries will be stifled in
growth, inasmuch as the tether of their theological knowledge is short
and the ability of their preaching skills is limited” (Rev Dr
Timothy Tow, the founding principal of FEBC). Let us pray for FEBC and
may God preserve her for His Word and His Truth in these last days of
compromise and apostasy.
Our Lord’s Provision
Our Lord fully knows that without Him we
“can do nothing” (John 15:5), so when He demands us to do His Word,
His grace, power and guidance are sufficient for us as long as we humbly
trust in Him, look unto Him, and wait upon Him with our full submission
and dependence.
His Power:
How can we overcome our sinful
nature, self, worldliness and Satan as well as to live according to His
Word and to do His great commission without Christ’s power? How can we
bravely encounter the opposition and endure all the persecutions and
hardships faithfully until death without Christ’s power? How can we go
to meet people and “open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness
to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive
forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by
faith that is in me” (Acts 26:18) without Christ’s power? Oh, how we
need the Lord and His power! That is why our Lord demanded His
well-trained disciples to wait until they received power from the
Holy Spirit (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4-5, 8; 2:1-4). Thank God that the Holy
Spirit has come to be our Guide, Teacher, Comforter, and Sanctifier. All
we need to do is to submit to His control and His guidance through God’s
Word and His sovereignty and providence.
Our Lord Jesus says, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in
earth” (v 8). Thank God that our Lord has all power of choice to do
what He pleases, all power of might and ability to exercise and perform
what He has planned, and all power of authority and right and government
over Satan, all angels, all the universe, and all mankind and all
events, “Far above all principality, and power, and might, and
dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also
in that which is to come: And hath put all things under his feet, and
gave him to be the head over all things to the church” (Eph 1:21-22;
cf. Col 1:16-18). It is so comforting and encouraging for us to go out,
knowing and trusting that our Lord’s power and authority are above all.
His Presence: Moses earnestly sought for God’s presence to
be with him, “If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up
hence” (Exod 33:15).
Then, it is enough for us to trust in our Lord’s precious promise
despite all the opposition, unfavourable situations, persecutions or
trials in life and in ministry, “And lo, I am with you alway, even
unto the end of the world. Amen” (v 20), which is in the present
tense, denoting that He is ever present with us alway or all the days or
all the way until the end of the world.
Conclusion
Dear friends, as we have been saved and purchased by
our Lord Jesus’ blood, we are not our own but the Lord’s. He died for us
so that we shall not live for ourselves but for Him who died for us and
rose again (2 Cor 5:15). God loved us and all mankind as well. Our Lord
Jesus died not only for us but also for all mankind, and He is the only
Way to God and to Heaven. It is our Lord’s great commission for us to go
and make all peoples His disciples, baptizing them in the Name of the
Triune God and teaching them to observe all His Word. May our Lord’s
love constrain us to love Him and love the lost and then to go and do
His great commission, not trusting in ourselves, but in His power and
presence until He comes back again soon. Amen.
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