25th Anniversary Message -
Continuing in the Great Commission
Kingsley Church of Christ
14/11/2010
Intro: The Covenant signed by the founding members of Kingsley Church of Christ
What does it mean for us to continue in our rich heritage as a group of people on Mission for Jesus?
- It’s not about style or structure
How would our foundation members respond if they were to come back and find us doing what they did 25 or 20 years ago?
They’d be horrified! They founded this church to make disciples in this place at that time - a time very different to today. They followed Christ's leading in how they went about making disciples, and that's what they would expect us to continue doing.
- It’s all about Jesus!
This church is a Great Commission Church. It was founded because Christ has told us to make disciples in the places that He sends us.
Taking a Closer Look at the Commission
Let’s back up a bit and take a look at who Jesus is talking to here. It’s 11 disciples, some of whom still doubt that Jesus really is and has done all that He said.
Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. [1]
It’s not 12 disciples, one of those guys was never really one of Jesus’ followers, and Jesus knew that from the start. But others messed up badly along the way – think of Peter’s denials of Christ for example – but yet they still belonged to Him. Never think that your mess-ups ever disqualify you as a disciple. Sometimes we think that surely God must be fed up with us this time. Jesus shows such patience with these guys in restoring them and loving them despite their failings. He does the same with us.
So talking to a bunch of guys who are very much like you and I, Jesus says:
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”
Those of who attend here regularly may remember a few months ago we looked at one of the titles that Jesus loved to use of Himself: “Son of Man”.
We looked at the origin of that title and found that Jesus was referring to the fact that He is the one that God showed to the prophet Daniel in a vision which is recorded in Daniel 7
Daniel 7:9-10
“As I looked, thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was as white as snow;
the hair of his head was white like wool. His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze. A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before him. Thousands upon thousands attended him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The court was seated, and the books were opened.”
These verses speak of a time when God will judge the earth and bring our rebellion against Him to an end.
This is the part where Jesus comes in…
Daniel 7:13-14
“In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.”
Jesus has already described Himself as the Son of Man, so when He says “All authority has been given to me”, he’s saying that this prophecy has already been fulfilled.
The Apostle Paul explains this for us in
Philippians 2:6-11 says of Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
7 but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Two words that we often use to describe Jesus are “Saviour” and “King”. Both can be seen in this passage. Jesus humbled Himself to the point of being our scapegoat. He took on Himself our sin and the punishment for our sin. He endured death for our sake so that all who believe in Him can receive from Him forgiveness and reconciliation with God. He is our Saviour.
Having achieved that for us by His death on the cross God the Father raised Him to life again and gave Him the position of King over all creation. God the Father ruled that everyone should worship His Son, and in this the Father also receives great pleasure and glory.
But not everyone is convinced.
Years after Jesus returned to heaven there were plenty of people who said things like “Where is this King you said would return one day?”
“You say that Jesus is Lord of all creation, and that every knee will bow and every tongue confess that it is so…when’s that likely to happen?”
“Things go on as they always have. There is no God, and if there are gods they aren’t all that worried about us.”
The Apostle Peter in response to this made three important points.
- God looks at time completely differently to the way we do. To God a thousand years is like a day and a day like a thousand years. God is outside the limitations of time, so it’s pointless to think of time affecting Him the way it affects us.
- God is holding off the day of judgement because He loves us, and He wants to give more people the opportunity to receive His offer of forgiveness of sins and eternal life in Jesus.
- When Jesus returns it will be sudden and unexpected. It will be too late to get ready, you need to be ready.
(1 Peter 3:8-10)
The Bible is very clear on this point: everyone will meet Jesus as King one day. Every tongue will confess that He is Lord.
Right now we have a chance to meet Jesus as our Saviour. This is not compulsory. This is an offer of grace.
Those who know Jesus as Saviour can live for Him as King. We know that when we meet Him face to face we will be welcomed into His eternal kingdom
Listen to what the Apostle John wrote as he was given a vision describing a future heavenly scene:
Revelation 5:9-10
“You [Jesus] are worthy to take the scroll
and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.
10 You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.”
Jesus takes the scroll, which is a picture of the title deeds to the Earth. He is now taking possession of what is rightfully His. He is about to come and judge the earth and bring all things under the authority that was given to Him by the Father when He rose from the grave.
Why the delay? Because He was allowing time for people from every tribe and language and people and nation to be brought into His kingdom as they received eternal life won by His death on the cross for them.
As the story unfolds in the book of Revelation we discover the fate of those who have not accepted Jesus as their Saviour. Jesus will judge them according to what they have done, and we have all fallen short of God’s standards. We have all sinned, and the wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23). Eternal death is separation from the life and goodness of God in Hell. Rebellion against God leads to being shut out from His presence, and that is a far more terrible thing than most people realize.
So as I hope you have seen, when Jesus says “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me”, there’s a lot to that.
It’s only natural that He should then go on to say:
19 Therefore 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 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age
He’s been given all authority. He’s holding off using it to give people a chance to accept Him willingly. So He tells His followers to get busy! Wherever He sends them He wants them to be making disciples. That’s why this church was founded. People in this area said “We need to be making disciples in the place God has sent us”. Those a bit further away said “We need to go to that area to help make disciples there”. That’s what the covenant was all about.
Notice that Jesus doesn’t say: “Go and get people to pray a prayer of faith so that I will forgive them accept them in my kingdom and they can move on happily with their lives knowing that Heaven is waiting for them”.
Jesus says: “Go and make disciples”.
He doesn’t say “Go make disciples for yourselves”. That would be the normal Jewish practice. The best of Jesus’ disciples might become rabbi’s themselves and would assemble a group of disciples around them.
Christian churches and leaders often seem to do that. We seem to be more concerned with what leader you follow or what church you attend than anything else. We make allegiances to particular ways of doing church as if one way is better than all the others.
Our allegiance is only to the One to whom all authority has been given. I really like the fact that we call ourselves a “Church of Christ” because it makes it pretty clear who owns us and who we follow. May we live up to our name!
Jesus says there are two essential parts to making disciples: baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; and teaching them to obey everything He has commanded.
Baptism is important because it expresses everything about our salvation. It tells the story of our turning from our old way of life to follow Jesus. It tells the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection. It tells the story of how we have been cleansed from sin and freed from death and we live eternally as new creations in Jesus.
If you have experienced these things but not expressed them publicly through baptism, then you need to be baptised. If you are a Christian then be baptised. I’d love to talk to you further about that – speak to me afterward or make a note on your response card and we’ll follow that up.
Secondly we need to teach people to obey everything Jesus has commanded. We teach by proclaiming and explaining the Bible, and by demonstrating in our lives what it can look like to obey it in this time and place.
These are the things that the Kingsley Church of Christ was established to do.
We haven’t always done them well, but it’s what we strive to hold ourselves to.
That’s where the last phrase is so encouraging. Jesus says: “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age”
Jesus has given us His Spirit to live inside us, changing us, growing us to be more like Him. To be “Christ-ones” in more than just name. He teaches us through our failures, and refines us to be more like Christ and more effective in our service to Him.
There’s a few challenges that I want to leave you with today:
If you are a Christian I want you to rediscover the authority of Christ in your life today.
Too many of us lose sight of who Jesus really is, because we can’t see that Heavenly scene where He is seated at the right hand of God the Father. Remember the urgency of making disciples while there is still time. Don’t get caught up in small issues, don’t give your loyalty to people or particular ways of doing things – your loyalty is to Jesus. Don’t get hung up on what others may have done or not done – they are not the ones you will answer to.
The leadership group of this church are quite excited about what we sense Jesus is commanding us as a group to do over the next six months in particular in order to do a better job of making disciples. It’s taken us a fair while with lots of prayer and discussion to get to the point where we will share some plans with the church next weekend. It’s taken that time because we want to be sure that it’s Jesus we’re following and not our own ambitions, preferences or fears.
Jesus is our authority, and He has told us to make disciples. How clearly do people around you see that you serve Jesus? How clearly do we see in our church that Jesus is in charge?
Sometimes the decisions we must make in order to do a better job of making disciples are difficult decisions. Sometimes Christians get offended with each other or get their feathers ruffled when churches change they way they do things in order to better connect with their community or better train believers for ministry.
Sometimes Christians have a hard time agreeing on the best way to go about things even when they agree about what they’re trying to achieve.
That’s all part of the journey, and the only way to avoid it is to do nothing. The great thing is that the Bible tells us how to navigate through all of those minefields.
If you are not yet a follower of Jesus, I want you to discover who Jesus is and can be to you.
He can be the One who takes away all your guilt in the sight of God, who knows all your secrets.
He can be the One who gives you eternal life which is beyond anything that this life has to offer.
He can be the One who gives you peace in the midst of uncertainty, joy in the midst of sorrow, hope that drives out despair.
He can give your life purpose and significance beyond your small dreams.
He can make you come alive.
Remember that this offer is free and it’s because of God’s love for you. You can’t earn it, you just accept it.
Remember that we don’t know how long you have to receive Jesus as your Saviour and King. He is coming soon, but we don’t know how soon. When He comes or when your life on this earth ends, it is too late. Accept Him today.
[1]All Scriptures from The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
