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Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends, I hope you’ll have a great weekend and these reflections from God’s Word will help you.
Does Easter seem along time ago for you? It’s been over 30 days, after all. . .
Imagine what it must have been like for Mary, Jesus’ mother, or Mary Magdalene, who saw the risen Jesus and heard Him call her name, or John and Peter, who were the first to disciples to see the empty tomb.
Imagine what it must have been like for Mary, Jesus’ mother, or Mary Magdalene, who saw the risen Jesus and heard Him call her name, or John and Peter, who were the first to disciples to see the empty tomb.
Let’s gather together this weekend, with the disciples and maybe some of the women, on a hillside in the Galilee, probably overlooking the Sea of Galilee. I suspect it might have been Sunday, perhaps about 5 weeks after that Passover/Easter weekend. We know they had been together that Easter evening, when the risen Jesus first appeared to them (John 20), and they’d been together again the following Sunday evening, when Thomas was with them and Jesus appeared to them again. We also know that early Christians gathered on the first day of the week (Sunday) each week to honor the memory of that unique event, the resurrection of Jesus, as they worshiped and prayed together. So I suspect it may have been Sunday when the event that Matthew records for us in Matthew 28:18-20 took place. You may have heard it referred to as ‘the Great Commission’.
You’ll recall most of the disciples and women who were close friends of Jesus lived in the small towns of Galilee… Nazareth, Cana, Capernaum, and Bethsaida. So I presume they saw each other often, and probably Jesus was the main topic of conversation when ever they encountered one another, in the weeks after that Passover/Easter. Can’t you just hear them… “Shalom my friend, how are you these days? Have you seen Him…Jesus? Has any of our group seen Him? If so, where, when, how, what did He say? When do you think we’ll see Him again? Has anyone had any word from Jesus as to what He wants us to be doing now?. . .” I don’t think that’s a stretch in my imagination, do you?
Matthew tells us the disciples, and I am presuming some of the women, were together again on the hillside in Galilee when suddenly Jesus,the risen Jesus, showed up! We don’t know if He just appeared, or if He came walking up the path… but here He is, among His friends again, and of course they are startled. Note carefully what Matthew records for us: “When they saw Him, they worshiped Him, but some doubted.“ (Matt. 28:17) Now, what do you think of that my friends? Remember, this isn’t just any ordinary group of people…these are Jesus’ closest friends, ‘but some doubted.’ Does that frustrate you or confuse your or does it encourage you, that even though they had all seen the risen Jesus before, still some doubted?
The resurrection of Jesus is the cornerstone of our Christian faith, yet it is preposterous in our normal human experience isn’t it? Just like the miraculous incarnation of God, in the normal human birth of baby Jesus, is preposterous. But my friends, let’s not minimize God by insisting that everything happen in ways that we fully understand or ways that fit nicely into our human experience. No, Jesus is GOD and let’s stand in awe of Him and celebrate that JESUS has the authority, the power, the right as God, to do anything He wants, at anytime, in anyplace, and in anyway He chooses…and we are invited to applaud and appreciate that GOD is majestic and beyond our full comprehension.
Let’s look carefully at what Matthew records happened on that hillside that day… “Then Jesus said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.” Do you remember John begins his explanation of that Thursday evening Passover meal by writing “…Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under His power and that He had come from God and was returning to God…”? (John 13:3) Jesus’ statement of full authority is important. He’s reminding His friends of His true identity, ‘Immanuel’, God among us and that nothing is beyond His authority or His power.
The Apostle Paul wrote to the Colossian Christians that Jesus Christ is fully God and “…by Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities, all things were created by Him (Jesus) and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning, and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy…” (Col. 1:13-20)
Two quick comments of explanation on this: First, the words ‘thrones, powers, rulers, authorities’ are understood by most Bible scholars to be titles of ranks or classifications of angels. Second, the phrase ‘firstborn from among the dead’ means Jesus is the first to be resurrected from the dead with an immortal body, just as ALL human beings will be eventually resurrected with immortal bodies, and in those bodies we will either experience endless joy and delight in God’s presence or endless torment in hell.
Now why, do you suppose, Jesus would make this statement to His friends, about His unlimited authority both in heaven and on earth? May I suggest because He knew He would, in a few days, be returning to heaven and once there, would be elevated to the highest place of authority over all in the spiritual world of heaven and hell. Remember Paul wrote about that in Philippians 2:6-11… “Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus ever knee shall bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.” Therefore anything that happens in heaven, on earth or in hell (under the earth) is under the ultimate authority of the Risen Lord Jesus Christ…at all times, in all places! Amen! That includes right now my friends. Jesus has the authority to do anything He wants at any time, any where… including where you and I live, work, play and worship. It also means Jesus has full authority over Satan and the demons everywhere,always! Remember that the next time you feel under spiritual attack.
Now let me give you an accurate paraphrase of what Jesus said next to His friends on that Galilee hillside, recorded in Matthew 28:19,20 “Therefore, as you are walking the normal journey of your lives, make disciples of all peoples, baptizing them them in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything you have learned from Me. And you may be assured, that I will be with you always, even to the end of the age.” It’s important I help us understand and own several things in this very powerful statement from the risen Jesus…
First, Jesus intends this statement for EVERY person who trusts Him for their salvation. He intends that all of us live our lives everyday, ‘walking with Jesus’ and influencing every person we know or meet to know Jesus, as a normal outflow of our everyday normal living.
Second, ‘make disciples’ simply means we help other people know Jesus as well as we do and then urge them to keep growing spiritually as a true and consistent follower of Jesus. As you perhaps know, you can only lead someone where you have been, you can only teach someone what you know. It’s like parenting isn’t it? So, obviously that means you and I have to prioritize growing our relationship with Jesus, our understanding of God’s Truth the Bible, if we are going to help other people know Jesus! Right? So, how’s your passion and priority for your personal spiritual growth? Are you growing as fast as you can, like an athlete in training?
Thirdly, ‘baptizing them’ means just what it says! Baptism by immersion in water, is a public event with profound importance for anyone who has trusted Jesus Christ to be their Savior. It is the opportunity for a person to tell their story of their relationship with Jesus, confidently proclaiming their faith in Jesus Christ for their salvation. As they are then plunged into the water, they are associating themselves with the death and burial of Jesus. A symbolic action which declares their confidence that Jesus died for their sin.
As they are raised up out of the water they are associating themselves with the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. A symbolic action which declares their confidence that Jesus rose from the dead victorious over sin, Satan and death and they too will one day be raised with Christ in a glorified body to spend eternity with Him. And as the water runs down their bodies, it’s symbolic of the blood of Jesus shed for the forgiveness of their sin. Baptism does not save us from our sin, Jesus does, but our baptism is a public celebration of Jesus death, burial, resurrection and His blood applied to us for our Salvation. Do you understand that my friends?
Fourthly, do you see Jesus entrusting to His friends a very important privilege and responsibility? “teaching them to obey all I have commanded you.” These close friends of Jesus were to teach everyone they could, everything they could possibly remember, from all they had seen and heard from Jesus! At least two of them sitting on that hillside that day felt a stirring that the Holy Spirit wanted them to pick up a stylus and write Jesus’ story… Matthew and John. My friends, we need to own this. You and I have the whole Bible in our language and Jesus is urging us to develop a huge appetite for God’s Word, so we can then teach others what we are learning from God’s Word. May I suggest this may be the most important things you can ever teach someone!
And finally, do you see Jesus promised He would BE with them, His friends, till the end of the age. Now we know only a few days later Jesus returned to heaven where He is today. So how can He be in heaven and here at the same time? That is the miracle of the Holy Spirit of God! He, the Spirit of Jesus, is here with us, and living in us, all of us, who have trusted Jesus to be our Savior and Lord. Jesus promised “I will ask the Father and He will send you another Counselor to be with you forever the Spirit of Truth…you know Him for He lives in you.” (John 14:16,17)
One last thing… Jesus spoke about ‘the end of the age’. What age? This age my friends, the age of God’s grace. This ‘age of grace’ began with that Passover/Easter weekend when Jesus paid the full price for God to be able to forgive our sin. And this age will continue until Jesus binds Satan and throws him forever into hell and the final judgment takes place, when all who have ever been granted salvation by God are brought into heaven with Him, and all who have NEVER trusted God for their salvation are sent to hell for all eternity. That scene is described vividly in Revelation chapter 20. The ‘age of grace’ means, this time in which God is willing to forgive sin and redeem a person from sin bondage, is temporary. It will only last until the events of Revelation 20, and only God knows when He will decide that time has come. (Matt. 24:36)
Therefore my friends, this powerful experience,that we’ve had, on the Galilee hillside, when the risen Jesus met with His close friends, is also our ‘great commission’. If you have trusted Jesus to be your Savior, you can put yourself among those sitting on that hillside that day and receive those words from Jesus as your commission from Jesus, for the rest of your life, just as much as they did! This redefines God’s purpose for everyday that remains in each of our lives, isn’t that right? And we live each day empowered by His authority, motivated by His love for us and our world. Oh I hope you have a great day today, and every day, ‘walking with Jesus’. Let’s just sit there with these friends of Jesus, and let Jesus words penetrate deeply into our souls today.
I have a song for you to ponder… it’s a song of reality in how to ‘walk’ in the truth of this Great Commission when living in our complex world today. here’s the link…
Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Click to read today’s chapter: Matthew 28:17-20. (At the top you can choose a different translation.)
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Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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