Good Monday to you my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends,
For those of you watching my greeting you can see a blow gun from an Indonesian tribe on the wall behind me. That and many other things in this room are from my missionary travels around the world which are all rooted in the verses we’re looking at today.
These days since Easter, we’ve been looking closely at each record in the Bible of the appearances of resurrected Jesus after His Sunday morning resurrection in Jerusalem. Yesterday we concluded having breakfast with Jesus and seven disciples on the shoreline of the Sea of Galilee. It was life changing for Peter, remember?
John concludes the story of that breakfast with this amazing comment: “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.” (John 21:25)
I love that statement. Why? Because it leaves room for us to imagine resurrected Jesus may have appeared more times which are not recorded. And Jesus probably did many more miracles than are recorded in the Gospels. And John is right, no person in history has had more books written about them than Jesus!
It may have been only a few days after that breakfast, when on a hillside overlooking that shoreline, resurrected Jesus appeared again, this time to all His disciples. Matthew was there and tells us what happened. You’ll find his record of this event in Matthew 28:16-20.
Matthew tells us Jesus had evidently told the disciples to meet Him there on this mountain side, (Matt. 28:16) and maybe it was as they were finishing that shoreline breakfast that Jesus pointed up to that mountain and told them exactly when and where to meet Him there. Matthew tells us that even though resurrected Jesus had appeared to His disciples several times over the past few weeks, still ‘some doubted’. (Matt. 28:17)
Does that surprise you my friends? This was now at least the fourth time we have record of resurrected Jesus meeting with His friends and talking with them. They could see Him, hear Him, they had touched His scars and had eaten meals with Him, yet still some doubted the resurrection of Jesus was really true, proving His true identity as Messiah, God incarnate!
Does that help you find patience with your skeptical friends who have a hard time believing in a Jesus they cannot see or touch or hear? That’s why faith is the foundation of a relationship with God, according to Hebrews 11:6 which says: “Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.” So what words would you use to describe your faith in God my friends?
On the hillside that day resurrected Jesus said to His disciples: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.” (Matt. 28:18) What does that mean to you? To me it means God the Father has entrusted to God the Son all authority over everything, everywhere, at all times.
It means Jesus can do anything He wants at anytime, anywhere in any situation. It means there is nothing Jesus cannot do. It means there is no power, human or angelic or demonic, which has any significance in the face of Jesus’ authority & power!
So why was it important the disciples hear and understand this about resurrected Jesus? Because within a few days Jesus would be leaving them, returning to heaven, and entrusting to them the privilege and responsibility of taking Jesus’ story and His Gospel message to the world.
And while they would be empowered by the Holy Spirit of God, they would be opposed by every segment of human society… Roman empire power; Jewish religious leadership power; dark kingdom demonic power; and even the power of people who didn’t want to hear about Jesus! They needed to be convinced Jesus and His unlimited authority & power was with them and leading them!
In that moment the disciples still had no idea what their future would be and that’s why Jesus then said these historic words: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations…” Jesus was sending them by and with His authority. For several months they had been disciples learning from Jesus, now Jesus was sending them to do the same with other people, who would then do the same with others, generation after generation. Pause.
Who has helped you know Jesus? Who had helped them know Jesus? That is the miracle of spiritual reproduction! And who are you helping know Jesus, and who are they helping know Jesus?
Jesus continued with two specific instructions for those 11 disciples on the hillside that day, and ALL disciples of Jesus since that day: BAPTIZE those who trust Jesus to be their Savior and TEACH them all the truth Jesus taught. Through water immersion baptism, as you know, a person is making a powerful public declaration of their allegiance to Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord (master). They are declaring they are a disciple, a follower of Jesus! And, of course, the teaching of God’s truth is so very important because God’s truth is foundational to all aspects of living life for God’s honor!
That day, on that hillside with resurrected Jesus, these 11 disciples received their daily purpose for the remainder of their lives. It was then that they understood WHY Jesus had invited each of them to follow Him, listen to Him teach, watch Him interact with all types of people, and why Jesus had given His life as an atonement sacrifice so anyone could be saved from their sin!
As the disciples got up from that hillside that day, they each had their life purpose… and in closing I ask us one simple question: is Jesus giving to you and me and ALL His followers around the world TODAY, the very same life purpose as He gave those disciples that day?
YES! And how are you and I doing with that Commission from resurrected Jesus?
So as always some ‘lessons learned’ notes are ready for you at the “Grand Narrative” link below and they notes will help you learn and live Jesus’ teachings so you can teach others in obedience to Jesus’ Great Commission for the rest of your life! And then a worship song at the end, and I’ll be here ready to walk with you to another encounter with resurrected Jesus.
Today’s Scripture: Matt. 28:16-20.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“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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