Bless the Whole World • Matthew 28

1:11:15 Teaching begins

Notes

Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. You would think that was the end. It was about to end crummy. But, no! Jesus is back from the dead. “They all lived happily ever after.” But it’s not a happy ending. It’s only a happy beginning. There’s much more to come.

The resurrection reveals Jesus as the Most High.

The resurrection has a most high purpose, to bless the whole world through Jesus’ disciples.

The resurrection encourages and enables by the life of the Lord Jesus Himself.

I’m reading in Matthew 28.

1. The news comes to Jesus’ disciples that He is raised from the dead. At the same time they receive His command to meet Him in Galilee.

A. Jesus’ disciples were not in a good state emotionally. They were still grappling that He was dead. Jesus performed hundreds if not thousands of miracles of healing. He spoke like no other man ever spoke. He taught words of eternal life. And then He was rejected, condemned, and put to death in the most gruesome and degrading way possible. Mary and the other women were there at the tomb of Jesus to anoint Him for burial. Death is the end of hope.

B. Against everything we know in experience, Jesus rose from the dead. This angel who rolled away the stone did not free Jesus; He was already gone.

C. The angel gives them a command from Jesus: go quickly, tell the other disciples that He is risen, and go to Galilee to meet Him.

D. While the women are on their way they meet Jesus Himself.

1. He really is alive! This is a shock in the other direction. From hopeless to He’s alive!

2. Jesus repeats His command. Go and tell My brethren to go to Galilee and they will see Me.

3. It’s already amazing that Jesus is alive from the dead. It’s great for Him, it’s great for those women who knew Him and loved Him—we haven’t lost Him, He’s back! He’s safe!

4. But there’s purpose in what Jesus is saying. The angel commanded them, and now Jesus commands them: go to Galilee.

E. If an angel commanded you, and then Jesus commanded you to go to Galilee, would you do it? He’s alive from the dead! Anything He wants!

2. Matthew skips over the meetings Jesus had in Jerusalem, and goes directly to this meeting in Galilee, eleven disciples on a mountain where Jesus told them to meet Him, verse 16.

A. This is what is called the Great Commission.

B. Jesus tells them three things.

3. The resurrection from the dead establishes Jesus as the Most High God.

A. All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.

1. This is something that Jesus was continually challenged with when He did what He did: by what name or what authority do You do these things? Who gave you authority to teach what You teach? What’s Your authority?

2. The answer is, God the Father gave Jesus authority to do and to say what He did.

3. This is a step further. Now Jesus Himself has all authority of God Himself.

B. This is shown in the Scriptures, in Daniel 7:13-14 I was watching in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed.

1. The Son of Man was Jesus’ favourite name for Himself. He was saying, I am that Son of Man that you see there, written in Scripture.

2. This place in Daniel we see Jesus being glorified after His resurrection, presented to the Ancient of Days. Here is where Jesus receives dominion, all authority in heaven and earth. He receives glory. His dominion is everlasting, all nations shall serve Him. This is it!

3. What has bothered me about this over the years is that you never see the Son of Man again in Daniel 7. Read through the chapter and you will find this is true. Not only that, you never see the Son of Man anywhere else in Scripture. God calls the prophet Ezekiel “son of man”, but obviously Ezekiel is not THE Son of Man. Daniel 7:13 alone has reference to the Son of Man, and that’s it. My problem has been if He’s that important, where did He go?

4. In verse 18 you see the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever. The saints of the Most High are mentioned again in verse 22 about possessing the kingdom. The saints of the Most High are mentioned again in verse 25 and verse 27. They are the ones who inherit the kingdom but what about the Son of Man? Aren’t they His people?

5. When you always read your Bible it’s possible at any time that God can answer your questions. Recently I was in Daniel 7 and I noticed something I never noticed before. I always assumed that the Most High was a name for the Father. He is called that in Genesis, for example. Okay, I assumed Daniel 7 is saying that the saints of the Most High are the saints of God. But on this day I noticed that the Ancient of Days and the Most High both appear in verse 22. If the Most High is another way to refer to the Father, why use two different names in the same verse? And then it hit me—the Ancient of Days and the Most High are two different persons. The Son of Man is still in Daniel 7! After the Son of Man is presented to the Ancient of Days, He is exalted above all and is known as the Most High.

C. This is taught explicitly in the New Testament. Philippians 2:8-11 (Jesus) Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

D. Jesus is on that mountain addressing His eleven disciples as the Most High God, with all authority, because He has been raised from the dead to the highest position of glory and authority.

4. The resurrection of Jesus to be the Most High leads to the highest purpose, that His resurrection would bless the whole earth.

A. Genesis 12:1-3 Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, and from your relatives and from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you; and I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing; and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

B. Peter the apostle says to the Jews that the resurrection of Jesus is what that covenant means in Acts 3:25-26 It is you who are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’ For you first, God raised up His Servant and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways.”

C. That blessing is to go further than the Jews. Isaiah 49:5-6 And now says the LORD, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, to bring Jacob back to Him, so that Israel might be gathered to Him (for I am honored in the sight of the LORD, and My God is My strength), He says, “It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also make You a light of the nations so that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

D. God’s eternal plan was to choose one man and make a nation out of him, through whom would come the Redeemer. The Redeemer pays the price for all sin, is raised from the dead, and that eternal life now is to go out to every person, to bless every person on the earth.

E. You bless the world when you make disciples for Jesus of all the nations.

1. You baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Baptism is being placed in something, so that what you put in takes on the characteristic of what you place it into. You put a cucumber into vinegar and spices, and it changes the cucumber to have those characteristics itself. It becomes a pickle and it will never again be a cucumber. It’s changed by being in a new environment. You are to put all the nations in Christ. They will take on His characteristics: His humility, His love, His patience. Doesn’t the world need that?

2. How you get them there is teach them to observe all things that Jesus commanded you. A disciple is a learner. A disciple learns who Jesus is and all that He has taught. Then that disciple teaches others so that they will receive eternal life and teach others.

3. Evangelism is teaching. You can’t believe in Jesus until you learn who He is, the Son of God, and who you are, dead in your sins, and what He’s done, die on the cross for your sins, and rise from the dead so you can receive His death and His life. So we teach everyone about Jesus and sin and judgment and salvation.

4. After a person receives Jesus Christ, people need teaching so they can grow and begin to teach others. A disciple teaches others so that they also can benefit from the death and resurrection of Jesus. Resurrection is not just for Jesus! It’s for everybody!

F. He Himself said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Jesus thought about you and died for you and rose for you so that you could die with Him and rise with Him. Then you can think about others, and pray for them and teach them so they can die with Christ and rise with Him. Resurrection is the highest purpose there is.

5. The resurrection enables Jesus’ disciples to do what He commands.

A. Do you begin to feel overwhelmed with Jesus’ authority and His command? If you take this seriously, you feel inadequate. And seriously, no one is adequate. No one has enough love for others. No one has enough perseverance when it’s difficult. No one is perfect; we do a crummy job.

B. Jesus faced every obstacle and difficulty, and He overcame them by His resurrection.

1. People criticised and opposed Him. They hated and misunderstood Him. He faced the ignorant, the unthankful, people who refused Him or said to Him, “No.” His own disciples didn’t understand what He was teaching them. His mother and family thought He was crazy. At the end He was betrayed, abandoned, He was slandered, condemned, beat up, whipped, slapped, mocked, pierced. He was thirsty and choking for air. He died. His disciples were feeling shock and permanent loss. It was over.

2. Jesus overcame death. His body was raised to glory and imperishability, it will never become old ever, not subject to decay. He overcame all criticism, all hostility, all force and government opposed to Him. Whatever power there is against Him, He has overcome it. He is the Highest One, above nations and angels and demons.

C. He says here, “I am with you always.” He enables us to overcome because of His resurrection.

1. What obstacles do we face? The same as Him—people, governments, and demons. He overcame them, and He is in us to overcome them for us.

2. And one other obstacle, one other difficulty. One other discouragement—ourselves. I get discouraged easily. Do you know that the apostles got discouraged, afraid, felt they did a crummy job for Jesus? Even the Apostle Paul. Acts 23:11 But on the night immediately following, the Lord stood at his side and said, “Take courage; for as you have solemnly witnessed to My cause at Jerusalem, so you must witness at Rome also.” Nobody became a Christian because of Paul’s testimony. He was feeling like a failure. Jesus said, “Take courage.” Jesus wouldn’t let Paul feel bad about it. Jesus will overcome for you the same as He overcame for Paul. There’s no difference. It’s the same resurrection that worked in Paul that works in you. He will overcome for you.

3. 2 Corinthians 3:5-6 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant.

6. So what?

A. First of all, believe Jesus when He says He has all authority in heaven and on earth. He is the Highest One because He rose from the dead.

B. Receive Him as your Lord and Saviour. All nations will serve Him. You start right now because He commands you with all authority. He’s offering you His death and His resurrection. Receive Him.

C. Be His disciple because He has risen from the dead. Learn of Him and teach others.

1. Everyone who has received Jesus must learn Him.

a. You do that with the Bible. Everything in the Bible is good for you. The Scriptures alone will make you equipped for every good work. Our Bible studies every Sunday and every Friday night are designed to teach you to think biblically and to grow in knowing Jesus.

b. But that’s once or twice a week. You need a daily relationship learning from Jesus. Develop your life with Jesus by reading His word, letting Him talk to you, you listen to Him. Be filled with the word of God, you will be filled with the Spirit of God.

2. The reason you must grow in knowing Jesus is so you can teach others. Jesus’ disciples are commanded to teach others. Are you teaching anyone right now? Look for opportunities, pray for opportunities, take them when Jesus gives them to you. If you don’t feel qualified, then you need to get equipped. Come to church, come to Bible study. Those times might not be convenient for you. You have some choices: you give up a lower priority activity in order to know Jesus better, or you talk to me about an alternative time. I’m happy to do whatever I can to teach people.

D. This Easter, all this week, let Jesus encourage you. He really has overcome all things. His eternal purpose is life, abundant and eternal. Giving yourself to His purposes is meant to bless you first, and then bless the whole world through you. Are you giving yourself to Him and letting Him bless you?

Let’s pray.