Co-Mission

Matthew 28:16-20

June 5, 2016 • Mount Pleasant UMC

Mission statements are everywhere, from the boardroom to people’s personal lives. Some are simpler than others, and some companies are obviously more driven by their statements than others. But it’s fascinating nonetheless to consider what drives some of the most well-known companies on the planet. Amazon, for instance, has this as their mission statement: “To be Earth's most customer-centric company where people can find and discover anything they want to buy online.” Steve Jobs, before he died, defined Apple’s mission with these words: “To make a contribution to the world by making tools for the mind that advance humankind.” It’s not ultimately about Macs or iPads; it’s about making the world a better place. Speaking of Macs—Big Macs—here’s how McDonald’s defines their mission: “to be our customers’ favorite place and way to eat and drink…we are focused on delivering great tasting, high-quality food to our customers and providing a world-class experience that makes them feel welcome and valued.” But perhaps my favorite mission statement comes from Hallmark. We might expect them to define themselves by how many cards they sell, but that’s not the case. Hallmark has its sights set beyond cards or even those expensive ornaments you buy at Christmas. Hallmark’s mission is to create “a more emotionally connected world by making a genuine difference in every life, every day.”

Mission statements, whether in a corporation or in a personal life, guide everything we do. Or they are supposed to. Of course, mission statements are nothing new to the church. I hope you’ve heard me say over and over again that we have a mission statement in the church. If you know it, say it with me: “Making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.” Now, while that phrasing became the official mission statement of the United Methodist Church only in 2008, that’s actually the mission of the larger church that goes all the way back to the first century, to Jesus himself. (Took us a while to catch up!) It’s a mission statement that comes out of the Gospel of Matthew, and it’s a mission statement that ought to, if lived out, take our eyes off ourselves and give us a new identity once and for all.

Today we’re wrapping up our series in the Gospel of Matthew, which we’ve centered around the question of identity. In a world that relies on “selfies” and “likes” to find affirmation, Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew has a very different idea of who we are. Our lives are to be rooted in him, not in what others think of us. And, as I’ve reminded you along the way, that was a very important message for these first-century readers who were finding their faith marginalized, who were in danger of forgetting who they were. Perhaps it’s just as important for us today, because we, too, live in a world where our faith is increasingly marginalized. In a culture that we used to think was Christian or at least sympathetic and open to Christian faith, we now find ourselves living in a world where almost anything except Christian belief is accepted. And that’s not just the rantings of a preacher. New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, who is not a Christian, recently wrote of his shock when he took to Facebook to ask about conservative Christian viewpoints and his readership compared such persons to “idiots,” among other things. His article was titled, “A Confession of Liberal Intolerance.” In addition, black, evangelical sociologist George Yancey says he faces more discrimination for his Christian beliefs than he does for the color of his skin (http://www.breakpoint.org/bpcommentaries/entry/13/29311). We’re finding we live in a world not that different from the first century; we, too, need a reminder of who we are in Christ, and of what our mission is. And that’s exactly what Matthew gives us at the very end of his Gospel.

Now, if you’re following the reading plan, this week you’ll read through the critical last week of Jesus’ life: his arrest, his crucifixion and his resurrection. I’m not focusing on those events in worship not because they’re not important, but because we just spent the Lenten season looking at that part of Jesus’ life in depth. But, for the sake of context, we have to remember that the passage we read this morning takes place at some point in the days after Jesus’ resurrection. As Matthew tells it, Jesus had appeared to the women near the tomb on that first Easter and told them to tell the disciples to go to Galilee, where he will meet them. That’s a several-days journey, and even if they left right away and hurried, it would probably take them at least a week to get there (Card, Matthew: The Gospel of Identity, pg. 250). While they are headed north, the religious leaders make up a story that Jesus’ body was stolen (28:11-15), but the disciples don’t care about that. They are eager to see Jesus. And so they go to Galilee, to a mountain. Matthew doesn’t tell us which mountain, but remember what I told you a few weeks ago: important events in Matthew always happen on a mountain. The precise location isn’t so important; it’s the fact that just as God spoke to Moses on a mountain, now Jesus speaks to his followers from a mountain (cf. Wright, Matthew for Everyone: Part Two, pg. 205). And in this brief but important encounter, we learn three final things about who we are, or about who Jesus longs for us to become.

The first thing we notice in this passage is that even in the midst of these eleven disciples, there is a combination of worship and doubt. Matthew says that in verse 17. Even after all they have been through with Jesus—three years of teaching, miracles, healings, his crucifixion and his resurrection—there is still some doubt in their hearts. And to those first readers who are having trouble hanging onto their faith in the face of persecution, to those who might even have been tempted to give up on their faith, this is a reminder that you can have faith and doubt all at the same time. Doubt is not the opposite of faith; unbelief is. As one author put it, “Doubt is necessary in order for us to truly believe, [so] perhaps it is a good thing” (Card 251). I know that, in my own experience, the more I have come to know Jesus, the more times I find I have questions. I don’t doubt God’s existence, but there are times when I wonder what in the world he ever sees in me, or if he can really use me. I wonder why he lets injustices in the world go on, why babies starve to death at night or why they are abused by their parents. I don’t understand some of the ways people who claim to be believers treat each other, and I don’t understand things like disease, depression, war and genocide. (Some of these sorts of questions we’re going to tackle during July.) And yet, in the midst of those questions, or doubts if you want to call them that, I find that my faith in Christ is stronger than its ever been. My trust that he will make all things right one day continues to grow—especially as I realize my powerlessness to do so. I have to let go, give up my control, and allow Jesus to work through me, through us. Doubt can, if allowed to, propel us into even greater faith. The persistence of doubt is no threat to true faith, because even those with doubt there on the mountain were still welcomed and commissioned by Jesus to go and change the world.

The second thing that happens in this passage is that they are sent on a mission; they are given a task. For most of us, this is probably a familiar passage. These verses are known commonly as “The Great Commission.” The job the disciples are given is found in verses 19-20 (let’s read these verses together): “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, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” These disciples are, from here on out, to be known as “sent ones,” which is what the word “apostle” means. But do you know that, in this commission, there is only one verb? In English translations, it looks like there are four verbs, but in the original text there is only one action verb and the other three describe how to do that action. Many devotionals and even commentaries get this wrong, because we assume the verb here is “go.” It is not. The verb here is “make disciples.” That is our primary task—which is why our mission statement is, say it with me again, “Making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.” Our primary task is to make disciples, help people come to know Jesus and learn to follow him. Sometimes we’ve forgotten that last part; we think we’re done when we get people to ask Jesus into their hearts and lives. But that’s only the first step. Or we think we’re done when they become members of the church; that’s not even close. Making disciples is a life-long process, a transformation into the likeness of Jesus. We are meant to become, to use C. S. Lewis’ famous phrase, “little Christs.” Lewis put it this way in Mere Christianity: the Church “exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time.”

We accomplish that by doing three things: going, baptizing and teaching. Jesus didn’t say, “Sit and wait for them to come to you.” He told the disciples that part of making new disciples was to go to them, take the message to them. Go—yet the trend of the church in America over the last 75 years has been to sit and wait. Build it and they will come…except that only worked in a 1980s movie set in an Iowa cornfield. It doesn’t work for churches anymore (cf. Miller & McKenzie, Bounty, pg. 61). When I came here almost a year ago, I was told by several of you how you felt the ReBuild was a good thing in that it shook us up as a congregation. You felt we had gotten comfortable in the beautiful building God had given us, and when we lost that building, it reminded us of who we are and what we’re about. Now, though, we’ve been back in this worship center for 11 weeks, and I’ve already had people asking me if I think we’ve gotten comfortable again. My response is usually, “I don’t know.” But it’s possible. It’s easy to get comfortable with what we have, but as author Michael Green says, “The Christian Church must never degenerate into the comfortable club for the like-minded” (300). It would have been easy for the disciples to get comfortable with what they had. In John’s Gospel, Peter even tries going back to fishing after the resurrection (cf. John 21:3) because it was comfortable. Jesus didn’t call us to comfort. He didn’t call us to sit here and wait. He called us to go and reach those who don’t know him yet. The word for “all nations” usually has the connotation of “the unreached world, those who don’t know yet” (cf. Green, Matthew for Today, pg. 299). One of my favorite television shows is because it’s all about going. Listen to these (perhaps) familiar words.

VIDEO: “Star Trek” Opening

That ought to be the passion of the church: boldly going where no one has gone before. Boldly going where people need Jesus. Boldly going because our commander in chief calls us to go rather than sit. One of the things we’ll be working on the next few months to help that happen here is restructuring our leadership. I had a friend tell me a couple of years ago that we Methodists have so many meetings we don’t have time to do ministry. You know what? Though I chuckled at the time, I’ve realized he was right. We’re going to be doing some work on that in the coming months so that we can stop doing so many meetings and start doing more ministry.

We’re also called to be baptizing and teaching. Baptism represents beginnings, initiation, the start of a Christian life. And teaching represents how we continue to grow in our life as believers. The theological terms for these are justification and sanctification—being made right with God and growing in love with God. So making disciples isn’t a “one and done” thing. It’s a lifelong process of growth, discovery, learning and sharing. But becoming a disciple is not just about our own personal growth. Becoming a disciple involves also making disciples.

These eleven gathered on the mountain in Galilee were anything but ready to take on a task this large. They knew so very little and had only spent three years with Jesus. They were still trying to sort out what it all meant, this crucifixion and resurrection business. And yet, these are the ones Jesus calls to make more disciples. They’re the ones he chose to go, baptize and teach so that others could become little Christs. And that’s just what they did. In AD 25, no one outside of a small town in Galilee had heard of Jesus. By AD 50, there were riots because of him in the center of the empire, in Rome. By AD 65, his followers were being persecuted by the emperor himself (Wright 209). All because of this small band of followers. We know Peter took the Gospel all the way to Rome. Tradition tells us Andrew preached in what today is Russia, Thomas went to India, Philip went to northern Africa, Matthew went to Ethiopia, Bartholomew went to southern Arabia, James to Syria, and Simon to Persia. Every one of them, according to church history, were killed for their faith, except for John, who went to modern-day Turkey, was exiled to Patmos for a while, and eventually died very old in the city of Ephesus. These eleven unschooled, unprepared men went to the ends of the earth and turned it upside down. We have no excuse for not at least reaching our own community. We are sent on a mission. And we shouldn’t be surprised by the mission he gives us; after all, we have prayed that prayer he gave us back in chapter 6, where we say, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (6:10). To see his kingdom (his reign) come, we must make disciples (cf. Wright 207).

But we are not sent alone, and that’s the third thing we need to notice in this passage. The very last words of Jesus in this Gospel are these: “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (28:20). That promise takes us all the way back to the beginning of Matthew’s Gospel, where Jesus is said to be “Immanuel (which means ‘God with us’)” (1:23; cf. Card 251). Jesus is reiterating that promise, reminding his disciples that he is not sending them alone on this mission. It’s a co-mission; he goes with them. No matter what happens to them, he will be with them. And he goes with us still today. No matter what happens to us as we make disciples, he is with us. And if he is with us, there is no need to fear.

And, in many ways, these final words of Jesus perfectly sum up the Gospel. Jesus’ desire is to be with us (cf. Card 251). That’s why he came. That’s why he healed and that’s why he taught. That’s why he died. That’s why he rose again. His deepest desire is to be with us, and so Jesus came and made a way for that to happen. So here’s the final “selfie” question for you: knowing Jesus is with you, in what way will you make disciples? We all have a ministry. The opportunities are as varied as the personalities that make up this congregation. There are, of course, many opportunities to make disciples through the various ministries that happen here. Celebrate Recovery, LifeGroups, children’s and youth ministries are all busy making disciples, reaching those who don’t yet know Jesus and helping those who do to grow up in the faith. The Preschool will be opening again this fall to reach children in the community not only with quality education but in a clearly faith-filled atmosphere. And there are other ways we are called to make disciples. Parents, you have a first responsibility to make disciples of your children; that is your most important calling, especially when your children are little. Live out the faith in front of them, let them see you reading your Bible, pray with them, share what Jesus means to you in a way they can understand it. Grandparents, some of you may be filling that role with your grandchildren, being that example of faith in Jesus for them. I had a mother several years ago tell me she had been wondering if she was doing a good job at that, and then one evening, she pulled into the parking lot at church for a Bible study and her youngest cried out from the back, “We’re home!” She said that either meant they were at church too much or that her kids knew how important her faith is to her. Maybe both, but nonetheless, she took that disciple making of her kids seriously. So should we.

There are also opportunities in our community. Do you go to the same places every day? Maybe you get your coffee the same place every morning, or you pump gas the same place or you eat lunch in the same place every day. Do those people who see you day in and day out have any idea that you believe in and love Jesus? I get teased about going to Starbucks every day, but this is one of the reasons I do it: as I become more and more a regular, a certain comfort level emerges and faith eventually becomes a comfortable topic. I’ve seen it happen before and even once developed a bit of a “flock” at Starbucks. Get to know the people you frequent, and see every one of those places as a mission field where Jesus has sent you. You see, this is who you are. That’s what Matthew has ultimately been trying to tell us. We are more than flesh and bone. We are more than workers and homebodies. We are more than church members and community members. We are the ones sent on mission with Jesus, and as long as he’s with us, nothing else matters. Not the acclaim of the crowd. Not how many likes we get. Now how we look or how we are received. This is who you are: you are a disciple of Jesus Christ called to make more disciples. You are called to making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

It’s incredibly appropriate that, as we bring this series to a close, that we gather at the communion table. We do this once a month, generally, but are we shaped by what happens here at the table? This is not just a remembrance, though we do remember. We remember Jesus’ sacrifice for our sin. We remember that he loved us enough to give his life for us. And we give thanks when we come to the table. We come with heart of gratitude. But more than that, this table ought to shape us as disciples. This bread, this cup—this is who we are. This is the ultimate “selfie” destroyer, because this bread and this cup remind us it’s not about us. It’s not about you and it’s not about me. It’s not about our comfort or our reputation. It’s about Jesus, and that’s why the communion table is so central to who we are as Christians. This bread and this cup is meant to change us so that we can change the world. So will you allow it to change you? Will you come to this table, receive these reminders of the presence of Christ, and answer his call, his co-mission? Will you give yourself to making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world? Let’s pray as we prepare to come to the table.