Would you open up your Bibles now
and would you read with me
Matthew chapter 28?
Robin's going to put it up on the screen behind me
if she hasn't already.
Children, rooted.
Children, please go to your King's Kids classes.
Thank you for getting up and leaving first to remind me.
You need to know your cues.
This is our risen Lord Jesus speaking.
Would you give Him your full attention?
And Jesus came and said to them,
all authority in heaven and on earth
has been given to me.
Go, therefore.
And make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
And behold,
I am with you
always
to the end of the age.
May God bless the reading of His Word.
If I polled all of you right now
and asked you,
do you believe in the Great Commission?
Yes or no?
I'm guessing most everybody in the room would say,
yes,
I believe
that Jesus has sent His disciples
to go to the nations and make disciples.
But we all know there's this gap
between what we profess
and what we practice.
So here's the question.
This is to put some dissonance in you.
Why are there so many people
who profess
to be disciples of Jesus,
who agree with the Great Commission,
and yet they are not actively
carrying out the Great Commission?
They're not moving people towards Jesus.
Why is it
that people aren't moving people
towards Jesus very purposely?
Now why is that?
The elders of Christ the King Church
have spent over a year
wrestling with this question.
And first with regard to ourselves.
This book that we've been referencing a lot,
The Vine Project,
phase two
is to evaluate yourself
in light of all of these convictions
that we've been walking through.
And each and every one of our elders
has evaluated themselves
and seen the gap
between our profession and our practice.
Phase two of The Vine Project
is evaluating the church.
We've seen a gap
between our profession
of the Great Commission
and the practice
of the Great Commission.
There's a disconnect.
There's a disconnect
between what we say is true
and living out that truth.
There's a disconnect
between saying we believe
in these words of Jesus
and actually obeying them.
It's the difference
that I've been trying to describe
as the difference
between a biblical affirmation,
yes that's true,
and a biblical conviction.
I must act on that truth.
Last week I shared the story
of watching in Ocean City
as a young man
the building of a boardwalk,
of a sledgehammer
driving down a wood pylon
through the sand
all the way down to bedrock.
And multiple of these pylons
were driven down
and there's this interconnected
boardwalk built on top.
Brothers and sisters,
we're not building a boardwalk.
We're building a church culture
of disciple making.
And that culture
is built upon
these biblical convictions
that we've been working through.
Conviction one,
why make disciples?
And for that conviction,
we have a diagram.
Are you with me?
Is that up?
Remember this diagram?
Conviction one,
why make disciples?
There is first and foremost
the triune God,
Father, Son, Holy Spirit
who is reigning over all things.
And then,
there is this big plan
for the fullness of time.
And at the end of that plan,
all things,
God is moving all things
to that day
where Jesus sits upon His throne.
And He's going to judge
all people everywhere.
That's Matthew 25.
At the center of this plan,
remember this is a Christocentric plan,
is the cross.
And it's this cross
through which God
is pouring out grace
upon sinners.
This plan
is not just Christocentric,
it's a people-moving plan.
Do you remember this?
We've got people,
oh man,
I'm getting bad.
We've got people
living in the DOD,
not the Department of Defense,
the domain of darkness,
running away from God.
And God,
in His mercy
and His grace,
is calling people
and flipping them
by His grace,
God's power to save
through the cross of Jesus.
And He's flipping people
and giving them new life.
And now they run together
for Jesus.
this is the
kingdom of light.
It's a people-moving plan.
It's a disciple-making plan.
And we also know
that God,
through this plan,
is making worshipers
all around the throne
from every tribe,
tongue,
and nation
in the world.
And He's doing that right now.
He's doing it right now.
People praising Him,
surrounding Him in glory.
It starts even now
in us.
This group of people
right here,
that's us.
Those who've been
called by God's grace
to follow Jesus,
to lay down
our lives daily,
to learn from Jesus,
to live for Jesus,
to become like Jesus
because we love Him.
So conviction number one,
why make disciples?
God's got a huge plan.
And He's carrying it right now
all around the world.
and He's flipping those
who are running away from Him
and transferring from
the dominion of darkness
and transferring them
into the kingdom
of His beloved Son.
That's conviction one.
We get to join God
in His work.
Conviction two,
what is a disciple?
Mark chapter eight.
Jesus says,
if anyone would come after me,
He must,
He must
lay down His life,
take up His cross,
and follow me.
We lay down our lives
in order to learn from,
live for,
become like Jesus
all because we love Him.
Conviction three,
how do we make disciples?
That's the four Ps.
The proclamation of God's Word,
the prayerful dependence
on the Holy Spirit,
people are God's fellow workers,
we're all in this together,
your conversion
was your commissioning,
as well as the final P,
perseverance step by step.
Hey, making disciples
is hard work.
It takes time and effort,
long suffering.
Conviction four is,
who makes disciples?
I pointed you to Ephesians 4,
11 through 16.
We do.
Remember,
going to the Christ the King Church
website,
you click on the
Christ the King Church
ministry staff,
and it's person after person,
the regular attenders
and members of this church.
Y'all are God's ministry staff
here at Christ the King Church.
We are equipping the saints
for the works of ministry.
Conviction five,
where are disciples made?
That's the last conviction.
That's the last conviction
of this series
at the heart
of the revision series.
It's where are disciples made?
And if you're following along
in your notes
on your bulletin,
we're now at
revision conviction five,
the claim.
Here it is.
It's nine words.
Wherever there are disciples,
there must be disciple making.
Wherever there are disciples,
there must be disciple making.
Wherever there is the church,
a community of disciples,
there must be moving people
towards Jesus,
non-Christians and Christians alike.
And so this morning,
I want to show you
the four greats
coming out of the Great Commission
in Matthew chapter 28,
18 through 20.
So if you now would look back
to Matthew 28,
our review is over.
Let's get into God's Word
so that we can see
where disciples are to be made.
wherever there are disciples,
there must be disciple making.
Number one,
the first great,
His great authority over us.
We see this in chapter 28,
18,
all authority in heaven and earth
has been given to me.
Those are the words of Jesus.
After Jesus has been raised
from the dead,
He has gathered His disciples
to speak His final words
before His ascension.
We all know the importance
of final words, right?
Central to these final words
is a command in verse 19.
It's the command,
make disciples.
That's the heartbeat
of the Great Commission.
But here in verse 18,
Jesus prefaces that command
with something that's very important.
It's an appeal to His authority.
What is authority?
Well, this is a little roughshod,
but authority is the right
to tell you what to do
and expect you to obey it.
That's what authority is.
The right to require something
of your life.
And Jesus has all authority
in heaven and earth.
He can require all of your life.
Our government has the authority
and right to require its citizens
to pay taxes
and penalize you if you don't.
Our city's police officers
have the right to pull you over
if you're speeding
and write a ticket for you.
If you're an employee,
your employer has the right
to require job performance of you
and pay you accordingly.
Growing up,
our parents had the right
to tell us to make our beds,
to bathe,
to finish our vegetables,
to be considerate of our siblings
and spank us if we didn't.
In all of these examples,
it's a limited authority.
When you look at the scope
of Jesus' authority,
all authority in heaven
and on earth
has been given to me.
What you need to realize,
He has full and complete authority
over all of creation.
He has the right to require
His will to be done
from everyone and everything.
I don't think there's a better picture
of His authority
than the throne.
In Matthew chapter 25,
Jesus pictures Himself
as this King on the throne
at the end of time
on that day
and all of His angels
assemble before Him
every person that has ever lived
on the face of the earth
and He judges them
and separates them
as the sheep from the goat.
Do you know what that's a picture of?
Authority.
authority.
He has the right
to judge all.
All will give an account to Him.
In 2 Corinthians 5.10,
it's true of us Christians.
Paul says,
For we must all appear
before the judgment seat of Christ
so that each one
may receive what is due
for what he has done in the body,
whether good or evil.
When Jesus prefaces a command
with this appeal
to all of His authority
in terms of the last words
before He ascends,
you've got to realize
whatever He's going to say next
in terms of His command,
it is super important
to the risen Jesus.
It's of utmost importance.
And you've got to feel
the weight of His authority.
Jesus has unlimited right
to require our total obedience
to Him.
So here's the question
I want you to start asking yourself.
Are you thinking about that day?
Are you thinking about that day
when you'll stand before Him?
That day when you'll give an account
for your life to Him
and specifically,
on that day,
you will give an account
for how you've been moving people
towards Jesus.
That's of utmost importance to Him.
You need to think about today
in light of that day.
Now, when we think about
moving from being a disciple of Jesus
to being disciple makers for Jesus,
here's how that works.
No longer do you
just think about yourself
standing before Jesus
on that day.
You start thinking about other people
standing before Jesus
on that day.
You start to be burdened
for other people
that they stand before Jesus
on that day
and be able to say,
I've given it all for you.
To hear Him say,
come into the joy of your Master.
It changes the way.
When you start getting
a disciple making mentality,
it changes the way
to see yourself,
the people in your home,
the people in your church,
your non-believing friends
and family and co-workers.
Speaking pastorally,
my desire
is that every one of you
stand before the Lord Jesus Christ
on that day
with as little regret
as possible
and with greatest amount of joy.
When we read about Jesus'
great authority,
you need to feel the weight of that.
His great authority over us.
But He also makes,
number two,
His great promise to us.
And that's at the end of verse 20.
Remember, central to the Great Commission
is verse 19,
this command,
make disciples.
At the end of the Great Commission
is a great promise.
It's the second half of verse 20.
And behold, I am with you always
to the end of the age.
Notice what Jesus is promising.
I am with you always.
That phrase always,
you can translate it every day.
I am with you every day
until the end of the age.
What a promise.
He's promising to be personally present with us
every day.
Now, of all the things that Jesus could have promised,
promised at this moment,
it's very interesting that He promises
to be present with us.
He doesn't promise
that we're going to avoid suffering for Him.
He doesn't promise
ease in this life.
He doesn't promise
that all of our loved ones
will come to Christ
and follow Him.
He doesn't promise that.
What He does promise
is the greatest thing He can promise
Himself.
The all-authoritative Christ
is with us every day.
Now, why does Jesus
make this great promise
to us
in the Great Commission?
One may say
to comfort us.
His presence
is a comfort.
He is an ever-present help
in time of trouble.
But I don't think
that's the primary reason
He makes this great promise.
The real reason
Jesus promises
to be with us every day
is to put courage
in our hearts.
The task of making disciples
requires
courage.
There are different decisions
to be made.
There are hard things
to be said.
There will always be pushback,
fallout,
pressure to compromise,
moving people
towards Jesus
takes courage.
Back in the book of Joshua,
Moses is now off the scene
and God is going to
lead His people
into the promised land
through Joshua.
He's got a great task
for Joshua.
Challenging task.
Listen to these words
at the beginning
of Joshua.
Chapter 1,
verses 5 through 9.
I'm just going to
let it soak in.
No man shall be able
to stand before you
all the days of your life.
Just as I was with Moses,
so I will be with you.
I will not leave you
or forsake you.
Be strong and courageous,
for you shall cause
the people to inherit
the land that I swore
to their fathers
to give them.
Only be strong
and very courageous,
being careful to do
according to all the law
that Moses,
my servant,
commanded you.
Do not turn from it
to the right hand
or to the left,
that you may have
good success
wherever you go.
This book of the law
shall not depart
from your mouth,
but you shall meditate
on it day and night
so that you may be careful
to do according to
all that is written in it.
For then you will
make your way prosperous
and then you will
have good success.
Have I not commanded you?
Be strong and courageous.
Do not be frightened
and do not be dismayed,
for the Lord your God
is with you
wherever you go.
Joshua was given
a great task
that requires
great courage
and God gives
this great promise,
I'm with you.
We've been given
a great task
that requires
great courage
and Jesus is saying,
I'm with you
every day.
I'm with you.
How do you apply this?
Does the thought
of talking to someone
else about Jesus,
whether a non-Christian
or a Christian,
does that frighten you?
Does that put dismay
in your heart?
Could that be the cause
of disconnect
between our profession
and our practice?
Jesus says,
do not be frightened
and do not be dismayed,
for the Lord your God
is with you
wherever you go.
Jesus says,
behold,
I am with you
every day
to the end
of the age.
Jesus,
in his
all-authoritative
being,
his
risen fullness
fullness
has promised
to be with us.
And so,
you know how to respond
to that?
You take courage.
That puts courage
in your heart.
It's a great promise.
It gives great courage.
Number three
is great task
entrusted to us.
The central command
of the Great Commission
is make disciples.
And what I've shown you
so far is
the preface to that
is an appeal
to his great authority
and what follows that
is an appeal
to a great promise.
What is this
great command?
When Jesus
commands his disciples
to make him
more disciples,
he's telling them,
move people
towards me.
Wherever you are,
be moving people
towards me.
What I want you
to feel with this
command,
make disciples,
is that Jesus
is speaking that
to you.
To you.
He's calling you
to make disciples.
You're part of
his ministry strategy.
The book,
The Vine Project
that we've been
going through,
it helps us
think about
making disciples.
It helps us
to think about
in terms of
a process
with different
phases.
So let me lay out
these four phases
to you
because I think
it will help you.
In terms of
making a disciple,
phase one is
to engage
with someone,
to find common
ground with them,
to build rapport
with them.
I, for the last
three years,
have been running
across a man
named Stan
in the Kenosha
Dunes.
I hike there a lot
and Stan is there
every spring
looking for birds.
this weekend
I interacted
with him
and it came out
that I'm a pastor
of Christ the King
Church.
Just moving
the ball,
just engaging
with them,
just starting
a conversation.
Engaging people,
finding common
ground.
The reason why
I got,
I asked a bunch
of people to help
with the Kenosha
Marathon,
the Wisconsin
Marathon,
was to engage
people on that
Saturday morning
and we did.
There's various
ways we can engage
but it's part
of making disciples.
That's phase one.
Phase two is
evangelism.
Telling non-Christians
the good news
about Jesus Christ
and what he's done
on the cross
and extending
Christ's call
to them
to come follow him.
That's good news.
The invitation
from Jesus
to come be
my disciple.
Good news.
So engage,
evangelize,
and then establish.
For those people
who respond
to Christ's call,
they become Christians,
they respond
to God's grace.
To establish
a Christian
means to get them
on their solid ground,
get their feet
underneath them,
help them understand
what the Bible is,
how to pray,
who they are
in Christ Jesus,
help them to understand
the importance
of the church.
It's really just
showing them
the means of grace
in terms of following Jesus
so that they can grow
into Christ our head.
The last phase
is to be equipped.
And what equipping is
is training Christians
to know how to engage
and evangelize
non-Christians
and how to establish
Christians where they are.
it's all about
moving people,
whether non-Christian
or Christian,
towards Jesus.
So wherever some way
it may be,
we seek to help them
take the next step
towards Jesus
because wherever
there are disciples,
there must be
disciple-making.
This great task
is spelled out
in Matthew 28
of making disciples,
of moving people
towards Jesus.
in Matthew 28, 19,
there are these
three words
that describe
more fully
this disciple-making
process.
Look at verse 19.
The first word
is the word go.
Go, therefore,
and make disciples
of all nations.
Going means going,
moving towards people.
In order to engage
and evangelize,
establish and equip,
we need to move
towards other people,
all people,
but especially those
people immediately
around you.
You know,
this command is to go
to all nations.
Jesus is at work
all around the world.
But we're not
directly responsible
for what's happening
in China.
We're responsible
for making disciples
first and foremost
here in Kenosha.
So we're to think
globally,
but act locally.
We move towards
people wherever
and whoever
they are
because everyone
needs Jesus.
2 Corinthians 5
talks about our task
as being ambassadors
for Jesus.
We're representing
Him
to our family,
to our church,
to those people
who we are interacting
with on a regular basis.
He sends us out
daily.
The second description
of this making disciples
is baptizing them
in the name of the Father
and the Son
and the Holy Spirit.
Remember what baptism is.
It's simply a public
announcement of your
inward commitment
to Jesus,
this being united
to Christ
and His death
and resurrection,
your conversion.
Your baptism
announces it publicly.
And so our task
is not just moving
people towards Jesus,
but those who respond,
we need to help them
identify with Jesus
publicly.
It's not optional
for those who believe.
It is a command.
Over the last nine months,
we've baptized
four people
to help them
to publicly
identify themselves
with Jesus.
The last description
is teaching them
to observe
all that I commanded you.
We are moving people
towards Jesus
and obedience
to Him.
Obedience
to His initial call
to come follow me
and obedience
to His commands
that we see
all throughout
the Gospels.
Here's what I want
to emphasize.
In the ESV,
in verse 19,
we read this,
excuse me,
verse 20,
teaching them
to observe
all that I have
commanded you.
That word observe
actually means
to keep.
When you read it,
it looks like,
it seems like
you're just saying,
look at those words
of Jesus, right?
But we know
it carries a heavier sense,
a bigger claim,
to keep.
When we are teaching
people to observe
all that Jesus commands,
what we're teaching them
is not to be
a hearer only
of what Jesus says,
but to be a doer
of what Jesus says,
to help them
to keep
Jesus' words,
to put them
into practice,
to not stay
at profession
but move
into putting
His words
into play.
And so what we're
doing is
when we are parents,
you are the disciple
makers of your children,
what you're seeking
to do is not just
help your children
learn about Jesus,
but to learn
in order to live
for Jesus.
We learn from Jesus
to live for Jesus.
And what we have here
is a change
of lifestyle.
To become a follower
of Jesus
is to change
the way you live.
Where does
all this happen?
where does
all this
going,
baptizing,
teaching,
moving people,
engage,
evangelize,
establish,
equip,
where does
all that happen?
Wherever there
are disciples,
there must be
disciple making.
It happens
wherever we are.
This is the great
task given to us
by Jesus.
And it's not
optional to carry out.
How do you
respond to this?
Because
you take action.
You step out.
And that's where I want
to bring you next.
The fourth great
is the great
opportunity
before us.
Where our disciples
made,
wherever we are,
wherever the church
is,
wherever
the kingdom
of light
is intersecting
the domain
of darkness.
So four
opportunities,
starting with
yourself.
Have you heard
of when Jesus
talks about
going to your
prayer closet?
I want you
to think of
your prayer closet
as your
go closet.
Every morning
you find a place
to lay your
heart out
before the
Lord Jesus
Christ,
to confess
Him as
your Lord
and King
and to
lay down
your life
once again
in order to
learn from Him
and live for Him
and become like Him
because you love Him.
In your
go closet,
you walk
into your
go closet
needing a
heart change.
But you
leave your
go closet
sent
by Jesus.
go closet.
When you're
in the
go closet,
you've got to
be asking
questions of
yourself like
this.
Today,
am I
treasuring
Jesus above
all else?
Is He my
number one?
And if not,
who's my
chief rival
and how can I
repent of that?
one of the
greatest things
that you can
do in your
go closet
to be ready
to be sent
by Jesus
as His
ambassador,
to go make
disciples of
the nations,
the best thing
that you can do
to prepare
yourself to
make disciples
of other
people is to
remember what
Jesus has
done for you.
To remember
that you were
running away
from Him in the
domain of darkness
and by His
grace and grace
alone He
called you to
Himself.
One of the
things that I
think is a
problem with
our evangelism,
one of the
stymieing points
is this,
we don't think
we have
things to tell
people.
We don't
think people
care of what
we have to
say.
So one of the
things that you
can do to
enhance your
evangelism and
to make your
following Jesus
relevant to other
people,
is to ask
this question.
What difference
is Jesus making
in your life
right now?
What difference
is He making?
Now you've got
something to tell
somebody else.
So you start
with the
opportunity of
yourself.
Stepping into
the go closet
and stepping out
sent as an
ambassador to
Jesus.
And the next
opportunity is
your home.
parents,
you are the
disciple makers
of your home.
You are the
ambassadors for
Jesus to your
children first and
foremost.
Not exclusively,
but primarily.
Unprecedented
opportunities day in,
day out to speak
of Jesus,
point to Jesus
again and again,
loving your
children that way.
Here's how I want
to help you in your
parenting and your
discipling of your
children.
Think about each of
your children along
those phases.
Engage, evangelize,
establish, equip.
Where are they at?
Meet them there.
Don't meet them where
you want them to be.
Meet them where
they're at.
But here is,
I think,
a very important
tool in your
discipleship to
your children.
Make sure you're
using your life.
Make sure you're
bearing testimony to
them.
Make sure you are
telling them why
you are a follower
of Jesus.
Make sure you are
telling them the
difference that Jesus
makes in your life
and you wouldn't
have it any other
way.
Live it out
before them.
The difference
that it makes.
You know what?
They can reject
Jesus in due time,
but don't let them
use your life as
reason not to
believe in Jesus.
Follow Jesus.
I could say more
about how to love
your spouse,
but we've got to
keep moving.
The third
opportunity is your
church.
Moving your church
towards Jesus.
We've talked about
moving yourself
towards Jesus.
We've talked about
moving your family
towards Jesus.
Now moving your
church towards
Jesus.
Christ the King
Church.
Can you all start
seeing Sunday
morning as the
flagship discipleship
event in our
lives together?
This is where we
gather as
disciples, where
we're engaging
non-Christians,
evangelizing non-Christians,
and establishing and
equipping Christians to
then scatter out for
Jesus so that we're
all laying our lives
down, learning from,
living for,
becoming like Jesus,
all because we love
Him.
If you want more on
this, listen to last
week's sermon.
The fourth
opportunity I want
you to be aware of
in terms of moving
people towards Jesus
is moving your
non-Christian friends
and family and
co-workers to Jesus.
I'm not going to
give you a four-point,
step-by-step, how to
evangelize them right
now.
I'm just going to, I'm
going to give you some
recommendations to
start preparing your
heart for that.
Start praying for
specific non-Christians
God has put into your
life.
Start praying for
them by name.
Start imagining them
standing before Jesus
and standing before
Jesus' throne someday.
Let that burden you.
be burdened for your
non-Christian friends
and family.
Be asking God for
opportunities to bear
witness to God's
grace to them.
God, give me an
opportunity to speak to
my CPA.
I got to share the
gospel with my CPA
this past week.
He didn't buy it.
But man, was it
clear.
He didn't buy it.
One of the greatest
questions you can be
asking yourself in
preparation of talking
to your non-Christian
friends and family,
what difference is
Jesus making in your
life right now?
Tell them, I've got
hope.
I'm not afraid.
I'm looking forward
to.
I've got strength for
today.
Hope for tomorrow.
I was so
encouraged to hear
that the women's
book club, their
next book is
The Gospel Comes
with a House Key.
And I would just
encourage every woman
to get into that
women's book club
to read that book.
Because that's going
to speak of
hospitality as an
engagement tool
with non-Christians.
It's a great book.
And brothers and
sisters, in terms of
other opportunities
coming, we've got
something brewing
right now in our
church.
An evangelistic tool
for a whole church
to lay hold of.
But it's in the early
stages.
And there will be a
time to share more
of it.
But pray, pray, pray
that God would bring
together a team
for our whole church
to use an evangelistic
tool.
Where does this
discipleship take place?
wherever there are
disciples.
These are the
opportunities before us.
Wherever the church is,
we are making
disciples.
We are moving people
towards Jesus.
And we have
opportunities in front
of us right now.
Why are there so many
people who profess to be
disciples but are not
making disciples?
disciples?
Because of a disconnect.
And this morning with the
Great Commission, I wanted
to help make the
connection for you.
That His great authority
over us, we need to feel
the weight of that.
That His great promise to
us, we take courage from
that.
That this great task
entrusted to us, we act
on that.
We move people towards
Jesus because we've got
great opportunities to
make disciples right here,
right now.
You're going to leave this
building this morning,
walking under a door
frame that's going to
say, you are now entering
your mission field.
Wherever there are
disciples, there must be
disciple making.
Where are disciples made?
Spirit, wherever you are,
you've been commissioned.
Next week is going to be a
call to prayer because this
work is way bigger than any
one of us.
Let me pray.
God in heaven, would you do
a work in us that you get us
over our fears, that you help
us to step out in faith, and
that you give us words to speak
of your goodness towards us
in Christ.
God, would you do a work by
your spirit in which the
gospel goes out from Christ
the King Church in power, and
that you move non-Christians to
faith in Jesus, and you move
Christians to greater, greater
degrees of discipleship, more
and more maturity, greater and
greater equipping God to send
more and more out.
Lord, only you can do that,
Lord.
We ask this in Jesus' name.
Amen.