sermon 28th Oct 2007

JP’s story surely people shouldn't ask permission to come to church?
The mantle is passed, the disciples have to become the disciplers, and those with whom Jesus has been with, now go with Jesus into the world.
Jesus’ authority is a major theme in the gospel of Matthew, shown as a teacher with authority, authority in his actions when he performs miracles, authority to forgive sins, his authority over the teachers of the law, his authority is seen most clearly in the rising from the dead, he is the son of man, the king of the Jews, the messiah, the son of God, the glorious risen one! He now gives his authority to his followers, they are empowered with his authority in heaven and on earth, heavenly authority, given by God, and now he gives it to his followers, and they will need every bit of it if they are to fulfil the vision of Christ’s message being spread to all the world.
Can you imagine if you were there? Can you imagine how you would feel, looking at the other 10 blokes there, knowing what they were like, knowing what you were like? I think I can almost hear their knees knocking even now! But the key was that they trusted in Jesus, no matter what they had been through ultimately they trusted jesus.
The gospel begins with the promise that the baby to be born would be Immanuel “God is with us” and it closes with the assurance that Jesus would be with them still and until the end of time, where they would be reunited, he assures them that when they gather in his midst he is there, without the presence and empowering of Jesus, they could never contemplate their world mission, When the Lord commands, he enables and his enabling is his presence.
Late one dark night a man was walking home alone when he hears a....."BUMP...BUMP...BUMP", behind him. Walking faster he looks back and makes out the image of an upright coffin banging its way down the middle of the street towards him...BUMP...BUMP...BUMP...Terrified, the man begins to run towards his home, the coffin bouncing quickly behind him...faster...faster...BUMP...BUMP...BUMP...He runs up to his door, fumbles with his keys, unlocks the door, rushed in, slams and lockes the door behind him. However, the coffin crashes through his door, with the lid of the coffin clapping...clappity-BUMP...clappity-BUMP...clappity-BUMP...clappity-BUMP...on the heels of the terrified man...Rushing upstairs to the bathroom, the man laocks himself in. His heart is pounding; his head is reeling; his breath is coming in sobbing gasps...With a loud CRASH the coffin starts breaking down the door; bumping and clapping towards him. The man screams and reached for something heavy, anything...his hand comes to rest on a large bottle of tixylix. Desperate, he throws the TIXYLIX as hard as he can at the apparition.....and THE COFFIN STOPPED!!!
How often do we look for the quick fix? How often do we think, ah God has called us to this, but you know really, other people can do this one, they can share, Alpha, outreach committee, etc I am not good! Bad news, it is a command, Jesus is telling us all to go and make disciples of all nations! Nations is really groups of people, so people wherever they are. Jesus calls out to us, we have his authority, we have his power!
Great commission is the response to meeting with the risen Christ (Need to personally meet him, passion to tell others, could our evangelism be at a low ebb because as a church we have never had a personal encounter with Jesus?)
The great commission springs from worship Jesus would be in the pub? We need to be lost in wonder love and praise, to be inspired to go on mission, we meet with Jesus in this place, so we go back into the bad old world ready to face it!
The great commission is the counterpart of the great commandment to love God and neighbour with love otherwise our efforts repel, love, love, love even when you get nothing back, this is what the Church should be, a blessing machine, bless believers, agnostics, atheists, Hindus, Muslims, love, with no agenda this is how we make disciples, but never push, never pressurize!
The great commission is a matter of sheer obedience we do it because Jesus has told us to! A nun who worked for a local home health care agency was out making her rounds when she ran out of gas. As luck would have it there was a station just down the street. She walked to the station to borrow a can with enough gas to start the car and drive to the station for a fill up.
The attendant regretfully told her that the only can he owned had just been loaned out, but if she would care to wait he was sure it would be back shortly.
Since the nun was on the way to see a patient she decided not to wait and walked back to her car. After looking through her car for something to carry to the station to fill with gas, she spotted a bedpan she was taking to the patient. Always resourceful, she carried it to the station, filled it with gasoline, and carried it back to her car.
As she was pouring the gas into the tank of her car two men walked by. One of them turned to the other and said: "Now that's what I call faith!"
The great commission is not to get a quick decision, a wee nod to Jesus, but to make disciples
The great commission is always directed outwards, the Christian church must never degenerate into a comfortable club for the like minded, it is called to disciple (house groups) and to teach evangelism, (give examples) not maintenance but mission. The developing world could teach us so much if we would listen, they are passionate about seeing others meet and grow with Christ, and as they go out in China, Russia, South Korea, Peru the new believers flood in.
We are called to follow Jesus’ lead to go and make disciples and he does three things before he leaves 1) He assures them of his power Their master was king of it all 2)He gave them a commission to make disciples3) He promised them his presence must have been a staggering task for 11 Galileans, to change the world, even as they heard it their hearts must have failed them, but no sooner was the task given, but the promised Holy Spirit was given, they were sent out as we are on the greatest task of all of history, but like the disciples we have the power and the presence of Jesus with us, we are never alone, and so we will never fail, step out in faith and make disciples, you know who I mean, you know the one I am talking about, you can picture them right now, you are the only one who can reach them with the hope and the purpose of God, share the love of God with them today, if you don’t perhaps no one will and can you live with that? Can you live with that for eternity?
So as you think about carrying out the great commission and about sharing your faith in Jesus with others there are a number of things for us to chew over. How am I to do it? - with words, prayer and presence With whom shall I share this task? Who is my partner? The question is: What kind of people are we?" as we look at Jesus it is clear he expects and calls us to be gospel people. Called to share the gospel so as we do so, others may come to be his followers as well.