God's Vision for Emmanuel Baptist Church - Part 2

2:22If you love the Christ of Scripture, you will love those whom the Christ of Scripture died for. And that is his people. And he intends us to live in community. And so if we love the Christ of Scripture, there will intrinsically be a commitment to nurturing biblical community. That's where we've been. Today I want to talk to you about the third manifestation of loving the Christ of Scripture. And that is a biblical. A commitment to biblical missions. And that's not only will we be proclaiming the biblical truth and nurturing biblical community, but we will be engaging in biblical mission. And this is where we seek to promote the Christ of Scripture as an expression of our love for him. In fact, if you looked at your bulletin, the very front page, you see the words truth, community, and mission. That is an expression of our love for the Christ of Scripture, and I believe, God's vision for Immanuel Baptist Church. So, I want to talk to you this morning about biblical mission, what that looks like, and what that means. You see, just because Christ has been revealed in Scripture does not mean that he is known among the nations. And so, the purpose of biblical mission is to make him known among the nations.

3:59And loving the Christ of Scripture will inevitably involve a sacrificial disposition that promotes him. Jesus gave his disciples the specifics of such sacrifice in Matthew 28, verse 16 through 20, and he showed us the spirit of such sacrifice in Mark 10, verses 32 and 34. So first, I want to look at Matthew 28, verses 16 through 20. You know this passage, very familiar. Refer to it as the Great Commission. And let me read this to you. Verse 16. But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee to the mountain which Jesus had designated. When they saw him, they worshipped him, but some were doubtful. And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

5:24So the Great Commission is set in Galilee, where Jesus began his public ministry. In fact, if you turn back in Matthew to chapter 4 and just looked at verse 12 through 16, and I'll read it to you. You don't have to turn there. Verse 12 of chapter 4. Now when Jesus heard that John had been taken into custody, he withdrew into Galilee, and leaving Nazareth, he came and settled in Capernaum, which is by the sea in the region of Zebulun and Naphthalai. This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphthali, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. The people who were sitting in darkness saw a great light, and those who were sitting in the land and shadow of death, upon them a light dawned. And from that time, Jesus began to preach, saying, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

6:32The land of Zebulun and Naphthalai was the land that first experienced God's judgment under the Assyrians. And it is at that place, Galilee of the Gentiles, that restoration begins, that the good news begins. And so that's where Matthew's gospel begins with the light. People sitting in darkness, seeing a great light. And what is that light? How is that light expressed? Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. God has drawn near to you. So be turning away and be turning to. That is the good news. That is the light, the beginning of the light that God's not done with you, but calls you to himself. And that message, which begins in Galilee, is going to go from Galilee throughout the world. And so you get them to Matthew 28.

7:30Light that began in Galilee is going to be spread. It's going to go. It's going to shine upon the whole world. What Jesus began in Israel will continue to the nations through the community of his disciples. And there are four characteristics, really, that I'd like to draw to your attention here. Maybe you can even say five, but four characteristics of the mission can be drawn from this passage. First, the church is to obey the commands of Jesus. The church is to obey the commands of Jesus. Look at verse 16. But the 11 disciples proceeded to Galilee to the mountain which Jesus had designated. So they simply went where Jesus said. They simply obeyed, and this set them apart. Okay? Simple obedience. They simply were at the place where Jesus told them to go.

8:30Nothing deep, profound, yet very simple. The church is to obey the commands of Jesus. A disciple is a learner and a follower. A disciple takes Jesus as his teacher and learns from him and seeks to follow him and go where he leads. That's what it means to have Jesus reign. And the sanctifying quality of these 11 is that they went where Jesus told them. Simple obedience. And a fundamental characteristic of being a disciple is simple obedience, and it's going to be a necessary characteristic in order to make disciples of others. In other words, if you're not obedient, you're not going to be able to teach obedience.

9:18But it's through such a community that Jesus intends to fulfill his task of proclaiming the gospel to the ends of the earth. And it's going to be through a community of people who simply obey. Second characteristic: the church is to worship Jesus. The church is to worship Jesus. Look at verse 17. When they saw him, that is Jesus, they worshiped him, but some were doubtful. See, the New American Standard has it, the object stated correctly: the disciples did not merely worship God, but they worshiped Jesus.

9:59And that's the proper response to who God has demonstrated him to be. The manner in which Jesus manifests God's presence demands the only proper response being that of worship. Worship. Everything that the disciples had learned from and about Jesus as eyewitnesses led them to one point: worshiping him, the Christ of Scripture. And we must always remember that this original little ragtag band of disciples whose proclamation gave rise to the masses of the modern church, they were fundamentally Jesus worshipers. Remember that.

10:55Cannot walk past this verse without commenting on this strange comment that Matthew puts at the end of verse 17. But some were doubtful. What is that? I appreciate the honesty of Scripture. If Scripture was a fabrication, you would never have a word, you'd never have a statement like this in it, right? But some were doubtful, right? What does that mean? Well, the word doubtful here does not mean unbelief. The word destazo here does not mean unbelief. It only shows up here in the New Testament and in one other place, and that is in chapter 14 and verse 31. Let me read to you what that says. Remember in chapter 14, Jesus is walking on the water. In verse 28, Peter said to him, Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water. And he said, Come.

12:00Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. The only other person that's ever walked on the water is Jesus. I mean, other than Jesus, is Peter. Okay, he walks on the water. Look at what happens. But seeing the wind, he became frightened. And beginning to sink, he cried out, Lord, save me. Immediately, Jesus stretched out his hand and took hold of him and said to him, You of little faith, why did you doubt? And there's the word, the stazo. He's saying, No, you have faith. It's little. Why did you hesitate? Why were you reluctant? What distracted? What kept you from coming to me all the way?

12:46So, and then they got into the boat and they worshiped him. Certainly, you are God's Son. So, the word here, when they doubted, it's an expression of hesitation. It's not an expression of unbelief. They are hesitant or reluctant to an unrestrained worship of Christ. Some doubted. They were hesitant in a full, unrestrained worship of Jesus. Yet, look carefully, despite their reluctance, they all did indeed worship. They all worshiped. And the point of all this, worshiping Jesus. Is going to be like obeying Jesus. It's another fundamental characteristic of the community whom God will use to spread salvation's light to the nations. We are to be worshipers of Jesus and not restrained, unrestrained in the biblical sense.

13:51So, first characteristic, the church is to obey Jesus. Second, the church is to worship Jesus. Third, the church is to recognize Jesus's authority. Look at verse 18. And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. And here is a beautiful scene in the Gospels. In fact, I would go as to say one of the most touching moments in all of human history. Here's Jesus coming back as one with all authority in heaven and on earth.

14:31Here are the disciples who forsook him and denied him. And yet here comes Jesus. He demonstrates his kindness by not forsaking his people, even though they forsook him. He didn't come to rebuke them for their faithlessness, but he came to re-establish an intimate relationship with him as the one having all authority. It's a touching moment in human history. Behold our God. Behold the Christ of Scripture. He's worth loving. But he comes up and he says, I have all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. How should we understand this? What do you mean all authority? Hasn't he already taught them as one having authority? He asserted that he had authority to forgive sins in chapter 9, verses 6 through 8. He demonstrated his authority over the unclean spirits and human body in chapter 10. In chapter 11, 27, he says this, all things have been handed over to me by my Father.

15:47So if he already possesses such authority, in what sense is Jesus using the term here? And I believe D.A. Carson answers it the best. It's an enlargement of Jesus' sphere of authority. And I'll quote Carson here. He says, it is not Jesus' authority, per se, that becomes more absolute. Rather, the spheres which he now exercises absolute authority are enlarged to include all heaven and earth and the universe. This authority has been given him by the Father.

16:27So the Son becomes the one. Through whom all God's authority is mediated. He as it were the mediatorial king. What that's saying is, all authority in heaven and earth is mediated or facilitated through one individual, and that is the resurrected Christ. And so Jesus comes to them saying, I am the absolute sovereign over all creation. Jesus is the possessor of absolute divine authority over every detail, small and large, in the physical and spiritual universe. That's the Christ of Scripture.

17:13You can imagine, this really would have encouraged the disciples. Here's the resurrected Christ right there in front of them, claiming, saying, all this authority is his. It would have been a source of great comfort and strength to the disciples. But this affirmation does more than just encourage and strengthen the disciples. It sets the stage for biblical missions. You see, the gospel is going to go to the nation. And just as the Father mediates all of his authority through the Son, so the Son is going to mediate the gospel through his disciples.

18:00In other words, it is through his disciples that the Son is going to facilitate the gospel going to the ends of the earth. All authority is given through him. He mediates all of it, and he mediates all of the gospel through his disciples. That's how he chooses to do it. That is his biblical mission. So, number four: the church is number one, to obey Jesus, to worship Jesus, number two, number three, recognize Jesus' authority, and number four, the church is to make disciples of Jesus from all the nations. Look at verse 19. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. So, as a natural consequence of his universal authority, Christ sent disciples into the world to make disciples out of and from all the nations.

19:15We should go. They should go. Why? Because of his authority. The nations should obey. Why? Because of his authority. And the commission itself, as you You look, the Commission has one imperative verb with three subordinate participles. The main verb, make disciples. And the other verbs take on an imperatival force, if you will. And the main verb, make disciples, the proclamation of the gospel is no longer restricted to Israel, as it was in chapter 10 and chapter 15, but it has all of the nations, including Israel, in view.

20:01And so here's the goal of discipleship. I think Bradus said it well. To disciple a person to Christ is to bring him into the relation of pupil to teacher, taking his yoke of authoritative instruction, accepting what he says is true because he says it, and submitting to his requirements as right because he makes them. You see, disciples are those who hear, who understand, and obey Jesus. And so, in order to make disciples, think about this for a minute, in order to make disciples of the nations, Jesus has a process in mind.

20:42You see, the disciples are to be going to the nations, first participle, to be baptizing them, second participle, and third, to be teaching them. So, that's the activity: to be going, baptizing, and teaching. That is how you make disciples. And it is through these disciples' activities that the light is going to go from Galilee to the nations. And this is the activities that should characterize the biblical mission of any church that claims to love Christ. The going disciples are to baptize the new disciples in the name of the triune God. But if you look carefully, the emphasis is not upon the going and the baptizing. Those are necessary. The emphasis is really upon the teaching element of the commission.

21:40Jesus himself was a teacher. And so now as he's teaching his disciples to be the teachers of the nations, the emphasis isn't upon the initial proclamation of the gospel, but more on that arduous task of nurturing, nurturing discipleship into practice, strengthening, teaching them, and teaching them what? All that I have commanded. Right? So think about that. Jesus already assumes a community. He assumes a commitment to biblical truth. He assumes a commitment to nurturing biblical community because such a task of teaching all that he taught is going to take And systematic, expositional approach to communicating the biblical truth.

22:40And it's important to understand that one of Jesus' greatest sacrifices, yeah, was that he took time to teach his disciples. He died and he rose for them, but don't forget, he took time to teach. He took time to work through issues with some stubborn, slow, dull, hard-hearted people at times. Aren't you glad he did? I fit there. Thanks, Lord. Keep it up. But he took time to teach. There is inevitably going to be a sacrifice of time and energy in teaching, not only here, but abroad.

23:31Participating in biblical missions is expensive. You've already sent me in a number of places. Many of you have been part of it. It's not cheap. It's expensive on time. There's some dangers involved. And there's some things that get left undone as a result of engaging in biblical missions. That's part of it. Well, Jesus commissioned his disciples to be teachers to the nations. He gave them the perfect model. He also gave them the content, right? Everything. Everything.

24:12Jesus sees what he has given to his disciples as a unified whole. None of it he envisions will ever get outdated, outmoded, irrelevant, but all of it needs to be intact, passed from one generation to the next generation. The generation of eyewitnesses were to go and proclaim, and so call in another generation of ear witnesses, who would then proclaim to the next generation, who would be another generation of ear witnesses. And that would go on through the ages. That is his vision for the light going from Galilee through the world. The light that dawned will run its course.

25:11I think, as a final comment, it's important that the church is to realize the presence of Jesus. You can add this as a fifth, or you could just say it as a parenthetical underscore of the whole. Jesus is with. Such mission endeavors. As the disciples went forth, Jesus promised to be with them. Look at the end of verse 20, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. His presence guarantees the success of the mission.

25:51We have to pass what we have received on to the next. Jesus commissioned such a mission. He envisioned it. He envisioned systematic exposition. He envisioned a local community of believers. And Jesus is actively present with such endeavors. That's why you see him in Revelation as the one standing among the lampstands. He is very concerned, very interested, very focused on what happens in his church. So loving the Christ of Scripture inevitably involves a sacrificial disposition that's going to promote him at home and abroad.

26:47But what does Jesus' presence imply? He's going to be with us. I think sometimes we get this image of Christ being with us in. Sort of a lilting, comforting, warm, fuzzy way. And let me not diminish that at all. He is with us to comfort, he is with us to cheer, to restore, to heal. But there's also another spirit here that I think you really need to see about Christ. You know, he's not only known as the Lamb of God, but the lion, the tribe of Judah, right? A lion, right?

27:38And that's where Mark 10 comes in. I want you to see the spirit of biblical mission, and it was exemplified in Christ himself as he marched up to Jerusalem. So we've looked at the specifics of biblical mission. Now I want to take a few moments and look at the spirit behind biblical missions. Mark chapter 10, beginning in verse 32. They're going up, the disciples and many others, perhaps, in a company up to Jerusalem to that fateful last Passover.

28:25And I'll just pick up the reading in verse 32. They were on the road going. Up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking on ahead of them, and they were amazed. And those who followed were fearful. And again he took the twelve aside and began to tell them what was going to happen to him, saying, Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles. They will mock him and spit on him and scourge him and kill him, and three days later he will rise again.

29:04Two questions naturally come out of this text, especially at verse 32. Why were the people amazed? And number two, why were the people fearful? Well, the second question is pretty easy to answer. In verses 33 through 34, Jesus described the suffering he was going to endure by seven future verbs. First of all, the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests. Second, they will condemn him to death. Third, they will hand him over to the Gentiles. Fourth and fifth, they, the Gentiles, will mock him and spit on him. Sixth, they, the Gentiles, will scourge him. Seventh, they, the Gentiles, will kill him. And yet, he says at the end of all this, in verse 34, three days later he will rise again. And all of these events happened as Jesus predicted.

29:55So, why were the people fearful? Well, pretty obvious, right? They knew enough to be afraid for Jesus' sake and perhaps for their own safety. You see, Christ is on a collision course with the principalities of this world, and those who follow him will experience the pain of the confrontation. This is the spirit of the one going up. This is the presence. Lo, I am with you always. He is on a collision course with the principalities of this world.

30:30So it's easy to understand why they were afraid. Now, back to the first question: why were the people amazed? Why were they amazed? You know, for something to be amazing, it has to be extraordinary, right? People do not marvel at the ordinary. So there was something about Jesus that day that amazed those who followed. In light of all the mounting hostility against him, he walked on ahead of them. Look at that, verse 32. He walked on ahead of them. There was something in his step, there was something in his stride that not only frightened those people that were following, but amazed them. There was this resolute determination, this haste to get to Jerusalem, this unwavering advance.

31:30And it amazed those people. He led the way. He didn't lag behind or cower in the face of all this rejection he was about to face. He was anxious to get there. And his stride showed it. This is not normal. This is not what anybody does. It's amazing. And it illustrates the spirit that drives biblical missions. Lo, I am with you always. The presence marching up to Jerusalem with a stride that is shocking. Seven aspects of this amazing spirit of Jesus that I just want to briefly bring to your attention.

32:37Jesus' drive to Jerusalem to reconcile the world to himself is truly amazing, and it should inform our understanding of the spirit and drive in biblical missions. Same person, the one who promised to be with us. Seven amazing aspects. First of all, the intensity in which he confronts evil is amazing. You know, the same spirit that drove him into the wilderness to be tempted drove him to Jerusalem to conquer sin and death. And he resolutely headed straight to Jerusalem, right into the stronghold of evil.

33:17And it tells you something: truth is not afraid of error, it confronts it, it is driven to confront it, just like light expels the darkness. And this will characterize a spirit-driven church. Truth is not afraid to confront error, but boldly proclaim it, no matter how powerful the error is. So, the intensity in which he confronts evil is amazing. Second, the extent to which he goes to reconcile is amazing. You know, earlier in chapter 10, Jesus taught about being against being divorced-minded.

33:56Divorce-mindedness is something he doesn't want any part of his people. Chapter 10, verses 1 through 12. And in his march towards Jerusalem, Jesus demonstrates a reconciliation-mindedness beyond anything we can understand. Look, he was going up there to bear the pain to reconcile his people to God. You and I will never, ever have to bear the pain. Cost of reconciliation like this. I mean, he bore the pain and the humility and all that. Third, the simplicity of his submission to the will of God is amazing. Also, in chapter 10, Jesus had just previously talked about the necessity of childlike reception of God's kingdom. And here in our passage, his stride demonstrates it.

34:59He simply accepted God's dominion over his life, even when it involved extreme hardship. Fourth, his complete detachment from worldly glory is amazing. He demonstrated what he already demonstrated in the temptation earlier. He did not have any interest in building his own kingdom. He loved the will of the Father more than earthly glory. And here, right after these words that he expresses, you see that the disciples are longing for worldly glory. Please let me sit on your right. Please let me sit on your left. Right as they march up, right after Jesus declared, I'm going up there to be slaughtered, humiliated. Want to go with me? Yeah, that's all great, but just make sure I get on that right place of glory and that left place of glory.

35:54They did not understand the spirit of the one they were following or the ministry of reconciliation. Reconciliation to which they were called. Listen, Jesus is not going to lead you into a worldly glory, a fleshly kind of glory. You're following the wrong person if that's what you're thinking, because that's not where he goes. He goes to the place of pleasing the Father. That's the glory he wants. He's not going to lead you to worldly pomp and ceremony by fallen man. That's not where he's going to take you. And Judas found that out.

36:32And all disciples must learn this truth. And the disciples were getting it. They were understanding: following Christ is truly following him. He's not a means to advance our own kingdoms, but to come under his. Fifth, his deep humility is amazing. Jesus did not cower or flinch in the face of the deepest form of humiliation a human could ever experience. He took it. He was humbled more. He had the highest of height, infinite holiness, infinite righteousness. He was just, he was kind, and he knew he was going to be slandered and repaid evil for. He was going to not be treated as his merits deserve. You know, we all like to be treated as our merits. Oh, I did a good job on that. I'd need a little bit of a response to that, you know. But if we get treated contrary to the way we think we deserve, we bow up. But he was infinite in his holiness and suffered the most horrid slander and evil. And yet he took it.

37:50Jesus is not too proud, was not too proud to do the dirty work of ministry. There's a humility that is amazing about him. Sixth, his willingness to suffer is amazing. You know, this is one thing that we don't want to do, right? We don't want to suffer. And here's Christ with all the ability in heaven and on earth to avoid suffering, yet there he is, right marching right up to the place of greatest suffering. And we stand on the other side, right? Like the disciples lagging behind, kind of scared and amazed at the same time. And all the while, just as Peter had said a few verses, we have left everything to follow you in verse 28.

38:37You know, our commitment to Christ is never as noble as we imagined it. But, praise God, Jesus accepts it nonetheless. Seventh, his love for people is amazing. And this is where it comes together. Jesus sees it all coming. He sees the avalanche. That awaits him. All the betrayal, the treachery, the hypocrisy, the abandonment, the slander, the ridicule, the mockery, the sarcasm, the scorn, the pain, the shame. He sees it all coming. He knows he's going to be hit with all of it. Yet he doesn't back off. He doesn't retreat. He doesn't even slow down.

39:23Lo, I am with you always. You get the feeling of what biblical missions is going to involve? Why? Why does he move forward with such resolution and such determination? Why? Because he loves his people. That's why. And his love for people is amazing. And this is what the ministry of reconciliation is all about. He embodied it. He vividly illustrated his own words: Greater love has no one than this, than one lay down his life for his friends.

40:07Well, we're about out of words, out of time. I'm not that far, I'm not that much out of words, but I do have some more. Usually, when people say that, they say, Oh, we're out of time. Usually, that means where I'm out of words, but I do want to say a few words about this little ragtag group that follow Jesus. They went with him to Jerusalem. And they experienced the extreme anguish of soul that happened in Jerusalem. They were scattered. They were isolated. They were rejected. They were despised. They themselves were disappointed. They were beaten down from without and from within. The guilt that came upon them was crushing. The self-loathing was paralyzing. They experienced utter defeat and all the emotions and loss that go with it. They experienced all that.

41:09Yet three days later, they witnessed the resurrected Christ. And 50 days later, they were in the upper room and received the power from on high. And you know what happened afterwards? They left Jerusalem with the same power and the same resolution that Jesus had when he was going up to Jerusalem. That's biblical mission. They left Jerusalem as Jesus entered Jerusalem, and as a result, they turned their world upside down. Why? Because Jesus always leads to victory, even if it goes through a meat grinder.

41:58Jesus said, Lo! I am with you always, even to the end of the age. He's with us, and he is driven, and he is going to drive biblical missions. So, I want to say a couple words just in conclusion here. And I've shared this story with some of you in the past, but few seminary moments left a deeper impression on me, like the words of my discipleship mentor, Dr. Thomas. Just before graduation, I had a conversation with him, a lengthy conversation.

42:40And this guy had spent well over half a century of preparing students for ministry. He even taught John MacArthur. I mean, this guy got all, I mean, this was a dinosaur, ancient sage, right? All that. I mean, we had been talking for hours about the state of evangelicalism in the 21st century. And then he said these surprising words to me. He said, You know, I no longer get excited about graduation like I used to. He said, You know, in my early years as a professor, I was always excited about graduation because we knew the attacks that were coming against Christianity, and we knew we had prepared you men to handle them, not only to defeat them, but to take territory. He said, I was always excited to go to graduation to see a new crop of men going out, taking the Pastorate and proclaiming biblical truth because he knew they were going to take territory. And then he said, he looked at me and he said, You know, I don't know how you guys are going to stand today.

43:44And he went on to describe the avalanche of attacks that are coming against Christianity from all sides. And then he remarked, he said, I can no longer attend a graduation ceremony without a sense of apprehension for you guys. Since then, I've thought a lot about Dr. Thomas's words, and I have come to the firm conviction that the right response to our changing times will always, always come from those who love the Christ of Scripture with all of their beings, and who will express such love by proclaiming biblical truth no matter where it takes us, who will nurture biblical community no matter what the cost, and who will sacrificially support biblical missions at home and abroad.

44:31The right answer, no matter what comes against, will always be found in such people as this. And I believe that that's God's vision for Emmanuel Baptist Church. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we just thank you for the truth of your word. We thank you for revealing this beautiful Christ to us. May he truly reign in our hearts. Father, may His kingdom truly expand deeply within our beings. Father, and that, yes, we will delight to see His kingdom spread from shore to shore.

45:15Father, and on a very personal level, we just come before you, confessing our sin, our need of you, and ask you to come into our lives and convict us, turn us, change us, and may we be a people who are known for our repentance. Thank you in Jesus' name.