MATTHEW 28:16-20
16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go.17 When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted.18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.19 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,20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Matthew 28:16-20 “GO, I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS!”
Springford Baptist Church: May 1, 2022.
Jesus makes it very clear that the truth of knowing God is to be shared. There is a fullness to knowing God expressed in Jesus’ command to, “Go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”(Matthew 28:19) All three members of the Trinity help us to know God more completely.
We have considered knowing God as He is revealed in the Old Testament. More recently, leading up to Easter, we were exploring KNOWING GOD BY KNOWING JESUS.
This is the challenge that Jesus’ followers were presented with and it continues to be the challenge with which we are presented every day as His followers!
Now that the people closest to Jesus were convinced that He was alive, what would give them courage to go on from there?
What gives us the courage to go on from here?
It is in that powerful promise of Jesus that we can live each day and turn our backs on fear!
“I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS”! (Matthew 28:20)
You know the experience of being given instructions by someone of what you are to do and then
being left alone to do it… Examples?
This can be a very anxious time…
What will I do, if? …
Jesus chose to do things differently! During the time that he spent with His disciples, His followers, He knew all along that He would be leaving them. This was all part of the plan.
They would be left to carry on the work that He had started.
Jesus had invested a great deal of time explaining and preparing His followers for what He intended them to do.
They did not just gather for one hour each week, they walked and ate and lived together every day for 3 years.
Of course the events of Good Friday had really thrown them. They thought they understood why He had come and then they saw Him die on the cross (although they did not grasp it at the time, this really is why He had come).
Through the women (Matt. 28:7,10), Jesus gave the message for the disciples to meet Him in Galilee. They had grown accustomed to following His instructions because even when they did not understand what Jesus told them to do, they had seen that things always turned out as He said.
Think about what it had been like for the disciples to have specific instructions and direction from Jesus each day and now since His death to be trying to figure out what to do by themselves. It would have been a huge relief to get this message from the risen Lord: “Meet me in Galilee.”
I expect that they rushed to get there to see Jesus and to hear what He had to tell them!
We are told that when He did appear to them, they worshipped Him, but some doubted. (Matthew 28:17)
What do you think they doubted? –that this was actually happening? –that this truly was Jesus?
Doubt, if we don’t deal with it, can get in the way of doing what Jesus intends us to do.
Jesus does not address their doubt here but rather gives them something to do, something of great importance for them to carry out. (Matthew 28:18-20)
Even with the doubts, we know that the disciples did carry out what Jesus gave them to do. As with us, if we persevere even when there are doubts, we can experience Jesus’ provision and what He promises here-His Presence.
Jesus knew that this is what they would need to know. They would need to hold on to the truth that they were not alone, that He was with them always, no matter what.
This is what I meant when I said that Jesus chose to do things differently. He did not take his disciples through an apprenticeship program and then leave them alone to do what He had trained them to do.
He did not say, “You’re on your own, but call me if you run into any difficulties.”
Jesus gave them the best security they could possibly have. He recognized that this was a very difficult and challenging job that He was giving them to do, but He would be right there with them: “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20)
He would not be with them so they could see His physical Presence, but His being with them would be no less real!
How many times do you think His disciples came back to what Jesus told them on this occasion?
How many times do you think they reminded each other, “Remember, He said He would be with us always!”
Now after the disciples received these instructions from Jesus, they had a choice didn’t they?
Would they do what their Lord had said or not?
We know what the outcome was because now there are literally people all around our world, including us, who believe in Jesus as Lord and Saviour!
Obviously, this could not be accomplished through mere human determination. They had to rely on Jesus being with them always.
This is what makes the difference, knowing and seeing that Jesus is with us always!
Look at what the disciples accomplished because Jesus was with them always. They weren’t doing it alone!
What can we expect to accomplish, if we take hold of this same promise that Jesus will be with us always?
If we are trying to do whatever we have been given to do alone, we are in trouble. Our ongoing prayer has been to learn more and more to trust Jesus as His followers here in Springford and the surrounding area. We will need to trust in order to know how God wants us to do His work and what each of us can be and do to be part of that essential task!
If we, like the disciples, decide to trust that Jesus is with us always even though we cannot see Him, we too can bring the truth of the good news that Jesus is alive to people all around us. It won’t be because of our ability, but because Jesus is with us always!!
When we live in a way that demonstrates Jesus is with us always, it makes it possible for people around us to take hold of this same truth that they can trust Jesus will be with them always as well!
And how much our world needs the secure hope of Jesus with us always. Daily there are disturbing events that we do not want to even think of having to face by ourselves.
Jesus extends His hand and walks with us through whatever comes and our part is to take hold of His hand and to trust that He will never let go because He is, as He promised, with us always!!
It is the Holy Spirit who empowers us to GO and to carry out Jesus’ commission and it is the Holy Spirit who is intended to remind us of what Jesus said and of the truth that Jesus is with us always.
In the coming weeks, we will be looking more closely at “KNOWING GOD BY KNOWING THE HOLY SPIRIT.”