Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Adoniram Judson grew up in a pastor’s home.

He knew everything that you were supposed to know about Jesus and the gospel, but he could never shake the pervasive doubt that ate away at him.

The answers that he had weren’t enough.

While he was in college at Brown University, he fell in with a crowd of very skeptical students, and by the time he graduated from Brown he was a professing unbeliever in God.

Still seeking answers, he received a special exemption to attend seminary, even though he was not even a Christian.

And, it was during these years that God saved him.

Not long after, God began to call this skeptic, this doubter toward the mission field.

Judson desired to marry his love interest, Nancy, and then set sail for India to live out the Great Commission for the rest of his life.

He wrote this letter to Nancy’s dad seeking her hand in marriage: “I have now to ask, whether you can consent to part with your daughter early next spring, to see her no more in this world; whether you can consent to her departure, and her subjection to the hardships and sufferings of a missionary life; whether you can consent to her exposure to the dangers of the ocean; to the fatal influence of the southern climate of India; to every kind of want and distress; to degradation, insult, persecution, and perhaps a violent death.

Can you consent to all this, for the sake of him who left his heavenly home, and died for her and for you; for the sake of perishing, immortal souls; for the sake of Zion, and the glory of God? Can you consent to all this, in hope of soon meeting your daughter in the world of glory, with the crown of righteousness, brightened with the acclamations of praise which shall redound to her Saviour from heathens saved, through her means, from eternal woe and despair.”

Judson married Nancy on February 5, 1812 and set sail to India on February 19, 1812.

I tell you that Judson’s story because it is just one of thousands that are just like it.

This is the seriousness with which our Christian heritage has taken the words that we’re going to read this morning.

This is a radical mission for doubting men, like Judson, like us.

God’s Word

Read

Two Pillars of the Great Commission(Headline)

v. 16 “Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had directed them.”

In , Jesus had told his disciples that after He was raised from the dead that He would meet them in Galilee.

He sends a calendar reminder to them through the Angel of the Lord and a personal reminder to them himself when He intercepts the ladies.

And, this is where we find them in our passage this morning.

Jesus is gathering his disciples together likes troops before their general.

They had given the last three years of their lives for this moment, the moment in which Jesus was give them their marching orders to do what He had prepared them to do.

I want us to see two pillars of the Great Commission (headline) that Jesus gives to his disciples before He ascends to the right hand of the Father.

Two pillars upon which all of the church would rest upon over the next two millennia.

Jesus’ Disciples are Sent in Jesus’ “Power”.

First, I want you to see that Jesus’ disciples are sent in Jesus’ “power.”

Jesus bookends the Great Commission with these two accomplishments resulting from the Resurrection: 1) Jesus has consolidated all authority unto himself.

2) Jesus has assured that He, with all of his authority, will go with us everywhere at all times.

These are the two anchor points from the resurrection that Jesus gives to his disciples so that they will not be blown away by the frustrations and hardship and struggles that will come during this life and his mission.

These anchor points, his authority and his presence, come together to express his power in the life of his disciples.

That is, Jesus’ disciples have Jesus’ power with them personally and collectively wherever they go steadying them, assuring them, emboldening them.

Jesus Gives Us His Authority

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”

The first anchor point of the resurrection is: Jesus gives us his “authority”.

Think about the specific authority claim that Jesus makes.

He says, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” Jesus is saying this against the backdrop of the resurrection.

If there’s any proof that you are not the chief authority on earth, it is your mortality.

It is that you will die, and you have no say over it.

You will go back to the earth, and your life will come to an end, and there’s nothing you can say about it.

But, this is not true of Jesus.

The resurrection proves that death holds no sway, no authority over him.

By controlling that which is least able to be controlled, Jesus demonstrates that there is no circumstance beyond his control.

By overcoming life’s greatest threat, He shows that He has consolidated the authority of the cosmos unto himself, slaying his the ruler of this world.

So, you see, there is nothing that is not in submission to him.

The Soviet military and the North Korean nuclear program are under his authority.

The Dow Jones and the 2020 elections are under his authority.

President Obama, President Trump, and President whomever are under his authority.

ISIS is under his authority.

Famines and floods, tornadoes and plane crashes are all answerable to him.

This is why says that Jesus came in the form of a servant and emptied himself, but will be the very one before whom all congresses and all parliaments and all powers unseen by the human eye and all creatures indescribable by the english language will one day bow before him and declare that He is the Lord.

He, and He alone has walked out of the grave that He was placed in by the very power that resides within himself.

And, He has been given by the Father as his gift the dominion over it all.

Jesus Gives Us His Presence

“I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Now, the second anchor point of the resurrection Jesus gives to his disciples to hold them steady is the last part of verse 20.

That is, Jesus gives us his “presence”.

He says, that He will always be with them.

Jesus promises his disciples his presence at all times in all places across all ages.

That is, loneliness is only a lie, a deception by the enemy, never an actual reality in the Christian life.

You may feel lonely, and the enemy may convince you that you are lonely so that you won’t have joy, but you’re never actually lonely.

I say this is a resurrection reality because of what Jesus taught his disciples in and 16.

Jesus’ death and resurrection was for the purpose of placing the very Spirit of God within you to give you a new heart and new life and new holiness.

So, you are marked by the authority of Christ and the presence of Christ simultaneously.

Jesus’ Power to Do the Impossible (Through Us)

APPLICATION: Bring these two anchor points together and you see that the greatest power in all of the cosmos, the one before whom every creature seen and unseen will bow their knees in worship, the One whom will torment the demons and condemn the enemy, He is always with you!

Jesus’ “authority” over all things goes with you to all “places”.

Do you see how liberating this is?

This is how Adoniram Judson and his young wife boarded a ship to India with no plans to return.

This is how teenagers are overturning generations of hopelessness in the lives of their friends.

This is how parents throughout the Kingdom of God are changing the life of an orphan.

Jesus’ “authority” and Jesus’ “presence” supply Jesus’ “power” for the radical call on your life.

You’re supposed to raise your children as disciples in the midst of a culture that is pulling them from every side, hoping to catch their eye with cash or popularity or fun or sex or any other glitz and glamor that can be mustered.

What hope do you have to raise them as disciples of Christ?

The power of Christ is in you and with you.

You’re charged with taking the gospel with you to work, where it can cost you your job, to your neighbors, where it can cost you your friendships, and to your community, where it can cost you your acceptance.

How can we possibly muster up the courage and the wisdom to go anyway?

The power of Christ is in you and with you.

You’re called to grow as a disciple of Christ and your health is failing, your finances are thin, and your appetites seem to work against you.

What hope do you have to make it to the end as a disciple of Christ?

The power of Christ is in your and with you, and it’s the power of Christ that allows you to live a powerful life!

You have been sent to do the impossible, but you have been sent with Jesus’ power over the impossible!

Jesus’ Disciples Are Sent on Jesus’ “Mission”.

v. 19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations...” The second pillar of the Great Commission I want you to see is: Jesus’ disciples are sent on Jesus’ “mission”.

v. 19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations...” There’s a particular reason that Jesus is driving home his power and his presence going with them.

Jesus is sending his disciples with his power and his presence to accomplish his mission.

You can see this with how verse 19 is phrased.

He says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.”

So, here’s what Jesus is saying when he says, ‘therefore.’

“I have authority over the whole universe.

There’s not a baby that cries, a king that rules, or a demon that torments over which I am not sovereign.

So then, you can go.

You can go to every people in every nook and cranny of all creation and tell them the Good News.

You can go to people that have never heard my name before across the world, and you can go across the street to people who have heard and didn’t care.

You can go to countries that will threaten your lives and you can go to classmates that will threaten your popularity and you can go to bosses that will threaten your career aspirations.

I rule over them all.

All of them are answerable to me.

I am in control of it all, and I’m going with you.”

Making Disciples is Being Disciples