Matthew 28:16-20
The Great Commission”
(Sermon delivered on Father's Day)
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in thy sight, Oh Lord, Our King, Our Strength and Our Redeemer! AMEN
In the name of the Father,the son,and the holy spirit.
Today is a day of Celebration!
Firstly, We celebrate “Father's Day” ...and Fathers everywhere we salute you especially all members of All Saint's.
May your day be blessed and happy.!
Secondly,we celebrate”THE LORD'S DAY”.. we give God thanks for light, life, and love, allowing us to meet together in worship and fellowship today !
Most importantly however,we celebrate the mystery of God-
The TRINITY ! And quite appropriately today is TRINITY SUNDAY!
Today we are reminded of THE GREAT COMMISSION - we are commissioned to go into all the world and teach and preach THE GOSPEL OF THE FATHER,THE SON AND THE HOLY SPIRIT....as we just heard in the gospel reading from Matthew Chapter 28.: 16 -20
The context is Jesus' farewell to his followers. The eleven disciples. Who were directed to Galilee to A mountain where they saw Jesus,and worshipped him.
The great commission was then given -
GO AND MAKE DISCIPLES OF ALL NATIONS BAPTISING THEM IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
In theology,eleven disciples represent the Church.12 being the number of completion, implying that the church on earth is not perfect.
The scriptures go on to say-
BEHOLD I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS EVEN TO THE END OF THE AGE!
I believe that when we read the gospels we should try to put ourselves into the picture, learning and receiving from Jesus. So let us together look again at this section of Matthew and FOCUS on what Jesus is saying to us individually and collectively.
When we were personally convinced of Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, Jesus invited us up to the mountain of the Lord, to hear His instructions to ALL of His disciples.
We are His disciples if we love Him and follow Him. Brothers,and sisters as disciples we are instructed to tell of the Triune God-we have come to know and love!
The word “Trinity” does not appear in the Bible,but there are lots of indicators which lead us to see GOD in this way. The word itself means three united in one.
Straightforwardly-
Three-
THE FATHER,who is Creator.(known as Jehovah/Yahweh in the OT concealed in the NT.
THE SON,who is JESUS,the Redeemer,and Saviour, who died in our stead, was raised from the dead revealed OT. and who as promised will come again.(1 Cor6:19,20 -
THE HOLY SPIRIT,who is the living breath of GOD. Our Comforter and constant guide.
God therefore is ONE- a cooperative loving relationship.
First we see the disciples naturally worshipping Jesus. Well we should always be in an attitude of worship, reverence and awe of God and Jesus Christ. Jesus is our Saviour and sees us as friends not as servants but we should not become so blasé that we take Jesus for granted or agree with those who claim He was just a prophet,or a good teacher,or even the son of God but not God incarnate!
As Baptised Christians we need to be clear on our Belief in God's saving grace...anything else could lead to personal disaster. We learn from the scriptures, that even amongst Jesus' original disciples some doubted His deity. But, Jesus put them straight and told them that He has ALL authority in heaven and on the earth. This is possibly the most important thing for a disciple, that is you and I, to know about Jesus.
He cannot be trumped! He is above all things and all powers. He knows everything anyone does and everything that anyone thinks! That's why the rest of His instructions are so worth following. If you rely on Him you cannot fail!
At all times uphold the Sovreignty of Jesus,Emanuel,God with us,God incarnate.
Read,mark,learn and inwardly digest his holy word and appreciate his wonderful work for mankind...for you...for me ...
And what are His instructions? They are very simple. Pass on what you believe so that others will become disciples also. You don't have to do anything spectacular. Just give people answers to any questions they pose or offer to get the answer if you don't know and then show them why you believe in and trust Jesus with your life. It's not difficult but it takes courage to face being an ambassador evangelist,or witness for Jesus Christ- . Disciples have that courage as part of the grace they receive from our Triune God.
Additionally,we know Jesus will never leave us or forsake us and as He has ALL power and authority we can never be without God's able assistance.
Of ourselves we can do nothing but fortunately as disciples we can never be without Jesus!
Surely He is with us always, even to the very end of the age.
And so in closing this discourse,may our prayer now and ever be-
Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty !
All Thy works shall praise thy name in earth,and sky,and sea......and
May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God,and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all evermore.
Amen.
Janetta.
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