SERIES: The Good News, as Reported by Matthew
The Great Commission and the Great Commandment
SCRIPTURE: Matthew 28:18-20, Matthew 22:34-40
SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus
Note: This sermon was preached at First Free St. Louis in a series on Marks of a Healthy Church.
For some three months now we have been examining the Marks of a Healthy Church. We began the first Sunday in September with five messages on Worship, then
Theology: The Queen of the Sciences Must Recover Her Crown
Preaching: How Shall They Hear Without a Preacher?
Christian Community: A Place to Belong
Grace: What’s So Amazing About Grace?
Servant Leadership
Stewardship: Using but not Abusing God’s Gifts
And now today we conclude with the Great Commission and the Great Commandment.
I firmly believe that any church that pursues these eight areas with a vengeance and keeps them in reasonable balance is going to be a healthy church. On the other hand, any church that neglects one or more of these areas is going to be correspondingly unhealthy. For example, a church can have great theology and preaching, but if they lack grace and a sense of community, that church is going to be anemic. Or a church can have wonderful worship and incredible leadership, but if it has no concept of its responsibility to the rest of the world, it is also going to be ineffective. I want to encourage all of us individually, and the whole church collectively, to ask, “Which of these marks do I (or do we) need to work on most? How would God have us improve, and what are we going to do about it?”
If a Christian were searching for a personal mission or vision statement, it would be hard to improve upon the Great Commission and the Great Commandment. The Great Commission tells us what Christians are to do; the Great Commandment tells us what we are to be. Both are repeated numerous times in the Bible, but we’re going to focus on their occurrences in the Book of Matthew. Please give attention to the Word of the Lord, first from Matthew 28, then from Matthew 22:
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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, 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 28:18-20).
Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:34-40).
Originally I was intending to preach separate messages on these two topics but ended up combining them this morning because of my desire to complete this series before Christmas and still leave a Sunday to focus our attention on the Christmas story. However, the more I worked on this sermon, the stronger became my conviction that these two biblical mandates are inseparable and really should be preached together, though it’s a very ambitious task and means we will only be hitting the high spots.
The Great Commission: What Christians are to do
There are a lot of things Christians are to do. The Bible is full of instructions, principles, encouragements, and commands. Why would we pick out any one of those and put it above all the others? Why would we call this particular exhortation, “The Great Commission?” Well, partly because it is the final message Jesus left with His disciples. We often hang on the final words of a loved one as being especially significant, because more often than not those final words capture the heart of the person. Second, the essential message of the Great Commission is repeated at least four different times in the NT–in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Acts–and God doesn’t repeat Himself without reason.
Now I thought it might be helpful for us to look at the Great Commission very simply by use of the questions, “Who, what, where, how, why, and when.”
Who is the Great Commission addressed to? And the answer is, “all followers of Jesus. The eleven disciples are specifically mentioned in the passage, but we cannot limit our application to them. Clearly in calling upon them to make disciples of all nations (or asking them to go to the uttermost part of the world in Acts 1:8), Jesus can’t be expecting these eleven men to do that task by themselves, though they actually did a pretty amazing job spreading the Gospel! The Apostles are representatives of the church, the family of God, who collectively are given the responsibility to fulfill the Great Commission.
What exactly are Jesus’ followers commanded to do? We are to make disciples. This is the key command in the Great Commission. In our English translations it looks like there are two commands–go and make disciples–but in the original language the word “go” is a participle, not a command. Literally it reads, “while going, make disciples.” A disciple is another term for a fully devoted follower of Jesus. Those who are already committed followers are to reproduce themselves in others so that they too become committed followers.
Disciples, you know, are made, not born. A believer is born (or born again), but a disciple is made. Sometimes it takes a long time to turn a new believer into a genuine disciple; other times it happens pretty quickly. It depends essentially upon two things–the willingness of the new believer and the availability of someone to teach and model the truth to them. Sadly, there are some young believers who want to grow but can’t find anyone to disciple them. One of the greatest needs in the Church today is for mentors, disciple-makers who are willing to take someone under their wings and stick with them until they are ready to reproduce themselves.
Where are we to carry out this responsibility? We are to go into all nations. The Gospel was not just for Jews in Palestine in the first century, nor is it just for Americans today. It is for all people everywhere. Every once in a while I hear people say something to the effect that there are plenty of pagans in St. Louis, so why should we be spending our resources to take the Gospel to Russia or Mexico City or Utah? The answer is simple, “Jesus commanded us to.”
Of course, some churches are so focused on overseas missions that they completely lose sight of the missionfield in their own backyard. How much sense does it make for an individual to go to Tatarstan to win lost Tatars if one won’t even share his faith with his next-door neighbor? Not much. That’s why the account of the Great Commission in Acts, chapter 1 is so helpful: it speaks of His followers’ responsibility to be witnesses “in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Translated for us that means in St. Louis, in Missouri, in the U.S., and in every foreign country.
How are we supposed to make disciples? By baptizing and teaching toward obedience. The NT knows nothing of an unbaptized believer. I am delighted that we have been able to raise the visibility of baptism here at First Free in recent years. It is so healthy for the congregation to hear and see individuals identifying themselves with Jesus and witnessing that fact through baptism by immersion. There is nothing I love more about church than baptism and the faith stories that go with it. But baptism is just a first step; it doesn’t by itself a disciple make.
Teaching is the second part of disciple-making. Jesus says we should be “teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” He’s not talking just about preaching, you know. Preaching is great for providing a biblical framework, an overall Christian worldview. But the most effective kind of teaching for disciple-making probably happens in a classroom or a small group or even a one-on-one relationship. The give-and-take of a Small Church provides the opportunity to dialogue and have one’s questions answered. The intimacy of a Small Group allows a still deeper level of learning, especially when going through something like the Discovery Series, as hundreds of you have. And a one-on-one relationship may have the greatest potential of all, especially when the two individuals are going through something like First Steps or Operation Timothy.
But I caution you that “curriculum” is not the key to discipling–it’s love. No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care. Someone has said that the Christian faith is caughtmore effectively than it is taught, and the best way to catch something is to be in intimate contact with someone who is himself contagious. The process involves the impartation of knowledge, but it is by no means limited to that. It’s about doing life together.
Why should we obey Great Commission? Because Jesus has all authority, and He promises His constant presence. His opening words here in verse 17 are these: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples.” See the connection? He’s the boss, so we do what He says! If President Bush tells American troops to go to Iraq or Afghanistan, they don’t debate whether they like the climate or prefer to be deployed in Europe or need to stay home and take care of their families. They go. But that’s not the only motivation Jesus offers. He also comes back in His final words with another extremely important reason for obedience: “And surely I am with you always.” The constant presence of Christ with His people is enough to overcome the fear, apathy, and self-centeredness that so often affects our willingness negatively.
Finally, when is this Great Commission in effect? Until the very end of the age. This commission was given just before Jesus ascended into heaven following His resurrection, and it has never been rescinded. We are to be about the Father’s business of making disciples until Jesus comes again.
One of the really amazing things I have experienced since my resignation is people coming out of the woodwork to share how they have come to faith in Christ and been discipled in this church–I had no clue about the impact of this ministry on many of these people’s lives. It’s been extremely gratifying to hear about the cooperative effort of many, many people in this disciple-making process. Tonight one dear lady will be baptized who told me an incredible story about her first visitto First Free. I’ve asked Angie Grimme to come up and allow me to interview her for a moment.
Angie, I understand your first visit to First Free was on June 1. How did you happen to visit here? I was extremely depressed and even suicidal, so I had gone to Mary Jo Stralka, a counselor who attends this church. The first thing she asked me was whether I had a church family. When I said no, she told me where she attended church, and several weeks later I decided to try it.
You really enjoyed that first visit, didn’t you? Actually I bawled through the whole service.
Was the sermon that bad? No, it had nothing to do with the sermon. I was just so overwhelmed by my situation and the desire for God to help me–I don’t think I even heard the sermon.
I’ll bet whoever was sitting next to you that morning was freaked out as you were bawling and couldn’t wait to escape. Actually the man sitting next to me, whose name I later learned was Tom Siener, very kindly asked me if I was having a bad day. I told him, “No, I’m having a bad life.” Tom then led me to the Visitor’s Parlor, where he introduced me to Jack and Judy Kerls. Judy just hugged me and allowed me to cry.
What else did she do? She took me over to the Women’s Ministry desk and signed me up for First Steps, a basic discipleship class that “just happened” to be starting that week.
Who was teaching the First Steps course? Marilyn Fruin and Danita Mahlor were leading the class. After the second class, Marilyn asked me if I had ever invited Jesus to forgive my sins and come into my life. I told her my sins were too many and too awful–that I had broken every one of the Ten Commandments. I believed Jesus could forgive others but not me. She told me that such an attitude was essentially a denial of the sufficiency of Jesus’ sacrifice and a demand that He come back and die again just for me. I finally realized that I just needed to accept Him as my Savior, so I did.
Has that decision made a difference in your life? Oh, it’s made an unbelievable difference! I have a peace and confidence today that I have never had before. I know that God is with me and will meet my every need.
Anything else good happen to you lately? In the past two months both my daughter and my son-in-law have professed faith in Christ, and all three of us are going to be baptized tonight.
Friends, there are three new Christians as the result of four or five people in our congregation taking the Great Commission seriously. None is a professional clergyman or missionary; they were just available to help a lost soul find Jesus.
Now in a sense I have already introduced the second half of my sermon. You see, these people–Mary Jo, Tom, Judy, Marilyn, Danita (and probably others)–who obeyed the Great Commission were at the same time obeying the Great Commandment. In fact, you really can’t do one without the other. Our doing and our being have to go together.
The Great Commandment: What Christians are to be
Maybe you think it odd when I say that love is something we are to be rather than do. Love is an action word, true, but the action has to come out of who we are. Sometimes actions appear to be loving but are actually motivated completely by self-interest. That is not love, it’s hypocrisy. Of course, as fallen human beings our motives are often mixed. We give gifts to someone because we love them, but we also give because we love the response we get and want to be well-thought-of. One of the goals of Scripture is to help us purify our love, to love for the right reasons.
Let’s look again at Matthew 22:34-40:
Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
This chapter contains a series of efforts by Jesus’ enemies to destroy His influence among the people by asking Him a series of questions they think will force Him onto the horns of a dilemma. This time the Pharisees put up one of their best debaters, an expert in the Law, who asks Jesus, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” As the experts counted them, there were 613 separate laws in the Pentateuch–248 positive ones and 365 negative ones, one for each day of the year. They weren’t all viewed as equal, and scholars had widely different formulas to determine which was the most weighty and which were relatively unimportant. The Ten Commandments were generally considered the epitome of the Law, but there was even debate over which of the Ten were the most important. The point of the question seems to be that no matter what answer Jesus gives, He will make a large number of people angry.
But Jesus blows them away with His answer, as usual. He doesn’t mention any of the Ten Commandments but rather goes straight to the Shema, the most commonly memorized words in the Jewish faith. The more complete context is found in Mark 12, where He is quoted as saying, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’” Then He adds, “This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Do you know what a mezzuzah is, or a phylactery? A mezzuzah is a little box that hangs on the doorpost of an Orthodox Jewish home. A phylactery is a little box that is strapped to the forehead of an Orthodox Jewish man when he goes to worship. If you’ve ever seen pictures of the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, you’ve undoubtedly seen men in long black robes rocking back and forth in front of the wall, wearing phylacteries on their foreheads. Inside both the mezzuzah and the phylactery are these words Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy. The problem is that over time they had become just words. They were memorized but not internalized. They were worn but they were not obeyed.
A parallel might be found in the many Christian homes where a plaque hangs with the words, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Those are beautiful words, but in some of those homes the parents aren’t speaking to one another, they’re watching TV shows that are shameful, and the kids are yelling at each other and kicking the dog. Faith is more than a set of truths to which we ascribe or a set of verses we have memorized–it’s how we live. Jesus is telling the people it’s time to start paying attention to the words they repeat every morning and every night in their devotions.
We are to love God with all that we are. The point of the phrase “with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (and Mark’s version adds “with all your strength”) is not to analyze the human being into different parts but rather to say that we are to love God with every fiber of our being. We need to hear that today, especially since we tend to think about love primarily as an emotion. It is that, but it is so much more. Love that stems only from the emotions and fails to involve the mind and will is almost always going to be shallow and fickle. On the other hand, an intellectual love that is not allowed to penetrate the heart and soul is going to be stilted and ineffective.
How do you know if you’re really in love with God? Well, how do you know if you really love anyone? Well, there are signs, aren’t there?
You want to be with them.
You look forward to talking to them.
You think about them frequently.
You miss them when you’re apart.
You try to please them.
Now just apply those responses to your relationship with God. For our purposes I’ve chosen three important ways we demonstrate a true love for God:
1. Through constant conversation.[i] Rick Warren writes, “You will never grow a close relationship with God by just attending church once a week or even having a daily quiet time. Friendship with God is built by sharing all your life experiences with him.”[ii] I agree. He wants more than an appointment in your schedule; He wants to be included in every activity, every conversation, every problem.
Are you familiar with the command to “pray without ceasing?” How is that possible? Only as we learn to consult God regularly as we walk through life. It can’t refer to finding a quiet place, kneeling down, getting out a prayer list, and working your way through it. That’s an excellent thing to do at times. But praying without ceasing has to be about talking to God while shopping, driving, working, eating (yes, you can talk with your mouth full if you’re talking to God–He doesn’t mind), even resting. Some of my best time talking to God is very early in the morning. I’m usually awake by 5am, but I don’t like to get up that early, so I often talk to the Lord about my day.
Nehemiah has always been one of my favorite prayer warriors, particularly because of his “shotgun prayers.” As cupbearer to King Artaxerxes he made the mistake one day of appearing before the king depressed over the destruction of Jerusalem. Sadness simply wasn’t allowed in the presence of the king, and the king demands an accounting. In his own words Nehemiah tells us what happened: “Then I prayed to the God of heaven, and I answered the king, ‘If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my fathers are buried so that I can rebuild it.” There’s no way that prayer could have taken more than a split second, but it gave Nehemiah the courage to respond appropriately, leading to an incredible commission from the king to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the city. Constant conversation with God doesn’t mean spending all of one’s time in a prayer closet.
One of the great devotional classics of the Christian faith was written by a 17th century cook in a French monastery, named Brother Lawrence. It’s entitled Practicing the Presence of God. Brother Lawrence was able to turn the most menial task like washing dishes into an act of praise and worship of God. The key to friendship with God, he said, is not changing what you do, but changing your attitude toward doing it. What you normally do for yourself you begin doing for God, whether it is eating, bathing, working, relaxing, or taking out the trash.
There is another aspect to constant communication with God, however; prayer is principally our way of talking to Him, while meditation on His Word allows Him to talk to us. When I speak of meditation, I am not talking about some kind of mystical trance; I’m talking about focused thinking, rational study, and concentration, but with an emphasis not on knowledge for knowledge’s sake but knowledge for life transformation. One writer put it this way:
When you think about a problem over and over in your mind, that’s called worry. When you think about God’s Word over and over in your mind, that’s meditation. If you know how to worry, you already know how to meditate! You just need to switch your attention from your problems to Bible verses. The more you mediate on God’s Word, the less you will have to worry about.[iii]
2. Through complete honesty. I wonder about the level of love that can really exist between two individuals unless there is a thorough commitment to honesty in the relationship. And of all possible friends, the one who ought to be the easiest for us to be honest and transparent with is God. The Psalmist believed he could trust God with everything he was feeling, and he pours out his hurts, his sins, his anger, his bitterness, his doubts, everything. Some of the Psalms are called “imprecatory Psalms,” which means the writer is asking God to destroy his enemies. Now God isn’t really interested in doing that, generally speaking, but it’s OK to tell God that’s how you feel. Only if we do so, are we really in love with Him.
3. Through choosing to value what He values. You can claim to love someone, but if your values are totally different, is it really love? God values truth and integrity and holiness and service and family and humility. Or you can just go to the fruit of the spirit for another whole list of things God values: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. It seems to me that it’s a given that the one who loves God will share these same values.
Another way of putting the issue of valuing what God values is to speak of obedience, but that word tends to raise our defenses. Obedience seems like such a performance word–you’re going to “get it” if you don’t. But it really isn’t. Obedience is a response term; it speaks of pleasing the one we love. Jesus said, “You are my friends if you do what I command you.” (John 15:14). God’s agenda must be our agenda.
That may sound scary and restrictive to you, but it isn’t really. St. Augustine made one of the most profound but easily misunderstood statements in the history of the Church when we said, “Love God, and do what you please.” I really like that, and I agree with it, but only if it’s properly understood. “Love God and do what you please” is not carte blanche to sin; rather it’s a recognition that if and when we really love God, our hearts will be so in tune with His that what we please to do will please Him.
But loving God, as important as it is, is not the whole story.
We are to love others as we love ourselves. The statement, “Love your neighbor as yourself” is not commanding us to love ourselves. That is assumed. We all love ourselves, and the evidence is that we provide for our needs–whether food or clothing or sleep or attention. The command is to love others as we already love ourselves. In my interview with Angie she talked about how Mary Jo loved her by asking if she had a church family. Tom loved her by asking if he could help and not just walking away. Judy helped by hugging her and signing her up for a group where she could find answers and relationships. Marilyn loved her by discipling her. Every one of them would have wanted that for themselves, so they gave it to her. They loved their neighbor as they love themselves.
Everything else is fluff. Now that’s an overstatement, and I freely admit it. But I use it because I want to get your attention. Jesus says, “All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” If you’ve got these two things right–love for God and love for people–then you have the foundation for everything else that really matters. On second thought, maybe it’s not an overstatement. Read the first few verses of 1 Corinthians 13: “If I have not love, I am nothing”–less than fluff.
Conclusion: If I were to ask you this question, “What do you most regret in your life?”, would you respond that you wish you had
Worked harder?
Partied less?
Studied more?
Married better?
Traveled further?
Climbed higher?
Eaten less?
None of those would be my answer, though there’s a measure of truth in some of them for me. Mine is very simple: “I wish I had loved more.” A mentor asked me a few months ago, “Would you be willing to preach a bad sermon in order to show love to someone who needed you?” And I had to respond honestly, “No,” because my highest priority in life was preaching. My frame of mind was always to postpone anything else, including loving others, in order to get the sermon right. I think I heard God sound the buzzer on that one, kind of like on Family Feud. I think He convicted me that He’s not as concerned about my sermons as He is about my love for Him and others. Of course, preaching good sermons can be a way of showing love, but the motive has to be one of love, not performance.
There’s a verse in 1 John (4:19) that goes like this: “We love because He first loved us.” There’s only one way to become a true lover of God and of people, and that’s to first experience His love as expressed on the cross, where God sent His one and only Son to die for you.
Tags:
Great Commission
Great Commandment
Disciple-making
Testimony
[i] See Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life, chapters 11 and 12. Some of this portion of the outline is borrowed from this book.
[ii] Warren, 87.
[iii] Warren, 90.