Last Words

Matthew 28:18-20

Many famous last words have been spoken in history, whether they were inspirational words, unpleasant words, defiant words, or insightful words. There is no balm for the wounds incurred when the last conversation you have with a loved one is an angry one; I’ve heard too many times, “I wish I’d said ‘I love you’ instead of shouting.’” or “The last thing I said to him was…” (something unpleasant).

Sometimes, someone’s last word is patriotic. Nathan Hale uttered the famous words, “My only regret is that I have but one life to lose for my country.” A last word can be inspirational; Alben Barkley, former Vice President of the United States, who suffered a fatal heart attack, is said to have said, “I would rather be a servant in the house of the Lord than to sit in the seats of the mighty.”

Of course, there is also the redneck’s last word: “Hey, come here – watch this!” I was walking through a cemetery in Kokomo, Indiana, when I saw the gravestone. “See, I told you I was sick.”

We have a fascination with last words. If you were given the opportunity to encapsulate your entire life with one statement, what would it be?

Before he ascended into heaven, Jesus chose his last words carefully. He first establishes his credentials – who he is to speak such things: Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me.” Our culture is full of people who are Jesus-fans. They like Jesus the moral teacher, but they don’t like divine Jesus. They simply don’t listen to what Jesus actually said about himself. If they did, they would realize that Jesus has made a bold statement that equates his authority with God’s. I guess I don’t understand how someone could say that Jesus was a great moral teacher but that he wasn’t divine, because that was certainly how Jesus understood himself. All authority does not mean “some authority or “partial authority.” Jesus has the very authority of God Himself. Why? Because, as Jesus said in John 10:30, “I and the Father are one.”

So to accept Jesus as a good moral teacher, we have to accept that what he taught was true; otherwise he was a great immoral liar or a misguided lunatic. And if we accept that what Jesus taught was true, we have to accept that Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, we are obligated to actually obey what Jesus taught.

This is why it is important to establish Jesus’ authority. If Jesus is not our authority, then we have to establish what is, and it is probably you as an individual. You get to pick what is right and wrong based on your personal preferences. You probably argue based on feelings and individual experience and never mention the Bible. But Jesus has all authority, so listen and obey him.

Our culture largely believes in God. So what?! If I believe there is a god – so do demons… and they tremble, according to James 2:19. We live in a culture that pretty much accepts that there is a god, and doesn’t care. It’s because we largely do not accept God’s authority, or we do not really believe that God is still active in this world.

But if we actually believe Jesus is who he is, then we have to also accept his authority, which means when he makes a command, it’s not a suggestion. It’s a command. Jesus says: 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. (Matthew 28:19-20a)

Notice that Jesus didn’t make any exceptions to what he said. He didn’t say “all the pastors in the room raise your hands…” He didn’t say, “Anyone here have the gift of evangelism?” Jesus didn’t say anything like that. His authority established, he gives his people a job, to go and make disciples. I’m not sure when the shift happened, but we can be sure that it was not in our lifetimes, but somewhere so-called normal Christians stopped going. We left that to others; we called them “missionaries” or “evangelists” and the rest of us said, “They can ‘go’ but I’ll ‘stay.’” And we justify ourselves by saying, “Well, I’m not particularly called to go.”

If that has been your attitude, it’s a lie. You were called to ‘go’ – and by Jesus Christ himself, and the calling was written down in the Bible. In the 1980s, the church growth model was “if you build it, they will come” so churches began building great structures and guess what? Many of them were successful, and they grew large. Huge even. I am not knocking megachurches; on the contrary, I have been a part of a very successful megachurch and the momentum that they had for saving souls was amazing. It was an awesome thing to be a part of. But the key concept was “come to us” – what is known as an attractional model.  The unfortunate thing is that the attractional model, so popular and successful in the 1980s, is not successful anymore.

As United Methodists, our DNA was never an attractional model anyway. John Wesley became famous for what was known as “field preaching” – instead of waiting for people to show up in church buildings, Wesley went out into the “field” where the people were. Things don’t work today exactly as they did in the 1700s, but the biblical principle is still true: if we want to make disciples, the first step is to go. If we want to reach the people, we need to go to where they are. Remember that this is in the same context as last week’s lesson; we can’t just go waltzing in by ourselves, thinking we won’t be influenced by the surroundings. There are reasons why when Jesus sent his disciples out, he sent them two-by-two; accountability, encouragement and support are three of those reasons.

So, where are the people in Wellston who need Jesus? How can we “go” and reach them? What’s it going to take for us to reach them?

Going is the first step, but the goal is making discipes. Jesus’ command is to make disciples, baptize them, and teach them obedience to all of God’s commands. Evangelicals have traditionally done well at baptizing new believers, but did you know that nearly half of our West Ohio United Methodist Churches have not had a single baptism or profession of faith in any given year? Friends, that’s the church not being the church. When a church’s goal is “don’t close our doors” then we’ve missed the point.

And baptism is just the first point, because it’s the starting point of Christian discipleship. Seeing baptism as the end point is like a runner getting to the starting line and saying, “Whew, I made it! That was rough. I wonder where everyone is going?”

In the last few years, even Bill Hybels at Willow Creek in Chicago admitted that they hadn’t done a good job of making disciples. Even as they grew to tens of thousands in worship on Sundays, they hadn’t been making disciples. They had done a tremendous job of getting people in the door, getting them to the starting line. There were many who piled on when Hybels made that announcement, saying, “See, I told you so,” but the real issue is that most of us in our own churches have the same issue, but we just don’t admit it. We go from sermon to sermon, from Bible study to Bible study and we never become disciples, let alone make disciples.

The mission of the United Methodist Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Hope Church has added “to be” to that mission statement, indicating that if we want to make disciples of Jesus, we have to first be his disciples. That goes back to last week’s message – if we want to be Jesus’ disciples, we have to delight in his Word. We have to know him, not just know who he is, but to really know him.

When we delight in Jesus, we will naturally tell others about him. Has anyone here ever been in love? A sure sign someone is in love is that they spend lots of time together, and they are always talking about the one they love. What would you think if your friend told you, “I’m in love and I’m going to get married,” yet you’ve never met the lucky one, and, in fact, they never even told you that they were dating anyone?

That’s bad, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Because our job is not just to know Jesus, nor is it to just tell people about Jesus. We have to go beyond the starting line, teaching other disciples to obey all of Jesus’ commands. This is what disciples do: we multiply disciples.

Here’s the thing: as disciples, we get to enjoy Jesus’ presence even more! This is what God made us for – to enjoy his presence! And this is how Jesus ends his last words: “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20b)

I’ve seen the bumper sticker that says, “Jesus is coming back… look busy” but it misses the point that Jesus is with us always. His continued presence assures that his authority is valid.

When I was a freshman in high school, I had two teachers who required a journal. Mrs. G was probably the best teacher I ever had, and the journal we kept in her class made us think and respond. There weren’t “right and wrong” answers; the exercise was simply meant to get us to think. I put more time into those journals than most of my other schoolwork. Then there was Mrs. H, who was a friend of Mrs. G. I figured out pretty quickly that Mrs. H didn’t read our journals, and I stopped doing them.

Unfortunately, many people in our culture have decided that Jesus isn’t reading our journals – that Jesus isn’t actively involved in our lives anymore – so they have stopped doing the work. But Jesus told his followers that he would always be with us:

Jesus’ presence with us is key. I know that many of us have felt God’s presence clearly when others have prayed for us or in times of trouble, when you’ve had an overwhelming peace that just doesn’t go with the situation. But how does Jesus’ presence fit in with the context of what he has just said?

Remember that these are the last words Jesus is saying to his closest friends before he ascends into heaven. He wants them to be comforted. He wants them to be at peace. Why? Just so they feel better? Not really. He wants them to be able to carry out his commands, and anyone who has gone through grief knows that grief is paralyzing. Sometimes it’s a struggle just to get out of bed. But Jesus’ enduring presence exists to make disciples as well.

When Jesus gives us a command, it must be possible to complete the task. Otherwise Jesus has no business giving us the command. There are things that I tell my children to do – but if I tell the baby to fix herself a bottle, there is no way she will accomplish what I told her to do. So I don’t give her that command. So Jesus only commands us what is possible… and disciple making is impossible… with us. But (anyone who was at Bible School knows) that everything is possible with God. So Jesus goes with us to make all things possible, including making disciples.

A few years ago, my pastor friend, Greg, used to send out sermon manuscripts for some friends to read and critique before he preached. He got used to me asking, “So what?” What did he want the congregation to do about the message he was teaching. Hopefully every week there will be a “so what” for all of us. This week, our job is to think about discipleship. What does it look like in 2012? I pose that it looks a lot like one-on-one interactions. If you look at the life of the Apostle Paul, he had two significant people in his life: Barnabas, the encourager, who encouraged Paul and mentored him, and Timothy, for whom Paul was a spiritual father. So who is the more mature Christian who you are going to as a mentor, and who are you mentoring? Who are you spending time with to pour your life into? Are you steering conversations to the spiritual? Are you encouraging and affirming someone in their Christian walk?

If not, it’s time to start.