Sent with a Great Mission

Kate Stevens • Apr 27, 2022

Notes from Pastor Lance's message on Matthew 28:16-20.


When studying the Great Commission, most want to start with Jesus’s first instruction of “Go”—but we have to start with His first words in verse 18...


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


We are sent with ultimate authority


As we look back over all of Matthew, we see where Jesus’s authority was evident and on display...

  • Over wind and waves
  • As a teacher
  • Over matter
  • Over disease and sickness
  • Over demons
  • Over Satan
  • Over death


“There can only be a mission imperative because there is first this glorious indicative. God does not send out his church to conquer. He sends us out in the name of the One who has already conquered. We go only because he reigns.” —Kevin DeYoung, What is the Mission of the Church?


And this authority is so necessary for us to remember and cling to because it is hard to change someone’s mind about simple things like not eating bacon or Whataburger over In-N-Out—think about changing someone’s mind about eternal matters!



We are sent with mission clarity


Our mission: make disciples of all nations. We keep talking about the second coming when so many have never even heard of the first coming. We are called to preach the gospel both locally and globally.


Baptizing: this outward expression of our faith is essential to living it out


Teaching: Jesus leaves us to teach what He had just taught us


Look back over the book of Matthew now that we are closing it out. Look at the rich teachings Jesus left us to pass on:


Matthew 6:19–21, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."


Matthew 6:33, "But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."


Matthew 16:24–26, "Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?"


Matthew 20:25–28, "But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

Matthew 22:37–40, "And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. [40] On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”



We are sent with needed community


“These words are much deeper than Jesus saying, ‘I’ll be there for you.’ Jesus is taking one of the names of God: ‘I Am.’ He says, ‘Know that wherever you go, the I Am will be with you, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the one on whom all the covenant promises rest, the one who is the same yesterday, today, and forever, the one who is Alpha and Omega. 


I am the I Am, and I would never think of sending you without going with you in power, glory, wisdom, and grace.’ 


The disciples would find all they needed for what they were being commissioned to do in the power, presence, and grace of the one sending them.”  —Paul Tripp, Lead

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