THE GREAT COMMISSION

Matthew 28: 16-20

Twenty-six years ago, there was a beloved charter member of this church named George Montgomery who was on the committee to select their next pastor.  I was the next candidate the committee brought in for interviews. For the first part of the interview, Mr. Montgomery sat with his arms folded, eyeing the twenty-eight year old candidate that they had prayerfully decided might be the next pastor of this church. In his eyes I was quite young and was educated at a northern theological school—Princeton! I later learned that he had a litmus test that he asked every candidate, and if the candidate showed Biblical knowledge by answering it correctly, he voted for them; if the candidate could not answer his question, he voted against them. Here was his question that he very slyly worded to me:  “There’s a passage from Scripture that I can’t recall the wording to right now. It is Matthew 28: 16-20. Can you help me recall it?” To which I said: “It’s the Great Commission. Jesus said ‘All authority in heaven and earth have been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.’” And George Montgomery said: “I vote for him!” He became an instant advocate, first taking Mary Ann and me out to lunch that day at “Down the Hatch” restaurant, and second in become one of our most loyal supporters. But more than that, he always was carrying out his ideas for getting visitors to church and connecting them with Jesus. He, on his own, took posters to all beachside hotels that would let him post them, offering free transportation to Westminster By-The-Sea Church, and then he would, single handedly in those days, stop by every hotel that had guests who responded, and drive them to church and back! What a way to share the Great Commission! Yesterday I stopped by charter member Mary Hunt’s house to pick up clothes to deliver to Mission Haven in two weeks, a kind of clothes closest for Christian missionaries returning to the United States after they have served in another country for a period of time. Mission Haven is in Decatur Georgia. Helping missionaries matters to her and to this congregation. For years Fay Murray and Flo DePrato coordinated our monthly feeding of hundreds of hungry people in town at Halifax Urban Ministries. Now Herman and Barbara Page coordinate that and Marianne Sabatka is our current contact person for our Port Orange food pantry. We do all of that because we believe in the Great Commission. And this week we invited and got forty children who are not members of this congregation, to join us and the children of this church at “Shake it Up Café” to learn about Jesus. We believe in the Great Commission. We teach our children to memorize the Lord’s Prayer and the 23^rd Psalm. But I am so glad that one Sunday School teacher years ago also taught me the “Great Commission.” Saying the Great Commission by heart is one thing; but the next step is to believe it and the final step is to act on it. Our best worldly witness is when our  actions match our words.

When someone is going away, perhaps for a long time, we tend to listen to, and pay attention to, their final words to us.  Sometimes it is a parent or spouse or someone else special. This week we had a chance to say our final words to children at the end of and eventful week together. With that in mind, we have an idea of how the 11 remaining apostles hung on every word from Jesus! It’s recorded in the very last Chapter of Matthew when Jesus was about to go to Heaven. And when he told his apostles is called “the Great Commission.” Disciples to this day honor Jesus by working to carry out these last words of his. If you have ever dropped a rock into a still pond or lake, you know how the ripples fan out, not really stopping until it hits the bank or edge of the water. That’s the work of the Great Commission: it is people dropping a rock into the world somewhere.  What would the rock sound like? A child says to a friend: “I went to an awesome church for Vacation Bible School! And I want to go back! Come with me!” The Great Commission plops in the pond of the world. A couple is coming down the glass elevator of a condominium on South Atlantic Avenue. They have on their church clothes; another couple on the elevator has on tennis clothes. “Going to play tennis?” the church couple asks to the other couple. “Yes” they say back, “Where are you going?” the other couple asks. “We are going to church; and we go to that one there (and they point out of the glass elevator to our steeple.) If you would ever like to come with us, we’ll take you!” The Great Commission just plopped again in the pond of the world. The first ripples started in the first century Jerusalem; they rippled over to Rome, and to Asia Minor and including a part of Turkey then called Constantinople. They rippled even into Soviet block countries, for when Communism fell, the church still stood behind the Iron Curtain. It still does. But it is decaying in some parts of the world such as Europe- let those who have ears, hear! We cannot stop carrying out the Great Commission of making disciples of all nations! Churches cannot function just being architectural monuments to Christian past glories; churches are people inviting, caring, teaching, and loving. Presbyterian Christians were among those who did a great job taking the Great Commission to Korea in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. Now the largest Presbyterian Church in the world is not here, or in Scotland, it is in Korea! And Koreans are now sending ministers to our shores to remind us how to keep growing!  Can you believe it? Korean Christians are now reminding American Christian how to share the message of Jesus with others! It’s amazing!

Ten years ago I was interested to learn an Anglo South African Presbyterian minister came to Orlando to pastor a church. When asked why he would leave a large and growing church in South Africa to come to a much smaller church in Orlando, he said, “Christians in the United States look like they needed my help more than our growing churches in South Africa do! And so he is making a difference in America now.  Carrying out the Great Commission is the means by which Jesus intends to change the world; and the speed and effectiveness by which we deliver that news to all nations and people prepares our world for the day when Jesus comes again! The work of that Commission is one of the main things we are to do! Last week we baptized two adults and had two more reaffirm their faith. Next week we will welcome other new members. And this week we hopefully introduced children and parents to people who care about them, and invited them to come back beyond this past week.

“Go into all the world” Jesus said. When he said it, Jerusalem was the epicenter of Christianity; then Christian grew to have many centers, so the ripples we make in the world’s waters by inviting someone else to be a disciple of Jesus creates ripples that run into ripples. Invite others to know Jesus, then let God’s Holy Spirit bless them and guide them. The next thing Jesus said was “Baptizing them.” That’s not just for anyone to go out and do; but it is for churches to give them a community in which to begin their Christian journey; it gets new disciples beside other disciples to help mentor, befriend, and help one another who struggle with issues of sin and suffering. Jesus gave his authority to his apostles who he sent out with his urgent word. If we were to follow a faith family tree back to the first century, what ancestors of ours ages ago might have been told about Jesus by Philip, or Andrew, or Peter, or even Mary Magdalene? We have Christianity today because people believe that the Great Commission was not just for them; it is for all who are baptized in the name of the triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And for those who are, the Savior who departed out of the sight of the Apostles said something paradoxical: “Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.” How can Jesus be with them, and us, after he’s left the earth? Ah, the wonder of his Spirit makes it possible. We cannot see him now, but we can see evidence of his presence and hear guiding words that start from his heart, but are transmitted through the mouths of angels, mentors, teachers, and even children. We are reminded of Jesus’ presence each time we take Holy Communion, or have two or three people gather in His name. In all those times, he is with us. We are not alone. Thanks be to God!