Several years ago I was called to fill in at the last minute for Dr. Paul Cedar (who had become quite ill) at a convention of four evangelical denominational groups in Japan.  These groups had never worked together but at that gathering, under the leading of God’s Spirit, came together for the first time to seek how they might reconcile past differences and then work together to carry the gospel of Jesus to their own country and beyond.  They asked me to speak ten times in just three days – and not one person missed one session!  Just before I began my 10^th address, Pastor Ohashi of Kobe, who had been leading the meetings, introduced me and said, “We have come to the last five minutes.  When we began, we knew we had many hours to learn and to seek God together.  But, now we have come to the last five minutes.  No one wastes time with trivial things when he comes to the end of his time.  Our time is now short.  God has much for us to do.  Our speaker will concentrate his energies and we will listen ready to respond.  We must hear from God in the last five minutes.”

       Today, we come to the words of Jesus in his “last five minutes”.  For three years, he had been teaching, guiding, and doing his Father’s work with his disciples.  He had just died on a Roman cross and, while he was in the grave, had born the sins of all humanity.  But he had been resurrected triumphantly demonstrating he was indeed the Maker of life and the Lord over life and death.  Then, Jesus had spent some days teaching his disciples.  By the time, we come to Matthew 28:18-20, we wait with baited breath to hear the most important words Jesus would ever speak to his followers.  His words have guided every church that names Jesus as Lord throughout history and throughout the world.  Hear again what he declared:

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.

       Jesus himself divided his final commission into three parts. Each of his three divisions is breathtaking if you allow yourself a few moments to meditate on it. So we will:  There is an almost unimaginable claim (v. 18), an immensely encouraging promise (v. 20b), and an undeniably clear mandate (vv. 19-20a).

#1:  The Almost Unimaginable Claim: Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me (28:18).

       Jesus often made claims about himself that sent people reeling.  This welcoming and kind man claimed to be the bread of life, the way to God, one with God the Father, the resurrection and the life…  But, no claim is greater than this one when it comes to every day living.  Jesus said, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.”  All authority – in heaven and on earth – that’s the claim:   

       Jesus says he has authority over every moment and event of history.  He has authority over every part of the natural universe:  natural objects and laws and forces: stars, galaxies, planets; authority over all weather systems: winds, rain, lightning, thunder, hurricanes, and tornadoes. 

       Jesus has authority over all their effects: tidal waves, floods, and fires;

       Jesus has authority over all forms of life: authority over all plants and animals great and small: all visible and invisible animals and plants: bacteria, viruses, parasites, germs; all DNA.

       He has authority over all the parts and functions of the human body: every beat of the heart, and every breath of the diaphragm.

       Jesus has authority over all other authorities:  Satan and all demons, authority over all nations and governments: congresses and legislatures and presidents and Middle Eastern tyrants; authority over all armies and weapons and bombs and terrorists; authority over all industry and business and finance and currency and he’s already taken over Wall Street;

       Jesus has authority over all entertainment and leisure and media; over all education and research and science; authority over all crime and violence; over all families and neighborhoods; and over every soul and every moment of every life that has been or ever will be lived. 

       There is nothing in heaven or on earth over which Jesus does not have authority, that is, does not have the right and the power do with as he pleases. This is the lofty claim. Jesus has authority in Pasadena and in Monrovia!  Our Lord, Jesus Christ, has all authority in heaven and on earth, because our Lord Jesus is God.  I never want you to forget that.  Jesus never wanted you to forget that.  He knew life in this world would have challenges and sometimes be tough so when he left he used his last five minutes to tell us all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him.

#2:  The Immensely Encouraging Promise:  Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age (28:20b).  

       I want us to move to the third part of his last message so we can see how encouraging these last words of Jesus should be for us.  Let’s think about the questions who, when, and how long.

       Who is with us:  Let’s remember who tells us he will be with us: It is the one who has all authority in heaven and on earth.  Plead with God to open your eyes to what this means for you. If you have lost your job – if you are facing a debilitating illness or broken relationship – if you’re starting a new church:  This Jesus, with all authority over every enemy and every disease and every calamity and every futility, promises to be with you.  He is the one who works everything together for our good (Rom. 8:28).  He is one with the God who declares, "I will help you, I will strengthen you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand " (Isaiah 41:10). This is what makes it possible to face the worst threats in this world and say with the apostle Paul in 2 Timothy 4:16-17, "Everyone deserted me, but the Lord stood by me and gave me strength." Who speaks this to us? The one who has all authority in heaven and on earth.

       When is he with us:  "Surely, I will be with you always." Literally, Jesus says, "all the days." What Jesus meant was "without any break." The all-powerful, all-ruling Christ does not take breaks from his promise of always being with us.

       How long will he be with us:  Jesus says, “Surely… to the end of the age.” " He will be with us until the time he returns physically and then we will see him face to face.  It’s such a beautiful and powerful claim. As long as the world lasts, Jesus will be with us in this world. And then we will see him face to face forever!  This is our great encouragement in the midst of anything we face in this world.  We don’t face things alone.  The One who has put all his enemies under his feet and has died for us and risen for us and triumphed over sin and guilt and condemnation and suffering and death and Satan, and who has all authority in heaven and on earth - this one - promises that he will be with us continually to the end of the age to do us good and to bring us safely to everlasting shalom.

       And, now at last, we get to see what he wants us to do.

#3:  The Undeniably Clear Mandate:  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 (28:19-20a).

       First, I want you to notice the perspective toward the world that Jesus simply expects of us – we are to be “go-ers”.   We should have no fear of going out into the world to carry the gospel and to live for Jesus wherever we go – because Jesus has all authority.  The only thing we might fear is not pleasing him – not going.  The verbs here are all plural.  We are to go together.  This is a perspective that any church that obeys Jesus is to have.  The surest way to kill a church is to get all our attention focused internally.  But when we are involved in carrying the gospel to our community, to planting other churches, and to sending our own to places where the name of Jesus has never been heard, we need have no fear.

       Second, I want you to see what Jesus’ main mandate is:  We are to make disciples.  The verb is plural -- we are to be making disciples as a church family.  Disciples are made in communities.  Make note that Jesus’ main command is not “go” – that’s simply the perspective we must always have.  The command is “make disciples”.  A disciple in the 1^st C was a person who learned from a master or rabbi so he could become like that person.  “Learn from to become like.”

       So, this let’s us know what we are in for ourselves when we give our lives to Jesus.  We are to be ongoing disciples – constantly learning from Jesus and his Word so that we might become more and more like him.  This is a lifelong process.  Even the Apostle Paul would say near the end of his life that he had not attained Christlikeness yet – but he pressed on toward it.  And, the mark of any true follower of Jesus is that we will make progress (1 Tim. 4:13).  You and I should be more like Jesus this morning than we were a year ago.  (How is it with you?)  We are disciples in the making.  Jesus’ death provides forgiveness for our past and his gifts of the Holy Spirit and the local church as a grace-filled community are God’s provisions for our growth in becoming like Jesus.  In fact, God promises again and again in his Word, that what he begins in us when we trust Jesus, he will bring to completion.

       But, here’s the beauty of Jesus’ words in his last five minutes:  We who are disciples being made are empowered to be disciple-makers.  We become his messengers of hope and his carriers of love to the world. That’s what Jesus said.  1) Baptize them in the name of the triune God.  Why the baptism?  Baptism had to do with a full identification with something or someone else.  Here we are to be baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Jesus meant that each of his followers throughout history and from every nation should give visible evidence through baptism that he/she belongs fully to God and identifies Jesus as Lord.  2) And teach them.  Teach them the wisdom of God as taught be Jesus, lived by Jesus, and contained in the Word of God.  They cannot become full disciples without learning of Jesus.  Ad disciple is one who learn so that he might become – like the master.

        Third notice who is invited to become a disciple: “Make disciples of all nations!”  There is not a culture or an ethnic group or a society or a religion or a language where Jesus does not have the right to be worshiped as Lord. He has authority to be king and Lord and Savior everywhere, to everyone.

       Jesus Christ, the living, all-authoritative Lord of the universe, has commanded us to call every nation, every people (Somali, Turkana, Tamil) and every religion (Muslim, Hindu, animist) to repent and believe in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins and the inheritance of eternal life.

       Jesus commanded us to go and make disciples among every people. Christianity is a missionary faith. We aim to make disciples in every group and build up the church among every people. At Jesus’ ascension into heaven recorded in Acts 1, he declared that we are to start first in our own area and then surrounding areas and then into the world.  Here, at LAC, we’re going to obey these words.

       And he will provide all we need to do this – for all authority is given to him.  And he will not leave us alone – for he promised to be with us until the work is complete.  This is what Jesus used his last five minutes to say.  Now, I’ll ask Pastor Albert to come up and share once again about one part of our obedience to Jesus’ command.