The Life of Christ in the Synoptic Gospels
THE GREAT COMMISSION
The Life of Christ in the Synoptic Gospels
THE GREAT COMMISSION
Golden Text: “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” (Matt. 28:20)
Lesson Plan:
1. Jesus Appears to the Eleven on a Mountain in Galilee (Matt. 28:16-20)
2. His Appearance to More Than Five Hundred (Lk. 24:44-49)
3. The Power Is Within the Gospel
4. The Call of Christ
Lesson Setting:
Time: Between Sunday, April 16, and Thursday, May 18, A.D. 30. During the 40 days between the
Resurrection and the Ascension.
Place: Different places in Galilee, on a mountain, and by the Sea.
Research and Discussion: The appearance of Jesus at the Sea of Galilee, John 21:1-14. His appearance to the Eleven on a mountain in Galilee. To the 500 at one time, 1 Corinthians 15:6. The great commission. To James, 1 Corinthians 15:7.
Introduction: The Resurrection School of Christ – The first six appearances of Jesus proved to the disciples that Jesus was really alive, raised from the dead, as He had foretold. He was their Master, Teacher, Friend and Helper, just as He had been before His crucifixion. For a few days Jesus waited for them to become familiar with the new situation, till they realized the truth, and were settled down in a calm conviction and faith. The next step in the preparation of the disciples was a series of lessons for their guidance in their great work. They recalled that the first message that Jesus sent to them after His resurrection was that He would meet them in Galilee. Accordingly they all went to Galilee not knowing when or where they would meet Him. Here Jesus appeared to them three times, characterized by special instructions for their future guidance, while at the same time confirming their faith. Appearances in Galilee (between April 16 and May 18): (a) Last of April or first of May. To seven disciples fishing in the lake. Restoration of Peter. (Jn. 21:1-13). (b) May. To the eleven disciples on a mountain. The Great Commission. (Matt. 28:16-18). (c)May. To above five hundred at once. The summary in Luke 24:44-49. (1 Cor. 15:6).
Scripture Reading: Matthew 28:16-20
1. Jesus Appears to the Eleven on a Mountain in Galilee
The Great Commission:
v 16 ... “Then the eleven disciples.” The well-known body of disciples (with Judas left out), the future apostles, who had for nearly three years been trained by Jesus for this very work.
v 16 ... “Went away into Galilee,” as they had been directed from the sepulcher (Matt. 28:7; Mk. 16:7).
v 16 ... “Unto a mountain.” The mountain. “The meeting-place would be some familiar haunt, recalling many past associations and incidents only imperfectly recorded in the Gospels. If there were such a retreat among the mountains (see Matt. 5:1; 14:23; 15:29; Mk. 3:13; 6:46; Jn. 6:3, 15) it would doubtless be the scene of the hill-teaching” (Expositors Greek Testament).
Here Jesus met them, but “When they saw Him they worshiped Him” (v 17), falling on their knees and prostrating themselves before Him.
v 17 ... “But some doubted” whether they now saw Jesus Himself. Probably there were others present, who may have been the doubters. But from all the Gospels it is clear that the disciples were disposed to be skeptical rather than credulous about the Resurrection (from Int. Crit. Com.). On this occasion Jesus presents to His disciples the work for which He had trained and taught them, which they are now to enter. Note: The remarkable form in which He presents a transcript of the reality and fact, not a mere ideal, and the only way in which the work could be and can be accomplished. See Thayer’s form below.
First: The power by which only it could be done – “All power” (v 18) [R.V. ‘authority’]. “The Greek word includes both. Neither translation expresses the full meaning. It combines the ideas of ‘right’ and ‘might’” (Vincent). “Every form of authority: command of all means necessary for the advancement of the kingdom of heaven” (Expositors Greek Testament). Thayer’s ‘Greek- English Lexicon’ defines the word as ‘power’ of four kinds: (a) Power of choice, liberty of doing as one pleases, permission. (b) Power physical and mental, ability. (c) Power of authority and of right. (d) Power of rule or government (the power of Him whose will and commands must be submitted to and obeyed).
v 18 ... “Has been given Me.” Jesus possessed all these kinds of power and authority, requiring them all to carry on His work as the Messiah, subduing the world to Himself as King of Kings.
v 18 ... “In heaven.” All the powers and authority flowing from heaven – the power of God, the Holy Spirit, angels, truth, all spiritual influences and motives.
v 18 ... “And in earth.” Over His disciples, as Teacher and Master, the one and only Head of the church. Over the world, guiding all nations, directing the course of events, making even the enemies of His religion aid in its extension. Silver and gold are His, including all the mines, as well as the discovery of them. He has power over nature and its laws, so that He can defend and aid His children. He has power and authority over all the inventions of men, so that commerce shall carry His Gospel, planes, cars, ships, trains, phones, the Internet, etc. carry and transmit His Word. Having placed before them the power and authority of their Leader and King (removing all doubts from their minds the possibility of their accomplishing the stupendous, the impossible task laid upon them), He proceeds to state:
Second: The work they are to do, their commission – “Go ye therefore” (v 19). Because I have all power and authority, I have a right to say to you, “Go.” I can make your going successful; therefore Go, be aggressive. Do not wait for the people to come to you, but go to them. The disciples literally obeyed this command and went everywhere preaching the Gospel.
v 19 ... “And teach [better as in R.V. ‘make disciples of’] all nations.” A disciple is a learner, one who goes to school, to another. A disciple of Christ is one who puts himself under His authority, accepts His truths and principles, imitates His example, obeys His rules, and puts himself under His training that he might become like his Teacher. When all become disciples and have learned how to live the perfect life, the kingdom of heaven will have come.
Third: Those who would become disciples are baptized – “Baptizing them in [R.V., ‘into’] the name” (v 10). There is confusion on this subject in the religious world. Therefore it might be helpful to briefly, yet carefully, consider the words of Christ, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned” (Mk. 16:16, NKJ). Christ made it clear and simple that salvation is the result of faith and baptism, i.e., by both believing and being baptized. God freely offers salvation to all through His amazing grace, but how we receive it is God’s decision, not ours. In other words, what God’s Holy Word teaches represents our Father’s will in any matter, completely eliminating man’s opinions or choices. It is God who makes men righteous. He does this by transferring the sinner into Christ who is righteous; and in that way the sinner is saved in Christ and as Christ (see Gal. 2:16, 20). In other words, God’s plan of salvation is not imputing righteousness into sinners, but transferring sinners into Christ. But, as Mark 16:15, 16 confirms, the preconditions upon which Christ promised to transfer sinners into Himself are faith and baptism. We see action following belief (faith) in almost every instance of conversion in the New Testament. For example, in Acts 2:41, 42, on the day of Pentecost, we read, “Then they that gladly received his word were baptized ... and they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.”
What Is Saving Faith? – Many believe much about the Lord Jesus. For instance, many believe that He lived here on earth; that He taught the things that we find Him teaching. Many also believe that He died on the cross, and was resurrected. To truly believe “in Him,” as we have in John 3:16, means to ‘commit’ ourselves to Him, by trusting and obeying Him, for the rest of our lives. When sick, we prove our belief in the doctor when we go to him and then do what he prescribes. True faith in Christ is a committal of self to Him. Nothing short of that is the faith that saves. When there is a committal to Him, trusting and obeying the Bible, His Holy Word, there is a life of power enabling one to do good works to the glory of Christ. The word translated ‘commit’ in John 2:24 is exactly the same as the one translated ‘believe’ in John 3:16.
v 19 ... “The name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” “When one is baptized into the name of the Trinity, he professes to acknowledge and appropriate God in all that He is and in all that He does for man. He recognizes and depends upon god the Father as his Creator and Preserver; receives Jesus Christ as his only Mediator and Redeemer, and his pattern of life; and confesses the Holy Spirit as his Sanctifier and Comforter” (Dr. M.R. Vincent).
Fourth: Instruction in the principles and duties of the kingdom – After the inspiring motive, the devotion to a cause, the earnestness in seeking the ideal, the next essential is guidance in the right way of using the power within us. “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you” (v 28). For this reason the Gospels were written, and we should make a daily study in them of the teachings and example of Jesus, praying that He may open to us the Scriptures. Conversion is only the beginning of the Christian life.
Scripture Reading: Luke 24:44-49
2. His Appearance to More Than Five Hundred
In Galilee (1 Cor. 15:6), probably included in the summary given in Luke 24:44-49. It is uncertain just when and where this appearance to the ‘above’ five hundred took place, but it was probably in Galilee during May. The instruction reported by Luke in verses 44-49 is probably a general summary of Jesus’ teaching (See more detail on verse 49 in our next lesson). In the very nature of things there is no possible way to the kingdom of heaven, to a holy and happy life, unless we first repent of our sins, hate them, fight against them, and overcome them through Christ. Only then are we ready to confess our belief in Christ and be baptized for the remission of our sins (Acts 2:38; see also Rom. 6:1-6). Then God forgives us, washes away our sins, cleanses our hearts, imparts a new life; and does this by means of the cross of Christ. For from that cross comes every conceivable power that can draw men to the holy, Christ-like life of the kingdom of heaven: (a) Heroism, which always attracts men; (b) The love of God as our Father, more clearly shown than anywhere else; (c) A vision of the evil and danger of sin, which never seems so evil as when seen in the light of what it costs God to save from it; (d) The forgiveness of sin and reconciliation with God; (e) The hope of everlasting joy and glory; (f) The possibility of a new life, a new heart, new desires; (g) The reality of the other world; (h) A perfect example; (i) The gift of the Holy Spirit, the spirit of life and truth and love. Thus, “Christ by His cross will draw to Himself not only men of all classes and climes, but all human interests and resources, all commerce, all enterprise, all art and science, all wealth and power in the world” (Jacobus).
Christ Centered: He is at the heart of everything we are and everything we believe. Just look through the New Testament and note how often He is used in connection with those things we hold dear. They include: The Gospel of Christ (Rom. 1:16); The churches of Christ (Rom. 16:16); The mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16); The ministers of Christ (1 Cor. 4:10); The body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:27); The love of Christ (2 Cor. 5:4); The grace of Christ (Gal. 1:6); The faith of Christ (Gal. 2:16); The law of Christ (Gal. 6:2); The doctrine of Christ (Heb. 6:1; 2 Jn. 9); The name of Christ (1 Pet. 4:14).
3. The Power Is Within the Gospel
Many of us have either heard or read Paul’s wonderful statement in Romans 1:16: “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God to salvation.” The Greek word which is here translated “power” is “dunamis,” the word from which we get “dynamic,” “dynamo,” “dynamite,” etc. Therefore the Gospel is God’s dynamite, or God’s “Atomic bomb” unto salvation. The most powerful force in the world today, with the exception of Almighty God Himself, is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
There are four ‘Powers’ within the Gospel:
(A) The Power to introduce us to God – Before Christ came, men had longed for and groped to find God through the study of nature. The Egyptians thought that they had found Him in the red ball of fire that circles the earth every twenty-four hours, so they worshiped the sun god. They were not fully satisfied, however, so they tried to find Him in the animals of their world. They worshiped the tiny beetle as well as the owl and the ox. In the trees, in the mountains, and in the animals that inhabit the earth, men have tried to find God. The Greeks sought God in philosophy. They invented many gods. The Romans longed to know God, too. God cannot be found in Nature, He can only be suggested. The God seen in Nature is only a partial God. In the revelation of the Old Testament, God is more clearly seen. There we learn many things about His power and something about His wrath. We also learn something of His love for men, but at best it is only partial. Finally, the real, the true and complete conception of God came through Jesus Christ. One of the greatest truths of the Bible is the fact that Jesus exemplified on earth a real likeness of our heavenly Father. When He had lived some years on the earth and had shown a divine pattern of living, He uttered this great sentence, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (Jn. 14:9). After all these centuries the finest thing I know to say about God is to tell of Christ – how He lived, what He did, what His motives were – then to say, “God is like Christ.” These facts are revealed only through the gospel of Christ, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich” (2 Cor. 8:9).
(B) The Power within the Gospel to change human nature – We think of the force of gravitation as a tremendous force, and it is terrific. To think of the moon reaching across space to pull the seas and control the tides, but that is only a physical force. Think of the power of the Gospel of Christ, more real than physical force reaching into lives of men, correcting them, restoring them, lifting them to greater usefulness. This power is infinitely greater than a physical force. The essence of Christianity is based upon the assumption that human nature can be changed. There is a power in the Gospel (Christ) that we cannot define but that we know is real because we have seen the results. Civilization has been changed. To me, the greatest chasm in the world is not Grand Canyon or others, but the greatest inconsistency in the world is the difference between what we are and what we should be. Our experience is like a window-pane through which the sunshine should come bright and clear, but instead the pane is dirtied, marred, even though not utterly blackened, and the light gets through but dimly and partially. We are not what we can be, might be, ought to be. And we know it. The gospel as obeyed has power to bridge the huge gap between what we are and what we should be. As we worship God day after day, week after week, we are changed from what we are into an express image of the Son of God. As Nathaniel Hawthorne expressed it, even the youngsters will remember the story of Ernest and the Great Stone Face. When Earnest was a boy he heard the story that someday there would come into the community a great man who would resemble the profile of the Great Stone Face. Day after day and week after week Ernest looked at the profile of the great face on the mountainside. And every time he heard that a visitor was to make his appearance in the community, Ernest hoped that he would be the one to look like the Great Stone Face. But time after time Ernest was disappointed. Finally, when he was an old man he heard that a new visitor was coming into the community. All the people in the community were there. Somehow they seemed to feel that he might be the one who resembled the Face. But again, they were disappointed, until finally, someone in the crowd remarked that Ernest himself bore the resemblance of the Great Stone Face. Through years and years of looking into the face of Jesus Christ, worshiping Him devotedly, and thinking His thoughts, we become like Jesus. Paul expressed it to the Corinthians, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Cor. 3:18).
(C) There is Power within the Gospel to comfort – What good is power if it does not bring peace? “I have always been depressed by the idea so many people seem to have about the function of a Gospel preacher. Sometimes he is regarded as a ‘gloom-merchant,’ resembling the funeral figure so often portrayed in cartoons; sometimes he is thought to be a professional purveyor of good cheer, sunshine, niceness, and respectability; especially in recent years he has been thought to be a kind of modern magician giving those who hear him peace of mine, ‘positive thoughts,’ emotional security, and the like. He is generally expected to perform these sleight of hand tricks without the Gospel of Christ” (Dr. William Harrison). Our civilization is like a painted face on a balloon. As the balloon swells, the face becomes more and more monstrous, and if we take it at its face value we will be terrified and paralyzed by it. But actually (and this makes it even worse), it is hollow within. One pinprick and it is destroyed. Man needs a handrail to establish him upon the ship of life. He travels through sorrows and experiences disappointments. Comfort is shallow and superficial if not founded upon the Gospel of Christ. The twenty-third Psalm has been a source of comfort for the masses of mankind through the centuries. The world could spare many a large book better this sunny little psalm. It has dried millions of tears and supplied the mold into which many hearts have poured their peaceful faith. “It has charmed more grief to rest than all the philosophy of the world. It has removed to their dungeon more felon thoughts, more black doubts, more thieving sorrows than there are sands on the seashore. It has given courage to the army of the disappointed. It has poured balm and consolation into the hearts of the sick, of captives in dungeons, of widows in their pining griefs, or orphans in their loneliness” (Henry Ward Beecher). What is here said of this exquisite psalm may be said of the Word of God as a whole. In 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 there are true words of comfort. When we go over to the city of the dead we find solace and consolation in the message of comfort from the Holy Scriptures, such as “I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day” (2 Tim. 1:12), or “For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:1, 8). Paul also said, “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21 NKJV). To the Corinthian church he assured them that death was not a possessor, but was possessed by Christians (1 Cor. 3:21-23). Consider Joseph Parker in London many years ago, standing in his pulpit during the period when the atheists were attacking the inspiration of the Scriptures. He read what Wilhousen and Huxley had said against the Bible, then reached down and took up the large pulpit Bible, walked over and dropped it into a pulpit chair. Turning back he brushed his hands as if to say, “Well, we are through with that pack of myths.” Then he imagined a woman whose husband had just died and whose children were in need of food and clothing coming in. She asked for help. Parker said, “Wilhousen, what can you tell her, and Huxley, what can you tell her?” There was no answer, so he walked over, picked up the Bible, brought it back, opened it on the pulpit and read again those great passages that give confidence and undergirding to our lives (2 Tim. 4:6-8).
(D) The Gospel has the Power of God to salvation – There have been many attempts to explain the sad religious condition of our day, but in the end they all come down to just one thing: modern religion is not aimed at the glory of God but rather at the comfort of man. What can religion do for me? That’s the big question people are asking today. What can I get out of it? How will it help me to solve my problems? How can I use it to my advantage? Sheer religious opportunism – that’s what it is. A kind of man-centered piety, and in most cases extremely selfish, too, with only a secondary concern for others. And, unfortunately, that’s the way it is often presented too, right from the pulpit. People are urged to go to church because it’s good for them, not because God commands it. They are told to have faith because it will make them feel better, not because it is the only way for them to get back to God and thereby find salvation. They are called to spiritual service because it will help build a better community, with higher standards of morality, justice, and education, not because God wants them to serve Him for His sake, whatever the cost, even if there is no hope of such temporal benefits. And that explains why this modern religion is so popular. This is what people like. They want the Church to help them. They want preachers to be their servants. They want God to exist for their benefit. In other words, they’ve got things all turned around in their religious thinking. Actually, they are not worshiping God at all, but they are worshiping themselves. And that’s the most wicked form of idolatry. This world needs something more than a spiritual aspirin tablet, because it is suffering from something much worse than a spiritual headache. It needs redemption, not just relief. In James 1:21 we read, “There lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” The political and cultural world of Paul’s day, the world symbolized by Rome, was proud of power. It knew a lot about power: power to build armies, power to crush enemies, power to over-run and annex territories, power to levy taxes, power to enslave peoples, power to lay highways and erect palaces. Yet the Roman Empire of that first century was sinking to death and doom. Why? With all its power, it knew nothing, absolutely nothing, about the phrase, ‘to salvation.’ Its power could destroy; it could not save. It knew the power of man; it knew not the power of God. And now, by the same irony of fate that brought Rome to the dust, our self-glorifying civilization is so near the brink of collapse that fear, consciously or unconsciously is the one nightmare that presides over our new millennium existence – Power! Of course, we have power on a scale that makes ancient Rome look like a piker: Electric power, water power, motor power, industrial power, military power, atomic power! And just because it is in man’s own purposes, it is doing for us precisely what it did for Rome – destroying! The lost phrase is still ‘to salvation.’ It is still the missing key. It will continue to be until we, like Paul and the early Christians, get it through our hearts that man power can never save; it can only destroy. It takes God’s power to save. “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God to salvation.”
4. The Call of Christ
“When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer). What a graphic summary of discipleship! It is the call for us to die to self and sin. It is the demand that we be willing to suffer for what we believe. Occasionally it has been the call to die physically for the Lord Jesus. “How dare anyone make such a radical demand of his followers!” an outsider might protest. And here is the answer a Christian gives: “He is entitled to make such a demand because He has already done as much for us.” Jesus’ incomparable life and willing death were both founded on trust in His Father. He knew the absolute trustworthiness of the Father from eternity. God’s purposes would not be defeated, and His words could not fail. Therefore God the Son obeyed every part of the will of God the Father. The resurrection was the ultimate vindication of Jesus’ trust in His Father. As we bear witness to that historical event in our preaching today, we would be wise to bear witness as well in a lifestyle which exhibits absolute faith in the promises God has made to us. When Christ called you to be His follower, He did not call you to pleasantries and politeness. He called you to join with Him in doing battle against the spiritual forces of darkness that war against our souls. He called you to step into the breach so that the battle for what is holy, just, and pure can be pressed forward on Planet Earth. How seriously you take this call will depend largely on how earnest a faith you have in God’s promise. What looks hopeless by human standards is easy enough for God. So when the call is clear for you to take a disciple’s stand to confess Jesus or to act with ethical integrity, measure your odds by the divine scale rather than a human one. It can be said that we are producing millions of consumers of religion, but consumers of religion are a far cry from true disciples. This statement is so correct that it is embarrassing. Perhaps more of us need to decide whether we are “consumers of religion” or real disciples. He is calling you to come and die. Can you hear the call?
