Sermon26-45Summary Mt28 "Make Disciples"

Matthew 28:16-20 theme verse Matthew 28:18-20

The praise and honor and glory be to our heavenly Father who seeks true worshipers who worship Him with the Spirit and truth.

On this fortieth Sunday of the year 2026, I pray that the grace of the Holy Spirit may be full in you. Last week we looked at growing into the knowledge of God; this week, through Matthew 28, we would like to look at the Great Commission our Lord gave us.

Asked what one thing they would say to their grandkids, over 60% of grandfathers over 65 chose "Love others," and next, "Be honest" — a sign of God's common grace in an individualistic world. Before His ascension Jesus said, "Go and make disciples of all nations," teaching them to keep what He commanded. So what did Jesus command?

1) Today's text records the event in which Jesus gave the Great Commission to His eleven disciples at Galilee. After He was raised, He appeared several times to assure them of His resurrection and told them to go to Galilee to wait for Him. There He declared, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me" — the Kingdom of the Son was inaugurated. He commanded them to make disciples of all nations, baptizing and teaching them, and promised to be with them always, to the end of the age.

2) Why Galilee, not Jerusalem? Galilee was where Jesus spent most of His public life, teaching His disciples by doing, so it held all their memories with their Lord. There He healed the disciples shocked by the cross and restored the disciples who had betrayed Him, with a miraculous catch after a fruitless night of fishing and a breakfast He prepared, so that Peter and the others were recovered. Their road would be tribulation and even martyrdom (John 16:33), and the memory of Galilee and His word, "Take heart; I have overcome the world," would comfort them. That is why Jesus called them back to Galilee to give the Great Commission. I hope we too, as His disciples, have some places of Galilee in our life where we have good memories with Jesus.

3) Verse 17 says, "but some doubted." After the resurrection Jesus kept appearing — to Mary Magdalene, the two on the road to Emmaus, the disciples in the upper room, and Thomas — to assure them, and He even breathed the Holy Spirit on them, saying "Shalom," to comfort and empower them. Yet some still doubted, even with their Lord standing beside them. At first I could not understand this unbelief, but after long meditation I realized: how small our faith is! This is the reality of human beings. But when we realize we are nothing, we can begin His mission relying fully on Him. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, Christ's power rests on us in weakness: "when I am weak, then I am strong."

4) The Great Commission mirrors the three missions of Mark 3:13-15: to be with Jesus, learning through intimate fellowship; to be sent out by Him to carry what they learned to others; and to exercise His authority to overcome obstacles and to build the kingdom of God (Matthew 12:28: "if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you"). Only the order differs, and both are bracketed by His authority and His presence.

5) Jesus' universal authority and permanent presence are the dynamics of His discipleship mandate. His authority fulfills Daniel 7:14, "to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom… his dominion is an everlasting dominion." His presence comes through the indwelling Spirit (1 John 3:24), and as John 15:5 says, "apart from me you can do nothing." Jesus entrusted this mission to His church, born by the Holy Spirit, and promised to be with them as the enabler of their mission. Brother Lawrence called disciples those who practice 24/7 fellowship with Jesus. So we must remember that our first mission is to be with Jesus always, to become His disciples through that intimate fellowship, and then to go and make disciples as its fruit.

6) Grammatically, the commission has one main verb, "make disciples," three participles — "go," "baptizing," "teaching" — and one infinitive, "to observe." So the disciples' central responsibility, to reproduce small Jesus, is achieved through three small tasks: going, baptizing, and teaching to observe. Let us look at them one by one.

7) Baptizing: for the individual, baptism is a sign and pledge that sins are cleansed by Jesus' blood and that the old self died and the new self was born through the Word and the Spirit. For the community, it publicly declares us God's covenant people So baptizing in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit means not only devotion and loyalty to the Triune God, but literally being baptized into Them — entering God's covenantal community.

8) Teaching to observe: Jesus commanded us to teach them to observe all that He has commanded. To be His disciple is to know Him, believe Him, follow Him, and obey Him. Knowing Jesus leads to loving Him, and loving Him to following Him closely in obedience, through a more intimate relationship with Him. David Watson, in his book "Discipleship," said there is no true discipleship without obedience, and Kierkegaard said, "Hard to believe means hard to obey."

9) What has Jesus commanded? For the individual, learn His humility and meekness: "Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart" (Matthew 11:29). Humility is the confession of total dependence upon God after total self-denial, and meekness is the readiness to obey His will anytime, anywhere, in anything. For the community, love one another (John 13:34), the very character of His disciples, expressed in daily life by washing one another's feet (John 13:14) and by forgiving one another as we pray in the Lord's Prayer, so we teach them to serve humbly and forgive. For the world, go and make disciples of all nations. And the command to love one another already contains the Great Commission.

10) As verse 19 says, we have to go in order to make disciples. Our mission starts with going — overseas, to the workplace, or to unbelieving family — leaving our comfort zone. There we first need someone to love, so, as God pours out His love on us when we love Him, we let His love flow to our neighbors first; when they are moved by the Spirit, we teach them and build a community that loves one another and worships God. Ekklesia means "those who were called" and apostolos "those who were sent": to come to be disciples and to go to make disciples — this is our identity.

11) Today we came to know our identity in the Great Commission: to come to become disciples and to go to make disciples. Jesus is with us through the Holy Spirit, growing us into His image through intimate fellowship, and His permanent presence enables us to fulfill the Great Commission, while the Spirit who dwells in us grants the power and gifts to become His disciples and to make His disciples by proclaiming the kingdom of God in the world. Dear brothers and sisters, will you follow Jesus, who invites us into His intimate fellowship and into His glorious mission?

Key Questions as Small Group Activity

Q1 When we look at today's passage, we see that the Lord has promised to be with us until the end of the age. Then are you aware that the Lord is with you? If so, how closely do you walk and journey with the Lord? I encourage you to reflect deeply and share your thoughts and experiences with others, so that we may share grace together.

Q2 In today's passage, we see that after going to all nations and making disciples, we are commanded by the Lord to baptize them and to teach them to observe everything He has commanded, including the command to love one another and to make disciples of all nations. Take a moment to consider how you are practicing and living out these commandments of the Lord, and it would be wonderful if you could share your thoughts and experiences with one another.

Love you. Thank you. God bless you.

Prayer Note

Dear ( God’s attribute which you found Today ) God!

Thanks for ( something you received through the sermon or even during the week )

Praise, gratitude and glory be to You, Lord!

Today, I realized my sin (pains) that ( the sin God reminded through the sermon ),

please forgive (or heal) me and help me not to repeat ( the sins you recognized ).

I learned that ( something you learned through the sermon )

Please help me to live in that ( learned way of life )

I pray in ( Jesus’ attribute you find ) Jesus’ name. Amen.