LAST WORD ON WHAT'S IMPORTANT
By Rich Carlson
I'm sure that some of you graduates that are graduating from high school probably think that I don't remember my graduation from high school at all. But you're wrong. I remember it quite well. I'm actually wearing the watch that I go for a gift. It was June, 1958, Willow Glen High School on the football field. It was late afternoon, and it was a big day. I remember the sun coming right over the bleachers and coming into the eyes of all of us that were sitting up on the platform. I was graduating and was chosen to make one of the speeches. As that late after noon sun came right over the top of the bleachers and right into my eyes I couldn't see the audience. That was fine for me because I was pretty nervous. On the other hand I was also a bit too proud. I had received an appointment to West Point that had been announced and I thought I was pretty big stuff. In fact, you graduates need to remember one of Carlson's corollaries: At 18 you are as smart as you are ever going to get. So enjoy it. The season will soon change.
There were a couple of things that happened to me that changed things right away also. On the last day of June I had to fly to New York City, take a taxi to a hotel, stay overnight. The next day I had to take a bus from the Port Authority Bus Terminal up to West Point and check in. I had never flown before. I was to leave at 1:00 in the afternoon, and I told my dad, "Gee, I'd really like to take my girlfriend to San Francisco before I left."
And he said, "Fine, but Rich, be on time because the flight's at 1:00." The problem was that I had never flown before, and I didn't really know what being on time meant. So, as my dad requested, I showed up 20 minutes early. Well you can imagine how mad my father was. I didn't know there was going to be 50 people there to see me off. I didn't know you're suppose to be there an hour before the flight. So he rushed to get my bags checked in, and I rushed to reach the boarding call. As I walked up there, he took me by the shoulders, looked me right in the eyes , and gave me his last words of instruction, "Rich, do me proud. And if you flunk out, don't come home."
Well, the next afternoon I found myself standing in a line in front of the First Sergeant of Sixth New Cadet Company. I'd lost most of my hair. I had this foreign new uniform on, and I was trying to report: "Sir, Cadet Carlson reports to the Sixth Company First Sergeant for the first time as ordered, sir!" And it took me about six times to get it right. That afternoon there was a song that I heard. It was coming from one of the rooms of the upperclassmen. In the college I went to, underclassmen didn't get radios. It was a song and I remember its title very well: "You Were A Big Man Yesterday, But Boy You Ought To See You Now!" So for the next four years my dad's last words rang in my ears: "Do me proud, but if you flunk, don't come home."
Today, whether you are a graduate or whether you're a dad, we all need to be reminded of the Lord's last words of instruction to us. We have those last words, those last words that are very important. So, turn with me to Matthew, chapter 28 verses 16 to 20.
James Montgomery Boyce in his preface to his book Here We Stand says this.
So what is wrong with evangelicals. The answer is that we have become worldly. We have abandoned the truths of the Bible and the historic theology of the church which expresses those truths, and we are trying to do the work of God by means of the world's theology, the world's methods, agenda instead.
Why are we trying to use the world's method? Well, it seems to me that these world's methods bring some promise. They say they are efficient and fast. I think in the church, wanting to do things right, wanting to get things done, we're tempted to follow their advice. Second, I think when the pressure's on we tend to panic. We see the population growing. We see the people around us not very influenced by the church. We're feeling we're lacking any impact and therefore we want to try anything that works. And so we try our own programs, our own techniques, and our own methods. We give them our own authority and we take things into our own hands. But what is the last word on what's important?
We're going to look right now at the last words that Jesus gave: good in the first century and, I believe, very pertinent to us as we enter the 21st century. Let's look at the setting in verses 16 and 17.
But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. And when they saw him they worshipped him; but some were doubtful.
Who was present on the mountain? Well, it was the disciples. How many were there? Eleven. At the last moment, just before Jesus ascends to the Father, He chose to give His men a few last words. These were the men that he had chosen to carry on the work of the Father which had been given to him. And there were 11. Can't you just imagine the scene in heaven when the Lord gets back to heaven and he checks in and the angles say, "How did it go?"
And he says, "Ah, great!"
"Well, how many do you have?"
"Eleven."
"Eleven thousand?"
"No."
"Eleven hundred?"
"No. Eleven."
"Wait a minute. Thirty-three years and eleven?"
"Eleven."
Where were they meeting? Well, we're not quite sure, but in verse seven of the same chapter the angel said that he was going before them into Galilee and there they would see him. "Behold, I have told you." So they in obedience were at the designated mountain in Galilee.
Look at the text now, and when they saw him what did they do? Well, some worshipped and some doubted. Why the difference? I really believe that some saw who he was and what he had done and therefore what he could do. And they bent their knee and their hearts, acknowledged his lordship and presented themselves to him as available. That's worship. Others lost focus on him. They started looking around, saw only a few frightened men, remembered what he expected them to do and said to themselves, "How can we do this?" and they were doubtful; completely unconvinced that they could do what he expected. Of course, in reality they couldn't. The question was: Were they available to allow him to do through them what he required and only they could do?
So what do we discover? What do we observe? What is the principle we can see from this first section? First of all, his method was man, and that he focused on a few.
Let me read now the directions that he gives us in verse 18.
And Jesus came up and spoke to them saying, "All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth."
Now what do shaky, doubtful disciples need? They need the authority of the person they are following. Notice the authority that is available. He says, "All authority ... in heaven and on earth." It seems to me that "in heaven and on earth" are both inclusive and exclusive. The possessor of this authority is Jesus. It was given to him by his Father, and there is no place in which it is not supreme. Therefore, there is no power in any place that is any greater. That is who they are following. This is the authority in which he speaks to us, and the authority from which he gives us these instructions; because he has the authority from his Father, the Creator, who is the personal covenant keeping God, our God. And we need to be listening.
I'd like us to turn, for a moment, to John chapter 12 and look at a few verses that show us how Jesus operated; because this was a particular type of authority demonstrated in a particular way. John, chapter 12, verses 49 and 50. Jesus is speaking. He says,
For I did not speak on my own initiative, but the Father himself who sent me has given me commandment what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. Therefore, the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told me.
John chapter five, verses 19 and 20 also gives us an insight.
Jesus, therefore, answered and was saying to them, "Truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of himself unless it is something he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows him all things that he himself is doing; and greater works than these will he show him, that you may marvel.
Then in verse 30 he says this. Now this is Jesus, our Lord, speaking. He says,
I can do nothing on my own initiative; as I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just, because I do not seek my own will but the will of him who sent me.
So Jesus, our Messiah, the Anointed One, received his words from the mouth of God, and spoke with the unique authority of the Son who alone knows perfectly the Father, and who alone can adequately and accurately reveal him. So if these are words that also are to us, if we've chosen to make Jesus Lord, and therefore we are his follower and therefore a disciple of his, notice how we are to act. The principle is that he modeled a delegated power. He wasn't acting on his own, he was acting exactly as his Father wanted him to act. He didn't even say any words unless the Father gave them to him. He came to make manifest another person's life in his own. He had confidence, and direction, and purpose because he relied on the authority of his Father. He did not say or do anything unless he knew the Father approved. Therefore, we see him spending time, checking in with the Father. Isn't that the life that he calls us to also? Making manifest another person's life in our own? So he modeled a delegated power.
You see, we do not have to invent a method or a strategy. We don't have to panic. We must merely follow his example. The life Jesus modeled is exactly what we're called to do. The Father through the obedience of the Son gives life to us through the Spirit. He wants us to get to know him, his words, his character, his wisdom, and to understand all he can do. And he takes that new creation in us and clothes it with our humanity, and then walks us around and gives people permission to look at us.
So how are we to go about looking at this? What are to do? Look in verse 19.
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Now it's important for us to realize what the command is in the text, because when we read it, even in the New American Standard version, it is not quite clear. In the original language, the command is to "make disciples." That command is clarified by three participles: (1) going, (2) baptizing, and (3) teaching. The participle "go" could be better translated as, "as you go" or "in the going." In other words, in the natural course of life during its normal activity we are to make disciples. Did you notice that characteristic of Jesus' life? As he went he included his disciples in his normal activity. So he discipled as a lifestyle.
So this is the principle we need to grasp and this is the command that we need to obey. He says, "Make disciples of all the nations." That is his call to us. If you are a business man or maybe an engineer, you could say the work product of the church is to make disciples anywhere, everywhere. That is what we are to produce individually and collectively. If we are not spending our time with people focusing on a few to bring them closer to the Shepherd, equipping them to follow him, then I think we're just spending time.
What is a disciple? That word means a pupil or a learner. In the singular it appears 27 times in the New Testament. Let me just quickly read to you a few verses that help us get a handle on what Jesus' picture is of a disciple. In Luke 14:26 he says,
If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.
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