Proclaiming Jesus
Matthew 28:16-20, Luke 24:44-49
Introduction
Do you spend much time thinking about the end of your life on this planet will be like? This may seem like a depressing topic, but we will all have last words. For some of us, we may be aware that they are our last words and others may be completely unaware, not knowing that our end is near. If you knew that you were dying and were surrounded by friends and family, what would you want to say to them? I looked up some famous last words.
‘Money can’t buy life’ – Bob Marley
‘I’m bored with it all’ – Winston Churchill
‘All my possessions for a moment of time!’ – Queen Elizabeth I
‘A life is like a garden, perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP’ – Leonard Nimoy
‘My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. One or the other of us has to go’ – Oscar Wilde
If I knew that I had a brief moment to speak to my loved ones before I died, I hope I would say something very profound but I fear I will probably say a dad joke. Interestingly, this week I saw a church sign that was very relevant to this topic. On a permanent sign, this church sign said: “Aspire to inspire before you expire.”
What we are going to look at today is related to but somewhat different than this. We are going to be looking at some of Jesus’ last words. It is different in that his last words are actually after his death and resurrection and they are not necessarily his last words but his last words to the church at that time. But it is similar that as Jesus was preparing to ascend to heaven, he gave the words that the church needed to hear. These are the same words that we need to hear today.
Jesus Speaks to the Disciples
What we are going to do is look at the last words of Jesus as found in Luke and Matthew. These are separate statements and we don’t know in which order they were spoken. What we are going to do is look at both of them and try to see what they have in common, with the assumption that they are still relevant to us today.
In the Luke passage, Jesus reminds them that the Scriptures foretold his mission and that Jesus was to die and rise again. Jesus also tells the disciples that there is a message to be shared, a message of repentance and forgiveness. I think we have a pretty good idea of what forgiveness is but we likely struggle more with repentance. Repentance is not just about feeling guilty about having done something bad. Repentance is kind of like a change of allegiance. Our values and morals are being shaped by one power and then we recognize the emptiness of that pursuit and put our allegiance toward something different. It is like when the GPS in your car keeps insisting that you “proceed to the route.” Unless you get back on track, you will not get where you want to go to. This message is to be proclaimed by the church. This message is to go to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. Imagine a stone being thrown in a pond. The point of impact is Jerusalem and the ever widening ripples are the nations. The expectation is that the proclamation includes an aspect of going. What that looks like in practice will be looked at. Finally it talks about being clothed in power. Here, Jesus is speaking of the receiving of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
In Matthew, Jesus says something similar. It begins by an assertion of the authority that was given to Jesus by the Father. This authority allows Jesus to give what we call the Great Commission. The first part of the commission is to go. This echoes what Jesus said in Luke. What is to be done once the disciples go? To make disciples. Is this the same thing as proclaiming the message? Yes and no. There is an overlap but making disciples includes more. Who will this discipleship be done with? Like Luke, it would be to the nations. The discipleship is to be accompanied by baptism. It concludes with a promise that Jesus would be with them always. This parallels the promise of the Holy Spirit that is found in Luke.
So what is the message of Jesus that he wants to get out before he returns to heaven? The church is to make disciples, a process that includes proclamation of the message. It begins where we are and spreads out to the nations. And none of this is done alone but is done with the presence of Jesus through the Holy Spirit. When we read the book of Acts, we see that is exactly what they did. That is not say that the early church never struggled or stumbled, but they set themselves to fulfill Jesus’s last words to them.
Jesus Speaks to Us
In one sense, these words were for the original disciples but we also stand in the line of discipleship and these words are for us as well. The question we have to ask is about how this looks in our time. It may look somewhat different from what we find in Acts. They lived in pre-Christian times, in the sense that the message was completely fresh and there were no preconceived ideas about the church. We live in post-Christian times, in the sense that we live in a secular society that has been heavily impacted by the church in the past but now is a time when there is a pushback and in some cases a rejection of the church.
What does it mean for us to proclaim the message of Jesus today? Some Christians believe that all we need to do is tell people that Jesus died on the cross and was raised from the dead and that should be enough to make committed followers of Jesus. When we look at how many people in our communities are followers of Jesus and how many are not, is the issue simply a lack of information? If they knew the facts about the cross and the empty tomb, would that change everything? I have had many conversations with non-Christians and never have encountered surprise at this message. While there may have been a time that people were unaware that the Christian message is that Jesus died for us and was raised from the dead, it is no longer that time, at least in most places in the world.
And yet the Great Commission remains and Jesus’ last words are still for us. What I would love to tell you is a comprehensive and authoritative plan on how to proclaim Jesus in this part of the world at this time in history. In fact I have thoughts about this and I have shared some of them before. But they are about the concept in general rather than the plan in specific. The shift I have seen is that we have gone from us wondering if non-Christians will believe the gospel to non-Christians looking at the church and wondering if we believe the gospel. What do I mean by this? One of the biggest changes in our society has been the radical increase in the availability of information. That is good in many ways but also has some results that affect the very thing we have been talking about. People today do not just know about the general message of Jesus proclaimed by the church. They also know about that influential pastor who is abusive, that large church whose culture is toxic, and those many people who have been hurt by those who claim to be Christians but do not follow the Jesus way. I was taught that none of those things matter. Even if every Christian was bad, if Jesus died for our sins on the cross and if he walked out of that tomb, then the gospel is worth believing. And that is correct as far as it goes. But imagine there was a terrible illness that was spreading across our area. Your doctor offers you a medication that will prevent you from getting sick and will help you recover if you do get sick. But then you find out that doctor and their family refuse to take that medication. While it is true that the effectiveness of the medication is not determined by the attitude of your family doctor, it will affect your willingness to believe its beneficial claims.
Now this might sound like all bad news and even that I am pessimistic about the church and our ability to proclaim Jesus. I actually am not pessimistic at all. I think the media revelations about all the bad experiences can help us stay on the straight and narrow. I also believe in the church, especially small and mid-size congregations. I am not saying all large churches are bad or that all small churches are good. But I have seen a genuineness and compassion within small churches that reflects the fact that we believe the gospel and are sincerely trying to follow Jesus.
Whatever our proclamation of Jesus looks like in our community, I believe that in our post-Christian culture, it is one that goes beyond just words and that it is shaped by living out our faith day to day.
Conclusion
Jesus, preparing to return to heaven has words for his disciples. The mission is not just to hold on as long as we can where we are in the moment. The mission is to go. Not just to other countries but to go beyond ourselves. It may to be our neighbours or co-workers or the people we encounter in whatever we do during the day. We are to make disciples. Not by forcing our faith on people or hitting people over the head with a Bible. We do it, first of all by living out our faith with integrity. And then we rely on the Holy Spirit to guide us. When it is the right time to share, the Spirit will help us. Amazingly, I have found in my own faith conversations with people close to me that things have gone much better when I put aside my own agenda and have learned to keep my mouth shut. It is when I stop trying to force it that they come to me with their questions. It is a beautiful experience. The last words of Jesus to us are not meant to stress us out by making us do something it is unnatural for us. It is about encouraging us to be intentional in how we live out our faith and what it can look like when he help make, not just converts, but disciples who join us on our journey.
