1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:05,360 Good morning and thank you for the opportunity to join together 2 00:00:05,360 --> 00:00:08,840 with you. We profess by faith in the 3 00:00:08,840 --> 00:00:11,360 Nicene Creed that there is one holy, Catholic and Apostolic 4 00:00:11,360 --> 00:00:15,440 Church, and it is a joy and a great gift to be given 5 00:00:15,480 --> 00:00:18,480 opportunities to see with the eyes and to hear with the ears, 6 00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:21,960 and to be present in the body to see manifestations of that. 7 00:00:21,960 --> 00:00:24,680 And so it is a joy to be with you, my brothers and sisters, 8 00:00:24,680 --> 00:00:27,720 now in person. And I send greetings from the 9 00:00:27,720 --> 00:00:30,320 brothers and sisters as well in Hinckley. 10 00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:34,440 Let me begin by praying and asking for God's help that he 11 00:00:34,440 --> 00:00:37,960 would work through the reading and proclamation of the Word 12 00:00:38,440 --> 00:00:43,080 which he inspired for our good. Please join me in pray prayer, 13 00:00:43,080 --> 00:00:45,800 and then I will read from the end of Matthew. 14 00:00:47,400 --> 00:00:53,000 Oh Lord our God, as the Greeks in the Gospel according to John 15 00:00:53,760 --> 00:00:57,160 asked, we ask we would see this morning. 16 00:00:57,360 --> 00:01:02,240 Jesus, we thank you, Holy Father, that Jesus your Son sees 17 00:01:02,240 --> 00:01:08,160 us, and we thank you that you our Father see us and love us. 18 00:01:08,680 --> 00:01:11,080 And the manifestation of that, the proof of that is the sending 19 00:01:11,080 --> 00:01:13,480 of your Son. Help us Lord, to see him this 20 00:01:13,480 --> 00:01:16,360 morning to the reading and proclamation of your word. 21 00:01:16,360 --> 00:01:23,400 Grant our eyes light and grant our lives true life, and this we 22 00:01:23,400 --> 00:01:28,320 pray in Jesus name, Amen. Please if you would open your 23 00:01:28,320 --> 00:01:31,840 Bibles with me to the end of the Gospel according to Saint 24 00:01:31,840 --> 00:01:36,520 Matthew, chapter 28 of Matthew and let us hear some famous last 25 00:01:36,520 --> 00:01:41,280 words. They are on page 835 of the Pew 26 00:01:41,280 --> 00:01:42,560 Bible. If you would like to follow 27 00:01:42,560 --> 00:01:54,800 along in that copy. Matthew 28, verses 16 through 28 00:01:54,840 --> 00:01:57,280 20. Hear the word of God. 29 00:01:59,720 --> 00:02:03,960 Now the 11 disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to 30 00:02:03,960 --> 00:02:07,920 which Jesus had directed them, and when they saw him, they 31 00:02:07,920 --> 00:02:09,520 worshipped him. But some doubted. 32 00:02:10,240 --> 00:02:15,400 And Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on 33 00:02:15,400 --> 00:02:20,520 earth has been given to me. Go therefore, and make disciples 34 00:02:20,520 --> 00:02:24,680 of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of 35 00:02:24,680 --> 00:02:28,880 the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all 36 00:02:28,880 --> 00:02:33,320 that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you 37 00:02:33,520 --> 00:02:38,160 always, to the end of the age, the word of the Lord. 38 00:02:41,320 --> 00:02:46,720 A few years ago, my family and I spent a holiday break putting a 39 00:02:46,720 --> 00:02:51,160 whole lot of miles on our trusty and not too rusty red minivan, 40 00:02:51,840 --> 00:02:55,800 scuttling back and forth across the state to see various family 41 00:02:55,800 --> 00:02:58,360 members. And it was on the whole, a fun, 42 00:02:58,360 --> 00:03:02,600 a refreshing trip for us. But the final leg of the journey 43 00:03:02,600 --> 00:03:07,520 produced no little anxiety because our red minivan proved 44 00:03:07,520 --> 00:03:11,240 to be not so trusty on the freeway. 45 00:03:11,440 --> 00:03:16,920 Last leg, the dreaded check engine light came on. 46 00:03:18,880 --> 00:03:23,120 And I call it dreaded because the check engine light is not 47 00:03:23,120 --> 00:03:26,440 some random meaningless glowing diode. 48 00:03:27,280 --> 00:03:30,600 It means something. It means something is running 49 00:03:30,600 --> 00:03:35,520 amok. I remember very distinctly the 50 00:03:35,640 --> 00:03:40,720 sinking feeling when my eyes saw the light flip on and my ears 51 00:03:40,720 --> 00:03:46,000 heard the vans Ding, Ding, Ding. I remember how we were fresh off 52 00:03:46,200 --> 00:03:51,360 of having done some major and expensive repairs on our vans 53 00:03:51,360 --> 00:03:54,400 cylinder heads not too long prior. 54 00:03:55,080 --> 00:03:59,760 I remember the panic that sprang up in me when the light first 55 00:03:59,760 --> 00:04:02,960 flashed on. Pull over, pull over, grab the 56 00:04:02,960 --> 00:04:04,520 women and children. Save yourself. 57 00:04:07,320 --> 00:04:14,800 I remember the self pity. Woe is me, woe is my bank 58 00:04:14,800 --> 00:04:19,160 account. I remember the confusion. 59 00:04:19,240 --> 00:04:21,519 Why is this happening to us again? 60 00:04:23,320 --> 00:04:29,120 And I especially remember how when the light flashed on, I 61 00:04:29,120 --> 00:04:32,160 immediately began rehearsing possible explanations. 62 00:04:33,880 --> 00:04:37,560 Perhaps I failed to tighten the gas cap fully when we last 63 00:04:37,560 --> 00:04:41,160 filled up, and so I'll need to remember to twist it super tight 64 00:04:41,360 --> 00:04:44,640 at our next stop. Perhaps. 65 00:04:45,040 --> 00:04:48,760 Perhaps the shop that we took our van to last year for repairs 66 00:04:48,760 --> 00:04:50,800 didn't do the job right. Or maybe they messed something 67 00:04:50,800 --> 00:04:52,680 else up. It's their fault. 68 00:04:54,680 --> 00:04:58,160 Or maybe, maybe some other massive engine failure has 69 00:04:58,160 --> 00:05:01,760 occurred, one that is going to cost us thousands and thousands 70 00:05:01,760 --> 00:05:04,720 of dollars, meaning no Christmas presents under the tree this 71 00:05:04,720 --> 00:05:09,440 year. Or maybe, maybe just the check 72 00:05:09,440 --> 00:05:18,240 engine light itself is a lemon. It has decided randomly to go on 73 00:05:18,240 --> 00:05:21,760 and off for no real reason at all, and maybe nothing is wrong 74 00:05:21,760 --> 00:05:25,240 with the engine and the light can be safely ignored. 75 00:05:27,320 --> 00:05:34,280 I chose to believe that last story, and I ignored the light 76 00:05:34,320 --> 00:05:39,400 for as long as I could. And dear listener, let me tell 77 00:05:39,400 --> 00:05:45,120 you this morning that it was an excellent decision until a 78 00:05:45,120 --> 00:05:46,760 little while later, it proved not to be. 79 00:05:48,920 --> 00:05:55,680 What is very important to point out is that each explanation 80 00:05:55,680 --> 00:06:00,200 that my mind raced through was a story. 81 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:06,800 It was a story in which I tried to make sense of our check 82 00:06:06,800 --> 00:06:11,040 engine light going on. It was a story in which that 83 00:06:11,040 --> 00:06:15,840 light could find its proper place and meaning. 84 00:06:17,960 --> 00:06:21,720 Every possible explanation involves not just scientific 85 00:06:21,720 --> 00:06:28,040 facts in a vacuum, but a history where events happen and changes 86 00:06:28,040 --> 00:06:32,400 take place. Where some crisis arises, my 87 00:06:32,400 --> 00:06:36,680 engine light has flipped on. Where some resolution must 88 00:06:36,680 --> 00:06:41,400 appear on the horizon, a a repair must be done, or some 89 00:06:41,840 --> 00:06:44,600 other solution must manifest itself. 90 00:06:45,880 --> 00:06:51,240 Where where there are characters who play parts, crucial parts in 91 00:06:51,240 --> 00:06:57,160 the drama, my family and I needing to be delivered from the 92 00:06:57,160 --> 00:07:02,720 woes thrust upon us by our terrible labyrinthine engine. 93 00:07:04,120 --> 00:07:06,320 The maybe. Maybe the character is the inept 94 00:07:06,320 --> 00:07:10,240 repair shop that we took our van to the prior year. 95 00:07:10,240 --> 00:07:14,400 The villain, the antagonist. Or maybe maybe the character is 96 00:07:14,400 --> 00:07:19,520 the hero, a competent mechanic swooping in to save the day and 97 00:07:19,520 --> 00:07:24,640 at a discount. Or maybe it's just the faulty 98 00:07:24,640 --> 00:07:29,200 check engine light that I personify as the antagonist in 99 00:07:29,200 --> 00:07:31,040 the story to explain the situation. 100 00:07:32,800 --> 00:07:38,480 We always make sense of the meaning of things by locating 101 00:07:38,480 --> 00:07:43,680 them in the context of a larger drama in which they are a proper 102 00:07:43,680 --> 00:07:46,560 part. This is true of small things 103 00:07:46,880 --> 00:07:52,360 like check engine lights, and it is true of large things like our 104 00:07:52,360 --> 00:07:55,520 identity and the meaning of life. 105 00:07:57,800 --> 00:08:04,160 We are always trying to make sense of ourselves as part of 106 00:08:04,160 --> 00:08:11,000 some larger story, but getting the story right is no easy task. 107 00:08:12,960 --> 00:08:17,000 With our check engine light, several possible narrative 108 00:08:17,000 --> 00:08:22,120 construals are on offer. Which one makes the most sense 109 00:08:22,120 --> 00:08:26,200 of reality? We can get the story wrong. 110 00:08:27,480 --> 00:08:30,240 We can get the story wrong for self protective reasons. 111 00:08:30,240 --> 00:08:31,880 I don't want to spend more money. 112 00:08:31,880 --> 00:08:35,280 I'm going to pretend that this is the story of reality and if 113 00:08:35,280 --> 00:08:37,640 we get the story wrong, bad things follow. 114 00:08:39,120 --> 00:08:42,159 Telling myself that my van just had a faulty check engine light 115 00:08:42,159 --> 00:08:47,560 was a wrong and an economically costly way of narrating reality, 116 00:08:49,680 --> 00:08:51,920 but how in the world could I rightly decide among all the 117 00:08:51,920 --> 00:08:56,080 other options? The uncertainty can be anxiety 118 00:08:56,080 --> 00:09:02,240 producing, and it can be unbearably so when the matter is 119 00:09:02,240 --> 00:09:07,800 of immeasurably more importance, such as the meaning of 1's 120 00:09:07,840 --> 00:09:15,000 identity in life. The problem is that nowadays in 121 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:21,760 the modern industrialized world, there are vanishingly few clear 122 00:09:21,840 --> 00:09:27,880 guides to help us narrate our stories in ways that truthfully 123 00:09:27,880 --> 00:09:33,480 make sense of life. The traditional supports for 124 00:09:33,480 --> 00:09:36,480 identity and meaning are disintegrating. 125 00:09:36,480 --> 00:09:39,080 Maybe if I have already disintegrated before the forces 126 00:09:39,080 --> 00:09:43,520 of late modernity. There is no long rootedness in a 127 00:09:43,520 --> 00:09:46,440 place that could help you give coordinates for yourself. 128 00:09:47,040 --> 00:09:50,160 There is no strong network of local relationships and 129 00:09:50,160 --> 00:09:53,320 community. There is no shared big picture, 130 00:09:53,320 --> 00:09:58,720 no unifying narrative to clarify who we are and what our lives 131 00:09:58,720 --> 00:10:03,880 mean. Of course, there are plenty of 132 00:10:03,880 --> 00:10:07,040 possibilities and proposals available. 133 00:10:09,200 --> 00:10:13,200 Advertisements abound with stories to believe in. 134 00:10:14,480 --> 00:10:19,320 A 30 second commercial is a story in miniature, prodding us 135 00:10:19,520 --> 00:10:24,520 to narrate our lives in such a way that purchasing this or that 136 00:10:24,520 --> 00:10:30,120 seems good and necessary. And to advertisements we can add 137 00:10:30,280 --> 00:10:35,480 schools, political platforms and interest groups, news media 138 00:10:35,480 --> 00:10:38,920 outlets, entertainment, streaming services, Twitter 139 00:10:38,920 --> 00:10:42,360 feeds and culturally observed calendars. 140 00:10:43,360 --> 00:10:48,080 All of these things promote possible narratives to inhabit. 141 00:10:50,360 --> 00:10:55,720 We swim in a vast ocean of competing accounts of who we 142 00:10:55,720 --> 00:11:00,080 are. We are consumer kings and 143 00:11:00,080 --> 00:11:05,120 Queens, or we are patriots caught in a great battle for 144 00:11:05,120 --> 00:11:09,680 constitutional rights, or we are cogs in the machine of big 145 00:11:09,680 --> 00:11:13,440 business, or we are undersexed animals who just need to 146 00:11:13,440 --> 00:11:16,640 copulate without the risk of procreation. 147 00:11:16,960 --> 00:11:20,920 Or we are competitors scraping to survive in a dog eat dog 148 00:11:20,960 --> 00:11:24,280 world. Or we are slaves in shackles of 149 00:11:24,280 --> 00:11:31,120 body and place and tradition. We are confused about our 150 00:11:31,120 --> 00:11:34,160 identity and the meaning of our lives, not because there are no 151 00:11:34,160 --> 00:11:39,000 options when it comes to telling the story of reality, but 152 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:40,520 because that's all there seem to be. 153 00:11:41,600 --> 00:11:49,640 Options galore. Inundated with possibilities, we 154 00:11:49,640 --> 00:11:54,800 are frozen in indecision, flooded with confusion, fearful 155 00:11:54,800 --> 00:11:58,640 that we might get the story wrong, and full of angst that 156 00:11:58,640 --> 00:12:03,720 competing accounts might win the day and our identity and meaning 157 00:12:03,720 --> 00:12:10,920 might be crushed. And it is not just an individual 158 00:12:10,920 --> 00:12:13,600 problem, but also a corporate problem. 159 00:12:15,280 --> 00:12:20,360 The church in the modern West can get very confused about its 160 00:12:20,360 --> 00:12:22,760 identity and meaning and mission. 161 00:12:24,520 --> 00:12:30,080 We are susceptible to many different accounts of who we, 162 00:12:30,080 --> 00:12:36,760 the people of God are, of what story makes sense of our 163 00:12:36,760 --> 00:12:43,120 identity and mission. Are we a separatistic folk in 164 00:12:43,120 --> 00:12:47,040 constant self protective mode, seeking to seal ourselves off 165 00:12:47,160 --> 00:12:51,160 from the sinful influences of the big bad world outside, just 166 00:12:51,160 --> 00:12:54,120 bidding our time and our sealed off lives until everything 167 00:12:54,120 --> 00:12:59,560 burns? Are we a spiritually minded 168 00:12:59,560 --> 00:13:03,480 political interest group trying to mobilize a religiously 169 00:13:03,480 --> 00:13:07,720 inclined voter bloc to join the efforts of a particular party? 170 00:13:09,240 --> 00:13:13,080 Are we an activist group working to exhaustion in order to change 171 00:13:13,080 --> 00:13:16,080 the world by our strength in order to bring about the Kingdom 172 00:13:16,080 --> 00:13:22,640 on earth through social justice? Are we a social club of like 173 00:13:22,640 --> 00:13:27,080 minded people who share certain preferences for musical 174 00:13:27,440 --> 00:13:32,480 subcultures, or certain kinds of programming for our children, or 175 00:13:32,480 --> 00:13:36,120 certain habits of entertainment, or certain even theological 176 00:13:36,200 --> 00:13:41,280 ideas? Again, there are no shortage of 177 00:13:41,280 --> 00:13:45,960 options. But there does seem to be a 178 00:13:45,960 --> 00:13:50,000 shortage of unity. There's a plethora of competing 179 00:13:50,000 --> 00:13:53,560 and conflicting stories in our present cultural moment with 180 00:13:53,560 --> 00:13:55,680 which to try to make sense of the church. 181 00:13:55,960 --> 00:14:01,280 Multiple voices seeking to narrate how we fit into a larger 182 00:14:01,680 --> 00:14:05,680 drama. Well, this morning I propose 183 00:14:05,680 --> 00:14:11,760 that Matthew means to be included as one trying to 184 00:14:11,760 --> 00:14:16,840 properly narrate the church's identity and mission in the 185 00:14:16,840 --> 00:14:21,040 world. He has written what we sometimes 186 00:14:21,040 --> 00:14:26,560 call the first Gospel, or God by his Spirit, has inspired Matthew 187 00:14:26,560 --> 00:14:32,600 to write this Gospel account so that we might know the true 188 00:14:32,600 --> 00:14:38,440 drama of reality. In fact, Matthew writes this 189 00:14:38,440 --> 00:14:45,280 story in such a way as to enfold our lives today. 190 00:14:45,880 --> 00:14:54,320 In the story as one of its chapters, Matthew writes us into 191 00:14:54,320 --> 00:14:59,120 the biblical drama as it were, giving us our own act to play 192 00:14:59,120 --> 00:15:03,680 out. Why do I say it that way? 193 00:15:04,800 --> 00:15:09,400 Well, in large part it is due to how Matthew structures his 194 00:15:09,400 --> 00:15:14,040 Gospel account. As many interpreters have 195 00:15:14,040 --> 00:15:18,720 observed, Matthew provides in the pages of his Gospel accounts 196 00:15:18,720 --> 00:15:25,000 several extended speeches or discourses or sermons of Jesus. 197 00:15:26,280 --> 00:15:30,520 Jesus long and mostly interrupted discourses or 198 00:15:30,520 --> 00:15:34,160 sermons are are fairly easy to spot in the Gospel according to 199 00:15:34,160 --> 00:15:36,480 Matthew. There are several of them, and 200 00:15:36,480 --> 00:15:38,560 they're fairly easy to identify for. 201 00:15:38,680 --> 00:15:42,440 For handy reference, I have laid them out in the printed outline 202 00:15:42,440 --> 00:15:47,000 in the worship folders. These speeches of Jesus are very 203 00:15:47,000 --> 00:15:50,040 strikingly visible. In particular, if you have a red 204 00:15:50,040 --> 00:15:53,520 letter Bible in which the words of Jesus are printed in red. 205 00:15:53,520 --> 00:15:55,160 So this is safe for you to do. You can do this. 206 00:15:55,160 --> 00:15:56,880 You can flip through your Bible right now, and if you have a red 207 00:15:56,880 --> 00:16:01,080 letter Bible, you can see it just paging through the pages of 208 00:16:01,080 --> 00:16:03,400 Matthew early on in his Gospel account. 209 00:16:03,640 --> 00:16:06,880 We come to chapters 5 to 7, and we find that these chapters are 210 00:16:06,880 --> 00:16:11,120 all in red letters. They are all Jesus words in one 211 00:16:11,120 --> 00:16:15,040 long unbroken speech. It is perhaps his most famous 212 00:16:15,080 --> 00:16:17,880 one which we call the Sermon on the Mount. 213 00:16:19,800 --> 00:16:22,920 Moving forward a little bit, in Matthew to chapter 10, we are 214 00:16:22,920 --> 00:16:26,920 treated to a second sermon or discourse of Jesus, one that 215 00:16:26,920 --> 00:16:31,760 addresses mission and martyrdom for disciples of Christ. 216 00:16:32,920 --> 00:16:37,120 The Gospel goes on to give us three further lengthy discourses 217 00:16:37,240 --> 00:16:41,520 of Jesus, for a total in this Gospel account of five. 218 00:16:43,040 --> 00:16:48,280 And Matthew clearly signals where these discourses end with 219 00:16:48,480 --> 00:16:52,360 a formulaic statement that's repeated each time when when 220 00:16:52,480 --> 00:16:56,000 Jesus had finished these words or something very similar. 221 00:16:57,680 --> 00:17:00,720 These formulas, these statements, appear five times, 222 00:17:01,640 --> 00:17:08,359 at 7:28 and 11:00 one, and 1353 and 19 one and 26 one. 223 00:17:09,000 --> 00:17:12,280 They appear at the conclusions of the five discourses, and they 224 00:17:12,280 --> 00:17:18,400 appear nowhere else in Matthew. They function as transitional 225 00:17:18,400 --> 00:17:23,280 signs, helping us discern Matthew's strategy of 226 00:17:23,280 --> 00:17:27,240 structuring his story around the sermons of Jesus. 227 00:17:29,080 --> 00:17:32,280 Jesus discourses, his speech, his teaching. 228 00:17:33,760 --> 00:17:37,400 They are the literary backbone of this drama. 229 00:17:39,280 --> 00:17:43,600 But Matthew does not only give us Jesus discourses in teaching. 230 00:17:44,360 --> 00:17:47,320 Preceding each section of discourse, each section of 231 00:17:47,320 --> 00:17:53,400 teaching, are chapters of narrative action in which Jesus 232 00:17:53,400 --> 00:17:57,880 performs miracles and argues with the Pharisees and travels 233 00:17:57,880 --> 00:18:05,520 to Jerusalem and so forth. That is as it should be, because 234 00:18:05,520 --> 00:18:12,040 Jesus most assuredly did not only teach, nor did he only act 235 00:18:12,240 --> 00:18:18,160 without explanatory comment. Jesus came acting and teaching 236 00:18:18,760 --> 00:18:22,440 in his single unified ministry in life. 237 00:18:24,120 --> 00:18:28,080 And so Matthew arranges his Gospel account, his narrative of 238 00:18:28,080 --> 00:18:35,280 Jesus life, by giving us chunks of narrative action followed by 239 00:18:35,800 --> 00:18:39,240 a sermon or discourse from Jesus, a block of events 240 00:18:39,520 --> 00:18:45,560 followed by a block of teaching. Now, to my mind, the blocks of 241 00:18:45,560 --> 00:18:49,880 teaching are paired with and follow blocks of narrative 242 00:18:49,880 --> 00:18:54,000 action so as to interpret the action. 243 00:18:56,360 --> 00:19:01,360 In chapters 3 to 4, for example, Jesus launches his mission and 244 00:19:01,360 --> 00:19:06,000 calls his first disciples and then the Sermon on the Mount 245 00:19:06,000 --> 00:19:09,440 comes around to explain the kind of mission it is and the kind of 246 00:19:09,440 --> 00:19:15,760 life disciples are called to. In chapters 11 and 12, the 247 00:19:15,760 --> 00:19:18,600 narrative action is a whole bunch of opposition beginning to 248 00:19:19,040 --> 00:19:22,160 increase opposition against Jesus from the leaders of 249 00:19:22,160 --> 00:19:25,520 Israel. And then the parables discourse 250 00:19:25,520 --> 00:19:31,320 of chapter 13 explains a little bit of why many will reject the 251 00:19:31,320 --> 00:19:37,520 good news of the Kingdom. In chapters 14 through 17, Jesus 252 00:19:37,600 --> 00:19:41,720 in the narrative action, zeroes in on ministry to his disciples 253 00:19:41,720 --> 00:19:43,600 in private. Prior to this, he had been 254 00:19:44,520 --> 00:19:47,000 acting, speaking more publicly to all the crowds. 255 00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:50,760 And now in chapters 14 to 17, he zeroes in on his disciples in 256 00:19:50,760 --> 00:19:54,120 private to disciple them in the key marks of the new community 257 00:19:54,320 --> 00:19:56,120 that he is gathering around himself. 258 00:19:56,920 --> 00:20:00,160 And the discourse in chapter 18 instructs the new community, 259 00:20:00,360 --> 00:20:05,000 which Jesus calls the church. About its needful practices of 260 00:20:05,240 --> 00:20:09,600 discipline. In Matthew, the sections of 261 00:20:09,640 --> 00:20:14,160 teaching help us to understand the import of the events in the 262 00:20:14,160 --> 00:20:17,760 preceding narrative. They are meant to properly 263 00:20:17,760 --> 00:20:23,320 interpret the events as the good news that they are. 264 00:20:26,280 --> 00:20:32,840 Having said that, something conspicuously odd happens in the 265 00:20:32,840 --> 00:20:39,040 final chapters which narrate the climactic actions, the climactic 266 00:20:39,040 --> 00:20:46,360 events of the Good news. Matthew 26 through 28 concludes 267 00:20:46,360 --> 00:20:51,440 the Gospel account with a 6th and final section of narrative 268 00:20:51,440 --> 00:20:56,440 action in the Gospel narrating Jesus death and resurrection. 269 00:20:58,600 --> 00:21:02,120 And based on how Matthew has structured the story so far, 270 00:21:03,280 --> 00:21:09,280 this would lead us to expect a concluding 6th discourse, a 271 00:21:09,280 --> 00:21:13,320 section following the preceding narrative action that explains 272 00:21:13,320 --> 00:21:16,560 and interprets the cross and resurrection. 273 00:21:19,160 --> 00:21:20,520 But Matthew doesn't really give us one. 274 00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:27,400 The Great Commission that ends the Gospel is of course Jesus 275 00:21:27,400 --> 00:21:32,440 directly quoted words, but this is not really comparable in 276 00:21:32,440 --> 00:21:36,400 length or detail to the earlier 5 discourses of Jesus. 277 00:21:37,920 --> 00:21:43,240 Matthew leads us to expect an ending that he doesn't provide. 278 00:21:46,800 --> 00:21:52,240 And I think part of Matthew's point is this, the Spirit 279 00:21:52,440 --> 00:21:58,320 empowered proclamation of the Gospel taking place right now in 280 00:21:58,320 --> 00:22:04,440 the church age is the anticipated final section of 281 00:22:04,440 --> 00:22:11,080 teaching in the story. After all, the Gospel's last 282 00:22:11,080 --> 00:22:15,920 words in the Great Commission call us to make disciples of all 283 00:22:15,920 --> 00:22:21,000 nations, which involves teaching them to obey all that Jesus 284 00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:24,800 commanded, baptize them in the name of the Triune Godfather, 285 00:22:24,800 --> 00:22:29,720 Son, and Spirit, and teach them what life in this one Godfather, 286 00:22:29,720 --> 00:22:33,320 Son, and Spirit looks like. As Jesus has revealed. 287 00:22:36,520 --> 00:22:40,160 All of this is to say that Matthew structures his Gospel in 288 00:22:40,160 --> 00:22:47,520 the way that he does, in part to write us into the story, to 289 00:22:47,520 --> 00:22:53,440 spotlight that we are characters with acting and speaking parts 290 00:22:53,440 --> 00:23:00,640 in the Gospel drama. Matthew means to introduce our 291 00:23:00,640 --> 00:23:05,280 act of the drama. In one sense, the Great 292 00:23:05,280 --> 00:23:09,600 Commission is the great conclusion to Matthew's Gospel, 293 00:23:11,520 --> 00:23:16,960 but in another key sense, this ending is really A to be 294 00:23:16,960 --> 00:23:20,640 continued. It anticipates the next chapter, 295 00:23:20,840 --> 00:23:26,440 our chapter, because this story is our story. 296 00:23:28,280 --> 00:23:31,680 It is the story that makes sense of who we are and what we're 297 00:23:31,680 --> 00:23:37,720 here for. In this light, we can understand 298 00:23:37,720 --> 00:23:41,760 the Great Commission as something of a casting call. 299 00:23:42,400 --> 00:23:47,840 A call for us to take up our role in the drama of those who 300 00:23:47,840 --> 00:23:50,640 are baptizing Christ and believe in Christ and have been 301 00:23:50,640 --> 00:23:54,480 instructed in Christ. Of going and being sent to make 302 00:23:54,480 --> 00:23:57,200 disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the triune 303 00:23:57,200 --> 00:24:00,720 name of God and teaching them to obey that all, all that Christ 304 00:24:00,720 --> 00:24:05,200 commands. The King does want his Kingdom 305 00:24:05,760 --> 00:24:12,560 to be filled with people from every tribe and tongue from all 306 00:24:12,560 --> 00:24:17,720 the nations. And so he sends us now, in our 307 00:24:17,720 --> 00:24:20,600 act of the drama, to all the nations. 308 00:24:23,960 --> 00:24:29,120 And that will necessarily mean being sent going across 309 00:24:29,400 --> 00:24:34,960 cultures, entering new frontiers to unreached people groups. 310 00:24:35,880 --> 00:24:40,080 Likely it will involve moving away from comfort and security 311 00:24:40,080 --> 00:24:44,440 and familiarity and toward difficulty in need. 312 00:24:48,240 --> 00:24:52,840 This is the special edge of Christian missions in our part 313 00:24:52,840 --> 00:24:56,800 in the drama to which God calls us individually and as the 314 00:24:56,800 --> 00:24:59,120 Church of Christ in the Great Commission. 315 00:25:01,160 --> 00:25:09,040 That is a big calling, and we must also admit it is a hard 316 00:25:09,720 --> 00:25:14,720 calling, for there are hard places in the world. 317 00:25:16,440 --> 00:25:18,320 I probably don't need to prove that to you. 318 00:25:20,400 --> 00:25:26,240 There is a real enemy prowling around like a roaring lion, 319 00:25:26,240 --> 00:25:31,800 seeking someone to devour. I hope I don't need to prove 320 00:25:31,800 --> 00:25:37,520 that to you. In pursuing the honor of King 321 00:25:37,560 --> 00:25:43,880 Jesus among the nations, we will encounter overwhelming pockets 322 00:25:43,920 --> 00:25:50,240 of darkness and opposition, strongholds of sin and Satan. 323 00:25:52,880 --> 00:25:57,720 They might be across the globe, among the hundreds of unreached 324 00:25:57,840 --> 00:26:03,840 tribes still in Indonesia, or in the supposedly post Christian 325 00:26:04,280 --> 00:26:09,360 Europe, or in the historically hard place which is known as 326 00:26:09,360 --> 00:26:13,360 Japan, or in the nearly impenetrable North Korea. 327 00:26:14,880 --> 00:26:16,720 They might be across the globe. They might be. 328 00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:23,880 They are across the hallway and the street in our own homes and 329 00:26:24,040 --> 00:26:28,280 families and neighborhoods with near neighbors who for any 330 00:26:28,280 --> 00:26:32,000 number of reasons remain basically ignorant of and cut 331 00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:34,080 off from the gospel of Jesus Christ. 332 00:26:35,760 --> 00:26:40,320 Who are trapped in abusive homes or crushed under the colossal 333 00:26:40,320 --> 00:26:43,680 weight of drug addiction or blocked off from the truth of 334 00:26:43,680 --> 00:26:45,400 the gospel. Maybe by their own simple 335 00:26:45,400 --> 00:26:47,760 assumption that they know they've heard all this Jesus 336 00:26:47,760 --> 00:26:50,200 stuff before and so they don't really need to pay any attention 337 00:26:50,200 --> 00:26:51,680 to it. But they've never truthfully 338 00:26:51,680 --> 00:26:53,880 paid attention to it. They've never really heard. 339 00:26:58,040 --> 00:27:02,480 The need is literally in our backyard and it is all over the 340 00:27:02,480 --> 00:27:08,120 globe. But oh, how hard is the mission, 341 00:27:09,720 --> 00:27:13,080 how impossible it can sometimes seem. 342 00:27:16,080 --> 00:27:21,400 Well, does Jesus teach at length in Matthew on things like 343 00:27:21,400 --> 00:27:25,440 rejection and opposition and persecution and martyrdom? 344 00:27:28,320 --> 00:27:33,240 The Great Commission will involve hardship and sorrow and 345 00:27:33,240 --> 00:27:38,840 suffering and awkwardness and foreignness and persecution. 346 00:27:41,920 --> 00:27:43,880 This is our chapter of the story. 347 00:27:44,960 --> 00:27:46,760 This is Our Calling in the Great Commission. 348 00:27:46,760 --> 00:27:49,560 This is the act of the drama that we get to play a part in. 349 00:27:53,000 --> 00:27:54,880 Happy Sunday. Let's close in prayer. 350 00:27:57,760 --> 00:27:59,480 No, no. It naturally it raises the 351 00:27:59,480 --> 00:28:04,520 question, does it not? Why would we ever willingly 352 00:28:04,520 --> 00:28:09,240 enter into such a life, such a calling, such a chapter of the 353 00:28:09,240 --> 00:28:12,120 story? Why would we turn away from 354 00:28:12,400 --> 00:28:18,120 comfort and security and turn toward difficulty and danger and 355 00:28:18,280 --> 00:28:24,520 awkwardness and need? And if, if we do take up the 356 00:28:24,520 --> 00:28:29,760 call, where would we find the encouragement and the strength 357 00:28:30,240 --> 00:28:35,120 persevere till the end of the long hard Rd. 358 00:28:37,720 --> 00:28:42,360 Well, the story that Matthew tells, the story of which we are 359 00:28:42,360 --> 00:28:48,240 a part, the story that makes sense of all things, including 360 00:28:48,240 --> 00:28:51,880 mission and difficulty and suffering. 361 00:28:52,120 --> 00:28:55,000 In hope. This story is written to provide 362 00:28:55,000 --> 00:28:56,680 us with a whole boatload of answers. 363 00:28:59,200 --> 00:29:03,200 Why go out in love and on mission into hard places? 364 00:29:04,480 --> 00:29:10,960 Well, because we long to hear God's name hallowed everywhere 365 00:29:10,960 --> 00:29:15,360 on earth as the Lord Jesus teaches us to pray for in 366 00:29:15,360 --> 00:29:18,560 Matthew 6, as we ourselves prayed for earlier in the 367 00:29:18,560 --> 00:29:22,480 service. Because Jesus was born to be 368 00:29:22,480 --> 00:29:26,760 worshipped by Gentiles from the ends of the earth, like the Magi 369 00:29:27,040 --> 00:29:30,720 from the East who came to worship Jesus in Matthew too. 370 00:29:32,200 --> 00:29:37,920 Because Jesus shed his own blood for all nations to open up a new 371 00:29:37,920 --> 00:29:42,440 covenant for all peoples, as he explains in Matthew 26. 372 00:29:42,440 --> 00:29:46,160 So that whatever tribe or tongue you come from, whatever your 373 00:29:46,160 --> 00:29:50,280 background, if you come to Jesus and confess His name and believe 374 00:29:50,280 --> 00:29:52,840 in His blood, you can be forgiven and entered into 375 00:29:52,840 --> 00:29:55,760 covenant relationship with God the Father Almighty, who now 376 00:29:55,760 --> 00:29:58,760 calls you adopted beloved son or daughter. 377 00:30:03,480 --> 00:30:05,600 Amen. And because by the blood of 378 00:30:05,680 --> 00:30:09,680 Jesus, He is at work to change your affections and your outlook 379 00:30:09,680 --> 00:30:16,160 on life and your direction. Well, because Jesus resurrection 380 00:30:16,160 --> 00:30:24,600 proves that He has prerogative over the entire globe and He is 381 00:30:24,600 --> 00:30:28,880 its rightful King and He is the one who already has authority 382 00:30:28,880 --> 00:30:32,120 over it all, all of earth and also all of heaven. 383 00:30:34,320 --> 00:30:39,000 Because Christ has come as the divine King in the flesh, God 384 00:30:39,040 --> 00:30:44,520 with us, who has from Abraham's day till today been on mission 385 00:30:44,520 --> 00:30:50,520 for the good of all families. Because Christ's coming is the 386 00:30:50,520 --> 00:30:56,560 clear demonstration that God is faithful to all of His promises. 387 00:30:56,760 --> 00:31:00,040 None of His promises will fall to the ground empty. 388 00:31:00,280 --> 00:31:04,960 All of them will become publicly fulfilled and are even now 389 00:31:04,960 --> 00:31:08,280 beginning, which we know by faith beginning to be fulfilled. 390 00:31:08,280 --> 00:31:11,040 All of His promises, His promises to Abraham, His 391 00:31:11,040 --> 00:31:14,680 promises to David, His promises to Israel, His promises to us, 392 00:31:14,680 --> 00:31:21,240 the new Israel in Christ, because Jesus life and death and 393 00:31:21,240 --> 00:31:26,000 resurrection is what God has done in the world to decisively 394 00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:31,320 defeat all our truest enemies. Every single one of our truest 395 00:31:31,320 --> 00:31:35,280 enemies is decisively defeated. And so whatever hardship, 396 00:31:35,280 --> 00:31:37,960 whatever difficulty, whatever opposition, whatever threat you 397 00:31:37,960 --> 00:31:42,240 face now, it cannot ultimately, ultimately lead to your defeat, 398 00:31:42,240 --> 00:31:45,040 can it? And So what have you to fear in 399 00:31:45,040 --> 00:31:52,040 going out in this mission? Ultimately, the victory is sure. 400 00:31:52,880 --> 00:31:59,680 The mission cannot fail. Even our apparent defeats along 401 00:31:59,680 --> 00:32:07,440 the way of faithfully following Jesus and heeding his call, even 402 00:32:07,440 --> 00:32:12,760 the apparent defeats on that path, are in the wisdom and 403 00:32:12,760 --> 00:32:17,600 might of our King, the means through which he is still 404 00:32:17,760 --> 00:32:25,160 overcoming the world. Much like this King's own death 405 00:32:26,120 --> 00:32:32,760 looked like the greatest defeat in all of history, and it was 406 00:32:32,760 --> 00:32:40,040 not. We can go out with courage, with 407 00:32:40,040 --> 00:32:44,840 hope, in love, on mission, because we know that the mighty 408 00:32:45,000 --> 00:32:48,360 and conquering King lives never to die again. 409 00:32:48,720 --> 00:32:53,120 And he is surely with us even to the end of the age. 410 00:32:53,240 --> 00:32:58,240 And by his Spirit poured out on us, He will empower us and will 411 00:32:58,240 --> 00:33:03,360 sustain us and will guide us and will uphold our faith and hope 412 00:33:03,600 --> 00:33:05,440 and love. He will give us the words to 413 00:33:05,440 --> 00:33:07,200 say. He will give us the wisdom and 414 00:33:07,200 --> 00:33:10,880 the grace and the patience and the love and the joy that we so 415 00:33:11,120 --> 00:33:16,200 desperately need to continue loving well and to witness in 416 00:33:16,200 --> 00:33:20,080 truth and to bring honor to Jesus our King. 417 00:33:23,240 --> 00:33:25,760 By the Holy Spirit poured out on us. 418 00:33:26,080 --> 00:33:29,640 We can know that Jesus our King risen and ascended. 419 00:33:29,760 --> 00:33:33,120 We can know that He is present still with us even now in this 420 00:33:33,120 --> 00:33:38,280 very gathering of two and three and many more in Christ's name. 421 00:33:39,920 --> 00:33:44,400 Here we have gathered together, or or rather, we have been 422 00:33:44,400 --> 00:33:49,000 gathered together by our risen King, who calls us by His word 423 00:33:49,440 --> 00:33:52,200 to the true mountain, the true mountain. 424 00:33:52,200 --> 00:33:54,640 Zion is the author of Hebrews puts it. 425 00:33:55,960 --> 00:34:00,600 We have been so gathered that we together might bow down before 426 00:34:00,600 --> 00:34:06,600 Christ to worship Him in happy covenant communion with Him. 427 00:34:08,199 --> 00:34:11,840 We have been gathered that we might be nourished as from His 428 00:34:11,840 --> 00:34:16,840 own hand by the bread which is God's Word, and by the bread of 429 00:34:16,840 --> 00:34:21,239 His own table, so that nourished and strengthened, we might go 430 00:34:21,239 --> 00:34:23,600 back out into the world on mission for the life of all 431 00:34:23,600 --> 00:34:28,560 nations. That life, that mission will 432 00:34:28,920 --> 00:34:33,120 indeed go out into in a few moments, as in our benediction 433 00:34:33,120 --> 00:34:34,800 and sending, will be commissioned anew. 434 00:34:36,800 --> 00:34:39,159 And it is very much like what we find in the final verses of 435 00:34:39,159 --> 00:34:42,600 Matthew. In these last verses of Matthew, 436 00:34:42,600 --> 00:34:45,120 the ending of the Gospel according to Saint Matthew, the 437 00:34:45,120 --> 00:34:48,880 disciples meet Jesus on a mountain, they worship and 438 00:34:48,880 --> 00:34:52,600 commune with their king, and they are sent out into the world 439 00:34:53,320 --> 00:34:56,679 for the sake of love and the glory of Christ. 440 00:34:57,960 --> 00:35:01,360 Every Lord's Day is a veritable reenactment of the ending of 441 00:35:01,360 --> 00:35:05,240 Matthew. Or rather, the ending of Matthew 442 00:35:05,560 --> 00:35:10,080 is the beginning of our lives, an invitation for us to enter a 443 00:35:10,080 --> 00:35:16,280 new into this the greatest and truest of stories, because it is 444 00:35:16,560 --> 00:35:21,240 our story. Let us close in prayer. 445 00:35:23,760 --> 00:35:28,600 Everlasting God, you brought the nations to your light and kings 446 00:35:28,600 --> 00:35:30,320 to the brightness of your rising. 447 00:35:31,000 --> 00:35:36,080 Fill the world with your glory. Show yourself to all the nations 448 00:35:36,240 --> 00:35:40,200 and empower us in this mission of witness and disciple, making 449 00:35:40,440 --> 00:35:43,720 through Him who is the true light and the bright Morning 450 00:35:43,720 --> 00:35:48,080 Star, Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns 451 00:35:48,080 --> 00:35:51,720 with you and the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever. 452 00:35:52,400 --> 00:35:52,760 Amen.