The Great Commission Gospel

Friends,

Merry Christmas week to you. John MacArthur was once asked how he prepared sermons. His response was, “Keep your bottom in the seat until the work is done.” That work ethic has always appealed to me but, it means, on short weeks like this particular Christmas week, when everything has to be completed by Tuesday at 4:30, the “work” requires the same number of “bottom in the seat” hours as any other week for it to get “done.” So, I began studying for this Sunday’s sermon yesterday afternoon and, waking up throughout the night to rethink and reshape it, I re-started “the work” early this morning. I’m fairly far into it but, if you peruse the notes, you’ll see that the ninth point is not yet developed. I’ll try to get to that this evening and then finish the sermon and complete the CG questions and Daily Devotions tomorrow morning. This will give everyone else who makes the Sunday preaching hour successful, all of Tuesday afternoon to create bulletin inserts, make the PowerPoint, etc. And that will enable all of our Heritage staff to enjoy Christmas Eve, Christmas and the day afterward, with family.

It is Christmas week and you may not have time to read each day’s CG leader devotion, but even if you have to read them all on Saturday, I hope you will read them. There are some real truth bombs in the TRAP devotional that will help you in life and in your CG.

I hope, that in all of the busyness of this season, you have time to reflect on Christmas as the birth of Jesus, the long-awaited fulfilment of God’s promise, the assurance that he will keep his promises to us, and the hope of Heaven he has promised to each of us. As you can, share that “good news of great joy” to your friends, relatives, neighbors and associates, particularly as you gather around the various tables you will enjoy this week.

Lord willing, I will see many of you Wednesday night at 5:30 for the Christmas Eve service.

Pastor Reggie

What Now?

The Great Commission Gospel

Matthew 28:18-20

(An ‘After-Christmas’ sermon)

Intro: There is a sense in which preaching answers the question, “So what,” “What does this mean,” or “What’s the big deal?”

It’s appropriate, after Christmas to ask, ““So what,” “What does this mean,” or “What’s the big deal?”

Jesus answers that for us in what is commonly known as The Great Commission.

·       Matthew is often called the Great Commission Gospel because The Great Commission is often treated as a final command tacked onto the end of Matthew.

• But Matthew did not end with mission; he built toward it.

• From the genealogy to the resurrection, Matthew has been shaping a vision of a King whose reign was never meant to stop at Israel’s borders.

• Matthew 28:18–20 is not a surprise. It is the inevitable conclusion.

First: Matthew Frames Jesus as the Fulfilment of OT Promises

Matthew opens with a genealogy that quietly signals a global horizon.

a)    Jesus is the son of Abraham (Matt. 1:1) → “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 12:3)

b)    Jesus is the son of David  (Matt 1:6) → “I will raise up your offspring after you… and I

will establish the throne of his kingdom forever… Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.”  (2 Samuel 12:12-13)

From the first verse, Jesus is presented not merely as Israel’s Messiah, but the fulfilment of God’s OT promises to Israel and the nations.

IMP: When we read Matthew’s genealogy, we might wonder why he doesn’t include every Old Testament name. The answer is simple and important:

1 - Matthew is not writing a modern family tree, he is making a theological claim. Biblical genealogies were never meant to be exhaustive. They were selective, purposeful, and symbolic.

2 - Matthew arranges Jesus’ lineage into three sets of fourteen to proclaim one central truth, Jesus is the true Son of David, the rightful King.

3 - Matthew highlights the figures that move God’s redemptive promise forward and omits others because his goal is not biological completeness but covenantal fulfillment.

4 - From the very first verse of his Gospel, Matthew is telling us that all of Israel’s history has been moving toward this moment, toward this King, toward this Christ.

So, Matthew’s moves us from Abraham, through whom God has promised the nations, through David, the King who will rule those nations, to Jesus, who is the fuliflment of the Abrahamic and Davidic promises.

Second: The Great Commission in Genesis

a)    God begins the Bible with a commission, not merely a creation.

“So God created man in his own image… male and female he created them” (Gen. 1:27).

Humanity is created as God’s image-bearers, meant to reflect His character, authority, and presence in the world.

b)    God blesses humanity with a mission.

“And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion…’” (Gen. 1:28).

The blessing is not private; it is missional. God sends Adam and Eve outward to multiply His image and extend His good rule over the whole earth.

What is their mission?

·       They are to perpetuate the image of God by expanding the human family (“be fruitful and multiply”).

·       Each child will be a regal image-bearer of the Lord to the rest of creation. They are also to Edenize the world, that it, to “fill the earth.”

·       Eden is elevated, on a mountain (e.g., Ezekiel 28:13-14), down from which flows a river (Gen. 2:10).

·       As more image-bearers are born, the Garden and Mt. Eden will need to expand to accommodate them.

·       As the human family grows larger and larger, the real estate of Paradise will require more acreage.

Genesis 1:26-28 passage contains all the core elements of the Great Commission:

·       Authority - God speaks as Creator, exercising authority over heaven and earth.

·       Image-bearers - Humanity is created to reflect God’s rule and character.

·       Sending - Adam and Eve are sent outward, beyond Eden, to fill the earth.

·       Multiplication - They are to reproduce image-bearers.

·       Kingdom expansion - God’s ordered, life-giving rule is to spread over the whole earth.

c)    Eden is the starting point, not the destination.

Eden functions as God’s dwelling place on earth (Gen. 2:8–10), but humanity is commanded to fill the earth.

The goal was the expansion of Eden, that God’s presence would spread outward as His image-bearers spread outward.

d)    Humanity was called to rule by reflecting God, not replacing Him.

“Let them have dominion…” (Gen. 1:26).

Adam and Eve were to rule as servant-kings and queens, exercising authority through care, cultivation, and obedience.

In Genesis 3, humanity rebels, Eden is lost, and the mission collapses into violence, exile, and death.

Eden is lost. Brother murders brothers. Violence mushrooms. People “exchange the truth of God for a lie and worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator” (Rom. 1:25).

The commission is fractured, but not broken, by the Fall.

We know this because God immediately promises restoration: “He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Gen. 3:15).

The hope of a coming Deliverer, a new Adam, enters the story.

e)    God reaffirms the Genesis commission through Abraham, who is Matthew’s starting

point.

“In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 12:3).

The global scope of Genesis 1, God’s purpose in blessing of the nations through a promised seed, returns in Genesis 12, reappears throughout the OT, and picks up again in Matthew 1 with Jesus as the “blessing” by which God will bless the nations through Abraham.

In effect, Abraham and Sarah become Adam and Eve, 2.0.

And the Great Commission continues throughout Genesis.

·       After Eden is lost, God repeatedly sends His chosen servants outward so that blessing might move beyond one family to many peoples.

·       He promises Abraham that through his offspring all the families of the earth will be blessed.

·       He reaffirms that calling to Isaac and Jacob,

·       In Joseph, we see the pattern lived out rather than merely spoken. Joseph is sent into the heart of the nations, where God’s presence goes with him, God’s wisdom is displayed through him, and countless lives are preserved because of him. Looking back, Joseph can say, “God sent me before you to preserve life.”

Genesis 45:5-7 - And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors.”

Genesis 50:19–20 - (After Jacob’s death) - Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.

Genesis shows us that God’s mission has always advanced through faithful image-bearers living among the nations, in order that the blessing of life might spread. What Jesus commands in Matthew 28 is not new; it is the fulfillment of a mission Moses has been advancing throughout Genesis.

Transition: Which brings us back to Matthew in which

Third: Gentiles Appear at Key Moments Early On

Matthew repeatedly places Gentiles at decisive points in the story.

a)    Three women in Jesus’ genealogy (Rahab, Ruth, and “the wife of Uriah, Bathsheba”), all Gentiles, signaling that God’s global redemptive plan.

Joshua 2:8 – (Rahab) - for the Lord your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath. 

b)    The Magi (Matt. 2)

Matthew 2:1 – “Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem…”

Who were the magi? They were pagan astrologers who travel far to worship Israel’s promised and newborn king.

Matthew is teaching the reader: this kingdom will not stay confined to Israel.

Fourth: Jesus’ Teaching Already Assumes a Global Mission

Long before Matthew 28, Jesus speaks in ways that stretch beyond Israel.

a)    The Sermon on the Mount - “You are the light of the world” (Matt. 5:14)

A city on a hill is visible to the nations, not hidden within one people.

b)    The Lord’s Prayer “Your kingdom come… on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt 6:10).

The scope is cosmic, not local.

‘

c)    The Parables of the Kingdom (Matt. 13)

Matthew 13:31-32 - …‘The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches. (See Ez 17:22-23 & Dan 4:12).

Matthew 13:47 - Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind.

Jesus’ kingdom, by its very nature, is expansive.

Fifth: Jesus Regularly Commends Gentile Faith

Matthew, a gospel written primary to Jews, is intentional about including Gentles.

a)    The Roman centurion (Matt. 8:5–13)

Jesus marvels: “I have not found such great faith in Israel.”

Matthew 8:11-12 - I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, ¹² while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness.

b)    The Canaanite woman (Matt. 15:21–28)

A Gentile woman, whom Jesus compares to a dog, persists in faith and receives mercy, while the disciples struggle to understand.

IMP: These episodes prepare the reader emotionally and theologically for a mission beyond Israel.

Sixth: Israel’s Rejection Is Paired with Expanding Inclusion

As Matthew progresses, resistance from Israel’s leaders increases.

‘

a)     The parables of judgment (Matt. 21–22) speak of a kingdom taken from those who refuse it and given to others.

Matthew 21:43 - Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.

Matthew 22:8–9 - Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.

1.    People other than Jews will enter first (21:31)

2.    The kingdom is taken from the Jewis and given to others (21:43)

3.    The invitation is extended to all (22:9)

b)     Jesus’ lament over Jerusalem (Matt. 23) signals a turning point.

When we reach Matthew 23 and hear Jesus weep over Jerusalem, we are not witnessing the collapse of God’s plan but the turning of the page. That moment marks the end of His public ministry to Israel’s leadership and the beginning of something larger. Rejection does not silence the gospel; it sends it outward.

What Jerusalem refused, the nations will receive. And so when we arrive at Matthew 28, Jesus stands on another mountain and speaks again, not in grief but in authority. The gospel that was resisted in Jerusalem is now commissioned to the world.

Matthew ends where he has been heading all along: the kingdom is no longer centered in one city but carried by disciples to the ends of the earth, and the same Jesus who lamented rejection now promises His presence “to the end of the age.”

Seventh: This Occurs In the Passion Narrative’s Global Overtones

At the cross:

a)    The sign reads “King of the Jews,” which is a political, public claim (Matt 27:37).

b)    A Roman centurion confesses, “Truly this was the Son of God” (Matt. 27:54)

Eighth: The Great Commission Is the Inevitable Conclusion, Not a Surprise

So…when Jesus finally says, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” in Matthew 28:18-20,

Matthew’s readers are meant to think: “Of course. This is where the story has been going all along”.

The Great Commission is not an add-on. It is the logical outcome of who Jesus is, how He has been received, and what kind of kingdom He has been announcing from page one of the Bible

Matthew is the Gospel that was always going somewhere

           Ninth: This is what the Great Commission Looks like

(To work on Tuesday morning)

Use thought from Daily Devotion - The Great Commission does not with a task but with a promise: “I am with you always.” That’s such a glorious thought. From Eden to the New Jerusalem, God’s presence among his people has always been the goal. The mission is sustained not by strategy but by Emmanuel, God with us, until the end of the age. That friends, is a promise worth building our lives and church on!!!

           Conclusion: The mission to the nations is not Plan B; it is the unfolding purpose of God when privilege gives way to unbelief.

• Matthew is not just telling us what Jesus said at the end.
• He is showing us who Jesus has always been.
• The Great Commission is not a task added to discipleship—it is the overflow of knowing Jesus.

APP: Heritage’s mission is “making disciples here and around the world.”

 The elders have defined a ‘disciple’ for Heritage, someone who is dedicated to:

1      Sunday morning gatherings

2      A community group

3      Service

4      Giving

5      Scripture

6      Prayer

7      Evangelism

8      Mentoring

See Discipleship Wheel at the end of the sermon notes.

This is how we fulfill the Great Commission at Heritage, by “making disciples – who look like this – here and around the world.” That’s the plan for 2026!

 

Theme

The Great Commission Was Always the Point

Monday — The Commission Begins with Authority

Text: Matthew 28:18; Genesis 1:26–28

Think. Jesus begins the Great Commission by grounding it in authority: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” This echoes Genesis 1, where God speaks as Creator-King and commissions humanity to rule, multiply, and fill the earth. God’s mission does not begin with our enthusiasm but with divine authority. From Eden onward, God’s purposes have always flowed from who He is, not from what we can accomplish. Isn’t that a glorious thought?

Reflect. Why is it essential that Jesus speaks of authority before He speaks of mission? How does seeing Genesis 1 as a commission reshape the way you understand The Great Commission?

Apply. As a CG leader, where are you tempted to treat mission as optional or secondary? How can you weekly emphasize this mission to your CG?

Pray. Lord Jesus, anchor my obedience in your authority, not my confidence. Teach me to follow in submission before I lead in action.

Tuesday — The Commission Survives the Fall

Text: Genesis 3:15; Genesis 12:1–3; Matthew 1:1

Think. The Great Commission did not end when Eden was lost. Sin fractured humanity’s ability to carry out God’s mission, but it did not cancel God’s purpose. In Genesis 3:15, God promises a Deliverer. In Genesis 12, He promises Abraham that all families of the earth will be blessed. Matthew opens by declaring Jesus as the Son of Abraham, signaling that the original mission is being restored, not replaced.

Reflect. Why is it important to see the Great Commission as recovery, not reinvention? How does this protect us from seeing mission as Plan B?

Apply. How does this long biblical storyline, i.e., biblical theology, shape the way you teach Scripture to your CG, especially when discouragement or failure is present?

Pray. Faithful God, thank you that your purposes are not undone by human failure. Help me trust your long obedience even when the present feels broken.

Wednesday — The Mission Advances Through the Nations

Text: Genesis 45:5–7; Matthew 2:1–2; Matthew 8:11–12

Think. God advances His mission by sending His servants, like us, into the nations. Joseph is sent ahead “to preserve life.” The Magi travel from the East to worship Christ. A Roman centurion displays faith greater than Israel’s. Matthew consistently shows that God’s kingdom has always been moving outward, even when His people resist or misunderstand it.

Reflect. What does Joseph’s story teach us about God’s hidden purposes in displacement and sorrow?

Apply. How can you teach this principle of God, working out all things for our good as part of His outward-moving mission even in the difficult circumstances your CG members may be facing?

Pray. Sovereign Lord, help me trust that you send your servants where you intend your blessing and sometimes choose a costly path to accomplish your will.

Thursday — Merry Christmas

Rejection Does Not Stop the Gospel

Text: Matthew 21:43; Matthew 23:37–39; Matthew 28:16–20

Think. Matthew 23 is not the failure of God’s plan but a turning point. Israel’s rejection does not silence the gospel; it sends it outward. The same Jesus who weeps over Jerusalem later stands on a mountain in Galilee commissioning His disciples to the nations. The mission expands precisely where resistance is strongest. Hallelujah for the cross!

Reflect. How does this connection between Matthew 23 and Matthew 28 deepen your understanding of God’s patience and purpose?

Apply. As a CG leader, how do you respond when your efforts are resisted or misunderstood? How does this text reshape your expectations and give you patience while God works in you and others?

Pray. Merciful King, keep me from discouragement when the gospel or my presentation of it is rejected. Teach me to trust that you are always moving your mission forward.

Friday — The Presence That Sustains the Mission

Text: Matthew 28:20; Exodus 33:14; Revelation 21:3

Think. The Great Commission does not with a task but with a promise: “I am with you always.” That’s such a glorious thought. From Eden to the New Jerusalem, God’s presence among his people has always been the goal. The mission is sustained not by strategy but by Emmanuel, God with us, until the end of the age. What a thought, dear friends!!!

Reflect. Why is Jesus’ promised presence more essential than the scope of the mission itself?

Apply. As you prepare to lead your CG this Sunday, how can you model dependence on Christ’s presence rather than confidence in preparation alone?

Pray. Lord Jesus, thank you that you do not merely send us, you go with us. Teach me to lead in the confidence of your presence.