Witness to the nations

Matthew 28:16-20 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. ¹⁷ When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. ¹⁸ Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

“Be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.” Amen. 2 Corinthians 13:11

“Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.” These are really weird verses. The eleven disciples see the risen Jesus standing in front of them. They talk to him, eat with him and worship him. OK. That’s not weird. They should be doing all that. Then we hear these words, “but some of them doubted.”

Right smack in the middle of seeing the biggest miracle that has ever happened – the Son of God dying and rising from the dead – some doubted. That’s just bizarre, don’t you think?

Matthew just leaves those words hanging there. He doesn’t tell us who doubted or why they were doubting. Just that some of them doubted.

The Holy Spirit is pretty wise with his inspirational words, isn’t he? “Some doubted” leaves room for us doubting.

There are plenty of people inclined to doubting right now. I’m sure you’re included in those inclinations.

Doubt. Uncertainty. Confusion. Frustration. We are feeling those emotions. We have been for a while.

Because of the pandemic, we were ordered into our homes and businesses shuttered by safer at home directives. We hear one expert say one thing but click over to the next article and an equally qualified researcher in a lab coat tells us the exact opposite thing. Now, because of protesting and rioting, we are being ordered into our homes because of a curfew and businesses are boarded up for fear of being broken into. People are shouting about black lives matter, blue lives matter, all lives matter.

It is a very confusing and scary time we’re living in right now. If we feel that way as Christians, imagine how non-Christians feel. There is a lot of doubt to go around.

Today we begin a five-part series on witnessing. This morning we examine witnessing to the nations. Witnessing is nothing more than telling people what we have seen and experienced. Our witnessing will overcome people’s doubts. That’s because we witness to the three things in Jesus’ Great Commission – his authority, his teaching and his presence.

You have been a child of God for years, perhaps decades. You put away your teddy bear and security blanket a long time ago. But you still haven’t put away your childish doubts and fears. They keep you up at night the same way the monsters under your bed used to.

You have heard and believe in the crucified and risen Savior. But you are capable of returning to the same old doubts and insecurities as if Good Friday and Easter Sunday never happened. You trust that Jesus ascended into heaven to rule all things for this world’s benefit. But you are still confused how all this mess of pandemic and protesting could be for anyone’s good. You believe that the Holy Spirit has been poured out at Pentecost. Yet your faith fluctuates as if you believe the Holy Spirit was not poured out on you in your baptism.

There should only be room in our hearts for the worship of our gloriously risen and ascended Savior. Sadly, we make plenty of room for the doubts and fears that are still present. And if we have doubts and fears, how fearful and doubting do you think unbelievers are right now? Why do you think there is so much angst and anger in people right now?!

Notice how Jesus doesn’t wait for your doubts to cease or your fears to subside before he presses you into service in his Kingdom.

(That’s good. Because, otherwise, he’d be waiting a long time!”)

What does Jesus do instead? He answers our fearful doubts with his gracious reality. Really, what is there to be afraid of? Or worried about? Or angry about? “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”

We go with Jesus’ authority. We are not independent contractors. We serve Jesus because he created us, redeemed us and sanctified us. Now he commands us. We go knowing that Jesus will use us to proclaim his authoritative Word that changes peoples’ hearts and lives.

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation, for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, things seen and unseen, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and all things hold together in him” (Colossians 1:15-17). That’s authority!

St. Paul says Jesus has authority over “all things.” Really? All things? I challenge you to find one thing he does not have authority over. Peter’s mother-in-law has a fever. Jesus rebukes it. A raging storm threatens his fearful disciples. Jesus calms it. A temple tax needs to be paid. Jesus sends Peter to go fishing and find a coin in the fish’s belly. Five thousand hungry stomachs on a hillside grumble at the same time. Jesus turns a boy’s lunchbox into a bottomless buffet. Jesus exudes authority.

This is the calming authority we need to believe. This is the calming authority we need to share.

Jesus draws our hearts away from our doubts to his ruling authority. “Therefore” – such an important word. It connects what was said prior to what is said later. “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”

The same saving gracious authority that calms our hearts and quiets our doubts by baptizing, teaching, communing and preaching is the same saving gracious authority that he gives us to calm the hearts and quiet the doubts of others around us. We do that through the same baptizing, teaching, communing and preaching.

There are currently around 7.6 billion people in the world. If you counted one person per second, it would take over 239 years to count them all. What is true about each and every person on the face of the earth? They are all born sinful and needing a Savior. By nature, every single person is headed straight toward eternal punishment in hell.

There is angst and anger right now because we focus on what separates us – skin color, language barriers, cultural differences, economic inequities.

We need to help people focus on what unites us – Jesus died for people of all races, classes, genders, languages and nations.

People are troubled because they are focusing on the problems of this world. They either don’t know or don’t care about the hellish problems that are coming for unbelievers in the world to come.

Your heavenly Father wants only what is best for his creation and wants everyone to receive the benefits and blessings of heaven. That’s why he sent Jesus—to pay for your sins to rescue you from an eternity in hell and give you an eternal paradise of heaven. The perfect God-Man bore all personal sin and racial enmity in himself in his sacrificial act for all the nations.  

7.6 billion people — that’s a lot of people! Jesus calls on his believers to take up the work of reaching them with the good news of salvation. A worldwide pandemic shut things down. We need to tell people that Jesus already has a solution for those infected and affected by this virus. Protesting and rioting in the streets. We need to share that Jesus has the cure for the judgmental attitudes that reside in all of us. That cure is love - love others as he has loved us. Confusion and frustration troubles us as we don’t know who or what to believe. Jesus provides the only constant we will ever have in our lives. With his Word and with Baptism, Jesus equips us for bringing his saving message to the nations.

Even after we believe in Jesus’ authority and share Jesus’ saving message, moments of doubt, fear and insecurity will flood each of us daily. Our world seems to have gone crazy. Pandemic, protesting, racism, riots, class warfare and economic inequity.

Jesus promises: “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Jesus abides with us. Our security, freedom, income, property, health, happiness may be absent for a time – but Jesus remains.

I know many of you would like to add an “s” to the words on our altar. The King James Version of Jesus’ promise sounds like its missing an “s” to our 21^st century ears: “Lo, I am with you always(s).” That’s a promise we see in every worship service – either in person or on the computer.

Each day we give our doubts and fears over to Jesus in exchange for courage and confidence. Every morning we begin by handing over our sins and failures to Jesus so he can extend forgiveness and grace to us. Every day we begin by washing away all we’ve done wrong with the waters of baptism. We make the sign of the cross over our head and heart that marks us as redeemed children of God. We whisper our prayers into Jesus’ ear. Jesus speaks his words of Scripture back into our ears and hearts. He places his body and blood onto our tongues so we may taste and see that his salvation is good.

All of that happens only because our Savior is with us alway(s) even to the end of the age.

In the mid-1800s, the doubting country doctor had put plenty of thought into how he would make his attack on religion ... if a suitable subject fell into his hands. His opportunity came when Peter Cartwright, circuit-riding pastor in Tennessee, Kentucky and Illinois showed up at his door. After dinner and some pleasantries, the doctor launched out. He said, “Reality must be determined by what our senses perceive.”

Using that school of thought, the doctor said, “Did you ever see religion?” “No,” came the reply. “Did you ever smell religion?” “No.” “Did you ever taste religion?” “No.” “Hear religion?” “No.” The physician claimed victory: “My four witnesses have made my point. The weight of evidence is overpowering, sir, and you must give religion up.”

Cartwright's reply went something like this: “You old humbug, playing the hypocrite and practicing fraud on the gullible.” The physician objected, but the preacher continued: “You say you treat people’s pain, do you not?” The doctor agreed. The preacher then began his questions: “Sir, did you ever see a pain? Did you ever hear a pain? Did you ever smell a pain? Did you ever taste a pain?” The doctor agreed he hadn't.

“Then,” said the traveling preacher, “four respectable witnesses have testified that there is no such thing as pain in the human system.” That's when Cartwright began to pray for the physician who, I am pleased to say, became a Christian.

The disciples had seen, spoken to and eaten with the risen Christ. Still, some of them doubted. We doubt, too. So do our friends. Jesus commands and commissions us to witness to them to help them see. No, they won’t be able to see or touch Jesus physically like the disciples did. But we still reach out to them by preaching, teaching and baptizing. We share Jesus’ authority, teaching and presence with them. Then, we pray, by the working of the Holy Spirit, their doubts will be calmed and their fears will be gone. … Just like yours.

All because you witnessed to the nations, Amen.

“May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” Amen. 2 Corinthians 13:14