Hello, you are listening to Second City Sermons,
a ministry of Second City Church in Midtown Harrisburg.
It's our hope that these sermons will draw you
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Son and Holy Spirit. Please consider coming and
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sermon. God bless. Let's pray again. Lord, as
we prayed over our children who are now with
us, Lord, we ask that you would give us faith,
that you would speak to us from your word and
that we would know you more, that we'd love you
more, that our faith would increase, that it
would be our greatest desire to follow you and
to go where you would have us go, that we would
be those who make disciples. eagerly mirror our
Lord who goes and makes disciples, who brings
good news. Lord, use me now. May the words in
my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts
be pleasing in your sight. The Lord, our rock
and our Redeemer. Amen. All right. What happened
to the apostles? Don't ever wonder that Maybe
some of you know some of the answer to that last
week we were looking at John chapter 21 and near
the end of that we talked about how You know,
we got a little glimpse Jesus talks about the
end of Peter's life and how John himself actually
spoke about the end of his life and how Jesus
wasn't speaking about the end of his life but
the end of of Peter's life, and we remembered
Aslan's wise words to Erebus at the end of the
great Narnian book, the horse and his boy, child,
I'm telling you your story, not hers. No one
has told any story but their own. And yet as
different as Peter and John's stories were, and
as different as all the apostles' stories were,
There were themes that ran through them that
sort of marked actually every single one of the
apostles. Their themes were this, that ran together.
All their life, all their deaths, were on mission
with God and the world, for the mission of God
and the world. So let me give you a few examples,
okay? Peter, like we saw last week, he was crucified
We have good reason to believe and the accounts
are fairly early on. He was crucified upside
down because he did not want to be crucified
like his Lord under the persecution in Rome under
Nero around the mid 60s AD, likely 66. John,
who we had looked at last week, as far as we
know, he's actually the only apostle who was
not put to death for the sake of the gospel.
He lived until his old age, but he likely lived
not there in Israel and Jerusalem of course after
AD 70 when the Romans took over almost all the
Christians fled But he lived near the end of
his life around what would be modern -day Turkey
and the city of Ephesus We know this from actually
the letters that we have those little letters
that we have in the book of Revelation and the
churches that he wrote to Right there at the
book of Revelation near the end of his life John
the brother of James Was the first sorry James
the brother of John was the first to be put to
death Does anybody know who killed James, the
brother of John, in Acts chapter 12? Kids, do
any of you know? Sorry, adults, do any of you
know? Herod, I heard somebody say Herod, I think.
A couple of you said Herod. Herod, right there
in Acts chapter 12, for the sake of his faith.
Andrew traveled north. Many people believe that
he made it to what would be modern day Russia,
but then he was martyred. in what would be, again,
modern day Turkey, Greece, around that area.
Philip went to North Africa. In fact, the tradition
has it that Philip was preaching and the wife
of one of the Roman procouncils gave her life
to following Jesus. She responded to his preaching
and the procouncil was so enraged that he had
Philip put to death because of his preaching
and someone coming to faith, his own wife coming
to faith in Jesus. Thomas, the twin who we know
as Doubting Thomas. By the way, I need to say
this because it doesn't fit as much in the rest
of my sermon, but this is important. Did you
notice this little detail in our text that said,
and some doubted, and Jesus still commissions
those people? Your doubt does not mean God is
not using you, okay? I mean that. There's a real
temptation, I think, when we are going through
difficult times that we think that is when maybe
we are least useful. It's actually so often when
we are most useful in the kingdom. That's a side
note, but it's a really wonderful little detail.
Anyway, Thomas went to modern -day Iraq, Syria,
and then actually people believe that Thomas
made it all the way to India. He started the
church over in India, and he we believe was killed
by four different soldiers for his faith and
preaching the good news of Jesus. Nathaniel,
it seems like he loved to travel. People think
that Nathaniel went with Thomas for a while,
but then he went down and kind of ministered
along the trade routes between Ethiopia and Arabia.
So he was down in North Africa. I could go on.
But there is a theme that is going on, that despite
the fact that each of their stories is absolutely
unique, like we saw last week in John chapter
21, there are themes that are running through
all of them. The theme is they were a going people,
a disciple -making people, a baptizing people
in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
simply because they were apostolic. They were
part of the people of God. So, We're in this
short series in Eastertide, which, you know,
is from Easter to Pentecost, which it's actually,
we're gonna, in two weeks, we're gonna look at
how Pentecost is related to this. And we're looking
at these narratives, this post -resurrection
narratives of Jesus with his disciples. We're
just asking this question, like, what do these
narratives mean for us? How do they shape our
identity as a church? What does it mean to be
part of the resurrection people? Today we have
another of the famous stories of Jesus after
his resurrection with his disciples. Of course
this story, this little narrative here, this
little teaching we have here is known as the
Great Commission. The Great Commission. Adolf
Harnack, who was a church historian, theologian,
German church historian, theologian, end of the
18th century, early 19th century, early 20th
century, he wrote this. One cannot say anything
greater or more in 40 words than what Jesus says
right here. And while there's so much that we
could say about this passage, again, I'm trying
to focus us on these narratives of what does
it mean for us as an identity? Like, how is it
shaping us as who we are? And I think one of
the things that's interesting is that when we
come to this passage, I want to say this to you
this morning. This is going to kind of be my
main thing. There's nothing new here in a way,
and yet there's something radically different.
Which is to say, this text is shaping the people
of God in a way that they'd always been shaped.
And yet there's an enormous change. Why do I
say that? Here we have, in the Great Commission,
the basic structure. of biblical covenants, which
is the relationship that God had with his people.
The covenants, I've told you before, is a binding
relational commitment and promise. And what is
that basic structure? Well, first, there's the
introduction of God. Normally, that's actually
the Lord in the Old Testament. Yahweh is proclaimed.
But specifically, when you come to a covenant,
it's who has the authority? And who's the relationships?
Who's the one primarily making the covenant?
Who's the main party? And Jesus, the first thing
he says is, all authority has been given to me.
He's establishing the parties in a way, all authority.
I'm the Lord, the King. Now the second part is
there's these imperative demands of the relationship.
Now here it's this, make disciples, baptize,
and teach them to obey everything I have commanded.
That's a key part of covenant, the stipulations
of the covenant, the imperative demands. And
then there's this third section, which is also
throughout, which is blessing, blessing, which
is most often communicated by saying, I am with
you, the presence of God with his people. I'm
with you always, even to the end of the age.
So what I'm suggesting to you is that the Great
Commission is taking on this This basic structure,
which was true of all of God's dynamics with
his people. When they understood who they were,
they understood themselves as being in covenant
with God, and these things existed in those covenants.
So the Great Commission is making good on the
covenants between God and his people. And here's
what I want to say subsequently, and this is
what I want to sort of argue this morning in
a way. The covenants are always forming a missionary
people. Always. The people of God always had
a missionary identity. So here's what's gonna
be a lot of the sermon this morning. We are gonna
do an overview of the Old Testament covenants
quickly. Which is a lot to do, okay? Let's start
with Noah. We'll get to Adam after a little while.
Let's look at Noah. If you have your Bible open,
would you open it? Or if you want to grab that
one in front of you to Genesis chapter 9. Genesis
is the very first book. Genesis chapter 9. If
you remember the story, you'll remember that
clearly God has all authority, of course. He
has actually just commanded the rain and rain
to begin and to stop. His authority has been
clearly established. But also, you see here verse
8 that he establishes this covenant and God said
to Noah and to his sons with him it's he that
is speaking he's the one who is authoritatively
engaging with this covenant here, behold, I establish
my covenant with you and your offspring after
you, and with every living creature that is with
you, the birds, the livestock, and every blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, we keep going. And one
of the things that we actually looked at this
fall is when you come to the Noahic covenant,
what you see is this retelling of this story
that God has committed to His entire creation.
That is a key thing in understanding the Noahic
covenant, that God is committed to his entire
creation. And that's why actually in verse one
and verse seven, the imperative command is a
restating of the comparative command to Noah.
Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth. There's
always this earth kind of wide scope at play
here. All of the earth is to be under the Lordship.
of God. I want you to think with me about how
this covenant is not just for the sake of Noah.
It's not even remotely just for the sake of Noah.
It's for the birds and the fish and the sea and
all of it. The scope of the Noahic covenant is
the entirety of creation, all of it. Okay, that
was fairly quick. Let's go to Abraham. Turn the
page with me. Go to chapter 12. There's a number
of places that we could look, and we'll look
at one more. There's a number of places that
we could look in to consider the Abrahamic covenant.
But I want to say that this is not just a covenant
for all of creation, but this is a covenant of
mission, specifically of blessing, okay? A covenantal
mission of blessing. So what you... What you
find here, again, is the parties involved in
this covenant immediately. Verse one there says,
now the Lord said to Abram, right? He's establishing
himself as the one who is speaking, who is creating
the covenant and the parties here are involved,
Abraham. And he says, go from your country and
your kindred and your father's house to the land
that I will show you. There's an imperative.
And I will make of you a nation and I will bless
you and make your name great so that you will
be a blessing. There's that blessing. By the
way, I didn't mention the blessing in chapter
nine. It's there also. But you have this blessing,
you have this threefold structure again. Who's
in charge? What's the imperative? Then there's
the blessing right there in chapter 12. But specifically,
it says this, right? I will bless those who bless
you and him who dishonors you. I will curse and
in you, all the families, of the earth shall
be blessed." Again, the scope of the Abrahamic
covenant is not just Abraham and his people.
It was never intended to be just Abraham and
his people. I'll just call you to myself and
we can just kind of have a little holy huddle
here. That's not how it works. It's never how
it works. The scope is all of the nations of
the earth. Just like the scope of the Noahic
covenant was the entire created. reality of what
God had done in creation initially. Now, I did
say that there's a lot of different interesting
passages that we could look to in looking at
the Abrahamic covenant, but if you actually turn
to chapter 18, Gosh, I forgot to actually write
down which verse I was wanting you to see here.
I wrote it down here. It says, this is the Lord
speaking, for I have chosen him, Abraham, that
is Abraham, that he may command his children
and his household after him to keep the ways
of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice,
that's the ethics, so that the Lord may bring
about to Abraham what he promised. He's saying,
Okay, the commands are connected to the blessing
of what I've promised, which is the blessing
of the nations. And this is reiterated again
and again. I'm just showing you one place in
which this is said again. But what I'm suggesting
to you is, again, this covenant is created for
the sake not of just one person or not just him
and his family or him and his holy huddle, but
for the entirety of the nations. If we come to...
The Mosaic Covenant, what we see is a covenantal
mission of presence and holiness. That's Exodus
19, okay? We heard this from Don, but if you
turn, Exodus is the second book in your Bibles.
Exodus 19. I'm gonna read for you again what
Don read for us. This is Exodus 19, verses four
to six. It says this. By the way, this is when
God had called his people there at the base of
Mount Sinai. This is sort of the narrative that
surrounds the covenant, the creation of the covenant,
the Mosaic Covenant at Mount Sinai. Verse four.
You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians
and how I bore you on eagles wings and brought
you to myself. That's the establishment of, again,
who's in authority here. Now, therefore, if you
will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant,
there's those covenantal obligations, there's
those imperatives, you shall be my treasured
possession among all the peoples, the blessing,
for all the earth is mine and you shall be to
me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. That's
what the Lord tells them there as they're all
gathered as a nation at Mount Sinai. That last
part is mission. The entirety of the gathered
people are to be a kingdom of priests a nation
of priests What is a priest but a representative
and a mediator? Which is to say their collective
life together how they live their life how they
talk to one another How they talk to outsiders
and foreigners how they you know care for their
fields all this is supposed to be a way in which
other people See God through their life Christopher
right Wrote in his great book the mission of
God as the people of Yahweh the Old Testament
named for God They would have the historic task
of bringing the knowledge of God to the nations
and bringing the nations to the means of Atonement
with God or another author wrote it this way
Israel is a mediator she must bring mankind closer
to God pray to God for mankind and an Intercede
for mankind here service to God in the name of
others Israel has to bring God closer to men
and bringing them God's revelation. They are
a light and a good news to the nations. This
passage is a missionary passage. Right here,
this covenant that God is making with Israel,
right there at the base of Mount Sinai, is a
covenant that is for the sake of others. They're
a kingdom collectively of priests so that the
world would know who God is. Now so much could
be said, so much more could be said about the
sacrifices and the commands and all that comes
after this in the Mosaic Covenant. But what I'm
telling you is that again, just like we saw in
the Noahic Covenant, just like we saw in the
Abrahamic Covenant, the Mosaic Covenant is saying
if you are in relationship with me, you're a
missionary people. It's just who you are. Okay,
if we get to the Davidic Covenant, which is the
next one, I want to say this is a covenantal
mission of rule and I'm not going to buy you
to turn there. The main text that we have for
the Davidic covenant is 2nd Samuel 7 and I feel
like I have to explain this a little more because
it's not quite as clear. But David was set as
the king, the ruler over God's covenantal people
and God makes a particular covenant with that
ruler and specifically it's because he is a man
after God's own heart. Which is to say he is
to represent God to his people as they represent
God to the nations, okay? This is why in texts
like Psalm 2 you can talk about the the universal
reign of King David Or in Psalm 72 we can read
things like this all nations will be blessed
through him All nations will be blessed through
him Because a king in the line of David, who
was to rule with justice and righteousness over
his people, would be the means through which
the promise of the nations would come about.
Think of Isaiah writing later on, actually a
few hundred years after David. Isaiah says this,
incline your ear and come to me, hear that your
soul may live, and I will make with you an everlasting
covenant, my steadfast sure love for David. Talking
about the Davidic covenant. Behold, I made him
a witness to the peoples, a leader and a commander
to the peoples. Behold, you shall call a nation
that you do not know, and a nation that did not
know you shall run to you." How that new Davidic
king reigns is for the sake of the nations knowing
God. So the scope of the Davidic covenant is
not just the people of God. It's not just David.
It's for the nations. All right, the new covenant.
which I'll title, A Covenantal Mission of Renewal
by the Spirit. The final Old Testament covenant
is what is oftentimes known as the New Covenant,
and it's spoken of specifically in Jeremiah as
the name of a covenant, but it's also mentioned
in Ezekiel and some of the other prophets, but
primarily Jeremiah and Ezekiel. And it talks
about the time when the Spirit of God would come
and do this renewal work, especially the renewing
of the people of God that they might be a witness
to the nations. So the prophet Isaiah actually
speaks at this time also, and he says, is it
too light a thing that you should be my servant
to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring
back the preserved of Israel? I will make you
as a light to the nations. When I do this great
work, I'm gonna make you as a light to the nations
that my salvation may reach to the ends of the
earth. Okay. I told you, y 'all, I told you this
would be a little bit of a heavy, heady thing.
This is more of a theological sermon probably
than you're used to. A little teaching heavy.
But here's what's interesting. If you take all
this together, right, if you take the Noahic
covenant with its scope of creation, if you take,
if you take the Abrahamic covenant with its scope
of blessing to the nations, you know, if you
take, if you take the Mosaic covenant with the
people of God being a priest, a kingdom of priests
representing God to the world, If you take all
this together, the new covenant and the reference
to the spirit, and you go back to the beginning,
what you have is, like Noah, God caring for all
things. Right? If you go back to the very beginning,
he cares about all this creation. He's speaking
it and it's coming into being. Like Abraham and
his covenant, you have the blessing of God over
his people. That's one of the first things that
he says to Adam and Eve there. He blesses them.
He says, be fruitful and multiply and fill the
earth. Like Moses, you have a life with the presence
of God right there in the garden. God is walking
with them. He's intending to walk with them in
the cool of the day. Like David, you have dominion,
but dominion that properly reflects who God is.
Adam and Eve were to be kings that were after
God's own heart, right? And of course, like the
New Covenant, you have the Spirit of God hovering
over the chaos and creating something lovely
and beautiful that was once only death. And here's
the interesting thing is that if you actually
turn to the very end of your Bible not that I
just gave you a cursory overview of the first
few chapters of the Bible but if you go to the
very end the last two chapters of the Bible and
revelations what we find there is like Noah a
new creation says a new heavens and a new earth
like Abraham we have the blessings of the nations
because they're In the new heavens and the new
earth, from the new Jerusalem, you have the kings
of the nations bringing their glory into it,
and every tribe and tongue and nation is present
there in the new heavens and new earth. Like
Moses, you have a covenantal statement of God's
presence. They will be his people, and God himself
will be with them and be their God. And you also
read, the dwelling place of God is with men,
and he will live with them. Like David, there
is the establishment of Jerusalem, but it is
the new Jerusalem. which is the city of peace,
God's place of peace. But you also have the Lord
mentioned as the lion of Judah, which is the
house of David. You have him mentioned as the
root of David being present. And like the new
covenant, this is all done, this is all brought
about because the lamb was slain. I don't know
if you're seeing this. But this is the great
structure of the Bible. This is just how God
works with his people and What I'm suggesting
to you is the new the Great Commission is simply
saying again and again This is what I do if you're
part of my people You're a missionary people
That is just who you are if you have been baptized
and discipled and belong to Jesus you are a missionary
people You are a sent people You are people that
go out and make disciples and bring others into
the life of God the Father, God the Son, and
God the Holy Spirit. There is no other identity
for the church. You cannot opt in or opt out
of being a missionary people. It is simply who
you are as you belong to God. The people of God
are an apostolic people. Does anyone know what
apostle means? Sent ones. The Apostles are the
sent ones. And to be part of the One Holy Catholic
and Apostolic Church, as the Nicene Creed says,
is to be a part of the sent ones, the missionary
people. You may have heard this before. The go
in the Great Commission is not the command. The
verb is making disciples, teaching them, baptizing.
The GO is the assumption. It's the participle.
It's the as you're going. Because it is an assumption
that God's people are a going people. They're
a missionary people. As you go make disciples,
teach and baptize. It's assumed. It's what you
do if you belong to Jesus. You do it in your
mothering. You are going for Him, discipling
and teaching. You do it in your coaching tee
ball. You do it as a financial advisor. You do
it in your environmental stewardship. I mean,
if the Noea Covenant says something, it says
that... You do it in your environmental stewardship.
And yes, some of you do it when you go overseas,
because some of us are to be sent in long ways
to make disciples. But it is simply who you are
if you are a Christian. It is simply who we are
as the Church of God. We exist for the blessing
of the world, for the sake of others that they
might know and worship Jesus. Now, okay, I told
you way back in the beginning, of this sermon
that is now coming to a close. That I had kind
of two things I wanted to say. And that one is
that the Great Commission was simply saying what
has always been said of the relationship with
God and his people. They are missionary people.
But the other thing, I said there was another
thing, and that is that there actually was an
enormous change. This is like just the most normal
thing to say and it's totally radical. And what?
Is that big change because I haven't told you
well quite simply the change is Jesus It's great,
you know Sunday school answer kids. You didn't
go to children worship. I'm gonna give you the
size glances Jesus God was always about mission.
That is true And he was always about creating
a missionary people. That is true. I hope I've
been able to establish that for you this morning
That's always been the case And I even would
suggest to you, I can't get into this right now,
but the Bible itself is a missionary document.
It's actually written constantly in the missionary
environment of bringing the nations to the Lord.
But here's my point with saying this is a radical
change with Jesus. These things are true because
we have a missionary God. Our identity is as
a missionary people, and even this text is a
missionary text because we have a missionary
God. And His revelation of Himself, which is
most clear in Jesus, shouts this loud and clear.
God so loved the world that He sent, right? Hey,
go! Go get them! Go make disciples as though
the Father was first telling Jesus. Go and make
disciples. Why do we see the fulfillment of all
the great covenants in the Old Testament right
there at the end of Revelation? But because the
lamb who was slain is right at the center of
it So, of course we see this reality of all these
covenants coming to their fulfillment because
the missionary God himself is bringing it about
Sent for the blessing of the world giving his
life for the life of the world, conquering the
world that once stood against him and bringing
it under his kingly, just, righteous rule. All
of that is found right there because that is
what God does in Christ. All authority has been
given to Jesus. And so the covenantal missionary
people of God, our end is secure. But here's
what he's doing. He's saying, you're a part of
it now. You are a part of it now. It wasn't for
my apostles just back then, but you are my apostles
now. Your identity is a missionary people. You
are the apostolic people now whose lives, whose
stories are unique, but the themes of your lives
wind together in such a way that all of your
life is to be making disciples, teaching one
another to obey all that the Lord has commanded
you, and blessing the world by your priestly
presence and missionary endeavors. With that,
let's pray. Lord God, this big overarching story
How you create people for the sake of your world
and the blessing of your world God I pray that
we would live in light of that even now in the
nuances of our lives and the unique individual
stories in which you have Woven together to make
us us God would we be a sent people? Right here
in Harrisburg and throughout the world That the
nations would see the glory the true God who
reigns over all things, who's committed to His
creation, to the blessing of creation, and who
has brought that about in Jesus. In His name
we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening to Second
City Sermons podcast. We hope this sermon has
encouraged you to worship God and to celebrate
the gospel of Jesus. Please consider subscribing
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bless.