The Mandate for All Believers

Bible Passage: Matthew 28:18-20

1. Background

(a) Galilee was Jesus’ hometown
(b) Galilee was where the disciples were first called (Luke 5), and also the last place where Jesus met with his disciples (John 21; Matthew 28)
(c) Inhabited by Phoenicians, Syrians, Arabs, Greeks, Romans and others, Galilee was a multicultural, multiracial region, biologically and culturally mixed—it was an “all nations” community
(d) Galilee was a land of the rejected, the despised, the outcasts, the foreigners. This is where Jesus found Mary Magdalene and healed her of demon possession (Luke 8:2)

2. The Commission

(a) The Authority
(a1) We are commissioned by the highest authority
(a2) Based on this authority, Jesus’ disciples are to go and make disciples
(a3) It is the dawning of the new age messianic authority
(b) The Command
(b1) In Greek, “Therefore, as you’re going, make disciples of all nations.”
(b2) The mandate is for all believers—for all who have accepted Christ and follow him
(c) The promise
(c1) As we go about making disciples, Jesus promises to be with us until he returns
(c2) This is not a promise that we can take out of context and apply to any situation
(c3) It is a promise that we can claim, only if we are seeking to obey Jesus’ mandate

Take Away

As a believer exercise the mandate given to you