Notes for Becoming Disciples: Part Two (April 23, 2023)

Matthew 28:16,17 - 16 Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them.17 When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted.

Becoming Disciples: Learning to love, believe and do what Jesus did:

Part two

Last week, Doug introduced some of the ways Jesus looked at this passage and how it differed from the way we in our modern age look at it. He will continue on this week.

1. Wrestling with doubt does not disqualify you as a disciple.

a. Doubt is literally being in two minds.

b. You can strengthen your faith by focusing on what God is doing, and removing attention from what He is not doing.

c. Some worshiped - the very first time the disciples prostrated themselves before Jesus. Worship is cultivated in faith. Give yourself to worship and faith will increase.

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Exercise: Begin to worship Jesus in the midst of a point of confusion, waiting and anxiety. Proclaim in your worship who He is in the midst of these things.

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Matthew 28:18-20

18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

1. Authority - exsousia/jusridiction

a. Jesus has taken jurisdiction form the enemy (Matthew 4:8-11)

b. The nations of the earth and all it's peoples are reserved for Jesus the Messiah.

c. Why was Babel a bad thing? They directly disobeyed what God had commanded them to do -

Genesis 9:1-7 (NKJV)

So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs. But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man's brother I will require the life of man.

"Whoever sheds man's blood,

By man his blood shall be shed;

For in the image of God

He made man.

And as for you, be fruitful and multiply;

Bring forth abundantly in the earth

And multiply in it."

1. They were to be differentiated from the animals (no blood)

2. They were to spread across the earth, not gather in one place.

3. They were to bring beauty and order to the whole earth.

d. Who was the founder of Babel? Nimrod

Genesis 10:8-12 (NKJV)

Cush begot Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one on the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; therefore it is said, "Like Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD." And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. From that land he went to Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and Calah (that is the principal city).

e. What happened at Babel?

Genesis 11:1-9 (NKJV)

Now the whole earth had one language and one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. Then they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. And they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth."

But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. And the LORD said, "Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech." So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.

1. They tried to reach God using a ziggurat, a man made structure that was a temple for worship, emulating a mountain and garden.

2. They gathered in disobedience.

3. God sent them out to do what He had asked - " So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city."

4. Deuteronomy 32 is key here in the ESV: Deuteronomy 32:7-9 (ESV)

"Remember the days of old;

consider the years of many generations;

ask your father, and he will show you,

your elders, and they will tell you.

When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance,

when he divided mankind,

he fixed the borders of the peoples

according to the number of the sons of God.

But the LORD'S portion is his people,

Jacob his allotted heritage."

a. God assigned the nations to the "bene elohim" (sons of God). These were spiritual beings (principalities, rulers, thrones, powers, authorities, and high place beings) who were given the assignment of governing His (YHWH) creation.

b. These beings failed miserably in most cases their charge, so God (YHWH) stated that

He would take all the nations under His care.

Psalms 82 (ESV) God has taken his place in the divine council;

in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:

“How long will you judge unjustly

and show partiality to the wicked? Selah

Give justice to the weak and the fatherless;

maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.

Rescue the weak and the needy;

deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”

They have neither knowledge nor understanding,

they walk about in darkness;

all the foundations of the earth are shaken.

I said, “You are gods,

sons of the Most High, all of you;

nevertheless, like men you shall die,

and fall like any prince.”

Arise, O God, judge the earth;

for you shall inherit all the nations!

(see also Psalm 47, Ps. 89, Psalm 103, Isaiah 9:6,7, Colossians 1:9-18, Ephesians 1:15-22, Ephesians 6:11-20, 1 Peter 3:18-22, 1 Cor. 1:20-28, Col. 2:10-15)

f. What was the reversal of Babel? Acts 2

1. The feast of Pentecost was also commemorated as the dividing of languages and the separations of the nations to other authorities.

2. God signaled that all of this was His:

a. He received the sacrifice of Jesus - sacrifices that were received were met with fire. The disciples had wind and fire distributed on them.

b. The gift of tongues was poured out on the many.

c. Men heard in their own languages the works of God.

d. The enforcement of the kingdom of God had come - men of all nations were being called back to the true King - Jesus!

(Next week: What the message of a disciple is - its better than you think!)