Family,
Last weekend, we had a wonderful time at the Church Cleanup on Saturday and during and after worship as we celebrated Friends and Family Day.
It is always a great blessing to spend time as a family in worship, fellowship and over a meal. The sermon was taken from Matthew 28:16-20 and the subject was “Let’s Stay Together.” In those verses, we see Jesus is reunited with his disciples and him telling them what to do (the “Great Commission”) as he prepared to ascend into heaven.
Earlier, in Matthew 26:30-32, Jesus told the disciples that they would abandon him. And, they did. They abandoned Christ in the same way we have abandoned and been abandoned. The Al Green song tells us that we should stay together “whether times are good or bad, happy or sad.” Sometimes Motown gets it better than the church. But Jesus led by example. All the disciples fell away. Judas sold him out for 30 pieces of silver. But Jesus sees past the hurt and past crucifixion. He creates space for reconciliation. He tells tells them that they will be reunited again on the other side. They should go and wait for him in Galilee. So, even though their relationship was broken, they were ultimately obedient to Christ and restored to relationship.
In Matthew 28:16, the followers of Christ went exactly where he told them to go. Sometimes we do not stay connected to our God or our purpose because we are not where we are supposed to be. Make sure you are where God wants you to be. We see also that when they encountered Christ that they worshiped him. We should have a lifestyle of gathering together and worshipping Jesus–even when we are experiencing doubts. In Matthew 28:17 that some followers of Christ doubted. This might be one of the most important verses. Even though they had doubts in their hearts, they nonetheless went to where they were supposed to be. All of us, even the pastor, experiences spiritual doubt sometimes. But let’s not have that stop us from being where we’re supposed to be. Those who doubted went to be in God’s presence as he directed were still blessed and reunited with Christ.
Lastly, Jesus equipped his followers for the mission ahead. Just like us, Christ’s modern disciples, he wants us to go and share what we have learned about the Lord. Let us strive to stay together as brothers and sisters in Christ. Even when things don’t go right, let us strive to be where the Lord tells us to be. Let us gather together in worship. And, let us go and do what the Lord has directed us to do. Let’s stay together.
In love,
Pastor
Progressive Baptist Church - Milwaukee 