6 So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, “Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?”
7 He replied, “The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times,
and they are not for you to know. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.
And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem,
throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Introduction
I am on a mission from God! Now you say it: “I am
on a mission from God!”
Do you believe that?
Jesus empowers his followers to
successfully complete the mission of the Church and he gives us a plan for how
to accomplish it. The mission of the Church
is to go and make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the
world. Acts 1:8 gives us a plan to
accomplish the mission. Jesus said, “You will receive power… And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me
everywhere…”
I want you to
notice something about this passage.
Jesus is trying to re-focus his followers on their mission. They were so caught up in worrying about all
their problems. Notice
in verse 6 it says, the apostles “…kept
asking him, “Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our
kingdom?”
Israel was only
about the size of New Jersey and they had almost always been subject to
domination by foreign empires like Babylonia, Persia, Greece, and Rome. As God’s chosen people, they yearned for God to
intervene with supernatural power on behalf of Israel.
Jesus tried to help his people see that
the Kingdom of God is a spiritual kingdom where love of God and love for your
neighbor is what really matters. In the
Lord’s Prayer, he taught them to pray, “Thy
Kingdom come; Thy will be done, on
earth as it is in heaven…” So the
Kingdom Jesus seeks to usher in is a kingdom where the will of God is done on
earth the same way it is done in heaven.
The religious leaders of Israel rejected
Jesus’ Kingdom and crucified him. Now
Jesus was asking his disciples to carry on his mission—even if it meant a
similar fate. They were afraid and overwhelmed
with the mission at hand. How could they carry on Jesus’ mission? The disciples yearned for Jesus to personally
fix all the problems in their world.
People today are also yearning for
something. In our community and even in
our nation, people are yearning for something.
Some yearn for our nation to turn their hearts back to God. Some yearn for our community to be more
prosperous. Some yearn for a government
that is more responsive to the wants of the people. Some yearn for a church that is energized and
growing. Sometimes, we look around at
the mess around us and we think, “The only way for things to
turn around is for Jesus to come back and intervene with supernatural power.” We are a lot like the disciples in verse 6 who
kept asking, “Lord,
has the time come for you to free
Israel and restore our kingdom?”
We might ask the question like this: " Lord, has the time come for you to free the United States and restore our kingdom?" Or we may ask Lord, has the time come for you to free Whitefield County and restore our kingdom?" Or we may ask Lord, has the time come for you to free Pleasant Grove and restore our kingdom?"
Jesus understands our anxiety, but he wants his followers to shift their focus. He answered his disciples question by saying,
“The Father
alone has the authority to set those dates and times [i.e. when Jesus will
return and set up his Kingdom]...”
One Day, Jesus is going to
come back, but Jesus doesn’t want us to
wait around and do nothing in the meantime.
Jesus
wants his followers to stop focusing on the obstacles between us and the
Kingdom of God and focus on the mission.
And so he states a plan of action to start working on, “Be my
witnesses… Tell people about me
everywhere…” And he even goes on to give
them steps to follow—start in Jerusalem, then spread out to Judea, then go on to Samaria, and then
expand to the ends of the earth.
In the midst of the struggles of
daily life with the problems of the world looming around us, it’s easy to feel
like we can’t make a difference. Jesus
gives us a clear mission to focus on and a plan of action so we don’t get
bogged down in worrying about all the tertiary problems around us. It’s not complicated. The mission is: Make
disciples of Jesus Christ. How do we
do it? “Be my witnesses… Tell people
about me everywhere…”
I am on a mission from God to tell
people about Jesus! Now you say it: “I am
on a mission from God to tell people about Jesus.”
I used to think, “How can I make a
difference, Lord? I’m just one
person.” Perhaps you ask that question
sometimes too. “How can I make a
difference?” Do you realize, you are a
powerful tool for Jesus Christ! Jesus
said, “You will receive power when the
Holy Spirit comes upon you.” The
Bible tells us that every person who believes in Jesus Christ as their Lord and
Savior has the power of God living in them.
That power is the Holy Spirit. It
is the actual Spirit of God living inside you.
It enables you to understand what Jesus wants you to do. It enables you to be a faithful witness who
wins people to Jesus because of the things you say and do. It enables you to do amazing things!
I am on a mission from God to tell
people about Jesus and the Holy Spirit gives me the power to do it! Now you say it: “I am on a
mission from God to tell people
about Jesus and the Holy
Spirit gives me the power to do it!”
Jesus’ wisdom just amazes me
sometimes. He doesn’t let his Disciples
off the hook and he doesn’t let us off the hook either. When we say, “Lord, when are you gonna come down here and fix this
mess for us?” His response is, “Don’t
you worry about that. You just get out
there and be a witness!” For some
reason, he doesn’t want to fix everything by himself (though he definitely
could). Jesus wants us to work at it. There must be a lesson for us to learn in our
participation. Maybe our participation is part of the healing
process—for us and for the world—kind of like spiritual therapy. We have to do our
part.
Conclusion
Be a witness. You don’t have to beat people over the head
with a Bible. A witness is someone who
tells people what they've seen. Have you
seen Jesus do something in your life or at your church? Then tell someone. You don’t have to go to Africa. Start right where you are. Tell your spouse. Tell your children or grandchildren. Tell your neighbor. Tell your co-worker. Simply tell them what you know. Have you
experienced Jesus’ love? Tell
someone.
Now say it again: “I am on a mission from God to tell people about Jesus and the Holy Spirit gives me the power to do it!”
Now say it again: “I am on a mission from God to tell people about Jesus and the Holy Spirit gives me the power to do it!”
Now get out
there and do it!!!
Afterward
If you haven’t experienced Jesus in your
life, then maybe you need help opening your eyes to see him. I’d like to talk with you about that. Seriously. Send me an email or call my church office. I want to talk with you—in private and
confidentially. I bet together we can
discover some amazing things Jesus has done, is doing, or is going to do in
your life.
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