The Empowered Mission of the Church

We are beginning our new series at the start of this third school term on the book of Acts. I've previously explained that we won't be going through every single chapter of the 28 chapters in Acts, and we'll be probably doing about eight weeks in Acts. But we will be working through some of the main themes, the main progressions in the story of the early New Testament church. What we will see, however, through the book of Acts is some of the great themes, the great purposes of God for the church. That is the main reason the book of Acts was given to us: to explain what the church was busy with.

What task it was given to do for the world, for God. And so we will look at some of those key themes throughout the next few weeks. I'll get us to open to Acts chapter one, so that we can begin at the beginning. And we see right up the front some of the great messages that the writer of Luke wants to communicate about the church right here. So we're going to look at Acts chapter one, verse one through to verse 12.

The Acts of the Apostles, chapter one, verse one. In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day when He was taken up after He had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom He had chosen. He presented Himself alive to them after His suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. And while staying with Him, He ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which He said you heard from Me. For John baptised with water, but you will baptise with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.

So when they had come together, they asked Him, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? He said to them, it is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by His own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judaea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. And when He had said these things, as they were looking on, He was lifted up, and a cloud took Him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as He went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes and said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven?

This Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw Him go into heaven. Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away. This is God's word. In the opening verses of the book of Acts, we find a throwback to something that Luke had written previously: that is, Luke's gospel account, the gospel of Luke.

The reason is because the same author has written two volumes, two books. Luke is ascribed to be the writer of these two volumes. He writes in his opening line in the book of Acts, In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach. So the mention of the first book in verse one refers to his gospel. Now Luke is saying he's continuing with a second volume, which we refer to as the book of Acts.

What is particularly significant is that Luke states that he has dealt with, quote, all that Jesus began to do and teach. Luke is making it clear as he starts this second book that Jesus is not finished with His ministry. Jesus has not completed His work even when He has died and risen again from the grave. Jesus began His work in Luke's first volume, but He will continue it in his next. The book we're studying is traditionally called The Acts of the Apostles.

Our ESV version writes it like that: The Acts of the Apostles. But if you understand Luke's opening verse, you could better understand it to be the Acts of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus has begun His ministry, His teaching ministry in the world, and now through the apostles, through His church, He's going to continue His ministry. All that He has taught and done will continue.

The recipient Luke is writing for is a man by the name of Theophilus. At the start of Luke's account, he is also addressed. So Luke's gospel is also addressed to Theophilus, where he is given the title Most Excellent. Most Excellent Theophilus, he addresses. That leads scholars to believe that Theophilus was some high-ranking Roman official.

This was a title that was often given to people like governors. Now, whether that is the case of this man Theophilus, it probably doesn't matter so much as the idea that what is being identified here is that Jesus has really done these things. Luke has been tasked by this Theophilus to write an orderly account. And that is exactly what Luke says in his gospel introduction. He says, I have studied the various claims about Jesus, and it seemed good to me to give you an orderly account of these things.

Luke sees himself as a historian who has done the hard yards to give an honest, authoritative explanation of what Jesus has done and what He has taught. Theophilus, however, is addressed because he probably paid for this work to be done. He certainly paid for the pen, the ink, and the paper on which Luke wrote these things down. In God's great providence, by the generosity of one person named Theophilus and the faithfulness of a missionary historian named Luke, we have the two books, Luke and Acts. And countless millions have been impacted by their simple obedience.

Let's never forget, even as we start this morning, the fact that sometimes the very practical things like hard work, good research, and money invested does very important things in the mission of the church. After this brief opening note in verse one, Luke moves straight into the beginning of the history of the early church. And he does so by beginning where the other gospel accounts, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, have ended: and that is the ascension of Jesus and the promise of the Holy Spirit. And we're going to look at those things now.

Firstly, verses one through to five, the promise of the Holy Spirit. In the first five verses, we are told that Jesus showed the apostles, verse three, many proofs that He was alive. Jesus, in other words, wasn't absent after His resurrection for forty days. He spent His days with the apostles, with the disciples. What did He do while He was with them?

He gave them many proofs that He was alive. He gave them evidence that He had been raised from the dead, and then He said, it says, He taught them about the kingdom of God. This is the final bit of training in these forty days that Jesus will do with His disciples. For three years He's been with them; this is the last intensive bit of training that they will receive. And He explains to them what is about to happen.

They are to be advancing the kingdom of God. That's why He needs to focus on the kingdom with them. But Jesus also tells them that they are to wait in Jerusalem for a specific moment. He calls it receiving the promise of the Father, verse four. That's referring to the arrival of the Holy Spirit.

And this is going to be a monumental shift in that advancement of the kingdom of God. The Holy Spirit must arrive before the advancement of the kingdom will go on. Jesus tells them that they are to wait there for this thing to happen. For the disciples, however, waiting on the Holy Spirit isn't a new revelation. Even though they don't know what to expect when the Holy Spirit arrives, Jesus has already been talking to them about that.

We read it again this morning. In the upper room, the night before He goes to the cross, Jesus tells His disciples that a Helper is coming. But here, Jesus is saying that the Holy Spirit's main form of helping has to do specifically with the kingdom of God, with the advancing of this kingdom. The Spirit is the kingdom builder through the apostles and the church.

The Spirit does this by helping the followers to fulfil God's purpose of the kingdom advancing. Theologically, we understand that in the New Testament, the advancement of the kingdom happens in two ways. Two ways. Firstly, the kingdom advances when it grows deep. When every believer, relating to the moral transforming power of the Holy Spirit, establishes God's kingdom principles in our lives.

So you can say the kingdom is advancing when God's people become more like God's kingdom people. Secondly, the kingdom grows, the kingdom advances when it goes wide. And that is when more people become Christians, when they are added to the worldwide church. And either way, the kingdom is advancing. Either way, the Spirit is the one who drives this growth.

But from these opening lines, we will see that it is done through the purpose and the mission of the church. Every Christian is promised the Holy Spirit. He, remember, is the third person in the Trinity. And He is not a gift that only some receive. He is one of God's greatest gifts to all who believe.

The Spirit is such a central part of our Christian lives that Paul writes in Romans eight, verse nine, that anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Christ. Be wary of any Christians who will tell you that Christians have the Spirit and then may not have the Spirit. That is not true. You cannot be a true believer without the Holy Spirit. In the context of our passage, unless the Spirit comes to the followers of Christ, empowering them to faithfully follow Jesus as participants of the unfolding story of God's kingdom, without His power, these disciples will fail.

Think about it. They have seen the resurrected Christ. They have been taught by Him for three years. They know everything that Jesus has taught them. And yet, if the Holy Spirit doesn't come, they will not be able to bring about this kingdom.

Without the Holy Spirit, Christians will continually fall into disobedience to this mission. So great, so pivotal is the Spirit's work for the church, that we are commanded by the New Testament to be very mindful of our relationship with Him. Paul says in Galatians five, sixteen, Walk by the Spirit. Ephesians five, eighteen, Be filled with the Spirit. Jude, verse 20, Pray in the Spirit.

Romans eight, thirteen, Put sin to death by the Spirit. He is so central to the work of God in our lives and for the kingdom. In Matthew's ascension account, Jesus uses the words, I am with you until the end of the age. Even as He leaves, He makes that promise. Why?

Because the Spirit is the presence of Christ until the end of this world. And so as Luke records the final moments of Jesus before His ascension, He presents Jesus making an empowering promise to these disciples to be present in every aspect of His church. While He might be leaving, He is giving the church its mission and then assures us that He will continue to direct His church to fulfil that mission. So Jesus firstly promises that the Holy Spirit is coming.

But then secondly, He explains that He's coming to do a task through the apostles. And that is when He gives the commission of these apostles in verses six to eight. As the disciples stand there on Mount Olivet in Jerusalem with Jesus, they have a sense of expectation. Again, for forty days He's been with them, coming and going, but something in them, maybe Jesus has said something before, something in them knows that this is a big moment. Because in verse six, they come to Him and say, Lord, is now the time that you are going to restore the kingdom back to Israel?

I wonder what Jesus' expression was when they asked Him that. After all that time, they still don't understand. Even after talking for forty days as the resurrected Christ about the kingdom, they still don't understand that the kingdom doesn't belong to Israel. This kingdom isn't tied to a single people group or even to a geographical location. But then theologically, how could they understand?

The Holy Spirit hadn't come yet. Jesus doesn't correct them. Maybe He sighs a little bit, but He doesn't correct them. The Spirit will be coming soon. But He does let them know that the kingdom won't come until God the Father causes it to come.

He says, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons that the Father has fixed by His own authority. In other words, don't concern yourself over the timing. Some of us need to remember that. Don't concern yourself over the timing. But let's talk about what needs to happen next for you.

You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes. And secondly, and this is the command He gives, this is the commission, you will be My witnesses. And He gives the scope of this witnessing. He says, to Jerusalem, to Judaea, to Samaria, and then to the ends of the earth. What we find here is what is called the Great Commission.

Matthew 28 is also where we find this commissioning. It's the moment where Jesus gives the church its instructions on what it is supposed to do in the period between Jesus ascending and His eventual return. The main function here is to serve as witnesses for these apostles. The potential audience to this witnessing is massive: the ends of the earth. But as Jesus explains this, and as Luke records these words down, Luke, through the power of the Spirit, is giving us the prophetic words of Jesus.

Because Jesus lists Jerusalem, Judaea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth. And if you were to go to a map and if you were to circle Jerusalem, and then you were to circle Judaea in which Jerusalem was, Judaea a province, and then if you were to circle Samaria that was a bit wider and further away, and then if you were to draw a circle around the whole earth, you find these concentric circles. And as we progress through the book of Acts, we see that that is exactly how the gospel advances. Right here, Jesus is explaining the shape of the whole book of Acts in essence. This is what's going to happen.

You will be, not you must be, and it's all dependent on whether you are successful or not. You will be. This is going to happen. Why? Because the Holy Spirit is coming, and He will continue to do what I began.

But Jesus is giving His disciples their mission to be His witnesses. What does it mean for these apostles, these disciples to be witnesses? It means that the apostles observed the suffering and the resurrection of Jesus. They were there. They saw it happening.

But because they were there, they now uniquely can give testimony to these events and their significance. The apostles, therefore, occupy a unique and once-off place in history as the true witnesses of Christ. They are the only ones that have spent time with Christ in this way. They are His witnesses. They will witness about Jesus.

Yet the book of Acts does speak of other characters who aren't apostles, who are also called witnesses. But they are witnesses of a secondary nature. Their witness is a derived witness. They share the testimony about Jesus with unbelievers by the witness of the apostles. And so technically, we see the tradition of seeing the words of the apostles as being authoritative, by which we derive authority to speak and to share those words with others.

We have to remember this. The apostles were the ones that received this unique office, this unique mission of speaking and witnessing about what happened with Christ, what those things meant. So that every time as a pastor I preach, or every time I share the gospel with a friend, I don't speak as a witness of the revelation of Jesus Christ. I speak only what I have heard from the apostles who saw and who witnessed Jesus Christ, who understand, who were taught by Him for forty days about the kingdom. When the Holy Spirit finally came and it all dawned on them, they received the power.

They received the insight. The apostles are guaranteed this privilege when they receive the Holy Spirit. Commentator Robert O'Toole explains how involved the risen Christ is in leading His apostles through their ministry by the Holy Spirit. He writes, When they, the apostles, are persecuted, when they are persecuted, He who is Christ encourages, supports, and protects them directly. His power enables them to perform miracles.

Jesus' power. When they preach, Jesus preaches. When they are heard, He is heard. That is how closely the ministry of the apostles is tied to Jesus Christ Himself. In other words, Jesus' ascension is essentially the moment where there is a transfer of prophetic responsibility from Himself, from Jesus, to these men.

The enabling power to speak this prophetic truth into the world arrives only when the Holy Spirit arrives, but their commissioning has taken place. What this means for us as twenty-first century Christians, who have all sorts of understandings about the Holy Spirit and about the purpose of the church, is what this means for us: that we have to be careful to see ourselves as witnesses in the same way as the apostles. We are not witnesses in that same way. We have not seen the resurrected Christ. We have not been taught by Him directly.

We have not even, you could argue, received the same commissioning that they have received, because we are not in their unique God-given position. And yet we are witnesses as a derived secondary witness. And so even as we read verse eight in Acts one, there is a level of authoritative instruction for our lives. Because in a sense, we do take on the message that we have received, not from Christ, but from them.

And we then, in a similar yet different way, continue to testify about Christ, not based on our revelation, but based on the written authority, written instruction of the apostles to us, which is called the Bible. We are secondary witnesses, and the church continues the work of worldwide testimony concerning Jesus as these types of witnesses. So after Jesus makes the promise of the Holy Spirit, our first point, and gives the apostles their mission, the second point, we see this third thing happening in our passage: Jesus leaves. Jesus leaves. The ascension happens.

Verses nine through to verse 12. Matthew's account of the ascension records Jesus saying, I'll be with you forever. Bye. And as they stand there, Jesus is physically, bodily, lifted into the sky. Again, it seems the disciples know that big news was coming because they asked Jesus that question about the kingdom.

Yet Jesus, as He sort of briefly mentions the kingdom, is taken by God the Father. Later, we are told through the rest of the New Testament that He's gone to sit at the right hand of God the Father. But it seems a paradoxical moment, doesn't it? That at the very time the disciples finally see the result of Jesus' mission to the cross, the result of His resurrection, He leaves. Imagine that Jesus, the firstborn from among the dead, the first fruits of the resurrection life.

There is so much that Jesus can teach us. What is that life like? What does it hold for us? There's so much we think Jesus could convince us of if He physically were still to be here. Yet He leaves when things are just getting started.

How can Jesus announce His departure and yet at the same time promise, I am with you always to the end of the age? The only answer is the Holy Spirit. Friends, we finish today with that incredible hope. And it is a hope. Because even Jesus in the upper room would say this to His disciples, I am leaving.

Don't let your hearts be troubled at that news. And then He adds this ridiculous statement: It is to your advantage that I go. It is best for you that I leave. Jesus, we don't want you to go.

But He says, If I don't go, the Spirit won't come. And so we might ask, How is it to our advantage to have the Holy Spirit but not to have Christ? And the comforting answer is, my friends, because through the Holy Spirit, Jesus is everywhere and anywhere. This is how we are to understand the powerful interplay between the promise of the Holy Spirit in Acts one, the great commissioning of the apostles and through them the church, and the final ascension of Christ. Jesus has to leave so that the mission of God's kingdom can be left to the church.

Why? Because it brings God so much glory. Why leave the task to these 12 people, these apostles, so that God may receive all the praise for the marvellous way in which He has taken broken, fallen, weak people like the apostles, like us, and formed them into a mighty witness. What is more effective? Jesus who, one by one by one, speaks to people and will convince them of His saving work.

How many people could He reach even in two thousand years? Or whether there is a myriad of misfits speaking to all the corners of society, pointing to the testimony of their changed lives and pointing to the testimony of the apostles and say, Look at what Christ has done. All the while, the Holy Spirit works on behalf of Christ. All the while, He's working to convince and illuminate every person's heart as they hear this testimony. And so even as we talk about us being secondary witnesses, the apostles being the first and the primary witnesses, we actually should speak of the Holy Spirit being the witness par excellence.

Greater than the apostles themselves, He witnesses to all that Jesus is. No testimony can be as convincing as the testimony of the person who was there. Think of any, sort of Law and Order episode, and imagine the powerful testimony of somehow having the murder victim tell the story of how they were murdered in the dock. How convincing to the jury would that testimony be? That is the power of the Spirit.

He testifies about Christ because He is the Spirit of Christ. That is how we can be sure of the confirming power of the Spirit. But finally, why does Jesus go and we receive the Spirit? It's because the Spirit is a spirit, not a physical body. And so even as He is the Spirit of Christ, Jesus is now as close to me as my own breath.

What an encouragement that is: that the Spirit speaking the mind of Christ is speaking to my spirit. We find this astounding reality at work in us: that we are closer to Christ now than the disciples were when they lived with Him before Pentecost. We are more in tune with Christ now than the great apostle Peter was.

Jesus had to leave to sit on His throne where He guides the purpose and the mission of His worldwide church. He had to leave so that the Holy Spirit may come and do His omnipresent work everywhere and anywhere. And He had to do all these things to advance His kingdom. So Jesus doesn't escape the world when He leaves. Nor is He merely waiting in heaven to return one day.

Every day that passes on earth is a productive delay. And that delay ultimately is delaying the day that God comes to judge every one of us. And so for Christians and non-Christians here this morning, those listening online, are you ready for that day? In this productive delay, as the kingdom advances, there will be a day when the kingdom arrives. What will you say to this God when you stand before Him?

In the meantime, however, the true church is being told that Jesus is bringing together people for Himself, renewing them by His word, the testimony of the apostles, and by His Spirit. And He is busy preparing a magnificent kingdom for Himself. David Peterson, in his commentary on the book of Acts, writes about this monumental moment of the ascension when Jesus says goodbye to His disciples. And he says, This, the ascension, confirms Jesus' heavenly enthronement as the Messiah. It guarantees that He will remain sovereign over the life and the witness of His people.

The manner of His departure also foreshadows His return to consummate God's saving plan. In effect, he says, these opening verses lay down the eschatological, the end time framework within which the Christian story will unfold. The church lives between Jesus's exaltation into heaven and His return. And the church's life is characterised by these two boundary markers. In closing, I want to tell the story of when I started playing volleyball in high school.

My coach, who saw, you know, a tall guy that could somehow be coordinated at times, decided to put me into a higher grade team to play for. These boys, older than me, bigger than me, looked like fully grown adults in my eyes. And I was a little pipsqueak in comparison to them. I felt so intimidated. I felt so completely out of my depth playing with these guys.

During the trainings leading up to the big state tournament, these big testosterone-driven players had very little patience with a wimpy skinny boy like me and my mistakes. After one terrible training, seeing me very disheartened, my coach decided to drive me home, extended that little bit of mercy. During the car trip, I whimpered to him, Why did you select me into the team? I don't stack up. I'm not ready.

The coach turned to me and said, I've trained you. I've taught you everything you need to know. Now you just need to do it. I believe in you. It's the same message that Jesus gives His disciples before they go.

These disciples who will become the apostles, sent ones. They would be witnesses of Him to the ends of the earth. They would explain the kingdom of God to anyone who would be willing to listen. And as they explain, and as people believe, they would see the kingdom coming. Through them today, we, the church, continue with that very same mission.

We praise God this morning that while we work hard, while we invest all that we have, even as we see the example of Theophilus and Luke, we have the assurance of Christ with us. The hope of the Holy Spirit living inside of us to complete that. I know you can do it. I will not let you fail. Let's pray.

Lord Jesus, we thank you for these very clear instructions. Before we think programmes, before we think events, Lord, we see ourselves as simple testimony bearers, people just telling other people about what Jesus has done. We thank you that this idea of what Jesus has done, however, is only the start of the story. Like your servant Luke wrote, it is what you have begun doing.

And now, Lord, we hear again that you are completing this work through us. Help us to sense the urgency of that. Help us even when we don't understand it all. Even as your servants, the disciples, knew something big was happening, help us to know something big is happening.

You will call even me to in some way witness, to in some way facilitate that witness, to in some way advance the growth of your kingdom. In the two ways in which your kingdom grows, Lord, we pray. Firstly, that you will grow it deep in us, that we will be transformed to be kingdom people. And then secondly, Lord, that you will grow it wide, and that you'll bring to this church those who still need to hear. That you will bring to the churches around us, churches that preach and know your word.

Lord, that you will bring to them those who must be saved. Oh Lord, would you raise up ministers and preachers and missionaries, Bible translators, messengers of this apostolic message. And Lord, throughout all of that, help us to invest in those things that are worth investing in. Thank you for this great vision you give us. Thank you that it is so much bigger than us.

Thank you that it makes us nervous thinking about how big it is. And therefore it makes us so much more reliant on the truth of the Spirit at work in us. Empower us, Spirit. Help us to walk by you in your power. In Jesus' name. Amen.