You will be My Witnesses

We've just had the Paris Olympics 2024.

I wonder if anyone in this room went to the Sydney Olympics 2000.

Raise your hand.

Quite a few of you actually were there.

Keep your hand up if you actually saw Cathy Freeman win the 400.

You were there to see that.

I am so jealous.

It was really quite difficult actually in days gone by,

if I may speak as looking back, to witness something.

You had to kind of be there in person in order to witness it.

But then with the advent of television of course and more recently with now,

in fact we have a phone in our pockets that has a camera and a video camera in it

and we've got the internet,

it's almost impossible not to see something that happened

because it gets filmed and goes up online.

Not much can happen these days without someone recording it.

The emergence of this technology means that we have an enhanced capacity to be witnesses.

But really that's just one side of witnessing,

being the observer, the one who sees an event.

Acts 1 describes for us Jesus' instruction to his disciples,

and we'll see it there in verse 8.

I'll put it up on the screen there for you.

It says,

This is the other side of disciples simply witnessing an event.

They did that.

But they are now not just to be the witnesses of,

but to witness to others.

Telling others of what they have seen and heard.

This morning I want us to see two things.

Firstly, how the disciples were to be witnesses

in both the observing and the telling of what they'd seen.

And secondly, significantly,

what it means for us to be witnesses today,

here in Chatswood 2024.

Firstly though, let's have a look with you

at what disciples are to be witnesses of.

Luke wrote a big chunk of the New Testament.

He wrote what we call Luke's Gospel,

but then he wrote his volume 2,

which is Acts.

And in fact, Luke's Gospel

and the beginning of Acts kind of overlap.

The events at the very end of Luke's Gospel

and the events at the very beginning of Acts overlap.

Jesus, we read, had suffered,

he'd died, he'd been buried,

and then he rose again from the grave.

And then for about 40 days,

there was a period before he was taken up into heaven.

Luke 24 describes how after Jesus' resurrection,

he met with various disciples.

He met with two disciples on the road to Emmaus,

and then he asked them about the things they had witnessed.

Jesus explained to them

how he was the fulfillment

of all the Old Testament scriptures.

Jesus then appeared in the very midst of the disciples.

He showed them his hands and his feet.

He even ate broiled fish with them.

In other words, he proved that he was alive.

He had physically, bodily risen from the dead.

We read then in the end of Luke's Gospel,

and I'll put it up on the screen there

where you can open your own Bibles.

Luke 24 from verse 44,

Jesus said to the disciples,

This is what I told you while I was still with you.

Everything must be fulfilled

that is written about me in the law of Moses,

the prophets, and the Psalms.

In other words,

everything must be fulfilled about me

that is written in the whole of the Bible.

And then he opened their minds

so they could understand the scriptures.

Jesus told them,

This is what is written.

The Messiah will suffer

and rise from the dead on the third day,

and repentance for the forgiveness of sins

will be preached in his name to all nations,

beginning at Jerusalem.

And then there's that word again,

You are witnesses of these things,

see what he told them.

Notice the reminder here

that the disciples,

they are witnesses,

and they are to be witnesses.

Then we read in Acts chapter 1,

Acts 1 · chapter mention

the very first verse we read just a moment ago,

Luke writes,

In my former book, Theophilus,

that is, he's referring to Luke's gospel,

I wrote about all that Jesus began to do

and to teach

until the day he was taken up into heaven,

after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit

to the apostles he had chosen.

But don't you think that's a curious expression?

It says,

All that Jesus began to do and to teach

until he is taken up into heaven.

That implies that Jesus is going to continue to do

and to teach

after he's been taken up into heaven.

How can that be?

Well, Acts 1 gives us the answer.

In Acts chapter 1, verse 3,

Acts 1:3

we are reminded

that the risen Jesus

presented himself to many people

and gave many convincing proofs

that he was alive.

So for 40 days,

Jesus appeared to people

to confirm that he had physically,

bodily,

risen from the dead.

They witnessed that.

They saw that with their own eyes.

And they were in turn then

to be witnesses of the things they had seen.

Jesus then went on to speak about the what next.

Not a kind of a five-year plan

or a strategic plan

or a governance plan.

No, and not a modest plan either.

But a plan that was entirely in accord

with God's promises

from the beginning of time.

The Jesus plan

is about the coming

of the kingdom of God.

Now, here in Chatswood

and all around the place

on a couple of weeks' time,

14th September,

the New South Wales

local government elections will occur.

And probably in your letterbox,

like mine,

you've been getting outlines

of what candidates are promising to do

if they are elected.

And they're quite often

ambitious aims

that these candidates are suggesting.

Ambitious aims

but for the local area.

The Jesus plan

is entirely different.

It's on another level altogether.

It doesn't just pertain to

one part of one city

in one period of time.

But the Jesus plan

is for all people

for all time

in every part of the world.

So,

look again at verse 4

of chapter 1 of Acts.

Jesus,

Luke reminds us rather

that while Jesus

was having a meal

with his disciples,

he outlined

his plan.

Notice, of course,

it wasn't a suggestion.

It wasn't something

he was putting out there

to be kind of workshopped.

No, this was

a command.

It was to be understood

and obeyed.

Verse 4,

Do not leave Jerusalem,

said Jesus,

but wait.

And here I think we have

in what

at first blush

looks like a very

odd

plan.

In former days,

I worked for a couple

of large

multinationals,

including in the food industry.

And when a food manufacturer,

a global food manufacturer,

finds a product

that they believe

is going to

just go gangbusters

across the whole world,

then they work out

a strategic plan

in order to do

a global rollout

of this.

I was working

for the Mars group

at the time

they were going

to roll out

the Mars ice cream bars

around the world.

Now, I cannot imagine

for one moment

the director of sales

and marketing

saying to his

sales managers

that, hey,

we've got this

fantastic product

ready to go

and here's what

I want you to do.

Stay here in Chatswood

and wait.

You think,

that doesn't make sense.

Why would...

And you see,

but that's what

Jesus' command was.

I want you to see

the stark difference

between the Jesus plan

and the corporate world.

Why would Jesus

say to his disciples,

wait,

stay in Jerusalem?

Well, the answer

is found in the second

part of the verse.

Jesus' disciples

are called

to trust in him

and to wait

for the gift

that his father

had promised,

the gift of the Holy Spirit,

the gift that heard him

speak so much about.

Do not leave Jerusalem,

he says,

but wait for the gifts

my father promised.

You see,

if they were to charge off

and try and fulfill

the great commission

without waiting

for the Holy Spirit,

then they'll be doing it

in their own strength.

They'll be doing it

in their own capacities,

in their own power.

That's not the Jesus plan.

The Jesus plan

is that they will be

witnesses around the globe,

but not in their own strength.

They'll be doing it

in the power

of the Holy Spirit.

God's people

are to obey

his commands

and not witness

in their own strength,

but to receive

the power

of the Holy Spirit

and Jesus promised

in verse 5,

in a few days

they would be baptized

with the Holy Spirit.

That event,

which we know

as Pentecost,

did happen

just 10 days later.

We read in Acts chapter 2

Acts 2 · chapter mention

that at that time

the apostles

were enabled

to do that,

which is humanly speaking

quite impossible.

They had people

from around the world

gathered there

and they were able

to preach the gospel

and be understood,

each person understood it

in their native language.

Now I did a little bit

of research

during the week

about Chatswood

and the census data

says that these

are the top languages

spoken at homes

in Chatswood.

English creeps in

at number one,

Mandarin,

Cantonese,

Korean,

Japanese and Hindi.

Now I'd be surprised

if there weren't people

in this room

this morning

who speak

these languages.

Imagine if I was then

preaching as I am

in English

and you were actually

hearing it

in Mandarin

or Cantonese

or Korean.

That's what was happening

at Pentecost.

That was the power

of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus promised them

that they would receive

power

when the Holy Spirit

came.

That word power,

the Greek word

is dynamon,

dunamon,

from which we get

the English word dynamite.

We're talking about

an extraordinary power

that came upon them

that they're able

to do that.

And it is in that

extraordinary power

that they are

to proceed

to be witnesses,

Jesus' witnesses

in Judea and Samaria

and then

to the ends

of the earth.

in the early chapters

of Acts,

we see that the world

was coming

to Jerusalem.

The model was

an attractional one.

People came

to the city of David

to Mount Zion.

Jerusalem was a very

attractive city

to go to.

Maybe not at the moment

but I imagine,

raise your hand

if you've been to Jerusalem.

Anyone here in the room

been to Jerusalem?

It's a really

interesting city.

People came

from around the world

to Jerusalem.

And when they came,

they heard the gospel

in the power

of the Holy Spirit.

Thousands of people

heard the gospel

in their own mother tongue

and responded

in repentance

and faith.

And then

those people

returned

to their

places of origin.

The Copernican

revolution

of global mission

came a short while later.

We read in Acts chapter 7,

Acts 7 · chapter mention

so just a few chapters on,

of Stephen

speaks to the Sanhedrin.

Now Stephen

was asked

to come

and speak

to the

legal councils

of the day,

the heavies of the day.

And he delivered

what was an absolute

cracker of a sermon.

He drew on

a lot of Old Testament

references

and showed

how Jesus

was the fulfillment

of the promises

of the Old Testament.

It was an amazing sermon.

So at the end of that,

they decided

they would take

Stephen

on a road trip

to all the biggest

stadia

and all the

major synagogues

all around the world

so that more people

could...

No, they didn't do that.

Do you know

what they did?

They took him out

after he delivered

this incredible sermon

and they

stoned him.

And again,

we're kind of left

scratching our head

thinking,

how can this

be part of God's plan?

How can it be part

of God's plan

to take out

a man who

had the capacity,

one of the few

on the planet

at that moment

who had the capacity

to preach the gospel

clearly

and faithfully

and boldly

and after he

does so,

he's stoned

to death.

How can that

be part of God's

plan?

Well, we actually

see it in the next

verse,

the beginning of

chapter 8,

verse 1

and we read there

on that day,

the day when

Stephen was

stoned to death,

a great persecution

broke out

and all except

the apostles

were scattered

throughout Judea

and Samaria.

You see,

in God's economy,

the tragic

martyrdom

of Stephen

led to the

spread of the

gospel

across the

known world.

The model

of mission

moved from being,

if I remember

my school of

science correctly

here,

from being a

centripetal one,

that is the force

of kind of coming

in,

to it becoming

a centrifugal one,

the force then

the gospel

going out,

going out to

take the gospel

to the ends

of the earth.

Now,

over the centuries,

the church

has fallen

into this

era of

operating as

if our

mission mandate

is fulfilled

if we simply

build churches

on hills

and then expect

people to come.

Building churches

is important,

but friends,

our mission mandate

is to go out,

to be

witnesses.

witnesses.

Did the

first century

disciples do

that which

they were

commissioned

to do?

Yes,

they did.

How do I

know that?

Because we are

sitting here in

Chatswood,

two millennia

later,

and Chatswood,

beautiful place,

but if I may say

from a first century

perspective,

Jerusalem perspective

is the ends

of the earth.

The gospel

has come

to the ends

of the earth.

Verse 8,

Jesus said,

they were to be

witnesses in

Jerusalem

and all Judea

and Samaria

and to the

ends of the earth.

Let's consider

our context

here.

In Sydney

2024,

we do a

pretty good

job of

being witnesses

of Jesus

in our

Jerusalem,

our Judea,

that is,

in the Sydney

Diocese.

And we do a

pretty good job

of supporting

ministries that

go out from

here to the

ends of the

earth.

So organizations

like CMS

are supporting

ministries to

the nations.

nations.

But what

about our

Samaria?

What about

the 7 million

people who

live in regional,

rural and remote

parts of

Australia?

They're often

forgotten.

The BCA

mission is

entirely in

accord with

the Jesus

mission.

The BCA

strategic plan

is entirely

in accord

with Jesus

strategic plan.

That is,

to go the

distance,

to take

the gospel,

not just

to the

cities,

not just

to the

nation,

but to the

original rural

and remote

parts,

to all

people.

To places

like, and

you can see

them on the

map there,

Exmouth and

Roxby Downs

and Cobar,

Cobar,

and what I was

speaking about

before,

in the western

part of New

South Wales,

and Newman

and Kununurra,

right up there

in the north,

in the western

Australia,

north of western

Australia.

I mentioned

before that

we have

more than

10,000

prayer supporters

in

New South

Wales,

diligently

upholding

these ministries

in prayer

using the

BCA prayer

notes.

Now,

last Thursday

in the

prayer notes,

if you

looked there,

last Thursday,

I remember

the date,

it was my

wife's birthday,

on the 29th,

George and

Carmel Ferguson

are listed.

Now,

they're in

Walgett and

Colorado,

and you read

there,

it's a little

bit too small

on the screen,

but you can

read it in

your prayer

notes later,

that George

and Carmel

are committed

to preaching

the gospel

and spreading

the good news

of salvation.

We might add

to the ends

of the earth,

or we could

use the language

of Acts,

Acts 1:8

chapter 1,

verse 8,

to Samaria.

They're out

there in

Walgett and

Colorado,

and I,

trusting in

the Holy Spirit,

thousands of

people across

the country

pray regularly

to support

the BCA

mission.

Not because

it's the

BCA mission

per se,

because that

mission aligns

with the

Jesus mission.

So let me

ask you this

morning,

will you

please join

us in

this part

of the

mission,

and pray

and give

to support

the gospel

going to

our Samaria.

As disciples

of Jesus,

our mission

and our plans

need to

continue to

be aligned

with Jesus'

plan,

to bring

people across

the globe

under the

sound of

the gospel,

so that

people in

the cities,

people in

the suburbs

of Chatswood

and beyond,

people right

across Australia

and across

the nations,

come under

the sound

of the gospel.

That is our

privilege,

and that is

our responsibility

as witnesses

of the gospel.

So,

here at

St.

Paul's,

you must

continue to

strategize as

to how to

reach the

many people

of Chatswood

who do

not yet know

Jesus as

their Lord

and Savior.

You must

continue to

strategize,

but if I

may say,

not rely

upon those

strategies,

but rather

rely upon the

power of the

Holy Spirit

that the Lord

has promised

to us before

his ascension.

salvation.

We've seen

how the

first disciples

were to be

witnesses of

the gospel,

and what

Jesus'

command is

for us

to in turn

be witnesses

of the gospel.

We've seen

the what.

Let me finish

this morning

with the why.

Why are we

to press on

to seek to

bring all

people under

the sound

of the gospel?

The compelling

reason is

found in the

final verse

of today's

passage.

After Jesus

had given

this command

to witness

to the

world,

he ascended

to heaven,

and then the

angels gave

those who

were standing

there this

reminder.

This is the

why.

Jesus is

coming back.

Why do we

keep going

the distance

to witness

the gospel

to all

people?

Who is my

friends?

Jesus is

coming back.

Let's pray.

Our

gracious God

and heavenly

Father, we

do thank you

that in your

love and

mercy you

sent your

son, the

Lord Jesus,

to be born

as a man,

to live among

us with all

the struggles

and temptations

of life,

but to live

without sin.

Thank you

that Jesus

so loved us

that he

willingly

suffered and

died to

pay the

price for

our sins.

God

and

thank you

that just

as predicted

Jesus rose

again from

the grave

and proved

that he

was alive.

Thank you

that Jesus

promised the

gift of the

Holy Spirit

and we

thank you

that in your

plan for the

salvation of

all mankind,

you've chosen

to include

us.

Father, we

praise you

that we do

not have to

proceed in

our own

strength,

but rather in

the power of

your Holy

Spirit.

As we

seek to

continue to

take the

good news

of the

gospel to

the ends

of the

earth, to

the remote

places of

Australia and

here in

Chatswood,

give us

courage and

a deep

trust in

you and

the power

of your

spirit.

We pray

this in

Jesus'

name as

we await

his return.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.