Witnesses not Warriors

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Good morning.

This is a reading from the Acts of the Apostles.

In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven.

After giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen.

After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive.

He appeared to them over a period of 40 days and spoke about the kingdom of God.

On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command.

Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift.

My father promised, which you have heard me speak about.

For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.

Then they gathered around him and asked him, Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom of Israel?

He said to them, it is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.

And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes and a cloud hid him from their sight.

They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them.

Men of Galilee, they said, why do you stand here looking into the sky?

This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.

Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day's walk from the city.

When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying.

Those present were Peter, John, James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James, son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas, the son of James.

They all joined together constantly in prayer along with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

This is the word of the Lord.

Amen.

Amen.

Thank you for that scripture reading, Emily.

Good morning, Christ Church.

My name is Andrew.

I'm the director of pastoral care here.

And just to let you know, Jonathan had spring break this week.

And his family's here, but he wanted to visit one of our friend churches in Oakland.

And that's where he is.

He might show up later if he can make it on time.

So we're glad that our pastor can rest and rejuvenate.

And we hope that that happened this week, you guys.

Will you join me in prayer as we come and listen to God's word?

Father, like I asked earlier, what are we doing?

Show us what it means to be the church as we open up this series in the book of Acts.

To be a provocative church that's filled with your spirit, that bears witness to the kingdom of God that is here, and yet that we also await.

We give you praise this morning and ask that you would accomplish much in the preaching of your word.

And we pray these things in the name of Jesus.

Amen.

So again, today is the third Sunday of Easter, and we're here to continue celebrating that Christ is risen.

But I imagine that for many of us coming into worship today, we feel this tension, right?

The tension of celebrating the resurrection as the first fruits of new creation,

while also acknowledging the rotten fruits of fallen creation that we still taste here.

Christ is risen, and Dante Wright and Adam Toledo, two more people of color have just been killed.

By law enforcement officers.

And then there was that mass shooting in Indianapolis as well this week.

And many of us probably feel like the disciples in this text, right?

Who witnessed this amazing resurrection, this amazing ascension.

They believed that Jesus was their king, and yet they still found themselves wondering.

And overwhelmed and just staring into the sky, unsure about what to do next.

Like Christ's disciples, many of us are probably wondering, Christ has risen great.

But now what?

What now?

Talking to many of you here at Christ Church, I know many of us, even as we believe this gospel truth with all of our hearts,

that Christ has risen, we also feel rather helpless, don't we?

And limited in light of this world's injustices, and frustrated with ourselves, and with our society,

and with the broader American church, and maybe even frustrated with Christ Church in particular.

And we're perplexed and looking for answers to the question of what are we supposed to be doing as the church

in response to all this brokenness.

What are we doing to fight racial and economic and environmental, gender inequality and injustice?

What are we doing to defend and support and uplift the unsheltered, and the orphans, and the widows,

and the foster children, and immigrants, and this or that marginalized or minority people group?

Well, today we're going to continue to follow Luke's orderly account of Jesus,

into his orderly account of the earliest followers of Jesus,

as we open up this new series in the book of Acts.

We're titling this series, The Provocative Church,

and it's our prayer that we would be that provocative church,

that in the months ahead, as we give our attention to the acts of the Holy Spirit in and through the early church,

that this same Spirit would give us a clearer vision for how we,

how Christ's church East Bay might be the provocative and Spirit-empowered church that God wants us to be.

And it's going to start with an acceptance that God's plan for us,

it might be different and better than ours, and it definitely is better than ours.

And it also starts with prayer, as we will see here.

It's going to be covered in prayer, and we also want to be led by the Spirit with clarity

about how exactly, how concretely are we going to be witnesses of Christ in this season ahead.

So let's take a look at this text.

Luke kicks off this account in verses 1 to 3 by mentioning that in this surreal 40 days

between Jesus' resurrection and his ascension,

one thing in particular that he spoke to them about was his kingdom, it says in verse 3.

He spoke to them about his kingdom.

But now try to imagine those 40 days as one of his Jewish disciples.

Yes, you've just witnessed the most amazing thing that you've ever seen in your life,

the resurrection of the Messiah, the one who was to fulfill all the promises of God to Israel

and to establish the everlasting kingdom.

But then imagine waiting for over a month, right?

40 days as this Messiah speaks about the kingdom of God,

and yet King Herod is still sitting on his throne, right?

Pontius Pilate's authority is still intact.

You're still paying taxes to Caesar,

and you, a follower of the risen Lord,

still find yourself hiding behind closed doors from the Roman soldiers

and from the Jewish religious establishment.

So imagine the expectation, the anticipation,

even the confusion and frustration that these Jewish disciples probably felt

over a month, for over a month after the resurrection.

Jesus the Christ is risen, but now what?

And so what if I'm still subjected to the oppressive forces of this world?

Now they're waiting, and they're waiting, right?

But toward the end of this 40-day period,

Jesus says something quite interesting that Luke wants us to pay attention to

in verses 4 and 5.

They're gathered together, they're eating,

and then Jesus issues this command.

He says,

And in this moment, Jesus' disciples probably started to perk up,

maybe even grin and rub their hands in excited anticipation,

this is it.

This is it.

All right, here we go.

Here comes the revolution starting in the holy city, Jerusalem.

In just a few days, Jesus says, we'll receive the ultimate gift,

the ultimate power, the baptism of the Holy Spirit of God.

See, throughout the Old Testament prophets,

God had foretold of a time and a day when His Spirit,

His personal divine power would be poured out upon His servant Israel.

It would be poured out upon their barren land and their people and their offspring,

even on their young and their old and their daughters,

and even their servants in Israel.

Upon their barren land and it would bring fruit.

It would make their land fruitful and their enemies would be defeated

and their sins forgiven and their shame removed,

and ultimately their kingdom would be restored.

So you can imagine how much they longed for God to pour the Spirit out upon them,

to receive that power.

Oh boy, right?

I can't wait.

Oh, what I'm going to do when I finally get that power.

Roman soldiers, Roman Empire, watch out.

The revolution is coming.

And so imagine them all leaning in, as it says in verse 6,

maybe putting down their pita bread and falafels

and huddling even closer to Jesus to hear more.

And they ask, Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?

They want to know if this time has come,

because in their minds, the time has not yet come.

The kingdom has not yet come in their minds.

They look around and they see the resurrected king,

but they don't see the kingdom of Israel.

And so with butterflies in their stomachs,

they eagerly lean in to hear Jesus tell them

what they'd long been waiting for him to say,

ever since the day he said to them,

come, follow me.

They longed to hear that they,

endowed with the Spirit's divine power,

would lead a triumphant political revolution

like the world has never seen,

restoring the everlasting kingdom of Israel

to its glory and to its splendor and prosperity.

And with all their Gentile enemies subjected underneath them.

But of course, as we've seen time and time again from Jesus in the Gospel of Luke,

he has an answer for them that they never would have expected, right?

First, he replies in verse 7,

He basically says,

He says,

He says,

He says,

Verse 8,

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.

But he even says,

This power though,

even this power, guys,

I'm not empowering you to be the warriors that you wanted to be.

I'm empowering you to be my witnesses.

Witnesses,

not warriors, he says.

And then notice,

he says in verse 8,

Witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea,

they're cool with that.

But then he says what?

And Samaria,

even to those half-breed Samaritans you so hate,

you will bear witness to them about me and my kingdom.

And not only to the mixed-race Samaritans,

but also to the ends of the earth.

Yes,

even to India and to Spain and Africa

and even in the very hearts of the Roman Empire,

to those who hate and oppress you

and persecute me and you and all of Israel,

those godless, unclean people

who you want nothing to do with,

whose destruction you probably even pray for,

yes,

even to them,

you will be my witnesses.

So in response to the disciples' question

about whether Jesus would at this time

restore the kingdom to Israel,

Jesus responds by revealing to them

just how off-base their whole conception

of the kingdom of God really was.

He says,

you're missing the point, guys.

You're missing the point

with your nationalistic preoccupation

with the timing of Israel's restoration.

You're missing the point

about the Spirit's power on you

and you're missing the point

about the scope of my kingdom

and your role in it.

You will be my witnesses,

not your own warriors, he says.

He says,

guys,

this isn't gonna be the kingdom you envisioned.

It's gonna be even better.

It's gonna be the kingdom

I envisioned.

And the question the disciples

are forced to reckon with here,

the question that we are forced

to reckon with

as we observe the words of Jesus,

as we all consider what he said to them,

is could it be,

could it be that God's kingdom plan

is both different and better

than the kingdom plans

that we've set our hearts upon?

Could it be that God's kingdom plan

is better and different

than the kingdom plans

we've set our hearts upon?

You know, these kingdom plans

that we have for the world

and for this nation

and for this church

and for our families

and for ourselves.

These made-up kingdoms, right?

These made-up kingdoms

that we've all idealized,

that we've all pictured

and planned for,

about how we would like

our world and our lives

and our families

to turn out.

This idealized vision

of serenity and bliss

and paradise

and this sense of safety

and security.

I mean, call it the American dream.

I talk about it in my PhD.

I talk about the Asian-American dream, right?

You know, complete with degrees

from respectable universities,

high-paying and secure careers,

homeownership in a nice

upper-middle-class suburb,

and then the ability to honor,

treat, and care for our immigrant parents

or grandparents,

and then to have that consumer lifestyle

where you can have boba dates

whenever you want, right?

And you can go on that destination vacation

and you can have that Tesla

or at least a Prius,

and then your children

just follow that same pattern

over and over again

but to even greater heights

of advancement.

And maybe for you,

the crown of your kingdom dream

is something else.

Maybe it's a certain professional

or economic status, right?

You're longing for that promotion

or that financial independence

so you can retire early,

that fire life, right?

Or maybe it's a certain relational

or familial or marital status,

longing for that romantic partner,

longing for that child,

that marriage, that nuclear family

with two and a half prodigy children, right?

Or maybe I'm just showing my cards.

That's kind of what I want, right?

Or maybe for some of us,

you know, maybe for some of us,

it's bigger.

It's a certain vision

of a public justice and peace

where this or that political

or religious tribe

is finally dominant and in control

where certain kinds of people

who believe and behave differently than us

are shut up and humiliated

and put in their place, right?

And certain policies and laws and values

that we think will make for a better world

are finally reinforced.

Well, again, Jesus' question to us today

is what if my kingdom,

what if my kingdom is even better

than all of that?

And this is not to say

that we shouldn't pursue that promotion

or pursue that family

or that political legislation

or act in ways that we truly believe

will make for a better world,

but Jesus wanted his disciples to know

and he wants us to know

that his glorious and his perfect kingdom

is not dependent upon the arrival

of whatever myopic visions of the kingdom

we may have conjured up on our own.

See, the disciples,

they thought that they had it all figured out.

They thought that they had it all figured out.

They thought that they knew

exactly what kind of kingdom the world needed.

And they gladly called Jesus Lord

of these small kingdoms

that they imagined in their minds.

He was the risen king to them, no doubt.

And they loved the idea

of this risen Jesus from Galilee

conquering the Romans for them

and restoring their nation to power.

But the true test came

when their king revealed

a different kind of kingdom

than the nationalistic one

that they'd envisioned.

When he revealed a different purpose

for the power he was about to give them

with the spirit, yes,

the resurrection power of the spirit

was indeed about to come upon them

and it was the mightiest power

the world had ever seen.

But it wasn't for them

to just do whatever they wanted with it.

It wasn't for them to manipulate.

I love how a Yale professor

of systematic theology,

Africana Studies,

Willie James Jennings,

he says this,

Jesus, Jesus will define

resurrection's meaning

and resurrection's purpose.

It will not be used by these disciples

as a tool for statecraft,

nor will it constitute them

the winner's circle.

Such ways of thinking

produces disciples

who follow Jesus

only because

they actually worship power.

And what he's saying

is that the kingdom of God

and the lordship of Christ

and the power of the Holy Spirit

that raised him from the dead,

it will not be manipulated.

It will not be appropriated.

It will not be weaponized

for our small

and short-sighted purposes.

So the hard question

for Jesus' disciples,

the hard question

for all of us today

is will we still follow Jesus

as lord and king

when the messianic kingdom's arrival

does not conform

to our myopic kingdom's aims?

Can we accept a king

who empowers us

not as warriors

on our way

to a victory

of our own design,

but as his witnesses,

witnesses of his victory

that's already been won?

Are we willing

to resign ourselves

to witness

rather than to war?

But now you may be wondering,

what does that even mean?

What does that look like

to be witnesses,

to be Christ's witnesses?

As you might imagine

and gather from this episode,

after Jesus confounded

his disciples' expectations

with his answer

to their question

about the kingdom,

and then he kind of,

you know,

just dropped the mic

and then he, you know,

said peace out

and he bounced

or he floated, right,

up into heaven.

The disciples were just

kind of stunned, right?

Left there quite stunned

and gazing into the heavens

and kind of like,

oh, wait,

what just happened?

He said we're going

to receive power

from the Spirit

but not to be warriors

of Israel

but to simply be witnesses

of Christ

and then to the ends

of the earth?

That's all he said?

What does that mean?

What are we supposed

to do now?

And paralyzed in astonishment,

they had to be shaken up,

shaken up from their stupor.

Men of Galilee,

why do you stand here

looking into the sky?

So there they were

with, you know,

a mix of emotions.

The one they believed

to be the Messiah

had just risen from the dead

and they'd seen him

ascend into heaven

right before their eyes

and they knew

that their lives

would never be the same

and they were filled

with joy and excitement

and yet in another sense,

not much had changed

in Israel.

The Roman Empire

was still intact.

They still paid taxes

to Caesar

and the threat of death

upon their lives

was still very real to them.

And so not knowing

exactly when the Spirit's

power would come

or what that would

even mean for them

or what it meant

to be witnesses

of this king

who wasn't there anymore,

witnesses of this kingdom

which seemed to be

imaginary, right,

compared to all the other

kingdoms that they'd ever seen,

what did they do?

What did they do?

Verse 13 and 14 says,

they all joined together

constantly, it says,

and devoted themselves

to prayer.

They got together

and they prayed.

Christ Church,

what do we do

when we don't know

what to do?

We get together

in community

and we pray

and we ask God

what to do

until he tells us

what to do.

The disciples

couldn't have known

what lay ahead for them

and the church.

Like us,

they didn't have

a clear sense

of how to answer

that now what question

facing them.

But what the disciples

did know

was that God

was up to something

and it was only

a matter of time.

So in the meantime,

they devoted themselves

to prayer

and they prayed

for clarity

and direction

and this power

that God promised them

because they trusted

that this would come

when they were baptized

in the power

of the Holy Spirit.

And as they say,

the rest is history, right?

And you and I

are here today,

2,000 years later,

sitting halfway

across the world

from where

the early church's

first prayer meeting

took place in Jerusalem.

And we are all here

along with the countless

multitude that's gone

before us

as an answer

to these prayers

right here

in Acts chapter 1.

Acts 1 · chapter mention

They're prayers

that the Spirit

would come

and empower them

as witnesses

to the ends of the earth

and to make Jesus

and His kingdom known.

So my question

for us Christ churches,

do we believe

that God will answer

our prayers too?

In this season

where we ourselves

are discerning

as a church,

what now?

What's next?

What do we do now

in the season ahead?

Are we praying?

Are we a praying church?

Are we gathering

with our families?

Or as a church body

like we did last night

with Tonya,

Maria,

Leanne,

we prayed

on our third Saturday

prayers for justice.

Are we lifting up prayers

like this to God?

Lord,

fill us with Your Spirit

and let us be powerful

witnesses

of Your kingdom.

And show us,

God,

this has been my prayer,

show us concretely,

concretely

what this looks like.

Show us

what we can do

with the resources

that we have here

as Christ Church East Bay

with our Berkeley

and our Oakland

and our Albany,

you know,

our Richmond communities,

me and Castro Valley.

Show us what it looks like

to be the church,

to be witnesses

of the kingdom of God.

Today,

Christ Church,

I just want to invite you

to join me in this prayer.

Join me in this prayer.

There's a Sri Lankan commentator

that I'm reading

for this series in Acts.

His name is Ajit Fernando.

And he would remind us of this.

He says,

often great prayer movements

start with one

or more individuals

with simply a burden to pray,

who share this burden

with others

and then keep on praying

with them

until the blessing comes.

Simple,

but we need this.

We need this,

Christ Church.

We need to hear from God

and to be led

by His Spirit

because, you know,

we are in a significant

and complicated moment

in the history of our church

and in the history

of our world.

For our church,

we've gone from one

to two to three

and now back to one

location and congregation.

You know,

we've gone from six pastors

and 17 staff

to two pastors

and six staff

and having seen

even more turnover

and transition

than already,

you know,

the already huge amount

that we typically see

in the Bay,

we just are trying

to keep going, right?

And then, you know,

with our church family

slowly trying to figure out

how to come back

to worship in person

after a global pandemic

that's kept us apart.

And then you also have

the injustice

and the heartbreak

and the division

that we see multiplying,

it seems like,

in our society

and our nation

and our world.

Christ Church,

we are at a huge

now what moment

in the history

of the world

and particularly

in the history

of Christ Church East Bay.

And to be honest

with everyone here,

it's incredibly intimidating

to lead at a time

like this,

to lead this church

at a time like this.

But you know,

I'm also absolutely convinced

that it's also a time

that's pregnant

with opportunity

to see

and to experience

the Spirit of God

in and through

our church

as witnesses

of Christ.

But again,

what does that mean?

How are we to

bear witness to Christ

in the season ahead?

And to be honest,

I don't have

all the answers.

Our session of elders,

they don't have

all the answers.

And Jonathan St. Clair,

even Jonathan

doesn't have

all the answers.

You might be surprised.

So we gotta be in prayer.

And what I wanna do today

is I wanna share

a couple guidelines

for us

as we consider

what it means

to be witnesses

as we go through

this book of Acts

to hang our hats on

and to really consider

for our own lives

and for our own church body,

how are we gonna be witnesses

Christ Church East Bay?

In addition to accepting

that God's kingdom plan

can and may

very well be different

than ours,

and in addition to

our constant

and devoted prayers,

I think Jesus' words

here today

offer a lot of

helpful guidelines

as we seek to

bear witness

to the kingdom of God.

And the first thing

I want you to notice

is that Jesus says,

He says,

you will be

my witnesses.

You will be

my witnesses.

And this means

that our witness,

our witness,

it has to be

thoroughly

Christ-centered,

Christ-oriented,

Christ-motivated,

and Christ-exalting.

See, because

if our witness

isn't tightly bound

with Christ,

if we aren't

Christ's witnesses,

but someone else

or something else's

witnesses,

we will always

end up pursuing

a vision

of a kingdom

that isn't

actually Christ's.

And we'll be doomed

and disappointed

and we'll become

failures.

I also want us

to notice that

He says,

you will be

my witnesses.

It's plural.

See,

this is a huge

calling,

Christ-church.

This calling

to be Christ's

witness is,

it's a huge

calling.

It's not an

individualistic

endeavor,

but it's something

to be done

in community

with each other.

And no one

witness can do

it all

and bear witness

to all the

glorious richness

of the kingdom

of God

to the ends

of the earth,

especially not

in a single

lifetime.

I also want you

to notice that

the plurality

of witnesses

spanning,

you know,

church history even,

it implies

also a diversity

of witness

bearing amongst

Christians and

churches.

Some people,

some churches

will be doing

very different

things than us

and that's okay

and that's good.

And others even

who are trying

to do the same

things might go

about it in

very,

very different

ways.

And what we need

to hear is,

that's okay,

we need to accept

that that's good

and that that's

right and it's

according to God's

sovereign plan.

You know,

some will bear

especially powerful

witness to Christ's

heart for racial

justice,

others to his

heart for the

fatherless,

others to his

heart for the

unborn or the

sick or the

poor or for

creation care

and the list,

it goes on,

guys.

It goes on

because God's

heart is huge

and his kingdom

is expansive

and yes,

we want to be

about all those

things as much

as we can.

We must always

strive to pursue

God's heart

and to bear witness

to his intentions

for this world

to the fullest

extent that we

can but we

also need to

be humble.

We need to

humbly accept

that none of

us will equal,

you know,

with equal strength

and with just

as loud of a

voice and with

just as much

influence do

every single

thing that God

wants all of

us, all witnesses

across the history

of the church

to do.

So right now,

that's why I say

we've got to pray

Christ's church.

Right now,

it's so important

for us as this

one little local

church in the

East Bay to pray

and discern the

ways God is calling

us to serve him

as witnesses in

this particular

season now.

You know,

and that may have

been different,

that may be

different than what

it was in the

past for Christ's

church and it

probably will change

later in the future

of Christ's church

but that's good

and that's okay

and that's part of

God's intricate plan.

I also want you

to notice when

Jesus tells us to

be witnesses,

he says you're to

be witnesses from

Jerusalem to all

Judea to Samaria

and even to the

ends of the earth

and I see two

things here.

The first thing I

mentioned earlier is

that we're to bear

witness to everyone,

to everyone,

not just the people

we want to,

even those we don't

like, even those we

wouldn't expect to

appreciate our

testimony about Christ.

He says to the

ends of the earth,

to the ends of the

earth.

But the other thing I

see here is that,

well, yes, we want to

bear witness to

Christ's power and

his liberation and

his abundance and

his compassion and

we want to change the

world with this

witness and we want

to do it, you know,

by ending world

poverty, right, and

by ending international

human trafficking and

then securing clean

water for the entire

world.

But if you're like me,

you probably feel quite

overwhelmed by these

demands, by all the

things that need to

happen in this world

and if you're like me,

you probably have been

struggling with where

do we start?

Well, I want us to

look at Jesus' blueprint.

He says, Jerusalem, to

Judea, to Samaria, to

the ends of the earth,

Christchurch.

He's saying it's okay to

start local, but keep

going.

Start local, but keep

going.

Keep making your way

out.

Consider what spheres of

influence has God gifted

me with right now and how

can I leverage my influence

to be a witness for

Christ?

Before feeling like we

have to change the world,

maybe think about what it

means to bear witness to

Christ in our home, in

our family, in our

neighborhood, in our

workplace.

Let's not underestimate,

Christchurch, let's not

underestimate the power of

incremental local

witness bearing even as we

pursue and pray for large,

large-scale ways to bear

witness for the sake of

systemic change.

Another thing I want to

mention is that to be a

witness also implies

testimony.

testimony.

When you are a witness, you

are showing and telling.

You are communicating a

message.

You're giving a verbal

account.

And as we will see in the

book of Acts, the book of

Acts does indeed contain a

lot of crazy amazing acts

that bear witness to the

kingdom of God and the

power of God.

And they wonderfully

demonstrate that.

But the primary witness

bearing activity that we

will see in the book of

Acts is highlighted in the

messages and the speeches

and the sermons that are

given.

In Acts, there's a strong

theme of the word of God

increasing and going out

and moving and stirring

this whole world up and

provoking cities and then

being confirmed by the

mighty acts of the

Spirit.

Our witness, Christchurch,

it has to be in word and

deed.

It's not simply enough to do

justice, but we must also

preach.

We must preach justice and

preach the basis of

justice, which is the

kingdom of God in Christ.

And lastly, lastly, what it's

going to take for us to be

these witnesses, I want us

to see how liberating this

call is to be a witness

rather than a warrior.

I'm also reading this

Cuban-American commentator,

Justo Gonzalez, and he

reminds us that the call to

be a witness is not a call

to be just a peddler of

ideas, but simply to provide

testimony regarding an event

that's already occurred.

See, witnesses aren't

people who have to go and

make the victory happen or

people who have to go and

actualize the kingdom.

To be a witness means that

we've already witnessed,

we've already experienced

the victorious establishment

of the kingdom.

In Christ's church, this is

the gospel.

This is the gospel that we

don't have to be the

warriors of God, but simply

spirit-empowered witnesses

of a victory that's already

been won by Christ in the

resurrection.

This is the gospel that the

establishment and the full

and actualization, the final

realization of God's kingdom

kingdom is neither limited by

our finite imaginations nor

dependent upon us winning on

behalf of Christ.

Rather, the kingdom of God has

already been inaugurated in the

resurrection of Christ.

And our job is simply to bear

witness to this present

reality.

You know, to those of us who

are tempted to go warrior mode,

right, in pursuit of fulfilling

our own self-imagined kingdom

visions, Jesus' word to us, just

like it was to his disciples, is

no, you're actually thinking far

too small.

He said to his disciples, you're

just thinking about a political,

material, and earthly kingdom,

but that's not the whole of my

kingdom.

I'm talking something much

bigger, much wider, much

deeper.

You're just thinking about the

shalom of this little land and

this little nation of Israel, but

I'm talking about the shalom of

the entire cosmos and all the

nations, every tribe, tongue, and

language to the ends of the

earth.

You thought that this power was

going to help you destroy the

nations and conquer the world, but

I'm giving you an even better

power, he says.

A power that will include and

engraft the nations rather than

destroy and dominate.

Think about that kind of power, a

power that wins and persuades

rather than wars and punishes.

What is the greater power?

Think about this.

What is the greater power?

What is the greater challenge?

Dominating and destroying one's

enemies like all the world

empires that have gone before, or

winning them as friends and

family with extravagant compassion

and love, sacrificial love, divine

forgiveness secured by the blood of

Christ's cross.

What's the greater power?

What's the greater power?

The power of destruction or the

power of resurrection?

What is the greater miracle?

The death of our enemies or the

death of death and the death of

Christ?

See, from the get-go in the book of

Acts, Jesus says to us, Jesus says,

don't you see?

The powerful kingdom of heaven is

already upon us because I've come

and I'm risen and the beauty of my

kingdom is that it doesn't need

warriors.

That's the true power.

This is the sovereign grace of God.

We don't have to be his warriors.

We can simply be his witnesses,

witnesses of the only story, the

only king, the only kingdom really

worth bearing witness about to the

ends of the earth, Christ.

So will you join me in prayer and

being these witnesses to the glory

of God and for the good of our

cities?

Let's pray.

God, we're here seeking clarity

from you.

We want to be your witnesses.

We know that you have woven into

history the greatest story ever

told and we ask that you would show

us how to embody that story, how to

live that story out, to bear witness

to the beauty of this story.

For the glory of your name and for

the good of our neighbors, we pray.

Amen.

Christ Church, part of bearing

witness, part of showing forth the

incredible value of the kingdom of

God is by offering our lives and our

gifts to him.

So will you join me in this

offertory prayer?

Mighty God of resurrection power, we

know that you have been with us through

all that the past year has brought us.

And we have seen you in the generosity

of heart that has brought us through

these days.

As we offer ourselves back to you now,

may we do so as those convinced that

light will always wash away darkness and

life will always defeat death.

In the name of our risen Savior, we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.