Christians Bear Witness

My name is Jordan.

My wife and I, Holly, our members here at this church, and it is my joy to be able to open up God's word for you.

This morning, the elders are away.

Each year they take a trip to the hills somewhere to kind of unplug, to meet together to pray.

And this weekend they're gone, so you are stuck with me.

I'm very sorry for the uh there were some short straws.

There was only a few people left.

So no, I'm excited to be able to open up God's word with you.

Um if you would just bow your heads in prayer with me before we dive into God's word.

God, I ask this morning that by your Spirit you would empower me to proclaim your truth.

God, I ask that you would allow me to not get in the way of what you are trying to do and communicate through your holy word to this congregation here and now.

God, I pray that Christ would be made glorious, that his uh kingship would be uh something that is heralded, that is the center of our gaze and attention this morning.

Uh God, we ask that you meet us here.

God, that you would open our eyes to see you as glorious and good, that your ways are righteous.

God, that you'd convict us of sin, that you would open our eyes to where we need to change to be walking in your ways.

And God, I ask that you would just be uh magnificently put on display for your glory, and we trust it's our good.

We pray, amen.

Amen.

So we are in our second week of our series in Acts called Christ's reign and the church's birth.

I'm super excited about this series as we are going to be just going through all of the works of the Holy Spirit and how it moved mightily to establish the church.

And so, kind of a recap of what Pastor Jared uh talked through a little bit last week to kind of set the setting or the tone.

Jesus had resurrected, he had appeared for 40 days to his disciples.

He was teaching on the kingdom of God, and I don't want us to miss the great anticipation that must have been pumping through the disciples' veins.

Something magnificent, something monumental is about to take place.

See, Jesus was telling his disciples that they will be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days from now.

That's where our text last week had left off.

And he had already been telling his disciples that it was better for him to leave them than for him to stay.

It was to their advantage that John 16, 7 says that he would leave them.

And so he has now gathered his disciples up onto the Mount of Olives.

This is about a mile east of the city.

This is the same mount that Jesus gathered his disciples before he rode in on Palm Sunday on the donkey.

This is the same Mount of Olives that at the bottom there's a garden called Gethsemane, where Jesus prayed the night before he was crucified.

And so now he has gathered his disciples to this mountain where he would be taken up in glory through his ascension to the right hand of the Father.

And so the disciples with great anticipation are gathered together, and we pick up in verse six through seven.

The text reads this way So when they had come together, they asked him, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?

And he said to them, It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.

See, the years had dwindled to days, to hours, to moments, to the final minutes when they were face to face with their friend, this rabbi, this teacher, and they had time for one last question.

Have you ever maybe had parting ways with a friend of a long time before they moved, and you kind of had this exchange of like, before you go, I need to get right with you.

I need to ask you this, I need to give you that one last hug.

This is what the disciples had felt, and they had time and they asked one question, and here's their question: Will you at this time restore your kingdom to Israel?

See, Jesus had been teaching all throughout his 30 years of ministry about this kingdom of God, and there was this longing for this restoration, to restore the throne of David, to take back the national boundaries of the nation of Israel, to bring about the kingdom that was proclaimed to have no end.

And Jesus answers their question first by addressing their timeline.

It is not for you to know the times or seasons the Father has fixed.

And then he goes on to explain and to deliver this mission statement.

These are Jesus' final 34 words.

34 words to be exact, while he is walking on the earth amongst men.

And this is what he says in verse 8.

And this verse 8 is the crux of the entire book of Acts.

This is the linchpin verse of Acts.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

Here we are, Jesus answering this question.

He's giving these marching orders to his disciples.

And so we're going to unpack this verse with there's really three aspects that we see, three aspects to Jesus' mission.

First is you will receive power.

Jesus said, you will receive power.

See, in the Gospels, Jesus, the Son of God, offered up his life.

But in the book of Acts, we are going to see that Jesus offers up his power.

His power.

And as we continue through this series, we're going to explore the many ways that the Spirit works powerfully through the apostles to establish his church, his reign through his church.

See, the book of Acts could have been entitled The Acts of the Holy Spirit through the Apostles.

That's how marvelous this Holy Spirit is at work in the life and ministry of the Apostles.

As the Holy Spirit fell at Pentecost, we see that 3,000 people are converted.

We see miraculous signs and wonders, healings, overcoming of demons and evil spirits, wonders and signs.

And this wasn't just something for the apostles.

This is something for us today, as his disciples.

A few months back when I stepped down as an elder of this church, one of the one of the most difficult aspects, I guess, or maybe selfish reasons, is that when you're in ministry, you get this front row seat to all that God is doing.

So there's a part of me that was like longing to not miss that, to see and hear the stories of how God, the Spirit is still moving today.

And I know we don't do a good job as a church celebrating, heralding all the things that God has done and is doing.

We see baptisms which are miraculous.

We see these people completely changing their former ways and walking in newness with Christ, which isn't a miracle of itself.

We see children professing faith.

And so one of the aspects of me stepping down that I was really going to miss was seeing that.

I think I'd be remiss to not say this week alone there was two members in our congregation that experienced healing through the laying on of hands.

And it's awesome.

I mean, God is He's moving, He is powerful, and we don't take the time really to herald it to thank Jesus for the ways that he is still at work in his church.

Jesus promises us this power that we will receive, and may we be a body that is sent in this power to see the redeeming work of his kingdom come here and now.

So that's aspect one.

I always cry, so sorry.

It's what it is.

Get over it.

All right.

You will receive power.

Aspect two, you will be my witnesses.

You will be my witness.

Interesting.

I don't, I didn't have a whole lot of time to maybe stake my claim on this verse here, but this word for witness is a Greek word which actually means martyr.

You will be my witness, which actually means martyr, this noun.

This word appears 39 times in the book of Acts, and it's this verbal proclamate proclamation that when we proclaim the gospel, not just with our mouths, but with our lives, we are witnessing to Jesus.

That's the role of the church.

As the church goes forth, we are all called to be proclaimers, to be preachers, to be heralds of the good news.

And we do that through wholeheartedly laying down our lives, not just proclaiming with our words, but with our finances, with our homes, with our all, with our whole beings.

But interesting, this word actually means martyr.

And we see all but John is the only disciple that is not martyred.

We see James is beheaded with a sword by the request of King Herod.

We see Peter crucified upside down, Andrew crucified diagonally in Greece.

We saw Bartholomew flayed and beheaded in Armenia.

James the lesser was thrown from the temple in Jerusalem.

Philip was crucified for his faith.

Thomas speared to death in India.

Matthew is executed with a sword in Ethiopia.

We see Jude killed in Armenia by arrows.

Simon the zealot was sawed in half preaching in Persia.

And John is the exception to this, although he was boiled in tart and feathered and then left to die in his old age on an island in Patmos.

And so while I'm not saying that to be a disciple means that you must be a martyr.

To be a true disciple must mean that you are a martyr, but we are to be his witnesses, and that should cost us something.

We should be gladly willing to lay down the comforts of this world, the comforts of our lives, and to spend our lives for the proclamation of our King.

So number two, you will be my witnesses.

And number three, the extent of this mission is to the ends of the earth.

You will be witnesses to the ends of the earth.

The extent of this power-filled witness is to the ends of the earth.

Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the ends of the earth, Jerusalem, the same city where Jesus was crucified 40 days prior.

Judea, where the disciples were rejected and scorned, and to the ends of the earth.

See, the mission is for all people, Jew, Greek, Gentile, all people and all places.

That is the mission that Jesus is commanding his disciples to walk in.

And this mission is carried out through the power-filled witness and proclamation of the people of God.

We read on in verse 9 through 11.

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 going into heaven.

And so as Jesus is speaking, and they are looking on, he was lifted up on a cloud and took them out of their sight.

Let us not miss what is happening here.

Their teacher, this one that they have walked with, is now being lifted up out of their presence on the clouds into glory.

Clouds throughout the scripture are evidence of God's glory, God's Shekinah glory.

Shekinah meaning the manifest presence of God or pleasure of God in the world.

See, this was the same symbol that was given as Moses encountered the Lord at Mount Sinai in Exodus when God shielded Moses with his hand so that Moses would only see the afterglow of his glory.

Or the same cloud that led the Israelites through the day through the wilderness in their journeying.

Furthermore, this cloud of glory that hovered in the tabernacle and filled the temple.

And now we see, lastly, the same cloud of glory that surrounded Jesus at his transfiguration when his face shined like the sun.

And here we have the disciples standing in amazement until Jesus is carried out of their sight.

And behold, two men in white robes stand by them.

See, God had revealed himself miraculously, graciously, and their response is utter-filled devotion.

We communicate a lot here at Sacred Mission that our services and really the nature of God and how he works in us is through revelation and response.

God reveals himself to us and we respond.

We open up God's word and then we have a time of response.

God revealed himself to the disciples, and they respond in this passionate, heart-filled strength and power of the Spirit to advance Christ's kingdom here to the ends of the earth.

This brings us to our main idea.

Our main idea is that Christians bear witness to Christ's reign through the Spirit's power to the ends of the earth.

Christians bear witness to Christ's reign through the Spirit's power to the ends of the earth.

The title of the sermon this morning is Power-Filled Witnesses.

We are to be power-filled witnesses.

And this is both a command individually, but also corporately.

If you are in Christ, you have been given new marching orders.

And this is not optional.

We are to preach the good news, the gospel of Jesus Christ and the mighty power of God the Spirit.

We are called to be heralds.

And this is not only a promise, that we will receive power.

And you will be my witness.

John 14 says it this way: if you love me, you'll keep my commandments.

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper to be with you forever.

Even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him.

You know him, for he dwells within you and will be with you.

I want to submit this morning that the disciples being eyewitnesses to the ascension of their Lord was a key was a catalyst to their kingdom-seeking war path.

Have you ever seen something and it just completely changed you?

Or completely, man, that that that was amazing.

A few years, a few years ago, this might be a lame analogy.

We were just so happened to be in Asheville, North Carolina at the wrong time when there was this thing called a solar eclipse happening.

And there was a bunch of hippies everywhere, and everyone's trying to sell these glasses.

Um that supposedly you are going to see something marvelous that only happens, and we were in this uh path of total visibility.

Luke, you can help me.

I don't know the right language, but totality, that's it.

He's my science nerd friend.

So this totality, right?

We're we are like literally in the prime spot, and there's like no hotels, there's no food.

It was terrible.

This place was a train wreck.

There was no parking, there was nothing.

Anyways, we happen to be there, and uh we're about to witness something marvelous.

I mean, we were we're about to witness something that like just doesn't happen.

I didn't even know it was gonna happen.

And so we bought these glasses and we go to this spot that's supposedly a little bit away from the city, so that the lights of the city aren't going to mess with our view of this, and we get these glasses on, and nothing really happens.

It was like a cloud moved in and blocked our complete view.

I mean, maybe for a second we saw like this black dot with uh orange glow around it.

Um, maybe like Sauron's face or something like that.

I mean, it really was not that amazing.

And I kind of am picturing this text like this.

The disciples are up on this uh mountain and the clouds are going up, and Jesus is going up and he's being carried, and they are just they're just amazed.

And they are standing there, they have just literally just lost sight for words, right?

They are just stuck there so much to the point where two angels appear to them.

Well, I don't know if they snuck up on them or what, but two angels appear and behold, and they actually tell the disciples, hey, you need to get to work, right?

Like that's their basically the summary of what the disciples tell them is like, you you why are you looking into heaven?

Jesus is gonna return the same way that he left.

It's time to go and get to work.

And so we see this moment for the disciples that completely changed their lives.

This ascended Christ, they saw with their very own eyes, this man that they saw murdered and crucified, they saw be put in the tomb, they saw be resurrected, that appeared to them for 40 days, and here he is leaving them again, and it completely revolutionizes the way that they go about their ministry.

It is the ascended Christ that was a catalyst to their kingdom-seeking warpath.

Was the Spirit miraculously at work amongst the disciples?

Absolutely.

Was God's Spirit emboldening their faith each step of the way, conversion after conversion, miracle after miracle, without a doubt?

But this is where God's sovereignty and man's responsibility intertwine.

As scripture also tells us that the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.

See, these men still had to go.

There was still work to be done.

And so they had witnessed Jesus transcend, ride on the clouds into the heavenly realms, and their faith was set on fire.

See, these 11 men who saw the ascension turned the world upside down and the matchless strength and power-filled witness of the Holy Spirit at work in their lives.

And my hope this morning, church, is that we would continue through this series, that our faith, our faith would be increased to the point that we would grow in our understanding and our deep desire for the spirit to be at work in us.

That as we are sent ones, as we are disciples, that we would go as power-filled messengers, walking in step with the spirit, looking for ways for the spirit to use us to proclaim the good news, to change not only this city, but to the ends of the earth.

But our story is that we bear witness to man's reign.

And oftentimes we reject the spirit's power at work in our lives.

We bear witness to man's reign and reject the spirit's work and power in our lives.

See, our problem with gospel advancement is actually a problem with kingdom acknowledgement.

See, instead of working in tandem with the Holy Spirit to push back the kingdom of darkness, instead of heralding the good news that Jesus has come to save sinners, that he is king, and that one day he will return again in glory.

Instead of getting serious.

I mean, really serious, getting our hands dirty about fulfilling our calling as ministers of reconciliation, as ambassadors to the king.

Like ignorant children, we bear witness to our own kingdoms.

And we reject any need for the Spirit to be at work in our lives.

I think we do this in a number of ways, but I'd like to highlight two for us to consider this morning.

Number one, we squander our witness through living in the present.

We squander our witness through living in the present.

We find ourselves often caught up with the pleasures of.

And pursuits of this world.

So much so that we don't have time to be power-filled witnesses.

And as a result, we bear witness to man's reign, not Christ.

Those who squander their witness often struggle with moderation.

Too much of good things become bad things.

And we intoxicate ourselves with work, career, image, kids, sports, appearance, homemaking, political party association, you name it.

These good things that are gifts of God become the main thing, and they take us away from being power-filled witness.

See, whatever our potion is for those in this camp, whatever it is, it's all vanity.

It's all fleeting, it's all passing away.

We must live with an eternal mindset and stop living in the present.

We must not squander our witness with pursuing the passions of this world.

As I was reflecting on this, I kind of wondered what would have happened if the disciples, after witnessing Jesus' ascension, would have just returned to the world as they knew it?

What if they just kind of went back to their occupation?

They picked up the fishing nets, they picked up their carpentry tools, their trades that they had known, and they just kind of went back to life as they knew it before witnessing and beholding the extended Christ.

Matthew went back to collecting taxes, Thomas back to Carpentry, Peter, Andrew, and James, they all went back to picking up their nets.

See, I think for some of us, we find ourselves in this camp.

That we we come on a Sunday morning and we kind of check the box, but our lives throughout the week are just so jam-packed and our pursuits are so broad and spread out that we squander this message that we have been called to proclaim.

We squander the witness that we are to be in this city.

And we proclaim man's reign instead of Christ's reign.

Others of us, we silence our witness by living in isolation.

We silence our witness by living in isolation.

What would have happened if the disciples had just stayed on that mountain and worshiped Jesus?

They had just witnessed one of the most miraculous things of all time.

And they were moved to respond and great joy and worship.

And they just stayed there and they just never left.

They never proclaimed that to anybody else.

They they returned to Jerusalem.

Instead of waiting for the Spirit to be sent ones, they build a little holy huddle in that upper room, and they just constantly just reflected on and just held it all to themselves.

I think functionally, many of us in the church, even here at Sacred Mission, find ourselves oftentimes in this place.

We might struggle to recall the last time that we've had a meal with a neighbor, let alone sharing the gospel with them.

We might struggle to call to mind the last time that we walked with a coworker that was going through a tragedy or a divorce or some type of suffering.

The last time that we shared the gospel with somebody.

See, we are called to go to the ends of the earth.

That's where the name of this church, sacred mission.

We are joining God's mission of redemption, of reconciliation as sent ones, as ministers of the gospel.

I think a lot of us are very prone and eager to getting together, to have coffee, to talk theology, to have heady conversations.

And if it if it stays in that holy huddle, I think we silence our witness.

And as a result, our witness, we become further removed from the powerful witness that God has called us to be.

There's a principle in the church world that I might be messing this up and the numbers might be off, but about 10% of the church does 90% of the work, right?

I don't know if you guys have ever heard that.

But I think that statement probably goes true for being powerful witnesses.

That statement's typically about executing a Sunday morning gathering, but I think I'm concerned that maybe 10% of us who call ourselves Christians are actually being the sent ones, the powerful witnesses in this world.

See, the Spirit was not simply sent for a spiritual high, but rather to equip the church to do his work.

Ephesians 4 says it this way when he ascended on high, he led a host of captives and he gave gifts to men, and he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, the teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for the building up of the gospel of Christ.

This brings us to our gospel conviction.

Church, Christ ascended to empower our witness.

Christ ascended to empower our witness.

The story arc of the entire Bible is a story of restoration, a rescue mission, a hope-filled re-establishment of what was broken from sin and the fall.

We see this calling of this restoration through the nation of Israel, and we the judges and the king, and Jesus as the promised Messiah, and he's going to establish this new kingdom and this new covenant through his death, burial, and resurrection.

It is the ascended Christ that marks a turning point, the shift in this narrative.

See, Jesus as king, he rose from the grave victoriously, he trampled over the powers of this world.

And Ephesians 1 says, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power towards us who believe according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at the right hand in the heavenly places?

See, it's the ascension that Jesus moves from this limited sphere to this transcendently heavenly sphere.

He sits at God's right hand in the heavens, far above every ruler in authority, power, and dominion.

He appeared to many.

He proclaimed the sending of his spirit, and as he rode in the clouds of glory to the throne that is his alone, he fueled his disciples' power-filled witness.

It is the ascended Christ at the right hand of the Father that propels us into mission.

It's what emboled his disciples 2,000 years ago and what empowers us today.

The ascended Christ is our confidence that we have good news.

And so he sends us in the strength of his power.

We could view today's text as a great commission of sorts.

We see in Matthew 28 that all authority in heaven, on earth, has been given to Jesus, and he sends his disciples.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, teaching them, baptizing them.

And church, it's because that all authority has been given to Jesus that he sends us to the nations.

It is through the unashamed preaching of the gospel that Jesus is wielding the scepter of his kingdom in this world.

See, through the gospel, we command Jesus, or we command people to submit their lives to Jesus.

Through the gospel, judgment is passed on people who continue to reject him.

We do not invite people to make Jesus their king.

We tell them that Jesus is king and that he will rule forever.

We preach Christ crucified so that all might know the joy of Christ's salvation.

And God as King is determined to build his church empowered by his spirit as his weapon of warfare, taking back what was lost by the fall through faith and repentance and the preaching of his good news.

Christ ascended to empower our witness.

And this is our gospel vision this morning.

That we would be a church that powerfully bears witness to the present reign and rule of Christ.

That we would be a church that powerfully bears witness to the present reign and rule of Christ.

You see, at the present, God's kingdom is veiled, it's hidden.

We live in this tension of this already, but not yet, as we explored last week.

But we know that Jesus is returning, and that one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father.

And it is our job as the church to proclaim that news to the ends of the earth in the places that God has you.

In the school system, in the home, when you're on the road, or maybe even God's calling you to be missionaries.

It is our job to be heralders, power-filled witnesses to the ends of the earth.

John Calvin says it this way it is the task of the visible church to bear witness to the invisible.

It's the task of the visible church to bear witness to the invisible.

You were created for a purpose.

You were created on purpose.

And if you are in Christ, you have been supernaturally gifted and empowered with the Holy Spirit to herald the good news.

See, the message is simple, yet its demands are far reaching.

That we would lay down our lives for the sake of the gospel.

And the good news for us is that we do not do this alone.

We have been filled with the Holy Spirit.

We've been sent in his power, and in the victory belongs to our King.

If we're to be effective, power-filled witnesses, we cannot simply be on the team or on the sidelines as water boys in this game.

We need to get in the game.

We need to put our pads on.

SMC, let us be a church full of power filled witnesses that understand their purpose, that seeks the power of the Spirit at work in their lives, that all may know the matchless joy of his salvation.