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Sections:
Kingdom
Testimony
Spirit-empowered
Communities
Leadership
CONCLUSIONS |
IN THE earlier part of this
year, I taught about the basics of the gospel. Now we'll continue
into teaching about the basics of mission. We are using Acts
as our mission textbook.
Acts 1 foreshadows many
themes of the entire book. It is an ordered book. It has a purpose.
It's not just a list or a chronicle. Acts exists to provide
us a model of mission.
In the 1970s, there was a great vocal group called “The
Second Chapter of Acts“. We all like to focus on that chapter
of the book. It’s exciting stuff. But we need the entire
book.
The first chapter sets out the basic principles which illuminate
all the rest.
When I conduct funerals. I sometimes quote the novellist, Frederick
Buechner,
"A death marks the end of
a life, but not the end of a relationship.”
It's a good quote to help people
understand their grief at that point. But I have no idea what
Buechner’s book is about.
And it’s easy to read a book from the Bible, pick out the
good quotes, but never find out what it was all really about.
Chapter 1 tells us what Acts is all about.
I believe it challenges us. To give this a context, God has spoken
separately to John Brown and myself about outreach to all of
Marrickville. I held a few meetings which have petered out now.
I believe that we need to get our act together with God, begin
doing it ourselves, and the rest will come together.
So let’s look at five very
basic issues in this first chapter of Acts.
1. First, Acts is about the Kingdom of God. (1: 3, 6, 11) It's
about establishing God’s rule throughout the world in the
name and by the authority of Jesus.
Over the past few months we have seen repeatedly that people
have a sense of alienation and separation from God. It's caused
by sin, by rebellion against God’s sovereign power. The
good news is that, by Jesus, God is re-establishing his kingdom
on earth, and re-asserting his rulership.
2. Next, this mission of the Kingdom is carried out through testimony,
through bearing witness. (1: 1, 8, 22)
Every other scheme of world domination ever invented has
relied on power and force. Some just use raw power: they invade,
they violate, they abuse; others use subtle methods of manipulation
and coercion. The gospel proceeds by bearing witness to what
you have experienced and inviting others to find the same experience.
3. Third, the work of the Kingdom is conducted in the power of
the Holy Spirit (1: 2, 5, 8, 16)
We aren’t left to our own devices. The testimony will
be effective when the Holy Spirit works alongside it, testifying
to Jesus in the hearts of those who hear.
4. Fourth, the people to do it must be a prayerful, united, self-sufficient
community (1: 14, 15, 24)
Sometimes we Christians have been too quick to think in terms
of “Jesus and me”, and forgot the bigger issue, the
congregation. God works through a consecrated people, not just
through consecrated individuals.
5. Finally, it is vital to have the right leadership in place
(1: 20 -26) When we have a consecrated congregation, it needs
consecrated and competent leadership. God put the right leaders
in place for the church to grow.
So now you've got a bit of the
picture, let’s take each of these aspects in turn.
Restoring the Kingdom
In Acts 1: 3, we find
that the main topic when Jesus taught his disciples after the
resurrection was the Kingdom of God.
You remember when Jesus began his mission, we read that he came
into Galilee preaching good news: “The time has come and the Kingdom
of God is at hand! Repent and believe the good news!”
In the same way, Luke records Jesus’ sermon in the Nazareth
synagogue. He selects his text from Isaiah 64 and declares,
The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD
is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor
The whole point is that, when
Jesus came, the Kingdom of God arrived, and we are part of making
it keep on expanding and growing.
This speaks to us. What kind of minds do we have? The Lord taught
us to pray,
Your kingdom come
Your will be done on earth
as it is in heaven...
If we are Kingdom–minded,
we will get Kingdom results; if we are not Kingdom–minded,
then we won’t get Kingdom results. It’s quite simple
when you think about it, isn’t it? I don’t know why
it took me so long to work that one out!
You can see how important the Kingdom of God was in Jesus’
teaching when you realise that the disciples asked him (1:6),
“Well, Lord, does this mean that you will restore the Kingdom
to Israel right now?”
Jesus had been teaching about the Kingdom. So, as far as his
disciples could understand, that meant a Jewish king in Jerusalem,
it meant the Romans driven away, it meant peace and stability,
it meant fruitfulness in the entire land.
Jesus told them clearly that that wasn’t in his hands, and
wasn’t for them to know, but they should get on with what
they did know about, being powerful witnesses to the resurrection
of their Lord.
Verse 11 shows us another aspect, which is that Jesus’ call
and promise is not open ended. It’s a mission until he comes
again. We are on about Kingdom work right now. When Jesus returns
in glory, he will complete everything he began on the day he
asked John to baptise him.
Testimony to Jesus
The marvellous thing
about the gospel is that it is about sharing an experience of
Jesus. Yes, there is a doctrinal level. But the early church
was always more interested in knowing Christ than in explaining
him. They had seen him alive after the crucifixion. They experienced
the touch of his Spirit, equipping and empowering them for service.
They saw God’s hand stretched forth to confirm the preaching
of the word by the signs and wonders which followed. Luke begins
his account of the early church with written testimony to Jesus.
Then Jesus said in verse 8, “...you shall be witnesses to me...”
And, when the church appointed
Matthias to take Judas’ place, he qualified for the position
because he had the experience of Jesus to be able to be a witness
to his resurrection.
I’m
reminded of an event at Regents Park Baptist Church several years
ago. For a period they experienced something like the Toronto
Blessing. Every night there were meetings, and many were renewed
in their faith or converted.
A Christian man I knew decided to attend some of the meetings.
He had to catch a cab from Auburn to get there, and the driver
was a Pakistani Muslim. The cab driver was curious about all
the people there, and their obvious joy, so he asked if he could
look inside at what was happening. My friend said, “Of course
you can!” The cab driver was so fascinated that he stayed
and watched for about 15 minutes.
The next night, my friend went again, and was startled to see
the same taxi driver there again when he got there. He greeted
the driver, and said it was good to see him again. “Did
you have to bring someone here again tonight?” he asked.
“No,” said the driver. “What I saw last night
seemed so real that I had to come back again tonight to see if
it really was God at work!”
I heard that that driver was converted before the revival faded.
You can file the doctrine of
the resurrection of Jesus in there with teachings about UFOs
and lost worlds under Iceland. But you can’t dispose of
the testimony of someone who has met the risen Lord.
Sometimes when we have a sharing time, we hear some real testimonies,
and things really pick up, don’t they? But how often do
we have a sharing time and there is barely a testimony to be
heard?
We overcome the evil one by the blood of the Lamb and the word
of our testimony! So maybe we are defeated when we don’t
bear witness to an experience of the Lord.
Do we need to seek his presence again?
In the Spirit’s power
In Acts 1: 2, Jesus instructs
his apostles through the Spirit’s inspiration. Three verses
later, he promises them a special baptism or initiation into
the Holy Spirit if they waited for the right time to come.
In verse 8, he promises power from the Spirit to testify to himself
wherever they might be, from their homes in Jerusalem right out
to the farthest parts of the globe.
We have to understand that the Spirit hadn’t yet been poured
out on the church. But even before Pentecost, they clearly recognised
the Holy Spirit’s activity in providing exactly the right
teaching that they all needed in that time of crisis. It was
in the inspired Word which they all read and cherished.
The launch of the church was soaked in the Spirit’s power.
Sociologists have recently done some fascinating work on US Protestantism
around the turn of last century. What they see is that conventional
Protestantism, as expressed by the original Fundamentalists,
people like B.B Warfield and C.I. Scofeld, were very focused
on the past and on fossilising the church into the forms of 19th
Century conservatism. On the other hand, the African–American
Pentecostalists in places like the Azusa Street Mission were
very strongly focused on the future and on bringing about the
new society which Jesus promised and the Holy Spirit had begun
creating in their own assemblies.
Jesus said, “I
am making everything new!”
And the Holy Spirit makes that happen, even as we watch.
Are we allowing the Holy Spirit to do what he wants in our midst?
Or are we still setting rules about what he can and can’t
do?
United, praying communities
The Psalmist says,
How good and pleasant it is when
brothers live together in unity...
In Psalm 133, he describes the
outpouring of the Holy Spirit in an illustration of the anointing
oil poured onto the High Priest. Just as everything is soaked
in oil when the Priest is anointed, so everyone in the Priestly
community of faith is soaked in the Holy Spirit when they are
truly united as covenant people. Verses 13 and 14 depict a community
which meets together, leaders and people together, men and women
in the one group, all in urgent prayer.
I did a quick search through the New Testament’s teaching
on prayer last Friday night. I found 100 separate references
to "pray" or "prayer". Only four were prayer
for healings. Pretty different from prayer in today's church!
I probably could have found a few more if I had broadened the
search terms a little. But this is a pretty good representation.
On the other hand, many references were to prayer for boldness
in witness and for grace to stand firm against opposition.
It seems that the early church prayed for boldness and then went
and healed people; today we pray that God will heal people and
consider boldness to be evidence of eccentricity at the very
best!
What has gone wrong with our prayers? Would we commit ourselves
to seeking God’s face until we receive grace and mercy from
him? On the Isle of Lewis in 1949, a group met nightly for months
before revival started!
God’s kingdom purposes are worked out through united, prayerful
people — because they are the kind of people the Lord can
use! Can he use us?
Finally, there is leadership.
It’s interesting.
Today we wouldn’t think of appointing someone unless he
or she passed all the interviews and sat for the psychological
tests and everything else.
At Roy Morgan Research I am in many ways “A mere functionary.”
I have no high–flying role. But I had to sit aptitude tests
before they would take me on. I guess I passed.
Would Matthias have passed? We don’t know. The criteria
were that he had seen everything Jesus had done during his ministry,
and he was able to testify to the resurrection. There’s
nothing here about aptitude, though they did select Joseph and
Matthias as candidates, so they probably thought about their
ability. But that was never the bottom line. The bottom line
was that they knew Jesus.
Do we — you and I — have what it takes to be true leaders
in the new, Spirit–filled, Kingdom–oriented community
Jesus is creating here today?Let’s ask ourselves!
Conclusion:
Acts 1 issues us with
five challenges.
First, are we truly Kingdom minded? Do we really want
to see justice, righteousness and love in our district and in
our world? Do we want Jesus ruling as victorious Lord of all
lives? Our behaviour at least raises questions about our commitment
to the Kingdom.
Second, do we bear witness to Jesus? If not, does it mean
that we have lost our closeness to him — or that we never
had a relationshio with him in the first place?
Third, are we Spirit–filled? If not, why not? Are
we quenching his promptings? Do we grieve him with poor relationships
and lack of love? Have we just never really asked in faith?
Fourth, is ours a prayerful, united community? If not,
can we really expect God to pour any blessing down on us?
And, finally, are there issues in our leadership needing to
be addressed and dealt with? God works most freely when every
part takes its right place.
Five questions. If Jesus is to get the glory and honour due to
his name, we need to answer those questions very carefully and
prayerfully. God wants to bless us: can we receive what he gives? |
