Jesus is Alive! Most of your Bibles will reveal that the title “Acts” that we commonly use is just the shortened version of a longer title that has been given to the book. The full title given to this book is The Acts of the Apostles. It is called such because the content of the book outlines the work of the Apostles after they received power from the Holy Spirit. Its title could well be “The Acts of the Holy Spirit” or “The Acts of the Risen Christ Through the Holy Spirit Working Through the Church.” The major theme of the book is that Jesus is alive and still ministering in and through those whom He has saved and empowered for ministry. The Book of Acts forms the perfect counterpart and contrast to the Gospels. In the Gospels the Son of Man offered his life; in Acts the Son of God offered His power. In the Gospels we see the original seeds of Christianity; in Acts we see the continual growth of the Church. The Gospels tell us of Christ crucified and risen; Acts speaks of Christ ascended and exalted. The Gospels model the Christian life as lived by the perfect Man; Acts models it as lived out by imperfect men.
As we begin our study we are going to learn right up front that Jesus’ continuing ministry in the world is not accomplished solely by the energy and efforts of men and women. Jesus must empower His people for the ministry He is doing here on the earth through His own. Last week we looked briefly at the classic passage in Matthew’s Gospel that outlined the parameters of the ministry and today we are going to see how Jesus Empowers Us For Ministry.
Acts 1:1-11
Wondering: A DESIRE FOR POWER Acts 1:6-7
IDEAS ABOUT THE KINGDOM. When Jesus spoke about the coming of His Kingdom the disciples immediately pictured an autonomous Israel that existed free from the occupancy and oversight of any other nation or empire of the time. When Jesus spoke about the coming of His Kingdom they immediately recalled the good old days when David and Solomon ruled over a united Israel that experienced great success over their enemies and oppressors and even greater prosperity. The disciples were not that quick to get the point that the Kingdom that Jesus had come to usher in was much bigger than just the nation of Israel.
IS IT TIME? Having experienced all that they had experienced in Jesus’ life, death and now resurrection they begin asking questions about the Kingdom, as they understood it. This is not the first time that the disciples asked questions regarding the Kingdom to come. The disciples had asked questions about the Kingdom to come before. They had asked question regarding who was going to be the greatest in the Kingdom. James and John actually had their mother make a request to Jesus that they would be those who sat on the right and left of Jesus’ throne when His Kingdom was established on earth. Jesus told them that they would judge the 12 tribes of Israel in His Kingdom.
MOTIVATED BY POWER. With all this in mind, we begin to see what is behind the question that they were asking. Their question flowed from a desire for POWER. At the current time Rome was the prominent empire on the face of the earth. The disciples were ready for Israel to be the prominent force on the face of the earth and they were ready to be the prominent figures of that prominent nation. At the current time Rome was the most prosperous empire and they were ready for Israel to be the most prosperous nation and they were ready to be the most prosperous people of the most prosperous nation. They were ready to conquer the world! At the current time Rome was the most powerful force on the face of the earth and the disciples wanted Israel to become the superpower of the earth and they were ready to be the most powerful people of the most powerful nation.
Witnessing: EMPOWERED FOR MINISTRY Acts 1:8
The disciples desired power to dominate the world and Jesus tells them that power is going to come by the Holy Spirit not by political might and that they are going to be empowered to serve the world with His message not dominate the world by military force. The disciples are going to experience the empowering indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit and they will never be the same.
WHO IS THE HOLY SPIRIT? The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit compose the triune nature (Godhead) of God and all three are eternal co-existent and equally God. God the Father is as much God as God the Son is and God the Son is God as much as God the Holy Spirit is and God the Holy Spirit is as much God as God the Father. The three do not compose three different gods but are one and the same God. The emphasis of the Old Testament is on God the Father. The emphasis of the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) is on God the Son. The emphasis of the Book of Acts and following is on God the Holy Spirit. We live in the Age of the Spirit because we, like the disciples in Acts, have received God’s very presence in us at the moment of salvation and in so doing He has secured us in our salvation by His presence and empowered us for the life to which He has saved and called us to. The same Holy Spirit who “hovered the face of the deep” in Genesis 1 and came upon individuals in the Old Testament to empower them for certain tasks, and descended upon Jesus in His baptism, has been given to us in the Church age to empower us for a ministry that makes the name of Jesus famous throughout the nations for the glory of God throughout all the earth.
HOLY SPIRIT: THE HELPER. Jesus told His disciples, prior to His death, that it was for their good that He leave them. Jesus told the disciples that when He departs them that He will send them the Helper (JOHN 16:7-8) and that the Helper would not only work in them but also in the world as they continue on in the ministry that He began in His life. This was surely an odd proclamation at the time but as the disciples experienced the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit they quickly learned that it was better for them to have Jesus living and working in and through then to be a spectator of Jesus living and working alongside them. The Helper will come to not only empower the disciples for ministry but work in concert with them as they minister. We will look at this more closely next week but when the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples they were empowered to proclaim the message of Jesus in a way that they never had before. While all of this is taking place Peter comes the forefront and begins to preach a message to those who were accusing them of being drunk and/or crazy. When he preached to them he did so because he was empowered by the Holy Spirit and as he preached the crowd “were cut to the heart” and began to ask what they should do in response to the message they heard. What Peter preached to them was really nothing new in regards to the life and death of Jesus but Peter was able to show how Jesus was indeed the promised Messiah just as He had said and now suddenly many believed because the Holy Spirit was operating on their heart cutting away their unbelief and replacing the deadness of unbelief with faith to believe.
Witnessing: SERVE THE WORLD Acts 1:8
The disciples had too small of a vision for what Jesus was going to do now that He had risen from the grave. They assumed that it was now time for Israel as a nation to take center stage to regain the power, prominence and prosperity she once knew. Jesus changes things around on the disciples and lets them know that He has not just given them Israel but the world. Jesus’ work was not just for the benefit of the citizens of Israel but for the citizens of the world. Jesus did not do all that He had done simply to bring Good News to Israel but to bring Good News to all peoples. Jesus gives them four-fold strategy for the ministry that they will be empowered for:
• Jerusalem—their immediate context.
• Judea—the region in which Jerusalem was located.
• Samaria—the area beyond the region of Judea where people whom they would normally try to avoid lived.
• “the uttermost ends” of the earth—the known and unknown World.
I could only imagine the confusion that entered their minds upon hearing all of this. They did not have the courage about them to stand up and be a witness for Jesus when others were lying about Him during His trial. How in the world could they possibly be committed enough to be witnesses for Jesus in Jerusalem, the place where they abandoned Him, much less the “ends of the Earth?” In other words, “How in the world could they possibly be a part of a ministry that called for more than they had to offer?” The answer has already been given—the Holy Spirit will empower them for the ministry they have been called to.
Watching: WATCHING HIM LEAVE. Acts 1:9-11
After hearing all that they had heard, Jesus ascends back into the clouds and is taken out of their sight. The disciples are mesmerized both by what they have heard and all that they have seen and we get this picture that they are standing their gazing into the heavens with their mouths wide open in unbelief. They are so consumed with what they had heard and seen that an angel has to come to them and “snap them out of their frozen state” to remind them that they had been given something to do and standing around watching the skies was not it.
Application…
The same ministry that was given to the Apostle’s in the first century is the same ministry we have received as those who have been saved by Jesus now in the 21st Century. The same power that was given to the Apostle’s in the first century to fulfill the task they were given is the same power we have been given in the 21st Century as those who have been saved by Jesus and indwelled by His Holy Spirit.
When we read these words we find that Jesus did not say, “Hey…if you don’t mind or as long as you feel like it go out and tell other people about me and if you find yourself on vacation in Egypt and a conversation strikes up would you mind mentioning Me?” There are so many Christians individually and Churches corporately who take this kind of approach to what Jesus has said. They consider His commands to be suggestions. They consider His instruction to be negotiable. When we come face to face with the Bible we find that response to Jesus to be utterly evil. There was nothing about this experience that suggests options for these men. Jesus did not say they might or possibly be His witnesses but that they would. Why would He speak with such certainty? Because He knew the work of the Holy Spirit that was going to indwell them.
SO….LET ME MAKE THIS STRIKING STATEMENT. IF THE ONLY EXPRESSSION OF YOUR SUPPOSED RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST IS SHOWING UP HERE ONCE OR TWICE A WEEK THEN THERE MAY BE SOMETHING SERIOUSLY SUSPICIOUS ABOUT YOUR CLAIM TO CHRIST.
THREE OPTIONS: How will we respond to the Risen Lord?
1. A CURCH FULL OF WONDERERS. This describes those who are always wondering about things that God has either not revealed or hasn’t revealed yet. They are serious about Bible study and are always looking for something “deeper” that might answer all the questions they are wondering about. The disciples were wondering about when Israel will be restored to her previous place of power, prominence and prosperity and Jesus told them that it was not their job to worry about things like that. If you find that you are one of those people who jump from Bible study group to Bible study group but yet never consider witnessing to others the love, grace, compassion and mercy of Jesus to the poor, overlooked, homeless, and lost of our community then there are some serious problems. Some Christians and Churches are like this. They are really good at Bible study and always discussing “hard questions” but rarely do you find much Bible “doing” going on in regards to witnessing for Jesus.
2. A CHURCH FULL OF WATCHERS. The disciples were star struck with all that they had seen and heard an just stood around and watched the sky when Jesus ascended. This is probably the majority of Christians/Churches. We live in a world where we hear and see the unthinkable and rather than run to the cries of the hopeless with the hope of Jesus Christ we just sit back and watch.
3. A CHURCH FULL OF WITNESSES. Jesus is looking for people who have experienced Him in their lives to bear witness of Him to others. You cannot bear witness to One you do not know.
a. Our Jerusalem. We are doing Jerusalem ministry right now. Jerusalem ministry is your home, your workplace, your school, your neighborhood, etc...
b. Our Judea. Judea would be Shelby, Spencer, Anderson and Jefferson Counties. As a church we partner with many of the local ministries that are looking to serve others with the love, help and hope of Jesus Christ.
c. Our Samaria. This is North American ministry. The ANNIE ARMSTRONG mission offering we are kicking off today is part of our strategy for “Samaria.”
d. Our “Utter Most Ends.” Guatemala, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico and beyond.
