How many of you here this morning have had someone close to you die? (raise hands) I don’t think there is another crisis in life quite like that one. When someone that you have spent your life with is taken away from you, there is a tremendous void, a gaping hole that for the rest of your life will never be completely filled. The pain of that separation might ease a bit over the course of time, but it never completely goes away. And the truth of the matter is, the more of your life that was invested in that other person, the bigger the hole and the greater the pain. Do you know what I’m saying?
When you read through the gospel accounts of Jesus and the time He spent with his disciples, you get a very real sense of how heavily invested in Him they were. They let Him turn their lives upside down. They left their businesses and their homes. They severed ties with their families and friends in order to follow Him. They invested their entire lives in Him. But in a rapid sequence of events, Jesus, the one they had so completely invested themselves in, was gone. They watched as He was tried, convicted, and hung on a cross. Even though He had told them it was going to happen, I think it is impossible to completely grasp how devastating that must have been. It has been said that the fundamental crisis of the first century church was how to deal with the departure of her leader. What do you do when someone your life is completely invested in is no longer there? (Pause)
Even after the resurrection, Jesus certainly wasn’t around much. In the contemporary church we celebrate Easter as if it solved everything, and in the big picture it does. But in the day to day routine of the disciples, their lives were radically different. An appearance to the women at the tomb, a brief appearance on the road to Emmaus, a couple of appearances in the upper room to the disciples, a few random appearances to larger groups but always a week apart. Realize how it must have been for those first disciples. For three years they enjoyed a daily, hourly, moment by moment chance to ask Jesus a question or share a laugh with him. For weeks after the resur-rection they must have hoped for a glimpse of Him, anxious to ask Him the questions on their mind. We don’t know much about what went on during that time, but in the opening verses of the book of Acts we get a brief look at it.
(Read Acts 1:1-11)
Somebody said that these first verses of Acts are kind of like the time between lightning and thunder. You know what I mean, that time between the flash in the sky and the peal of thunder that results. Jesus’ resurrection was the strike of lightning, that moment when God acted in a powerful way to raise Jesus from the dead. Those three days, the days of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus are the central point of all history. But after that strike of lightning there was a pause, 50 days between Passover and Pentecost. On the day of Pentecost all heaven broke loose and the church was born. The apostles spoke in all sorts of languages, 3,000 people responded to the invitation and were baptized. Since that day, the peals of thunder have been rolling across the globe. Do you understand that we are living in the days that those apostles were anticipating? We are so fortunate as to live in the time when Jesus is doing His work through us! Jesus’ ministry to the world is going on through us, His church (Notice v. 1 “began”).
Contained in these first few verses of Acts, I want you to notice what Jesus promised for those days when the thunder rolls. You see, the reality that the book of Acts is going to point out to us is that no matter what the world believes, and no matter how difficult things might get, the Church is unstoppable. Local churches will come and go, dynamic leaders will rise and fall, but the Church, the group of believers who are following the living Christ and willing to live by faith, there is no end to that group of people. The reason isn’t because we are so powerful or influential, but because the God who controls the history of the world has provided the church with everything we need to accomplish His Will. Notice the tools that the church has been given.
1. Direction
Just hours before His death on the cross, Jesus sat down with His apostles and prepared them for the fact that He would soon not be with them physically. But in the 14th chapter of John, He told them that he wouldn’t leave them alone. He would give them the Holy Spirit to be their constant companion. The Holy Spirit, Jesus said, would guide the church into all truth, would provide direction for the work that Jesus wanted done. Here in the book of Acts once again we see Jesus telling the disciples “Wait for the Holy Spirit, and once He comes there is a big job for you to do, tell the whole world about me.”
Now the rest of the book of Acts is the telling of what happened when the Holy Spirit was cut loose in the lives of those disciples. When the Holy Spirit got hold of those guys, they were changed from a group of intimidated fishermen and tax gatherers to a force that literally turned the world upside down. The Holy Spirit led them to speak about Jesus to everybody they came in contact with. They preached in the synagogues, they spoke to the people in the marketplace, and they told everyone they ran into that there was good news, Jesus had overcome death and they could too if they would place their faith in Him.
Now I’ve got to tell you, the direction that Jesus gave is pretty clear. Look at verse 8 again. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Our job is to be His witnesses, to tell others about the things that we know to be true about Jesus. It’s our mission here on earth to tell about Jesus.
This past week I failed to go where the Holy Spirit wanted me to go. An opportunity to tell someone the good news about Jesus was presented to me, and I simply walked right by. As I think back on the incident, I have to ask myself why. Was it fear, or apathy, or stupidity that kept me from speaking up? No doubt it was some of all those things, but the ultimate cause is disobedience. When we know the good news about Jesus and we don’t share it with others, we are quite simply being disobedient to the direction that God has given us.
A few weeks ago Ben Merold was at the Men’s Retreat out at Hilltop. Ben is a preacher who went to a church in St. Charles, MO a few years ago. The church was running a little over 100, and had been for years. They now have several thousand that worship there on Sunday morning. There was a question and answer time after the main program, and people were picking his brain about the programs their church has. Ben said, “You know, when people come to our church and see what we are doing, they are usually disappointed. We don’t do much fancy stuff. Our programs aren’t elaborate. We just share the gospel and put programs in place to make that possible.” In his message, Ben said, “You know, I’m the worst personal evangelist in the world. I don’t always know what to say, and I’m not very polished. But I tell people about Jesus and they come to know Him.” I’m not very polished. But I tell people about Jesus and they come to know Him.”
I have noticed that we Christians are some of the best excuse makers in the world when it comes to not witnessing. Either we don’t know enough or we’re too shy or we don’t want to infringe on others private beliefs. There are all kinds of reasons not to tell, but in spite of all those reasons, Jesus told us to be His witnesses. When we don’t we are being disobedient to the one who died to save us. Rebecca Manly Pippert said, “Being an extrovert isn’t essential to evangelism—obedience and love are.” Who is the Holy Spirit directing you to tell about Jesus? When we follow Jesus direction, we are telling the good news.
2. Power
The truth is that Jesus hasn’t told us to do something that He hasn’t given us every tool to accomplish. Notice right in the middle of His direction to be his witnesses is a promise to give us the resources to do the job. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
This is something that I don’t think we recognize. The Church is unstoppable not because we have it all together (The Lord knows that’s not it). The church is unstoppable because God has all the power to accomplish what He wants. If we will make ourselves available to Him, He will use us to do incredible things. But we have to put our agendas aside and let Him set the agenda for the future of our lives, and of our church.
Look at what Paul wrote to the Ephesian church. Ephesians 3:16-21 (NLT)
16 I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will give you mighty inner strength through his Holy Spirit. 17 And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love. 18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love really is. 19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it. Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God. 20 Now glory be to God! By his mighty power at work within us, he is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope. 21 May he be given glory in the church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever through endless ages. Amen.
Just let that sink into your being for a minute. God has unlimited resources that He has made available to us through His Holy Spirit. And when we let Him do His work in us, Paul says, “He is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope.” So why is it that we often fail to see God accomplish something great in our lives or in our church? I’m afraid we all know why. We don’t experience the power of God in our lives because we are afraid of where He might lead us. We know that at the heart of the call of Christ is the call to give up our agendas, our very lives, for the sake of His glory. I’m just being painfully honest here. We want the blessings of Christ’s Lordship, eternal life in heaven, abundant life on earth, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control. We want the good stuff, but it is tough to give ourselves up for His sake.
Now what makes the Church in this world unstoppable is the fact that there will always be some among the church who are willing to obey God and follow Him where He leads. But what makes local churches sometimes stop? Why do some churches cease to exist? It happens when they fail to tap into the power and follow the direction that God provides them.
Folks, I am very excited about what God is doing in our church. We are growing, people are coming to hear the good news about Jesus and placing their faith in Him. Those who have known Jesus for a long time are growing in their faith. Leaders are being raised up who will lead the church in the future. Good things are happening. But we have to be careful that we aren’t doing it on our own power, with our own agendas, or for our own reasons. This church exists for God’s purposes and nobody else’s. When we give Him control, let Him lead, and work on His power, then He will do more than we ask or imagine.
3. Hope
I think verses 9-11 are kind of humorous. These guys are standing around and Jesus ascends into heaven. They are straining to catch every second of a glimpse of Him they can, when two white robed men, probably angels, ask them questions. “What are you looking at? Jesus is gone for now, but that’s not the end of the story. He’s coming back some day.” Behind that statement there is one of the most important understandings that all Christians must understand. God is in charge of history. History is his story, and He determines the course of it.
Now that’s not an assumed way of thinking in our world. There are all sorts of ways of thinking about history. (Show Powerpoint Diagrams)
1. A Cyclical View of History. (Oriental philosophy, What goes around comes around. Just like the seasons repeat themselves, so does history)
2. An Evolutionary view of History. (Modern way of thinking. Time goes back into nothingness, and continues into nothingness. There is progress, natural selection insures that things keep getting better. The course of events is determined by chance)
3. A Biblical View of History. (God brought earth into being. He revealed Himself to Israel. He sent His Son to redeem Earth from consequence of sin. Some day He will call history to an end. We are living in the “last days”.)
Now at the heart of this Biblical view of history is the belief that there is a being who created us and to whom we are accountable. If the cyclical or evolutionary view of the world is true, then this is all there is so you better get what you can while you can. But if the Biblical view is true, then there is hope beyond this life. There is a God who creates and a God who calls people to account for their actions. For thousands of years people have debated these theories of history, and have chosen to live their lives according to one of those philosophies.
I have chosen to trust the witness of what the Bible teaches. I am convinced that Jesus proved He is the Son of God by dying on the cross, then being resurrected from the dead. Christians all over the world have placed their faith in that hope. And if He is in control, then the church is unstoppable.
You see, Jesus said, “The gates of Hell would not prevail against His church.” That means that the church lives in the firm hope that we have the power and direction to bang down the doors of Hell. When Jesus ascended into heaven, it was with the promise that He wouldn’t leave us on our own. He is with us today through His Holy Spirit. He will come again in bodily form to claim those who are His followers. But He leaves every one of us with a choice. The choice is yours and it is mine. Will we follow His direction? Will we accept His power? Will we live our lives motivated by hope?
That day those disciples decided to follow, and the church grew by leaps and bounds over the next century. In the months and years to come our church and each of us individually face the same questions. If we will respond by faith, God has promised that He will do more than we ask or imagine.
