"can I Get A Witness?"

“Can I Get a Witness?”

Acts 1:1-11

The two men dressed in white asked a strange question: “Men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking into the sky?”

Think about it, if you saw Jesus rising into the clouds, wouldn’t you look up?

And then they added, “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.”

Again, what better reason to keep looking up?

Jesus is coming right back the way He left.

Let’s all stare at the clouds and wait.

Why look at the earth, where things are so bad, there are so many in need and we are forever tempted to do wrong?

Why can’t we stare into the sky and wait for Christ’s return?

The men dressed in white didn’t give an answer to this, but Jesus did.

(pause)

After the Resurrection, Jesus spent forty days with His disciples, speaking with them about the kingdom of God.

Then, after all this, the disciples asked, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

Jesus answered, “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority…

…But…”

Now the word “but” is one of the biggest little words in the Bible.

“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.”

That little word “but” brings it all back down to earth again.

(pause)

After Jesus ascended back to heaven, we are told that the apostles did what Jesus asked them to do.

They went back to Jerusalem, and to the Upper Room, the same room where Jesus had shared the Last Supper with them, the same room where He had washed their feet and then told them, “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.

I have set an example that you should do what I have done for you.”

I wonder if this incident and Jesus’ Words came to their minds as they entered that house again.

Earlier, they had asked Jesus if He was going to restore Israel to its former glory…

…if He was going to overthrow the Romans…

…if He was going to use the power that brought Him back from the dead to slay their enemies.

Instead, Jesus had talked to them about waiting for the Holy Spirit and being His witnesses to the world.

Perhaps, Jesus’ mission was, indeed, different than what they had first expected.

Maybe Jesus was now calling them to continue to do what He had done.

To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with God.

Jesus said they were to wait for the Holy Spirit to come upon them.

Where had they heard this before?

(pause)

Back in Luke Chapter 4, at the beginning of His ministry, Jesus was in the synagogue and He read from the prophet Isaiah:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

This turned out to be Jesus’ mission statement.

And if He was calling His followers to continue the work He had started, would it mean that this would be their mission statement as well...

…when this same Spirit of the Lord was upon them too?

That’s a big undertaking.

That is a huge job.

Jesus had said they will “receive power when the Holy Spirit comes” on them.

And they were certainly going to need power in order to fulfill this calling.

But what kind of power is it?

Well, they had been witnesses to it.

Jesus’ power was found in His humility and ability to love even His enemies—even those who were putting Him to death.

Jesus’ power was to have compassion on the people He met because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd.

Jesus’ power motivated Him and enabled Him to feed the multitudes and to do it without a lot of resources, but to do it nonetheless.

Jesus’ power helped Him to see the sinners, the prostitutes, the tax collectors, the lepers, all the marginalized and outsiders—not as monsters to be avoided but as people beloved by God who deserved to be welcomed into fellowship, loved, and wooed into the kingdom by this love.

Jesus’ power enabled Him to refuse to use His abilities for selfish gain, political power and to use God as if He were a vehicle for profit and fame.