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September 3/4, 2016
Jonathon Woodyard | Acts 1:6-11
So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” 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 go into heaven.”—Acts 1:6–11
Introduction
Over the last couple of years, as the end of my time at Bethlehem College & Seminary began to draw closer, our family has spent some time thinking about what we were going to do next and where we were going to do it.
In September/October of 2015 we started to have conversations with Bethlehem leadership and members about the idea of starting a new church in Northfield, MN. Bethlehem Baptist Church (BBC) has a number of members and attenders who live in Northfield and the desire for a gospel-centered local church to begin in that city has been present for some time.
In the Winter/Spring of 2016 my family and I started traveling to Northfield every weekend in order to build relationships, have more official discussions with the potential core team, and seek the Lord together about this opportunity. After lots of praying, a thousand conversations, and numerous meetings, in April of this year we committed, along with several Bethlehem families, to plant a church in Northfield (http://www.ci.northfield.mn.us/).
So, now we know. What we are going to do is plant a church. Where we are going to do it is in Northfield, MN. And this is what every person decides. What are you going to do with your life and where are you going to do it? In one sense, as we will see in a moment, every Christian has the same call. That is, what we are called to do is fundamentally the same: be witnesses for Jesus. Yet, where we are called to do that geographically, and even vocationally, will look different from person to person.
I want us to see this morning what Jesus calls his disciples to do and where he calls them to do it. In Acts 1:6–11 we find the call on all our lives is to witness to the world.
Introduction to the Text: Setting the Stage
The Books of Acts is the follow-up volume to the Gospel of Luke. In our text this morning, Luke reminds Theophilus that “in the first book...[he] dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen” (1:1–2). This included presenting himself alive to them (1:3) and “speaking to them about the kingdom of God” (1:4). Furthermore, they were to wait in Jerusalem “for the promise of the Father” (1:4). Namely, the gift of the Spirit.
Imagine the joy and the rejoicing in those times. Jesus is no longer in the grave. Their Lord has conquered death. The level of excitement and anticipation would have been palpable.
Now the time was ripe for these disciples to hear about the task that lie ahead. That is, he tells them what they are called to do and where they are called to do it. Jesus gives his followers their marching orders.
The disciples of Jesus Christ are called to witness to the world. The what of our call is witness. The where is the world. We tell everyone everywhere about Jesus.
So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”—Acts 1:6–8
The Question
The words of Jesus in Acts 1:8 are prompted by a question. The disciples wonder if it is time for Jesus to finally restore the kingdom to Israel. The Jewish people have longed for the great and awesome Day of the Lord where their enemies would be crushed and their kingdom restored. In fact, when Luke announced the birth of Jesus, he talked about it in kingly and kingdom terms (Luke 1:26–33).[1] So, maybe, they think, the time has finally arrived!
Now, it is truly certain that the disciples are off in their question (likely concerned with nationalistic issues). And we are often quick to criticize them on this point. But remember what Luke has just stated. Jesus had been speaking with his disciples “about the kingdom of God” (1:3).
Can you imagine? Jesus speaking about the kingdom! He is telling them of the place where sin, disease, famine, nakedness, and death are vanquished fully and finally. And I’d bet he is a better story teller than John Piper (The Innkeeper) or Jason DeRouchie or Jason Meyer, and maybe even C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien! When Jesus told stories and talked with people, hearts burned with excitement (Luke 24:32)!
So, the question isn’t necessarily a dumb question. In fact, Jesus would restore the kingdom in the future. The problem with the disciples is they didn’t completely understand the nature and timing of the kingdom!
The Answer
Jesus, then, answers. It isn’t a direct answer to their question, but it’s the needed response. He says, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority” (1:7). Hey guys, those time are coming, but you don’t need to concern yourselves about such things.
Right now there’s work to do.
There is a task at hand.
The kingdom will come in fullness. It’s “fixed” by the Father (1:7). It’s gonna happen. But we don’t put our feet up, sit back and coast through this life while we are waiting. No. We wake up. Put our armor on. And we get to the task at hand.
What is the task? And where do we carry it out? That’s verse 8.
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”—Acts 1:8
Notice what Jesus calls them to in this verse. Once they’ve received the promised Spirit (we will return to that point), they are to be “witnesses.” That means they are to testify about what they’ve seen and heard.
Look at Acts 22:12–15. Paul is recounting his conversion and commission. In his retelling of the story he uses different words than what Luke recorded in Acts 9. Paul says that Ananias told him he had “been appointed…to see the Righteous One and to hear a voice from his mouth” (22:14). Then, having seen and heard, Paul would “be a witness to everyone of what [he had] seen and heard” (22:15). These are words not recorded in Acts 9.
It’s the idea of being a witness. You see something, or hear something, and you go and tell.
And what have the disciples seen? Who have they heard? They have witnessed the resurrection of Jesus.[2] They have heard him speak. And now, they go and tell the world about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. They go and tell the world that Jesus is Lord and call people to repent of their sin and trust in him for salvation. Simply put, we go and share the gospel of the Son (e.g., Peter and his Pentecostal sermon in 2:14–41).
This is the call on all of us who have been given eyes to see and ears to hear. We have had our eyes opened to the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ. And now we go and tell.
Application
What Jesus calls the disciples to in Acts 1:8 is stated differently in other parts of the Bible. In Matthew 28:19–20, we call it the Great Commission. In 2 Corinthians, Paul uses the imagery of an ambassador, telling the Corinthians (and us) that they (and we) are “ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us…be reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:20).
The idea is the same in each passage. We testify to the good news of Jesus Christ. That is what we are called to do.
Where we are called to do this is the next part of the verse.
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”—Acts 1:8
Where do we witness? We witness to the world. This speaks to geography, but it also speaks to the idea of crossing cultures. The Book of Acts unfolds along the lines of Acts 1:8. The gospel begins in Jerusalem, moves out to Judea and Samaria, before it reaches Rome, or what one author calls, “the hub of the Gentile world.”[5]
Geography—We take the gospel to every corner of the globe. We go to Northfield, MN; we go to East St. Louis; we to Sheffield, England; we go to Bangkok, Thailand; Dubai; and to jungle villages that we don’t even know exist.
Crossing Cultures—And we witness to all peoples. When Jesus moves out from Jerusalem and Judea, he points the disciples towards engaging other peoples…even the hated Samaritans. And finally, the Gentiles. Though they may not have understood all that the moment he spoke the words, the Book of Acts makes it clear that they finally get it. The gospel goes out to Jew and Gentile alike as the disciples scatter across the land.
Our call is to preach the gospel to every tribe and tongue; every ethnicity; every culture; the peoples we know about and the peoples we are not aware of at this moment. Every human being on the planet. In that sense, the world is our parish (John Wesley).
Now, how that fleshes out individually and corporately will vary from person to person, family to family, and congregation to congregation.
But it seems like a good season, particularly as God, through Pastor Jason, leads us into a season of “Filling the Cities.” We want to plant churches and engage the unreached on an ambitious scale. For us to accomplish such good gospel-ambitions, many of us must take stock of ourselves and our families and our futures.
It’s a good time to ask exciting questions:
The point is simply this: We are called witness to the world. No individual Christian escapes this call. It’s fundamental to the Christian life. And no Christian church can put the task off on some other church or organization. Churches, congregations of followers of Jesus, join together to take the name of Jesus to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
Yet, we have the exciting (and daunting) responsibility to ask the Lord exactly what that looks like in our lives and in the lives of our churches. I’m excited to see what part we will play in Northfield, and what part BBC will play in God’s global purpose.
But before leaving this passage and closing, I want you to notice the part of Acts 1:8 that I did not say much about. The first part of the verse says that the disciples “will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon [them].” Why is that so important?
It’s important because of this: if God is not in what we are doing, if his Spirit does not move, and we try to accomplish great gospel things apart from him, we will do nothing of eternal value.
In all our gospel-driven effort, we dare not forget that the hope of the world is not our marketing savvy, our financial or human resources, our intellectual ability, or perfectly Reformed theology. The hope of the world is that God would make men and women alive and that they would see and savor the work and worth of Jesus.
And where does this new life that gives sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf come from? It comes from the Spirit who “blows where [he] wishes” (John 3:8).
So, this is a good time for us to bend our knees and our hearts and ask God to show up—to work gospel miracles through our meager efforts to make his name famous as we witness to the world.
Conclusion
This week I have been reading Gaining by Losing: Why the Future Belongs to Churches that Send by J.D. Greear. In that book he takes the imagery of a cruise ship, a battleship, and an aircraft carrier to compare some ways that various people talk or think about the church. Which do you think he compares the church to?
Well, it’s not a cruise ship where we are coasting through life in comfort and ease, with on-demand TV and room service. And, it’s not necessarily a battleship either. Instead, he opts for the aircraft carrier. An aircraft carrier is a ship that sends. Airplanes, helicopters, other boats, ground troops, etc. are deployed into harm’s way from the ship.
So the church. When we gather we are people in a particular place where gospel-warriors are equipped, fed, informed, encouraged, and then sent, or launched. And so, let’s gather together every week. Let’s encourage and exhort one another. And then let’s launch out into this world as witnesses for Jesus.
In Minneapolis, Northfield, Minnesota, North America, and to the ends of the earth. Till Christ returns, or calls us home.
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[1] It is worth noting that Luke pointed towards the restoration of the kingdom, particularly with reference to the Davidic covenant, in his Gospel. In Luke 1:26–33 we read the announcement of Jesus’ birth. And in that passage Luke tells us that “he will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” With this in the background, and given Jesus’ talk of the kingdom in Acts 1:3, the question of the disciples makes more sense and is less ignorant.
[2] It’s why only someone who witnessed Jesus’ resurrection could replace Judas. And it becomes a constant theme of apostolic preaching throughout Acts (e.g., 2:31; 4:33; 17:18, 32; 23:6).
[3] Steve Timmis and Tim Chester, Total Church and Everyday Church. I first read this statement in Tony Merida’s book, Ordinary.
[4] Though geography is certainly in view, there is an ethnic component to this geographical formula. Who lives in “the ends of the earth”? People from every tribe and tongue. So, Luke’s formula indicates the fact that Jesus’ followers are to be witnesses among all the peoples of the world, proclaiming to both Jew and Gentile that there is salvation in the name of Jesus. Though the disciples might not have immediately understood this, as one reads through the entirety of Acts, this global concern becomes clear (see Bock, Acts, 200–201 [iBooks]).
[5] Bock, Acts, 216 (iBooks).
Sermon Discussion Questions
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Discussion Questions
Application Questions
Prayer Focus
Pray for God's Spirit to move in power through the gospel-driven efforts of your own life, Bethlehem Baptist Church, our new church plant in Northfield, and the evangelical churches of our world.