150614 You Will Be My Witnesses

Acts 1:8 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.”

Matthew 28:18-20 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

The Book of Acts begins with an abbreviated statement of the great commission. Matthew records a more complete statement for us. The promise of the Spirit, given by the Father, had been promised to them in the upper room when Jesus breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Jesus provides the authority and the Spirit provides the resident power to be a witness for the Lord Jesus Christ. Putting the two accounts together we see that they waited in Jerusalem until they were called upon to go to a mountain in Galilee where they saw him ascend into heaven. Then they returned to Jerusalem and on the day of Pentecost the Spirit was poured out on them to empower them to witness.

It is important for us to remember that the disciples were not operating in their own strength. In fact, in their own strength they ran away! But, the same people who ran away, now stood before a great crowd, knowing they might be arrested, and proclaimed the name of Jesus. They were able to do this because Jesus had been given…

All authority. Turn with me to Colossians 2:9-10. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, ¹⁰ and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.

It is absolutely mind blowing to consider the words that Paul wrote to the Colossians. The whole fullness of deity is proclaimed to have been dwelling in Jesus bodily. When we consider such a statement there is the danger of our thinking that God was somehow limited in space and time in Jesus Christ. But that is not true! The God that we serve is absolutely “everywhere present”! He is either present to bless, present to punish or present to hold up, or sustain. However, when Jesus was on earth the Spirit of God was constantly filling him and flowing around him. Jesus was always with the Father. At the same time the Holy Spirit and the Father is present everywhere in different ways in different places and is acting differently in the different places of his creation. Jesus is given all authority because everything pertaining to God was always with him from conception in the womb of Mary to his departure in the clouds. Everything about God was represented by him.

All authority…

Is given to Jesus. Look with me at Philippians 2:8-11. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. ⁹ Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰ so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹ and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

The fact that Jesus was in human form does not limit the fact that the fullness of the Godhead was with him. There is a reason why all authority was given to him. He not only allowed himself to become a human baby conceived by the Holy Spirit he went on to grow and develop in all the ways we do. This was an act of obedience on his part lasting some thirty-three years. He was obedient, not just to be a human, but to come to a horrible death.

They didn’t just take Jesus out and nail him to the cross. He was first spat upon, beaten almost to death, had a crown of thorns pressed on his head and was ridiculed by men who did not even deserve to be in his presence.

It is amazing to consider that Jesus, the creator of the universe, could be taken into the judgment hall in Jerusalem and despised by men. He had emptied himself in an act of obedience to the plan conceived in the ages before man appeared on the scene. This obedience earned for him a place at the right hand of power in heaven where ultimately “every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Think of that! Every knee — every tongue — everywhere will confess that Jesus is Lord. There are many who will not bend their will to his on earth but they will when he returns and sits on the throne of judgment. Their knee will bow and their tongue will confess. Oh how great it would be if that would happen now rather than then.

It is better to honor Christ in life than to have to honor him from hell! Please, friend, consider your position and choose now to confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead. (Romans 10:9-10)

Jesus made a point of telling his disciples that he had received all authority. Since that is true his power goes with us…

As we are going. Let’s look at one example in Acts 3:1-6. Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. ² And a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the Beautiful Gate to ask alms of those entering the temple. ³ Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms. ⁴ And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” ⁵ And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. ⁶ But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!”

Peter and John were going about their daily routine. I believe they intended to give glory to God in everything but I doubt seriously that they headed out that morning to find someone to heal. They were just going and doing what they normally do every day. As they approached the temple gate they saw a crippled man, who I am sure, they had seen many times before, and suddenly Peter knew it was time to make a disciple! They were going to pray at the temple. I believe for sure they had already prayed. So they could give to this man, not money which is temporary, nor just healing, which is also temporary. Along with his physical healing they could give him salvation through Jesus Christ. Then, the opportunity to witness was handed to them. As the man walked, and leapt, and praised God a crowd gathered. Quickly Peter assured them that it was not his power but instead it was the holy and righteous One that they crucified, the author of life itself – through faith in his name — that gave that man perfect health. As Peter was preaching, the Temple guards arrived and he was rewarded by being arrested.

This arrest gave him another opportunity to witness to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. As we are going we are to do as Peter did and…

Disciple the nations. Turn with me to Matthew 24:14. Jesus said And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. It is God’s plan that everyone, from every tribe, every nation, every language have the opportunity to come to Christ. Jesus clearly said that the gospel will be proclaimed throughout the whole world. The end will not come until the message has gone to the end of the earth! Jesus had laid the groundwork for this when he went into the temple and cleared it out. Turn with me to Mark 11:15-17. And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. ¹⁶ And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. ¹⁷ And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.”

This event may have happened twice it is certainly true that it happened! Jesus found the temple court filled with moneychangers and people who sold animals for sacrifice. This court was intended to be the court of the nations where people from all over the world could come to the temple and learn about the living God the Creator of the universe.

Jesus cleared the temple court because it was being misused. What had been intended to be a place for the people of the world to come and be taught was now being used as a place to take advantage of the faithful who came. I’m pretty sure very few people had an acceptable animal for their sacrifice. After the one they brought was rejected they could buy one from these traders that was already preapproved by the priests who probably received a cut of the purchase price. Of course, the only coins that were acceptable would be the shekel! So any Roman money had to be converted into temple coin.

It has always been God’s intention to reach everyone on earth. However, instead of reaching out to the world around them, the Jewish leaders built spiritual walls around themselves. They came to believe that physical descent from Abraham was all that was necessary to enter into God’s presence. Jesus came to say that all people everywhere can come into the kingdom. He came first to the lost sheep of the house of Israel and then he said that he had other sheep who would be brought in because they would listen to his voice. (John 10:16). These other sheep would be reached because his disciples would make other disciples of all nations…

Baptizing them. Turn with me to Acts 2:40-41. And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” ⁴¹ So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. Oh how I wish there was a written record of the many other words Peter spoke that day. It would help us, perhaps, in our ability to call the nations to obedience. But we can clearly see that on the day of Pentecost about 3000 accepted Christ as Lord and Savior and immediately were baptized.

In the next few weeks, or months, many thousands more came into the family of God and were baptized. Then persecution came! The disciples were driven out of Jerusalem and the apostles were driven into hiding. One of those who was driven out was Philip. Philip had been chosen as one of the Seven who took care of the benevolences of the Jerusalem church. Philip was probably a Gentile convert who had come to know Christ as Lord. When he left Jerusalem because of the persecution he went to Samaria and there he proclaimed to them the Christ. I like to think that some of the people who were in the crowd listening to him had been there when Jesus came to the woman at the well. We know that he stayed in Samaria two days after she brought her friends to him. So it would be easy for those who had heard the Lord Jesus to listen to Philip. Turn with me to Acts 8:12. But when they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. They believed Philip and they were baptized — both men and women. Then, after completing his mission Philip was told to go to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. He had been speaking to crowds of people in Samaria and now he was told to go to a desert place. When he did he saw a chariot approaching with a man reading from a scroll. The Holy Spirit told Philip to hurry to the chariot. Now he had to hurry because he might miss his text! :-) The man was reading from the scroll of Isaiah. When Philip ask if he understood what he was reading he replied, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” Philip got into the chariot and — let’s look at Acts 8:35-39. Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. ³⁶ And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” ³⁸ And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. ³⁹ And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing.

Once again we see that as soon as the man came to the place where he understood about Jesus his first desire was to publicly proclaim his faith in Christ by being baptized. Philip had left a thriving ministry in Samaria to talk to one man on the road to Gaza. That man came to faith in Jesus Christ and took the gospel back home with him to Ethiopia. Today, there are Christians in Ethiopia who consider themselves to be the spiritual descendents of the man that Philip witnessed to that day. The witness to the one that day had a more profound effect on the world than the witness to the many in Samaria.

Peter was in prayer one day when he was shown, through a vision, that he should consider no one to be unclean. As he was observing this profound experience a group of Italians came looking for him. Peter would not, before his vision, have anything to do with Gentiles. Especially, he would not have associated with Romans!

Now that he had been shown by God that all people are acceptable he went with them to talk to their commander about Jesus. While he was preaching, the Spirit descended on those Italians and Peter asked a life-changing question. Let’s look at it in Acts 10:47-48. “Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” ⁴⁸ And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to remain for some days. Not only did Peter preach to the Gentiles he pressed the point home that they should be baptized. Throughout the Book of Acts we see again and again the process of receiving the gospel and immediately being baptized. Not only are we to make disciples as we are going we are to continue…

Teaching them. Turn with me to Acts 20:20-21. The apostle Paul is speaking. How I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house, ²¹ testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Here Paul shows what his plan was! He went to everyone who would listen and taught them publicly and privately about the need for repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. The same message that Jesus commanded remained in place. God gifted people with the ability to teach others. He still does today and we need to keep up the process of teaching publicly and from house to house. We can do this with great confidence because…

Jesus is always with us. Let’s look at Jesus’ promise found in John 14:15-18. “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. ¹⁶ And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, ¹⁷ even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. ¹⁸ “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”

We are never alone. We may, or may not, have human companionship as we go about our day-to-day activities but we certainly do have the Spirit of God with us. The Spirit of Jesus is with us because he lives in every believer.

Jesus’ promise that he would be with us always, to the end of the age, holds true today. We live in the end times. This has been so for 2000 years! Our task during this time is to make disciples. We are not called on to encourage people to make decisions but instead we are to call them to discipleship. In Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost he picked up the theme that John the baptizer, and Jesus, had used in beginning their ministry. Repent and be baptized, every one of you, because your sins have been forgiven! Have you repented? That means you have turned away from your sins to the one who took them to the cross and buried them in the tomb. Today is the day of salvation! I challenge you to turn your life over to Jesus Christ and be willing to follow him in baptism.

All scriptures quotes are from: The Holy Bible: English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.