Remember the Mission

If you will, go ahead and turn to Acts chapter 5 in your copy of God’s word. We have a mission. We must remember the mission. This mission has been given to us here in the book of Acts. (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.”” ) This is the same mission that Jesus gave us in Matthew 28:19-20 “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, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”” We must remember the mission.

One of the issues that we have today is that there are professing Christians who think that the mission that is given in scripture does not apply to them. I hear people question all of the time how our world got to be so hostile against Christianity. This is a two fold problem. The first is the complacency in Christians. We think that since we have our “get out of hell free” card, then we don’t need to worry about anything else. How selfish of us to think this way. We have to change our mentality about wanting to see people come from death to life in Christ. We must remember the mission.

The second problem is the growing unrest against Christianity. Peoples hatred towards Christianity is at an all time high for the lifetime that we are in. According to D. A. Carson, more people have been martyred for following Christ in the last century than in all of the first nineteen hundred years of the church’s history. This is only going to increase if we continue on the trajectory we are on. But I believe that by getting back to the roots of our faith, by seeing churches become more and more healthy and biblical, by putting an emphasis on evangelism and discipleship, that we can fight against this. We must remember the mission. Today, we continue through Acts 5. We will see two fold of things we should expect while we continue the mission that is laid out before us.

Acts 5:12–33 ESV

Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon’s Portico. None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem. And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, so that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them. The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed. But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him (that is, the party of the Sadducees), and filled with jealousy they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison. But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, “Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.” And when they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach. Now when the high priest came, and those who were with him, they called together the council, all the senate of the people of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought. But when the officers came, they did not find them in the prison, so they returned and reported, “We found the prison securely locked and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them we found no one inside.” Now when the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these words, they were greatly perplexed about them, wondering what this would come to. And someone came and told them, “Look! The men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people.” Then the captain with the officers went and brought them, but not by force, for they were afraid of being stoned by the people. And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest questioned them, saying, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.” But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.” When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them.

Before we really dive into this today, let us spend some time in prayer. Pray with me.

Like I said, we will see two different scenarios of what happens in ministry. We can call them expectations. When we are doing the mission, there are different responses that we can expect. And both should happen. This isn’t a pick one kind of thing. In our text today, we see two potential expectation that we should have when we are doing the mission.

Expect Opportunities

As we begin this section, Luke tells us in Acts 5:12 “Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon’s Portico.” We are coming off the heels of Acts 3 and 4 when we see the lame beggar be healed and then Peter and John have to go before the counsel and they scolded them for preaching in the name of Jesus. Then they come together and they pray for boldness as they go and do the mission that was given to them. The same mission that is given to us. After this prayer, they have this couple that lie to God about the offering that they were going to give the church, and God killed them. That brings us to where we are today. The apostles continued to do ministry. And they continued to see signs and wonders happening through this ministry. Even with everything going on, they remembered the mission.

English Standard Version Chapter 5

13 None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem.

This may seem confusing. That the people did not want to be with the apostles. Let’s look at it from an outside perspective. I think we can separate the people into two categories. The apostles were the ones who had done ministry with Jesus. They had been believers for a longer period of time than the rest of the people. They had seen Jesus preform miracles. So they had a different perspective. So we have these people in one hand. Then on the other hand, we have newer believers. They may not have witnessed the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. But they had heard the gospel preached, and they believe. But what happened with these people, is they just saw Ananias and Sapphira die because of their deceitful offering. So there was this weariness to be with the apostles. But the apostles continued their ministry and it says that people held them in high esteem.

This makes me think, do people around us, people that know our church, do they hold us in high esteem? I think this is a question we should really pray about for our church. Because when we continue, we see what happens because people held them in high esteem. Acts 5:14 “And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women,”. More than ever, believers were added to the Lord. Because of their dedication to the mission and their faithfulness to the gospel, believers were continuously being added. People were repenting of their sins and believing the gospel and the church was growing at an unbelievable rate. They were seeing people that wanted to be healed get healed. Why? Because they remembered the mission.

English Standard Version Chapter 5

15 so that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them. 16 The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed.

How amazing is that? We live in a world today that is more hostile than ever to Christianity. We want to see things like this, right? We want to be the church that people are outraged about if we ever had to close down. We want to be the church that is building the kingdom of God and impacting the community that we live in. The issue that we face is are we willing to do what it takes to remember the mission? We should expect opportunities to share the gospel and impact the world that we live in.

You know me well enough to know that I like to look back into history for inspiration. We should look back sometimes so that we can be able to see forward. I think to the life and ministry of Charles Spurgeon, “the prince of preachers”. He was the pastor at Metropolitan Tabernacle in London for 38 years, beginning at age 19, from the years 1854-1892. It is said that over his ministry, he preached to over 10 million people and there was one instance where he preached to nearly 24,000 people at the Crystal Palace in London, with no amplification equipment. Spurgeon remembered the mission. At the height of his ministry, he was pastoring a church of over 5,000 people while overseeing more than 60 church ministries and institutions. And he was very active in this ministries. He knew that there was a price to pay to advance the kingdom and he was willing to pay that price. To the point that he worked himself to death at an early age. I am not saying that we should all be like Charles Spurgeon. But all of us must remember the mission.

When we are on mission for God, when we are being everyday evangelists, like we should be, we will see God turning our opportunities into life changing events. When we live a life that is dedicated to being disciples who make disciples, we will see God turn opportunities into life changing events. This is why we must remember the mission and this is why we need to expect opportunities.

Expect Opposition

When I talk about opposition in the context of what we are looking at in this passage, I am not talking about people being mean to you on Facebook. I am not even talking about people closing their doors in your face when you go to invite them to church. I am talking about hard opposition like the apostles faced in the early church.

Acts 5:17–18 ESV

But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him (that is, the party of the Sadducees), and filled with jealousy they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison.

They were going out and preaching and seeing people get healed. And they were doing this in who’s name? In the name of Jesus. When we look back to Acts 4, they were told to stop speaking in the name of Jesus. The same people who had them arrested here is the same people who had them arrested before. We see a pattern. But then something happened while they were in prison.

English Standard Version Chapter 5

19 But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, 20 “Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.” 21 And when they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach.

An angel shows up and busts them out of prison. But he doesn’t just free them. He tells them to go back and preach. He tells them to go back and do the exact thing that got them in prison. Now, how many of us, if we got arrested for preaching, and became free, would go back and continue to do the exact same thing. I am not sure that many people would want to do that. But it doesn’t say that they question him, and it clearly doesn’t say that they ignored him. It says that they entered the temple and began to teach. They remembered the mission.

Next, we see what happened when it was discovered that they were gone.

English Standard Version Chapter 5

Now when the high priest came, and those who were with him, they called together the council, all the senate of the people of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought. 22 But when the officers came, they did not find them in the prison, so they returned and reported, 23 “We found the prison securely locked and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them we found no one inside.” 24 Now when the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these words, they were greatly perplexed about them, wondering what this would come to. 25 And someone came and told them, “Look! The men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people.” 26 Then the captain with the officers went and brought them, but not by force, for they were afraid of being stoned by the people.

I can imagine that by this time, people were once again surrounding the apostles and listening to their teaching. Could you imagine how outraged the priests were when they found this out. It is almost like some supernatural force was working against them. The high priest is still taking offense to this. This time though, he changes his tactics. It says that they were brought it this time, but not by force. They didn’t want to upset the people by dragging them away again, so they are changing it up this time.

English Standard Version Chapter 5

27 And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest questioned them, 28 saying, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.”

I can hear the contempt and frustration in the words. They did not want the apostles there at all teaching. Because now they were blaming the apostles for making them look implicit in the death of Jesus. But then they answer the priests.

English Standard Version Chapter 5

29 But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men. 30 The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. 31 God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. 32 And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”

We must obey God rather than men. This verses speaks loudly. It yells at me. Have any of us ever had to go through this thought process? I have a friend right now who is having a real hard time. He works for a local government agency. This agency is trying to push a very liberal agenda. They are trying to address the issue with children attending drag queen shows but they are not on the side that is wanting to protect children. My friend is very outspoken in his faith. He said to me this week that he believes that he will end up losing his job because he will not stand back and keep his mouth shut in this situation. He remembers the mission. He knows that he must obey God rather than men. When it comes down to losing friends, losing jobs, or possibly even losing your life, will you obey God rather than men? Will you remember the mission?

Then they begin preaching to the council. Being before men who wanted to stop them did not stop them from preaching the message that they were told to preach. They remembered the mission and were preaching the life death and resurrection of Jesus. This is the gospel message. (gospel presentation.

Then we come to the very last verse of this passage today.

English Standard Version Chapter 5

33 When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them.

This is opposition. They wanted to kill the apostles. Because the apostles remembered the mission. It is this mission that will eventually cost most of them their lives.

The question is, do you follow the mission enough that one day, someone may want to kill you?

Conclusion

You have heard me say over and over again today that we need to remember the mission. The mission is to take hold of opportunities, even when we have opposition, to tell the gospel to others.

Maybe you are here today and do not know what the gospel is or maybe you do know what it is and don’t know what to do with it. (gospel and call to repent and believe)

But for those of you who are here today and are believers, the question now is what do I do with this? In my every day life, how do I live in a way that I remember the mission. Some practical ways would be to live out the great commandment. Love the lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love your neighbor as yourself. Another way may be to invite people to church. This is not a substitute for evangelism but this is something that we should have the practice of doing. When was the last time you invited someone to come to church with you?

But the biggest way to live this out, and each and every one of us should be doing this, me included, is sharing the gospel whenever we have the opportunity. So that is our challenge as we close the service today and sing our last song. While we are singing this, let us pray that we all have the opportunity this week to share the gospel with 1 person.