The Witnessing Community

Daniel Atkins

As You Go • Sermon • Submitted 6 months ago • Presented 6 months ago

Acts 1:1–8

Luke 24:44–49

A Witness

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Introduction

Last week, I took Grady to the Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville. I learned that Elon Musk is trying to set up a refueling station on the moon. It’s going to be a base of operations. That’s just crazy that we live in a world where that’s an actual possibility.

Now, we’re not making any trips to the moon, but, as we begin this last four week section of our 12-week series “As You Go,” we’re going to set up our own “base camp” so-to-speak that we’ll end this series with.

Acts 1:1–8 (ESV)

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.”

There are five words in this one verse that I really want us to focus on. It’s going to be the main phrase of these next four weeks. I want you to even circle it in your Bible. Underline. Highlight it. Do whatever you’ve got to do to make it stand out.

Verse 8 — “you will be my witnesses”

MAIN POINT The community of disciples is to be a witnessing community.

This is what we’re going to unpack as we wrap this series up.

So, Acts 1:1-8 is home base…but I want us to spend the majority of our time this morning in the gospel of Luke. So, turn in your Bibles to Luke 24.

Luke was a doctor and he was a Gentile who had become a follower of Jesus. He interviewed some of Jesus’s closest followers during the three years of his life and ministry. He wrote what we could consider a two-part work—part one: Gospel of Luke and part two: the book of Acts.

So, Luke ends his gospel in chapter 24 by telling this story that takes place the day Jesus rose from the dead. In this passage, two disciples are walking to Emmaus and are joined by Jesus, although they do not recognize Him. They talk with Him about the events of Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection, expressing doubt and confusion. Jesus explains the prophecies concerning His death and resurrection, showing them how these events were foretold in the Scriptures.

Then, Jesus appears to the rest of the disciples who were gathered together in Jerusalem.

Luke 24:44–49 (ESV)

Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

MPS: The community of disciples is to be a witnessing community.

The Scriptures bear witness to the missional God.

Twice, after his resurrection, here in chapter 24, Jesus “explains” or “interprets” the Old Testament to his disciples and he “opens their minds” to “understand the Scriptures.”

What does this mean? What is happening here?

Jesus is explaining to them the gospel according to the Old Testament. The gospel—the good news that God saves sinners by grace through faith—doesn’t start with the arrival of Jesus on the scene. The Old Testament is not a collection of good moral stories or stories about really messed up people and messed up situations. The Old Testament doesn’t depict a vengeful and wrathful God and who then changes in the New Testament to a God of love and grace.

The Old Testament is part 1 of the story of the God who is on a rescue mission to save humanity from their sin and the way God saves in the Old Testament is by His grace through faith.

Verse 44—“everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms…”

The whole Bible—from Genesis to Revelation—is telling one story with one main character.

The mission of God begins in Genesis 3 when Adam and Eve—the first humans and our representatives—disobey Him, sin, and are forced to leave the Garden of Eden and God’s presence…relationship severed by sin.

Genesis 3:15 (ESV)

I will put enmity between you and the woman,

and between your offspring and her offspring;

he shall bruise your head,

and you shall bruise his heel.”

As you make your way through the OT, you read about…

Noah—the story of God’s dealing with the sinful world in judgment and the righteous man who is saved from God’s wrath by God’s grace through faith.

Abraham—God’s gracious and undeserved choosing of a man who obeyed God by faith and whose faith was counted to him as righteousness. Not only did God, in His grace, choose this man to bless and protect, He promised to give him a nation of descendants who would be blessed and multiply and fill the earth and who would be a light of salvation to all nations.

And then we get to the book of Exodus. Abraham’s descendents—God’s chosen people—are enslaved in a nation that represents sin and the kingdom of Satan and God raises up a leader who delivers them out of the land of death, through the waters symbolizing baptism, and into covenant relationship with Him—receiving the law of God.

The OT gospel tells us of David—the chosen and anointed shepherd king who saves his people and who God promises will have a descendant that will sit on the throne forever.

Then you come to the prophets—Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel—all who God speaks through to tell of the day that the Messiah—the Christ/descendant of David—sent from God will come and establish the kingdom of God on earth.

God is a missional God—the rescue mission begins in Genesis 3, culminates at the cross of Calvary and the resurrection, and is completed in Revelation 7 with the great multitude from every nation, tribe, peoples, and languages standing before the throne.

Now…hear that last part of what I said again…the mission of God is completed in Revelation 7 with the great multitude from every nation, tribe, peoples, and languages around the throne. How do they get there?

Those who are around the throne are those who have been saved by the shed blood of the Son of God—Jesus. How did they receive the gospel? They were told.

The gospel is incomplete without witnessing.

I think that, unfortunately, a lot of us are conditioned to think about the gospel as being that—we’re sinners, Jesus died for our sin and rose again, and that if we believe in him we will be saved and go to heaven.

Listen, now. That’s true. That’s absolutely true. That’s most definitely a major part of the gospel—but, according to Jesus, that’s not the complete gospel. The gospel of Jesus Christ doesn’t end with you asking him into your heart and going to heaven. The gospel of Jesus is hear and believe—GO AND BE WITNESSES.

Verse 47—“and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations beginning in Jerusalem.”

Matthew 24:14 (ESV)

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.

This has been part of God’s plan ever since the book of Genesis. He chose this one group of people—the nation of Israel—and His purpose for them was that they live in relationship with Him and be a light of salvation to the nations—pointing all nations to the glory of God and bringing them into the worship of His great name.

But…they failed! They sinned and became just like the pagan nations. That’s why a greater Israel was needed—one who would live in perfect holiness and righteousness before God the Father and bring salvation to all who would repent and believe.

God’s plan has not changed. That’s why Jesus started the Church! He started the Church by calling His followers/his disciples to join him in the great mission of proclaiming salvation in HIS NAME to all nations/all peoples.

Disciples are witnesses.

In verse 48, Jesus says to his disciples “you are witnesses of these things.” What things? His suffering/death, resurrection, and the proclamation of the forgiveness of sins in His name to all nations. They have witnessed that Jesus did EVERYTHING that the Old Testament prophesied the Messiah/Christ would do.

And, again, remember Acts 1:8—“you will be my witnesses.”

You may be thinking, “I haven’t physically seen Jesus. I wasn’t an eye witness to his life, suffering, death, and resurrection. This doesn’t really apply to us.”

What is a witness? Someone who is affected by something—sees, hears, feels, etc…and then reports that.

Imagine for a second that you were shopping in a store and, and all of the sudden, a robbery took place. The police arrive and they begin to question all of the eye witnesses. They want to know what you saw, what you heard, what you experienced…they want to know every detail about the event you witnessed.

You and I are not eye witnesses to the physical…but, here’s what you HAVE witnessed, though…

If you’ve been born again then you have witnessed the:

Power of God in your life—the power of His death and resurrection that has saved you from your sin and your past and given you forgiveness?