Pure Motives

Good morning

If we have not had a chance to meet, my name is Stefan I am the pastor of preaching here at Harvest Bible Church

And we are finishing up our “Pure church” series this morning

It has been a great series and we have received so much great feedback

I have heard how God’s word has encouraged many of you, Confronted many of you, Led to changes for many of you

And that is what we want - We want to be a people who are anchored on God’s word in such a way that his word ministers to us, convicts us, and brings about change in us

Because we want to be a people who are being changed to look more and more like what God intends for us

And that is how we havve been using the word “Purity” throughout this series

That to be a pure church is to be aligned with the word and will of God

To listen to what God says and to want what God wants

And in this series we have seen what a pure church is and what it looks like

It has pure doctrine

It has pure conduct

It has a pure vision of sex and marriage

It has a pure vision of leadership and submission to leadership

But I want us to pause for a moment and recognize that it is possible for us to do all of those things for the wrong reasons.

It is possible to have the right beliefs and to have the right view of how we should live and to do all of the right things but to have the wrong motives

It is all too common today for Christians and churches to pursue the wrong end goal, all the while doing all the right things.

Here is what I mean:

It is common for people to believe that by following Jesus, he will give you the things you want

That’s the wrong motive - As if believing the right things and doing the right things was a formula to personal success.

It is also common for churches to be motivated by having a bigger church the one down the road or building an online brand.

That’s the wrong motive - That is building a human kingdom

No, the right motive is the one that God tells us should motivate us - His motives should be our motives.

As a church, as an assembly of God’s people, we must let our motives be aligned with God’s word and God’s will

And so we are gonna talk about what it means to have pure motives as a church

And to see that we all need to turn to the book of Acts chapter 1

If you did not bring a Bible, be sure to grab one under a seat nearby or get there on a device, but let’s all have our eyes on Acts 1.

Just to give you a little background on the book of Acts as you turn there…

The book of Acts opens with Jesus after his resurrection

The life, ministry, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus have all taken place

And Jesus is about to return to his heavenly dwelling from which he will reign over all until he returns

And before he ascends to heaven he is going to give his disciples instructions on what should motivate them as his followers

And the instructions that Jesus gives to his disciples are not just for those disciples at that time

They are for all of his followers throughout all time until the day that he returns

And so we need to give these words our full attention as his people

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.””

These are God’s words for us as his people - May we have ears to hear them and hearts to obey them.

Big idea: A pure church is motivated by the mission of God. [7:00]

I want to make sure that we are all on the same page about one crucial point before we get into the text

It is a point that I have made and mentioned at various times but for this sermon and passage especially it is essential that we be on the same page

God has had one mission for creation since the beginning of time

It has been the singular mission of his work in human history throughout time

And it will be his singular mission until the end of time when we are with him for eternity

God has been doing one thing and one thing only…

His mission is to assemble a people in his presence who reflect him to the ends of the Earth for his glory. [REPEAT]

It has taken different forms throughout different eras of human history, but the function of God’s mission has always been the same… to assemble a people in his presence who reflect him to the end of the Earth for his glory.

[Unpack to prove?]

In the Garden - He assembled the first man and woman and told them to reflect him

At Sinai - He assembled the people of Israel and gave them the commands of what it looked like to reflect him

Throughout the OT - He tells the nation of israel that as they reflect him, they would be a light to the nations

NT - New creations who are being made into the image of Christ, to reflect him, tasked with reaching the nations

And in Rev. we see a multitude assembled in God’s presence from every nation, tribe, and tongue.

So if we are going to understand Acts 1:6–11, we have to see that what Jesus is saying to His disciples is not a new idea but the continuation of God’s eternal mission

But here’s the problem: while this has always been God’s mission, the reality of sin bends us toward our own mission.

Because the root of all sin is that I want what I want more than I want what God wants, and because sin is something every person struggles against, we are all affected by our own desire to advance our own mission, rather than God’s

As individuals, we listen to the world’s message that life is about us.

And so we live for success, for money, for comfort, for the dream life.

We are motivated by the things that promise to make us happy — but those things fade.

As a church, we can make the same mistake.

We start chasing after bigger buildings, bigger budgets, and bigger reputations.

And none of those things are wrong in themselves — but they become wrong when they replace the mission.

We cannot be a church driven by worldly measures of success. We must be a church driven by the mission of Christ.

Which means that we are driven to reach the lost with the message of the Gospel so that more people can be brought into the presence of God through Christ.

Because God’s mission is to assemble a people in his presence who reflect him to the ends of the Earth for his glory.

And that must be the mission that we are motivated by as a church.

[Bridge Question] So what is our part in the mission? And what is going to motivate us to carry out that mission?

Mission + Motivation:

[Our mission is] Our Calling, [and our motivation is] His Power (6-8a) [12:00]

You and I have a calling as followers of Jesus

He tells his disciples what that calling is in Matthew 28.

Jesus says that our commission as disciples is to make more disciples to the ends of the earth

He says, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations”

And at Harvest Bible Church that is such an essential part of our identity as a church that it is in our very purpose statement when you first walk into the building.

We exist to glorify God through the fulfillment of the great commission

That is our calling

But if we’re not careful, we will confuse our mission with God’s mission.

We’ll assume that the things I’m passionate about must be the things that God is passionate about.

Right? We flip it

Instead of saying, “God, make my desires look like yours”

We say, “God, make your desires look like mine.”

And when that happens, we make our agenda the mission instead of God’s calling.

That is exactly what the disciples do.

Look at v. 6

Acts 1:6 “So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?””

Now, to be fair, that was a reasonable question from their perspective.

For generations, the people of Israel had lived under the authority of foreign empires.

Long gone were the glory days of David and Solomon when Israel was its own strong, independent kingdom.

So it makes sense that they longed for freedom and restoration of those days that were long gone.

And when they saw Jesus crucified, they thought those hopes had died.

But now He was standing before them alive.

He had risen from the dead.

He had conquered sin and the grave.

And so they think, “So, Jesus, are we going to do this thing or what?!”

Kick the Romans out - Bring back the glory days! Let’s go!

In their minds, that was the mission. Because that is what they wanted… And so they assumed that was what God wanted to.

But notice what’s happening: they were assuming that their mission was God’s mission.

Don’t we do the same thing today?

Don’t we so often take the things that we want most and baptize them and call them God’s will?

We think “Because I want this thing, God should make it happen.”

And we make our mission his mission, rather than asking him to make his mission our mission.

And when I do this, I will live for the wrong things.

I will measure success by the wrong standards.

And I will claim to be living for the mission of Christ, all the while living for my own mission.

So how do we avoid this?

Look at how Jesus responds in verse 7

Acts 1:7 “He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.’”

In other words, Jesus says:

“You don’t set the mission. God does.”

“You don’t control the timetable. God does.”

“You don’t get to define the outcome. God does.”

Jesus doesn’t say they’re wrong that restoration is coming — He corrects their assumption of what that restoration would look like and when it would happen.

They were focused on Israel, but God is focused on the nations.

They were focused on an earthly kingdom, but God is focused on an eternal kingdom.

They were focused on their time, but God was focused on his time.

And church family, we need the same correction.

We need to recognize where we have too often made our own agendas the mission.

We need to see where we have confused our passions with God’s passions, our desires with God’s will.

And we need to let God’s Word correct us and redirect us back to His calling:

The calling Jesus gives in Matthew 28 - Make disciples of all nations.

Church family… if we miss that calling, we are wasting our time as a church.

There is no such thing as a pure church that is not concerned about the mission of God.

It’s God’s mission - So it must be our mission.

And listen - When we on our calling to make disciples of all nations…

… we can be motivated to carry out the mission when we recognize that carrying out that mission is not dependent on our power or our ability

But by HIS power brought by HIS Holy Spirit who makes it possible for US to advance HIS mission.

Look at v. 8

Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you…”

God does not give us a calling and then leave us to figure it out on our own.

He gives us His Spirit.

Jesus is saying, “You will do it with the power that God supplies.”

The truth is, the mission of God is impossible apart from the power of God.

Think about it: the mission is to bring the lost to saving faith in Jesus Christ, to see people transformed into worshipers who glorify God with their lives.

You and I can’t do that.

No clever argument, program, no charisma can change a dead heart into a living heart.

That is something only God can do.

And though he calls us to go and make disciples, he provides the power needed to do the impossible

I love the quote from pioneer missionary Hudson Taylor, the first missionary to inland China - “God’s work in God’s way never lacks God’s supply.”

The mission of God requires power - And God supplies the power of the mission by giving his people his Spirit who powerfully works in and through them to accomplish the mission.

That means we can be confident. We can be bold. We can be faithful. Because the success of the mission does not depend on us — it depends on God.

Our part is obedience. Our part is faithfulness. Our part is answering the calling He has given us.

Our part is to say, “God… its your mission… so it will be our mission.”

So: Whose mission have you been living for?

If someone we to look at you thoughts, your actions, how you spent your time, how you spent your money, the conversations you had…

What mission would they say you were pursuing?

We must be a church that motivated by the mission of God

It is our calling

And it is possible because of his power.

So, that is the first point - Our mission is our calling, and our motivation is his power.

Second…

[Our mission is] Our Witness, [and our motivation is] His Return (8b-11) [23:00]

I think that we often get worried about the mission of God, especially when it comes to the conversations we will have with non-believers

Right?

That scary word… “Evangelism”

And the reason we get scared is because we misunderstand the mission.

We think, the mission is “Our Arguing”

Like, “I need to be convincing and a skilled debater…”

But that’s not the mission…

Our mission is our witness

Look at what Jesus says in v. 8

Acts 1:8 “…you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Jesus says that the mission is to be witnesses

You think about a witness… A witness is not a lawyer

A lawyer argues a case.

A lawyer seeks to convince.

A lawyer is a master at rhetorical devices and debate

Can we all just recognize that Jesus does not say you will go out and argue my case…

Jesus doesn’t need you to be a lawyer - Jesus doesn’t need you to be a professional argument

His word stands on its own

Are there some who are gifted in dialogue and are skilled in things like apologetics where they can argue for the validity of the faith?

Absolutely!

But the mission for all followers of Christ is simply to be a witness

And a witness is not asked to argue a case - A witness is asked to testify to what he has seen.

That is the mission - Bear witness to what you have seen

So what is that? What exactly are we called to bear witness as our mission?

And to answer this, I want you to turn to the left to Luke 24

[Give them time to turn]

It is a passage that has some significant overlap with our current passage in Acts 1

Jesus has resurrected and is conversing with his disciples

Look at what Jesus says, starting in v. 44

Luke 24:44–48 “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.”

So what are we bearing witness to?

We are witnesses to the fulfillment of God’s promises in Jesus Christ.

We are witnesses to truth of his sinless life and his death on the cross.

We are witnesses to His resurrection from the grave.

We are witnesses to the reality of forgiveness of sins that is available in His name to all who repent.

And we are witnesses to the transformation that comes from that message

That I was dead in my trespasses and sins, but Christ made me alive

That I was in bondage to sin and addiction, but Christ set me free

That I was broken, but Christ put me back together

That I was hurt and scared, but Christ healed me.

That is the message. That is the gospel. That is what we are witnesses to

Not our opinions and not politics.

Christ crucified and risen and new life in his name.

I’m reminded of the blind man in John nine that Jesus heals.

He has brought before the religious leaders who cannot make sense of how someone could heal a man blind from birth

And they demand that the man given an account for how it is that he was healed

They tell him to defend his case

And his response is simply “All that I know is that I was blind and now I see.”

He didn’t need to be a lawyer… He simply bore witness to the life changing truth of Jesus Christ

That is our mission

You don’t need to convince that family member or that neighbor.

You simply need to bear witness to the truth of the gospel and how it has changed your life

And God will take care of the rest.

But we need to be careful - Lest we think that bearing witness is only about our words…

Your witness isn’t just your words - It’s also your walk

Your life demonstrates the truth of the gospel and your life should display the transformation of the Gospel.

We bear witness to the truth and transformation of the Gospel message with our words and with our lives.

If we say we’ve been changed, it should be evident in how we live.

And I want you to notice you can’t have one without the other

You can’t have words with no walk - You can’t be sharing the truth of the gospel all the while living as if the gospel isn’t true in your life

That is called hypocrisy - And no one is interested that.

But you also can’t have walk with no words

The gospel is inherently a message

It just must be accompanied by a life that reflects those words

So bearing witness means your words and your walk both testify to the truth and transformation of the Gospel.

We have a message - But that message must be accompanied by a life that matches it.

And what is our motivation for bearing witness to those around us?

The return of Jesus

Look at v. 9-11

Acts 1:9–11 “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.””

Church family, Jesus Christ, who rose from the dead and ascended to the right hand of the father in heaven from where he currently reigns, is returning to usher in the fullness of his kingdom.

And he told multiple parables when he walked with his disciples about the importance of remaining ready for his return and being about his business while we wait

When we forget about the future return of Christ, We get distracted by lesser things and we get off mission

I think it is all too common to be wrapped up in things of this world precisely because you have forgotten that the king of kings is coming back

It is not something we think about much and so we do not think about advancing his mission in this world

But when you and I remember that Jesus is coming back, that truth will motivate us to be about his business while we wait so that we will be found faithful at his return

Our mission is to be witnesses - Our motivation is knowing that he is coming back and we want to be busy while we wait.

[35:00]

So we need to talk about what it looks like to be about his business while we wait for his return

Look back at v. 8

They are currently in Jerusalem when he says this… Which means that to get to Judea, Samaria, and to the end of the earth…

They will necessarily have to leave Jerusalem and go to these far off place

And I want you to see a visualization of this [SLIDE 1]

Notice the concentric circles that visualize going out

They will not wait for these groups to come to them in Jerusalem, but they will go out with their words and their walk as witnesses

And if we are going to be at church that is motivated by the mission of Christ in Phoenix Arizona in 2025, We need to recognize that we have our own versions of these things

It is not enough for us, church family, to exist at the cross streets of Tatum and Thunderbird and hope that because the building is here God will bring people.

[SLIDE 2]

We need to go out from Harvest Bible Church, with our words and our walk as witnesses for Christ, To our community, to our city, to our nation, and to the end of the Earth

We don’t just stay in our building, but we desire to be about the mission of God to the ends of the earth

Which will require going out, further, and further…

And we are currently doing this…

[SLIDE 3]

And we currently have ministries and ministry partners that fit in these categories

In our community, we have the Harvest compassion center that meets the needs of so many people in our surrounding community

In our city, we have our ESL ministry that brings people from all around Phoenix to engage with people from our church

We are partnered with the navigators, specifically around university mission, with Cameron and Emma Kessner active on the GCU campus

Globally, we have ministry partners in India, Moldavia, Guatemala, Mexico

[SLIDE 4]

But if look again at these

But what we cannot do is say, “Well, because we have those partners, we are good. Nothing more needed for the mission.”

We should, as a church, be constantly asking “Where else can we take the gospel?”

In what other ways can we be witnesses of the mission of God in our community, our city, our nation, and globally

Because it is God’s mission, it will be our mission.

We believe this so strongly as an elder team that we recently decided to increase how much of our annual budget goes toward local and global missions

Because we as a church must be about the mission of God and our team of elders want to lead our church in that direction.

And so it is a priority for us as a church and we will budget accordingly

But that is also true for all of us individually

Because it is the mission of God and because we want it to be a priority as his people, We will make it a priority

And there are three ways that we can all make the mission of God in our church a priority

Pray - We should all be praying for God’s mission to go forward and asking him to help us to live for his mission each day

Give - God has put us in this time and this place with these resources for his mission

There are two things that most clearly reveal whose mission we are motivated by

Our time and our money

What we spend both on is the mission we are motivated by

When we don’t give to the mission of God, it is the most telling sign that we are living for the wrong mission

When we are living for the mission of God, we will prioritize it by using our resources to advance it

Go - Our calling is to “Go make disciples” - There is an inherent going in the mission of God

Some might only go next door, others might go to the other side of the globe, but going is part of the mission.

So…

What is God calling you to do today?

How is he calling you pray?

How is he calling you to give?

Where is he calling you to go?

If it is to a person, write that person’s name down and go to them as a witness this week

If it is to a people, write that place down and see what it will take for you to go there.

A pure church that is motivated by the mission of God will pray, it will give, and it will go

It won’t wait for others to do so - It will be motivated by the mission of God.

Because God empowers us, we will live out our calling

Because Christ is returning, we will boldly live as witnesses to the life-transforming message of the Gospel.

Let us be a church motivated by our calling and His power, our witness and His return.