Make Disciples

Intro

[Thank worship team]

Good morning Bethel Church, and good morning to our network of rural churches that are joining us live on YouTube. And if you are new here, I want to extend a special welcome to you. If you would, there are “Connect” cards in the seat in front of you. If you would fill that out there or at the Welcome Center outside of the sanctuary. We even have a free gift for you if you are new to Bethel. We would love to get in touch with you and discuss how to get connected to our church family.

Announcements:

Dave Fix funeral

Saturday at bethel

10 am memorial

11 am celebration of life service

Duane Herman birthday 1-3 @ city plaza

Today we will begin our series called “UNTIL.” If you are reading out of the Bibles in front of you, our passage can be found on page 855. If you do not have a Bible, please stop by the Welcome Center and take one. It is our gift to you.

TRANS: Pray

Opening Hook

Has anyone ever said to you, “don’t be afraid,” or, “don’t live from fear”?

So many people are crippled by fear.

They imagine that under every rock there is a snake waiting for them

They believe that the pain they’ve experienced in the past with surely happen again

They cannot enjoy good things in life because they believe it will one day, suddenly, come to an end

They live from fear.

But they make a perhaps equal and opposite mistake: trying to live with no fear. We might think this is admirable at first. “Wow, that person is fearless!” But we must ask the question, what is the purpose of fear?

Fear keeps us out of trouble.

We are able to imagine a future where we make a certain decision, and we want to avoid the negative consequences.

Fear is keeping us from making that decision.

Fear keeps us safe.

What’s the reason we look both ways when we cross the street? Because we fear getting hit by a car.

Fear is functioning to keep us alive.

Fear informs our priorities.

Perhaps we call this, as the kids say, “FOMO.” or “fear of missing out.” We fear not being a part of something important.

Or to put it another way, we fear prioritizing the wrong things.

Fear is a God-given emotion to help us consider the future. In fact, we cannot be wise unless we appropriately consider fear. Now if fear is the *only* emotion we consider, we may never do anything or our entire lives will be spent avoiding tragedies that never were likely in the first place.

Here’s something we should fear: being successful at the wrong things.

Jesus said in Luke 9:25

Luke 9:25 ESV

25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?

Chasing a worldly definition of success leads to the forfeiting of one’s own soul.

But Pastor, one might object, “that is an example that doesn’t apply to me. I’ve already given my life to Christ, so I’m good! I don’t need to worry about this.” Ahh, but the apostle Paul warns that though your soul may be saved, you may live your life focusing on the wrong things.

Paul said in 1 Corinthians 3:11-15

1 Corinthians 3:11–15 ESV

11 For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— 13 each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 14 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

In other words, there will be people in heaven because of the grace of Jesus Christ and their genuine response of faith… who wasted their lives. They had opportunities that were given to them, and they did nothing. It passed them by. Or, they were so focused on earthly things and not eternal things that it was a simple priority problem.

We should fear succeeding at the wrong things. Therefore, we must ask this key question:

Key Question

How should we define success?

We succeed when we embrace God’s priorities.

TRANS: [text]

Acts 1:6–7 ESV

6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.

One Last Encounter

Jesus does not tell us when He will return.

Acts 1:6-7

They once again asked if Jesus would restore the kingdom of physical Israel. F.F. Bruce, one of the most prominent christian scholars of the last century, makes this observation.

Their present question appears to have been the last flicker of their former burning expectation of an imminent theocracy with themselves as its chief executives. From now on they devoted themselves to the proclamation and service of God’s spiritual kingdom, which men and women enter by repentance and faith, and in which chief honor belongs to those who most faithfully follow their Lord in the path of obedience, service, and suffering.1

1 F. F. Bruce, The Book of the Acts, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1988), 35–36.

One day, Jesus will return both bodily and gloriously. (Acts 1:11; 1 Thess 4:16-17) This time is known only by the Father and will occur when no one is paying attention. (Matt. 24:36; 2 Peter 3:10; 1 Thess 5:1-2) Although Jesus’ kingdom has already begun, it is yet to be fully consummated until the final judgment. The second coming of Christ is the beginning of the consummation of all things.

TRANS: [text]

Acts 1:8 ESV

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.”

The Holy Spirit would empower the church for global evangelism.

Acts 1:8

The Holy Spirit

Pastor Kent Hughes suggests that while the book of Acts is referring to “the acts of the apostles,” he says,

Its title could well be “The Acts of the Holy Spirit” or “The Acts of the Risen Christ Through the Holy Spirit Working Through the Church.1

1 R. Kent Hughes, Acts: The Church Afire, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1996), 13.

The Holy Spirit is the one who empowers. How does He empower? I could say a lot, but I’ll mention 3:

The Holy Spirit gives knowledge

1 Corinthians 2 talks about how the things of God can only be discerned by the mind of God. One wonders why unbelievers do not accept the things of God, it seems foolish to them, but wisdom to us… why? Because there is a sense that God must lift the dark cloud over their minds in order for them to see. The Holy Spirit helps us to properly understand the scriptures.

The Holy Spirit gives gifts

We will discuss this more in future weeks, but briefly. The Holy Spirit gives various gifts in order for the church to be strong — built up. Gifts of teaching and preaching, gifts of service, gifts of mercy, gives of prayer, etc. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: We have everything we need in this church to reach the Lake Region… because God has gifted every person in this church to play a role to both build up the church and reach the lost.

The Holy Spirit gives courage

When we are fearful… the Holy Spirit helps us to act faithfully.

Very often, such courage causes us to extend beyond our comfort zone:

The narrative of Acts may end in Rome, but the goal is not Rome; it is the people of the whole earth. Luke’s story may have a westerly direction because that is the story he knows and has participated in personally, but the church’s movement in all directions exists beyond the boundaries of this narrative. The command of Jesus is not primarily about geography but about salvation for Jews and gentiles (see Acts 13:47; cf. Isa 49:6).1

1 Dean Pinter, Acts, ed. Scot McKnight, The Story of God Bible Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2019), 39.

The Holy Spirit would empower global disciple-making.

Jesus took the throne.

Acts 1:9, Psalm 47

Jesus took the throne.

Though we have God’s Word in our hands, there are often cultural references that are lost on us. This leads us to downplay the significance of the ascension of Jesus. We celebrate the resurrection every Easter, but rarely talk about the ascension of Jesus. Why? Frankly, it’s because of how this event is often talked about. Something like, “and then Jesus said some last words and floated away to heaven.” Now, to be clear, that’s pretty cool. But you must recognize that the way we think about this story is little more then “Jesus went home.” That understanding misses key context that those who witnessed it, and those who would later hear or read about it, would have understood.

Recall that at one point in Israel’s history, they longed for a king. They saw the nations around them and were jealous that they had a human king who would rule over them and give them direct orders. God warned them that this would backfire, but he provided them a king: Saul. Saul was someone who looked the part, but his pride was his downfall. He did not obey the Lord. God replaced Saul with David. David was also flawed, but David repented when he was confronted. He was referred to as a man after God’s own heart. But he was still flawed.

The Israelites longed for not just a king, but a perfect king, a victorious king over their enemies. Recall to just a few verses ago when they asked, “so are you going to establish your kingdom now??” They wanted a king who would destroy Rome. They did not comprehend what Jesus had just accomplished.

Jesus did not come to destroy Rome, he came to destroy the power of sin and death — Satan himself.

In the ancient world, people believed that the one who would show himself worthy from battle would then ascend to the throne. This victory would lead to a coronation ceremony! This moment echoed Psalm 47, and look and what is happening in this Psalm:

Psalm 47 ESV

1 Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy! 2 For the Lord, the Most High, is to be feared, a great king over all the earth. 3 He subdued peoples under us, and nations under our feet. 4 He chose our heritage for us, the pride of Jacob whom he loves. Selah 5 God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. 6 Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises! 7 For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm! 8 God reigns over the nations; God sits on his holy throne. 9 The princes of the peoples gather as the people of the God of Abraham. For the shields of the earth belong to God; he is highly exalted!

The ascension echos this coronation hymn in several ways:

The psalm depicts God ascending “with a shout” and the “sound of a trumpet.” This painted a picture of a dramatic, triumphant, and public event rather than a quiet departure.

The psalm celebrates the Lord as the “King over all the earth,” as he sits on the throne. This establishes where Jesus is going! He is not just floating away. We must imagine Jesus stepping up the long staircase up to assume his throne. The warrior who has returned from battle, victorious! He has accomplished his mission, Satan has been humiliated and sin’s and death’s power defeated, and how Jesus rules over all the earth.

The Psalm links the promise of Genesis 3 that the dependent of Eve would crush the head of the Serpent, Satan. What is under the ruler’s feet? The nations. All people are subjugated to Him.

Lastly, the Psalm is a joyful picture of worship directed to the enthroned King. “Clap your hands” and “shout to God with loud songs of joy.” I imagine all of Heaven stood in joyful songs of praise and applause when the Angels and heavenly beings watched Jesus return to heaven and took the throne. “He returned! He did it!”

TRANS: [text]

Big Idea

Until Jesus returns, we will make disciples.

Let’s return to the idea of success. “We succeed when we embrace God’s priorities.”

This weekend we are celebrating my son’s 6th birthday. He turns 6 today! But that’s not the thing that I’m most celebrating this weekend.

When we do bedtime with the kids, we always pray with them. We talk about their day and reflect, and then pray. And I always pray over my kids that they would one day respond in faith to the gospel. And I use those words. My daughter Ella has, so I pray it over my other two.

Earlier this week, my wife and I were talking to Athan about Jesus. I started to get the sense that he understood the gospel. I asked him lots of pointed questions,

“what is sin?”

“What does sin do to your relationship with God?”

“Why did Jesus die on the cross?”

“How do you have a relationship with God again?”

“Do you want Jesus to forgive you of your sins today?”

One after the next he answered perfectly, and though he didn’t cite a bible verse, I could hear in his answers various Bible verses he’s memorized because of the Awana program here. I asked him, “Athan, do you want to give your life to Jesus?” And he said, “Yes!” And not half a second later one of his sisters had a toy he wanted to play with and his 5-year-old boy brain went “SQUIREL” and he was off.

But that night we came back to the conversation, and He prayed with me to receive Jesus. Today is his birthday, but Wednesday was when he was Born again in Christ.

And now you know what? Like all who put their faith and trust in Jesus, he is now on the life-long journey to learn what it looks like to follow Jesus. This is discipleship. God is good.

Friends, there is nothing - NOTHING - more important than leading people to Christ and then teaching them how to follow Jesus.

TRANS:

Acts 1:10–11 ESV

10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 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.”

Application

What are you waiting around for?

Acts 1:10-11

They had witnessed the coronation of the King! But they were staring up in the sky for far too long.

Disciples need to stop looking down or looking up and start looking ahead.1

1 David E. Garland, Acts, ed. Mark L. Strauss and John H. Walton, Teach the Text Commentary Series (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books: A Division of Baker Publishing Group, 2017), 16.

Think about this, God does not send angels to spread the gospel and make disciples, he sends US. How often do we think of ourselves as lower in “rank” than angels, yet the role of the angels in this text is to remind the early followers of Jesus of their mission. Because one day, “he will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

Last week during the Q/A with our conference speakers, one person asked something like, “with everything going on in our busy lives, how do we make sure to prioritize the right things like faith and family?”

I’ll tell you how. It’s actually very simple, but difficult.

Put what is most important on the calendar first

Then you must learn how to say no.

I think all of us know this. This is not new information. The problem is we put off reorganizing our calendar because, truthfully, we make our decisions because

We want to fit in

We don’t want to miss out

We don’t want to let others down

We don’t want to fail

On and on. But recall that the Lord has sent the Holy Spirit, the 3rd person of the Trinity, to enable you to be faithful. So ask yourself this, “what am I waiting for?”

TRANS: If you feel overwhelmed at what God is calling you to do… here’s a mindset shift that will help you get going:

Think it steps, not outcomes.

In light of Jesus’ mission, what would a successful week look like for you—even if you cannot see immediate results?

What is Jesus asking you to do?

Do not ask yourself, “How do I make a fully-formed disciple this week?” That’s too big. Simply ask,

“who can I pray for?”

“Who can I read my Bible with?”

“What question can I ask so I can learn myself?”

“Who can I teach what little I know about Jesus?”

Conclusion : When we define success as embracing God’s priorities, we build our lives on eternal things, the things of God, the things that matter. What is God prompting you to do?

COMMUNION

We must orient our lives around the mission of Christ as our act of worship to Him. Worship is primarily not an “act” that we do, but a *response* to what God has already done. Jesus is our victorious king, and as we live and sing and take communion now, all of this is done because of what Jesus has done for us.

Communion is often a solemn time of confession, of remembering. But a mistake we can make is to make communion about *us*. We think about if we’ve been “good” recently, and often feel around the communion table - not grace - shame. But we miss the point. Communion is when we must remember and celebrate what Jesus has done for us. It was not our works that made us clean, forgiven, and loved, it was simple trusting in Jesus’ finished work on the cross.

As the elements are being passed, let us sing a song of allegiance to Christ: All Hail King Jesus. Set your minds on Him and His great love for you. That we, sinners, receive mercy and grace from our victorious savior.

RESPOND

Sing:

Bread and Cup

Mark 14:22–24 ESV

22 And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” 23 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. 24 And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.

Pray

Talk About It/Think About It

What are some ways people measure a successful life?

In what ways does wanting to know what God will do next keep us from obeying what He has already made clear?

How does Jesus’ promise of the Holy Spirit’s power change the way we approach sharing our faith, especially when we feel afraid or inadequate?

Jesus’ mission reaches from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth. Where might He be calling us to cross a boundary of comfort, familiarity, or background to help someone follow Him?

How does understanding the ascension as Jesus taking His throne deepen the way you think about this event?

Where do fear or discouragement make it difficult for you to live confidently under Jesus’ rule? How could His reign shape your response?

What tends to keep you waiting to participate in Jesus’ mission—fear, busyness, feeling unqualified, or wanting the perfect opportunity?

What is one specific step you can take this week to help someone move toward Jesus or grow in following Him?