What are we supposed to do now
How do we change the world?
Just finished celebrating Easter-remember the resurrection of Jesus. The resurrection is the key event that defines Christianity, but much of the New Testament tells us what happened after that time. Jesus established a new relationship between man and God, and after that it was time to begin building and developing those relationships.
The Bible tells us that after Jesus’ resurrection, He spent several days with his disciples and then one day he was taken up before their eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. (Acts 1:9) “They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:10-11)
In fact, there was apparently a little know artist present at the time who captured the scene for all of history. We’ve gotten our hands on a digital reproduction of that painting to show you today.
Imagine the scene. These guys spent three years with Jesus. They saw him do amazing things and make some incredible statements about himself. They followed Him everywhere and were anxious to see him overthrow the Roman govt. and establish God’s kingdom on earth. They panicked when Jesus died, but now he was back If they were amazed with him before, imagine how they felt now. This guy overcame death! Nothing could stop him now! You can sense the anticipation in a question they asked him in Acts 1: 6: “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
His response was: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But YOU will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and YOU will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Then he left them.
Imagine them standing there wondering what to do now. Wait a minute, what did he say? WE would be his witnesses? WE’RE supposed to by in charge now? What are we supposed to do now?
The fact is that Jesus didn’t just take off without preparing these guys. They spent three years with him listening to everything he said and experiencing everything he did. Just before leaving he gave them some specific instructions
First he told them to wait until he sent the Holy Spirit to be their guide and counselor, and he also told them what they were to do. We can read it in Matthew 28:19 “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Making disciples means making followers of Jesus; and we’ll talk more about baptism in a couple of weeks. So their job was to GO throughout the world making disciples-teaching them everything they knew about Jesus, and those people would go around doing the same thing for people they knew.
So, really, their job was to make disciples who made disciples.
With their the Holy Spirit, God’s word, and their testimonies, this handful of young men changed the world!
That is the very thing we are her to do today. We’ve got the same instructions…Go and make disciples…baptizing them…teaching them to do obey Jesus. And we have the same opportunity they had to change the world we live in.
They were faced with a religious culture that killed Jesus and wanted to kill anyone associated with him.
We are faced with a culture that’s seen a large number of religious leaders under moral disgrace…sexual misconduct, financial misconduct. Hurts our credibility.
..a culture that sees “church” as boring and irrelevant,
They left the relative safety of Israel…among God’s chosen…and blessed people…to go out into a world full of people who didn’t know God. Who worshipped all kinds of created god’s...the sun, the moon, demonic forces…many sacrificed their own children to these gods….
…and they succeeded in teaching many of those people about the love of the true God and his son Jesus…
We are faced with a culture that attempts to fill it’s spiritual needs with all sorts of activity. The gods of today are money, possessions, movies, television & computers.
How do we change our world?
How do we do the same thing they did today? How do we succeed in changing the world we live in? How do we teach people to love and give their lives to the one true God and his son Jesus?
The best place to start is to look at what the early church did and what Jesus did as he trained those first church leaders.
Acts 2:42-great summary of what the early church looked like. Just after Holy Spirit was given to those first followers of Christ about 3000 became new followers of Christ.
Acts 2:42-47 says “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to everyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
There’s more going on there than what we typically think of when we think about church. Sure there’s the prayer and teaching-and devotion to that teaching-that we’d expect to see, but these folks spent their lives together. They met daily. Shared meals together. Took care of one another’s needs. You can be sure that they knew one another pretty well. They knew ups and downs on one another’s lives. They knew the struggles and they knew the victories each person had.
This is the kind of example Jesus set for those early disciples. Those early disciples spent their lives with Jesus. They left their families and old jobs behind to follow him wherever he went.
Jesus used that time with these guys to teach them whenever a moment presented itself. As you read through the stories of Jesus, you see that he’s always explaining things to his disciples as they happen.
(Follows OT teaching: find reference)
Jesus also dug in deeper with those disciples…the people who really dedicated themselves to him. Jesus often spoke to large crowds of people, and when he did he usually used parables…stories to make connections between spiritual truths and everyday things people could relate to…the same as we often try to do here.
Matthew 13:10-13 tells us why. Just after speaking to a large crowd, one of his followers asked Jesus why he uses parables to teach. He replied, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. This is why I speak in parables: ‘Though seeing they do not see, though hearing they do not hear or understand.’”
He’s pointing that when he speaks to a crowd, he knows that not everyone of them get it. Not everyone of them is really devoted to God. Many are distracted with the worries of life or their not sure if they’re ready to really believer this stuff Jesus says… He knows that whatever he says to them, may not make sense, or they may not take time to really think about it, so he keeps is simple. He uses stories to help them make connections with the spiritual truths he’s teaching and hopefully remember them.
For his disciples, though, he takes the time to talk more about the parables and explain them. He goes deeper with them because he knows they get it. They are truly devoted to Him and will take time to make sure they understand these things and will apply them.
These are the examples for us to follow if we are going to make a difference today just as Jesus’ early followers did in their world.
They had their temple meetings and spoke to large groups of people-just as we do on Sunday mornings. We encourage one another, sing praises and share God’s word in ways that help us and anyone present who is not certain whether they are ready to fully devote themselves to God continue to think on those things.
Undertstand, too, that there is a role to play in Sunday mornings for each and every one of us. My job and Willie’s job are really to give you opportunities to play a part in what we are doing here and help you gain the knowledge and experience you’d need to do it all on your own.
-your skills may be needed at any time. What if we were gone. What if Sunday school teachers were all gone. Who would carry on?
-Dan; main setup guy-surgery. Need help
-why wait? Start now while we are still available to help train you!
We also need to be involved in one another’s lives-to dig deeper and to share our joys and concerns with one another. We emphasize our small groups for that-they are a great opportunity to do those things. But it’s more than that. It’s the phone calls, and visits. Getting to know what’s going on in one another’s lives. Laughing/crying together. Calling one another to ask about things we don’t understand, to ask for prayer when we are struggling with something.
We have tools at out fingertips…phones, email, walks across town to be involved in one another’s live….and in the lives of people who don’t know God yet.
There are practical things we can do everyday to help us keep focused on making disciples.
-carry a pocket bible with you everywhere you go
-maybe a notebook---stories you want to share/prayer requests
-keep God’s words on display all around you. In your bedroom, in your car, in your bathroom!
-story friend’s father on the throne each day
-in with the good, out with the crap!
We can make a difference. God has given us all we need. You are all qualified to carry out Jesus’ instructions for us. Together, we WILL change the world!