DONE 210919 Acts: Jesus is the Great Commissioner

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|Opening Slide|

|INTRODUCTION|

Please open your Bibles to Matthew 28.... PAUSE LET THEM FLIP. GATHER YOUR THOUGHTS AND PROCEED

Throughout 2021, we have enjoyed seeing various aspects of the coming Son of God. In Genesis, at the very beginning, after sin destroyed the perfect communion that Adam and Eve had, we saw God flying to the rescue to save and provide the hope of a promise. A promised child who would come and crush the serpent. |INTRODUCTION|

In Exodus we learned through the Passover narrative, that God would provide a perfect Passover Lamb, to die and through His death to cover, protect and shield His people from the final plague on Egypt.

In Leviticus, we learned that this coming Son of God would provide perfect cleansing atonement which would appease the wrath of God.

In Deuteronomy, Moses told the people of Israel that soon a prophet would come from God, better than Him and reveal God to them. |INTRODUCTION|

In Joshua we saw that Jesus would function as both Savior and Judge as Rahab was saved and Achan was destroyed.

In Judges we saw Gideon, emboldened, empowered because God displayed Himself as Immanuel.

In Ruth, Boaz taught us that this coming One will be an Israelite, a Kinsmen Redeemer.

In Chronicles, God promised to David that One of his Descendants would be the One promised to Eve, that this One would be our peace.

But then we learned from David’s 22 Psalm that this coming One would suffer but then He would be glorified.

Proverbs taught us that in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and Ezekiel demonstrated that One that God would ultimately send would not be like the rest of Israel’s leader. He would be a Good Shepherd. Esther taught us of the character of Christ in her deep humility and service. Isaiah showed us God’s Missionary to mankind would be a suffering Servant while Malachi illustrated that He would be a great King.

Last week we looked at Malachi as Jesus arrived after 6,000 years of waiting. Born humbly - Son of God and Son of man, not arriving in pomp but quietly, fulfilling all of God’s perfect requirements for righteousness - to be the perfect substitute that sinful humanity needed. |VERSE SLIDE|

Matthew 5:17 tells us that He came to perfectly live out all of God’s just, holy and good requirements for human kind which He did flawlessly.

Then, after 3 years of active ministry when all was completed, when He had taught all that needed to be taught at that time to His disciples, living out the character of God and manifested through signs and miracles that He was who He claimed to be, after all that He told His disciples that He was going to die and come back to life.... |VERSE SLIDE|

He gave Himself up willingly, to be a Lamb led to slaughter. He was not murdered against His will but willing died to atoning for sin, cleansing and purifying all who would believe. He died, suffering as a Servant in humility and through His death on that cruel cross He showed Himself to be the Kinsmen Redeemer for mankind. |INTRODUCTION|

You see, He was everything, everything that God showed us He would be. He is our peace with God, a descendant of David, the quintessence of wisdom and a compassionate good Shepherd. He is Immanuel, God with us.

After He died, He proved that His prophetic word was true when God raised Him from the dead. Then He spent 40 days after He was raised teaching His disciples about the coming Kingdom of God. Giving them instructions, proving that He was really alive and teaching them what there were unable to learn before.

One of those instructions that He gave them was to leave Jerusalem. Leave the city where He was crucified, buried and raised and go back to Galilee |MAP|. At a minimum this was a 75 mile journey from Jerusalem to Galilee and He met them on a mountain.

Which mountain we are not told but one of the most prominent is this one which overlooks the sea of Galilee. |SLIDE| It’s name is Arbel and it is one of the most magnificient mountains in the region. |SLIDE| It may not be this one but I would like to think that it is because it is simply stunning giving panoramic views of the world. |SLIDE| You can see the Golan heights, Tiberius and Mount Hermon. |SLIDE| Judea to the South, Samaria to the South West, Tyre and Sidon to the Northwest and Lebanon and Syria to the North and Damascus to the North East and to the east the arid wastelands of Jordan. |SLIDE| From this mountain you can see everywhere. |MAP|.|MAP|.|MAP|.|MAP|.|MAP|.

He sent them to a mountain, perhaps this one with this magnificent view. One where they could see every nation on a clear day and understand the instructions that He was going to give them....

This would be completely unlike when satan tempted Jesus. Do you remember that in Matthew 4? Remember how satan tempted Jesus’ with every temptation and his last most hideous one where he took Jesus to the top of a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory and audaciously said that he would forfeit if only Jesus would submit to him. This is different.

Now the true Ruler of the world is on the high mountain with His servants, whom He loves and these were the instructions that He gave them. If you have your text open please follow along starting in verse 16 of Matthew 28.

Matthew 28:16–20 | 16...the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. 17 When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful. (ἐδίστασαν) THEY LACKED CONFIDENCE, THEY WERE HESITANT, UNCERTAIN, DOUBTFUL

18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.

PAUSEPAUSEPAUSEPAUSEPAUSEPAUSEPAUSEPAUSEPAUSEPAUSEPAUSEPAUSELET THEM THINK ABOUT THIS

AGAIN NOT LIKE SATAN WHO TRIED TO MANIPULATE A PHYSICALLY WEAK JESUS, THIS IS THE TRUE RULER OF THE UNIVERSE SPEAKING TO WEAK DISCIPLES AND HE SAID

19 “Go therefore (BECAUSE ALL AUTHORITY HAS BEEN GIVEN ME GO) and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Do these things. Go, leave, move, make disciples, followers of Me, baptize them, immerse them, bring them into the body, in the name of the Father, Son and Spirit teach them everything you have been witness to over these last 3 years. I am with you. I have authority. I am the true ruler of the Universe and I am also Immanuel, God with you.

I am with you now and I will be with you as minister to people near and far throughout all the years, and decades and centuries until this time ends.

Let’s go to prayer. |BLANK SLIDE|

PRAYER

Lord, You are the true Ruler of the Universe. SHAKE HEAD How we honor Your Name. PAUSE You proved that Your promises were not hot air when You did exactly what You said You would do. You provided pictures, examples, illustrations throughout Israel’s history that showed us who You would really be and then, miracle of miracles, You arrived and did just what You said You would do exactly according to Your timeline.

Lord, we honor Your promise keeping, we honor Your sacrifice, we glorify and lift up the name of Jesus, our King of kings and Lord of lords. The author of our faith and sustainer of our life. You are here with us now having provided us with Your very own Spirit. Enabling us to worship You just as You ought to be. Let us hold nothing back from You today.

Lord, as we open Your precious word, enable us to receive what You have ordained for us to learn today. Sink it into our minds and hearts. Renew a vigorous and lively trust in You.

I pray all these things because Your Holy Spirit is translating my inarticulate thoughts and words and Your Merciful Son is pleading on our behalf. Please answer our prayers today, amen.

SERMON

Please open your texts to Acts chapter 1. Our context is quite simple. |CONTEXT| Jesus Christ has risen from the dead as He told His disciples He would do. He has sent them to Galilee, to a particular mountain, where He met them and commissioned them. Remember, they are hesitant, they are weak, they are afraid. |SLIDE| They have been told by Jesus that they are going to go out into all the world and make disciples, baptize them and teach them what Jesus had commanded.

Perhaps the most interesting thing that Jesus said is that, He would be with them as they went about this work. But then He leaves. Jesus comes and goes in miraculous ways at this time, appearing here and there, showing Himself to His disciples but then He vanishes. He disappears, He just said He would be with them even to the end of the age and then.... gone.

How is He going to do this? How is He going to be with them as they go about this work. |SLIDE|

Well, it shouldn’t have been and probably wasn’t a mystery to the disciples. Jesus had told them in John 14, before He had gone to the cross, that He would be sending them His Holy Spirit to be with them forever. That is how Jesus is going to be with them forever. His Spirit is going to come upon them, not once not twice, not for a period of time but indefinitely, empowering them to fulfill the Great Commission. That’s all context… now here’s the main point of this message.

|MAIN POINT|

Jesus bestowed two magnificient gifts upon believers: His salvation and His Spirit. These were entrusted to believers so that we might share them to a lost dying world

That is the main point of the message. If you are a believer today, someone that trusts Jesus for forgiveness of their sins, to be exactly what He claimed and proved to be, you are saved. That gift is confirmed by the presence of a second gift, indwelling of His Holy Spirit. We are to take these gifts and share them.

We are going to be looking at how this all began to take place and our guide is a man named Luke who comprised a special document called the Acts of the Apostles. If you have opened your Bibles to Acts chapter one please follow along as I begin with the opening to the story.

|SLIDE|

I. The Prologue (Acts 1:1-2)

Acts 1 | 1 The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach, 2 until the day when He was taken up to heaven, after He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen.

The introduction here in the Prologue is almost criminally brief but this synopsis contains everything that we need to bring us into the story. |SLIDE|

The author is a man named Luke, a medical doctor, who had already written one other volume - the Gospel of Luke. He wrote this document before us today, the Acts of the Apostles just like the Gospel account in order to give a man named Theophilus a comprehensive overview of what went on not only during Jesus’ earthly ministry but also after He left. Here we join the narrative of the end of Christ’s earthly ministry with the arrival of His Holy Spirit and the continuation of His Church. |SLIDE|

Verse 3.

I. The Preparation for Pentecost (Acts 1:3-5)

3 To these He (JESUS) also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God. 4 Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, “Which,” He said, “you heard of from Me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

After Jesus had commissioned them in Galilee He sent them back to Jerusalem so that they could be baptized with the Holy Spirit. We touched on that last week in Matthew’s account. If you will recall, John had preached a baptism of repentance |SLIDE|

But he also said that Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. It has been three years and a lifetime since he said this but now that prophecy is going to come true, which is why Luke references it. “Go to Jerusalem, wait there and then God will give you what He promised to give you. Verse 6 |SLIDE|

I. The Confusion and Clarification (Acts 1:6-8)

6 So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; 8 but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

The disciples are confused. Many of the Old Testament prophecies were still unfulfilled. Where was the eternal kingdom that had been promised to David? Where was the perfect justice that would accompany the day of the Lord? What’s going on Lord, “Is it now that you are restoring Israel’s dignity and sovereignty?”

“No,” He tells them to “stay on task.” He clarifies for them their responsibility. “Those prophecies are not to be fulfilled through man’s doing, you don’t have to worry about that. Worry about your commission, which I am going to help you fulfill.” |SLIDE|

Here is a very important application point I don’t want us to miss... Our orders are simple and we are not to concern ourselves with what is not our responsibility.

We are to focus, focus on what our Lord has commanded us to do. Go, make disciples, baptize them and teach them. That’s not just the pastor’s job. That’s not just the missionaries job. Don’t stay, go, get up, get off your duff and leave. Gather up followers of Christ and immerse them into the body of Christ, bring them into the church and teach them what Jesus commanded. Focus on doing that.

I don’t sense that this is taking place in evangelicalism at large or even locally. I don’t see a passionate desire to see the Great Commission obeyed. I see a tremendous amount of concern over trifling other issues. Secondary things that are not critical and divisive. Sure, they are not unimportant per se but are not of supreme importance.

Let me give you a couple of examples. Gender politics, vaccination status or critical race theory. Scripture has much to say about each of these and we should be able to give a good, comprehensive argument on each but our primary responsibility is not arguing with the world or each other over them.... Our primary responsibility is following our commission. People are dying every day, people we know and love, and spending eternity in hell because professing Christians can’t or won’t stay on task.

No one is saved because we can argue politics. No one is redeemed from soul destroying sin because we are up to date with Fox News. No one is going to spend eternity in wonderful communion with the Holy Trinity because we are sure we are right about vaccines or how to address racism. NOD ROLL HEAD We can and should be able to do that but we need to prioritize our Commission.

Great, mark… How?

I think our church motto says it best, “Know Christ and make Him known.” If you don’t spend time with the One you profess to know and love how are you going to tell anyone else about Him? If you don’t read God’s word but casually spend hours siphoning garbage out of the media how are you going to teach anyone about Him. A five minute blip on "The daily bread” is like getting a three line text from your spouse once a day… How do you know there is even a relationship if you only tip your hat and then go back to the pig slop. You can’t.

Not knowing Scripture is why Christian’s don’t obey their commission and it is a tragedy. A tragedy for them and a tragedy for their friends, family and neighbors that don’t know Christ and won’t know Christ because Christians can’t or won’t obey their Commission.

PAUSE

In verse eight Jesus outlines their marching orders. “I am going to empower you to do this. And then you will do it. You will do it in here in Jerusalem and in Judea, you will go to the hated Samaritans and even to every pagan and gentile nation. Verse 9

|SLIDE|

IV. The Departure & Distraction (Acts 1:9-11)

9 And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. 10 And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. 11 They also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.”

Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Father where He lives evermore to intercede on our behalf. Jesus is not in stasis right now. He is working hard praying diligently to the Father on our behalf. I take it from the fact that He was undistracted about going and doing His Father’s business while He was here that that is the same tempo He is operating at now. Praying fervently, diligently, passionately on our behalf (Acts 2:33 / Hebrews 7:24-25). He left but He is going to send Himself back to His distracted disciples.

I find verse 10 so relatable. Have you ever seen a shuttle launch. It goes up and up and up and you can follow the smoke until the shuttle is barely visible and then you keep watching hoping for a glimmer in the sky, and then you stand there. That’s what the disciples were doing. The Lord had departed and they were distracted... Just standing around. So the Lord graciously sent a couple of messengers to give them a kick in the pants, “Hey, guys! Come on! There is work to be done. He is going to come back but don’t worry about that. Worry about your Commission!

Well, that seemed to seemed to get the ball rolling in verse 12 we see the disciples begin their preparation to receive the promised Holy Spirit through prayer |SLIDE|

V. Preparation for Pentecost pt2 (Ac 1:12-14)

12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away. 13 When they had entered the city, they went up to the upper room where they were staying; that is, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James. 14 These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.

They came down from Mount Olivet - a different mountain than we talked about in the introduction and began preparing themselves to receive the Lord’s Spirit. SLOW DOWN

How did they do that? PAUSE How did they prepare to receive the Holy Spirit? Verse 14 says it succinctly. They were continually devoting themselves to prayer. Asking, begging to be enabled to do the work that they were called to do.

|APPLICATOIN POINT |Here is an application point. 2) The believer's life is to be steeped in prayer.

Perhaps we look back on our life and can quite easily assess that we haven’t prioritized our Commission. We haven’t intentionally gone about telling people about Jesus, we haven’t discipled anyone, haven’t baptized anyone… We haven’t made the Great Commission part of our day.... Is that the case? LONG PAUSE

Have you prayed about it?

Have you asked God to empower you through His Spirit to do the work that He has called you to do? PAUSE Have you steeped yourself in prayer? These disciples did and it proved that they were getting serious about their commission.

Have you? SPEAK SLOW

What does that look like? What does it mean to steep yourself in prayer? It means, before you step out of your house, before you put the key in the ignition, before you make a call on the phone you are asking God to empower you to do the work He has called you to do.

You say, “why doesn’t He just do it Himself in the first place?” QUIETLY Christian, He does but He involves us so that we can see Him work, know it wasn’t us that did any saving so we can glorify Him, praise Him and honor Him for what He did. We get to ask Him to do this work and He graciously allows us to witness the miracle of lives saved. We get to ask Him to do this through prayer. So steep yourself in prayer, soaking intentionally in communion with God before you go into the world to testify of what He has done for you.

Now that the Disciples have begun preparations, the clock begins ticking down. It has been 50 days since Jesus died on the Cross. The disciples have their marching orders, wait in Jerusalem to be empowered and enabled through the baptism of Christ’s Spirit and then go throughout the whole world.

Please go to Acts chapter 2. We are bypassing the gruesome story of Judas Iscariot and the addition of his replacement and moving right on to the arrival of the Spirit of the Blessed One. |SLIDE|

VI. The Arrival of Christ's Spirit (Ac 2:1-4)

Acts 2:1–4 | 1 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. (REMEMBER THEY WERE DEVOTING THEMSELVES TO PRAYER, ASKING, BEGGING TO BE EMPOWERED, TO BE COMFORTED, TO BE ENABLED TO FULFILL THEIR ORDERS) 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.

Whoa! John the Baptist’s prophecy came true, Jesus’ prophecy came true… they were baptized by the Holy Spirit, surrounded by and immersed in Him and with fire. At this point, the relationship that they had enjoyed with Jesus during His earthly ministry accelerated to the nth degree… He was not just in proximity to them as He had been. Now His Spirit is in them. What an amazing event this must have been?

They were filled by Him and out of the overflow of their hearts they spoke of Him… I got to think that verse 4 is a tremendous understatement. From what takes place afterwards as those that were in the vicinity responded to what happened.

By the way, they were speaking in human languages. All those that heard them heard them in their own γλώσσαις, their own language, their own tongue. They did not hear some rambling, nonsensical, inane disjointed syllables like many do in charismatic denominations. That is not speaking in tongues. Speaking in tongues is a sign that legitimizes the authenticity of the reality of the revealed message.

It happened a few times as illustrated in Acts to vindicate the apostle’s message and then it ceased. It ceased because the full counsel of God’s revealed word is here in our hands and we are no longer needing it to be authenticated.

Much should be said about this and has and I will leave it to you to develop your understanding of it but I want to bring out the Commission angle.

Jesus told the disciples that He wanted them to go, make disciples, baptize them and teach them what He had commanded and that He would be with them. He did that and they obeyed. The balance of the book of Acts is the recording of the Apostles, going to Jerusalem, then Judea and Samaria and then the ends of the world. That has happened but it is not yet complete. The Great Commission is still in effect for followers of Christ and will be in effect until the Gentile Church is completed.

|CONCLUSION SLIDE|

You have a part in this. If you are a Christian, then you have been indwelt by His Holy Spirit and empowered to do the work that He has called you to do.

You were called, commanded and commissioned to bring the light of Christ to those that are perishing. We do this not by sitting on our duff, but by intentionally getting up, going out into the world and making other followers of Christ.

We do that by discipling them, baptizing them and teaching them what Christ commanded.

Please stand and I will pray