The mission of the church

Introduction

One of the saddest experiences I have had happened maybe fifteen years ago here on the Gold Coast. A friend of mine was investigating various ways to better himself, and he had met this guy who promised him a way to improve his financial situation. My friend asked me to come along to observe and advise him later.

We met this guy at Pacific Fair, where he offered to take us to his apartment. His car was the first sign that things weren’t as might be expected. Despite his promises to be able to help improve finances, this guy’s car was an old, run-down Suzuki Swift.

On the way to his apartment, up at Runaway Bay, he started sharing his tale of woe: how his wife had left him, he’d lost his job, and so on. I couldn’t help but feel weighed down by the hopelessness this poor guy exuded. We arrived at his apartment, which was small, lonely and run down, to find that what he had to offer was a strange summary of the book Rich Dad, Poor Dad. I’m still not entirely clear on what he was offering my friend, but I think he wanted to somehow tutor him in how to gain wealth.

Even thinking about this event brings back a wave of sadness that is tinged with a strange sort of guilt that I couldn’t help this guy.

Why am I sharing this? Well, because I want you to understand how many people feel about Christians!

Yes, many Australians feel the same way toward Christians that I felt toward this guy. Christians approach you with the promise of a new life, but when they take you home, you find a sad, empty life.

At least, that’s what many people believe. And, sadly, that is all too often true.

Is it supposed to be this way? Of course not!

But how should it be?

We start our series on Acts with one verse—our shortest Bible reading in a long while.

Bible

Acts 1:8 NLT

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

What is this power?

The obvious question about this verse, especially in the context of my introductory story, is, “what is this power?”

The Greek word used here is dynamis, which translates quite well to the English word “power.” In fact, the English words “dynamic” and “dynamo” and so on all derive from this Greek word. The word expresses the capacity to act, to do something.

Which raises the next question: do what? What does this power enable us to do?

Fortunately, that’s not difficult to answer: the second part of the sentence immediately explains what this power enables us to do:

Acts 1:8 NLT

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

It enables us to be Jesus’s witnesses throughout the world.

What is a witness?

The word translated as “witness” is another Greek word you will recognise, but in a surprising way. It is “martys.” In English this word has taken on a new meaning, it now applies to people who die for their beliefs. This meaning comes, of course, from the early church, where people witnessed to the truth of Jesus as Lord by going to their deaths for his sake. And that is, of course, one of the demonstrations of what the power of the Holy Spirit allows us to do.

But, praise God, it is not the only way to bear witness to him.

Throughout the book of Acts, and indeed the entire New Testament, we find two different ways that the Holy Spirit empowers us to be Jesus’ witnesses.

Fruit of the Spirit

The first of these is the result of having the Holy Spirit dwelling in our hearts. You see, God can’t dwell in an unholy place, and the Holy Spirit is, well, Holy. So to dwell in our hearts, in our lives, in our minds, the core of our beings, the Holy Spirit has to transform us into something holy.

Paul explains to the Corinthian church:

1 Corinthians 6:19–20 NLT

19 Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, 20 for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.

When God lives in us, when he makes our inner beings holy, it has an impact on our lives. It yields what Paul calls “the fruit of the Spirit:”

Galatians 5:22–23 NLT

22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

The fruit of the Spirit, because our culture no longer either understands or demonstrates them, are an increasingly powerful witness to the reality of Jesus. And it is only through the power of the Holy Spirit that we can demonstrate them.

Gifts of the Spirit

The second way that the Holy Spirit empowers us to demonstrate the reality and divinity of Jesus is similar to what we’ve seen in the book of Judges over the last couple of months.

The apostle Paul calls this the “gifts” of the Spirit. Unlike the fruit, which are the natural result of the Holy Spirit’s transformation of our hearts, the gifts are given by the Spirit according to his purposes, like Samson’s strength, Gideon’s bravery, or Deborah’s prophecy.

Paul says,

1 Corinthians 12:7–11 NLT

7 A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. 8 To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge. 9 The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. 10 He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. 11 It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have.

Exhibiting the power of the Spirit

As Christians we often think that we can’t show Jesus to the world by merely being loving, joyful, at peace, patient, kind, and so on. Yet these fruit are genuine demonstrations of the power of the Spirit. Yes, we also demonstrate the power of the Spirit by using the gifts of the Spirit. But you would be surprised by how effortlessly people who don’t want God in their lives can turn a blind eye even to miracles.

Surprisingly, it is the humble fruit that speak more to those who hunger for God, because the fruit of the Spirit show us what Jesus is like as a person. They are relational, and relationships are ultimately what reveals God to people.

Over the course of this series in Acts we will see how God uses both the fruit and the gifts of the Spirit to build the church.

But now, I’d like you to form groups of three with people who aren’t in your family, find a quiet spot in the church, and spend five minutes helping each other to answer this questions. We’ll come back together and share our answers as we feel led.

What fruit of the Spirit do you see God using in your relationships?

Who would like to share?

Close

So, as we go out into the world, it’s important to recognise that the Holy Spirit does make a difference in our lives. It might seem easier if the difference was that we could miraculously heal people. But we are not like that sad guy, striving to catch on to the promise of Rich Dad, Poor Dad. Rather, we should remember Paul’s conclusion to his discussion on Spiritual Gifts, a passage that is very familiar to us:

1 Corinthians 13:1–3 NLT

1 If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. 3 If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.

Let’s pray,

Lord, help us to be holy, help us to never give up following you, loving you. Use us to bring your children back to you.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.