The Ascension of Jesus (Acts 1:6-11)

Welcome and Announcements

Don’t forget, right after this service, we’re going to have a cookout. Because of the rain, we’re going to move everything indoors with the food being set-up buffet-style in the Activity Room. There’s seating in the Activity Room for 18, but you’re more than welcome to sit out here in the Auditorium to eat as well.

On Saturday, October 12th, we’re going to have a workday here at the church building. This workday is primarily a deep cleaning day with a handful of other projects that need to get done before the winter months are upon us. The workday will start at 9:30am.

Let me remind you to continue worshiping the Lord through your giving. To help you give, we have three ways to do so, (1) cash and checks can be given at the offering box. Checks should be written to Grace & Peace; debit, credit, and ACH transfers can be done either by (2) texting 84321 with your $[amount] and following the text prompts or (3) by visiting us online at www.giving.gapb.church. Of course, everything you give goes to the building up of our local church and the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Prayer of Repentance and Adoration

Call to Worship (Ps 62:1-8)

Our Call to Worship this morning is Psalm 62:1-8, which is a psalm of David written evidentially during a time of great stress and pressure in his life. In it, David expresses a great deal of confidence in the Lord. Because of its length, we’re going to work through it this week and next, with this week ending with a call for God’s people to trust in Him at all times because He is a refuge for us. Please stand and read Psalm 62:1-8 with me—I’ll read the odd-numbered verses; please join me in reading the even-numbered verses.

Psalm 62:title–8 ESV

To the choirmaster: according to Jeduthun. A Psalm of David. 1 For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation. 2 He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken. 3 How long will all of you attack a man to batter him, like a leaning wall, a tottering fence? 4 They only plan to thrust him down from his high position. They take pleasure in falsehood. They bless with their mouths, but inwardly they curse. Selah 5 For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. 6 He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. 7 On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. 8 Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. Selah

Congregational Singing

Come Praise and Glorify (44)

Every Promise of Your Word (363)

Yet Not I but through Christ in Me (Lead)

Scripture Reading (Dan 7:9-14)

Our Scripture Reading this morning is Daniel 7:9-14. It is a prophecy concerning the Messiah entering the presence of the Ancient of Days. In it, the Ancient of Days gives the Messiah all authority and dominion over all things. This passage shows us the Jesus’ ascension, which is the primary part of our text this morning, was indeed planned by God and fulfilled by Jesus Himself. Tara can you read Daniel 7:9-14 for us?

Daniel 7:9–14 ESV

9 “As I looked, thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days took his seat; his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames; its wheels were burning fire. 10 A stream of fire issued and came out from before him; a thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him; the court sat in judgment, and the books were opened. 11 “I looked then because of the sound of the great words that the horn was speaking. And as I looked, the beast was killed, and its body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire. 12 As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged for a season and a time. 13 “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. 14 And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.

Preaching of God’s Word (Acts 1:6-11)

Introduction

If you have your Bible with you, please turn it to Acts 1:6-11.

As you know, last week, we started on a new series through the Acts of the Apostles, but last week’s message was really more of introductory material meant to help us as we seek to understand the rest of the book. Though we did draw application from the introduction, we didn’t actually jump too far into the text itself. We learned that Luke wrote both his Gospel account and the book of Acts to provide an orderly account of all that happened in both Jesus’ life and what happened as the universal church started and began to spread throughout the world. Our application last week really focused in on the reminder that Jesus has made promises and He does actually keep His promises—we see that in His promise to send the disciples the Holy Spirit and its then-future fulfillment on the day of Pentecost.

This morning’s message then continues that historical narrative, but I do want to be clear that what Luke writes about in vv. 6-11 is also spoken about at the end of Luke’s Gospel account in Luke 24:36-53. Luke writes in Luke 24 about this conversation that Jesus had with the disciples, He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and told them that He fulfilled the prophecy concerning the resurreciton of the Messiah before telling them that they are witnesses to these events and that they need to go and proclaim repentance for the forgiveness of sins, and then He ascends. Luke 24:50-53 simply says, “50 And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. 51 While He was blessing them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven. 52 And they, after worshiping Him, returned to Jerusalem with great joy, 53 and were continually in the temple praising God.”

What Luke is doing in Acts 1 is that he’s reminding the reader of the event and the commands or the orders that Jesus gave the disciples during this event before telling the reader what happens as a result of the event at hand—he’s essentially laying the foundation and the premise for the book itself.

Read with me Acts 1:6-11.

Acts 1:6–11 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. 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.” 9 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. 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.”

As we study this text, we’re going to break it into two parts: (1) The Calling (6-8) and (2) The Ascension (9-11). The first section looks at the actual command that Jesus gives the disciples and the second section looks at the event that we call the ascension itself. It is a short section of Scripture, but it’ll help us to understand the whole book. And quite honestly, you’ll find that this section of Scripture, though directed at the disciples then, still applies to us in significant ways today.

Prayer for Illumination

The Calling (6-8)

Luke continues in chapter 1 of Acts by recording a conversation between Jesus and the disciples. V. 6 says that “when they had come together, they [meaning the disciples] asked him, ‘Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?’”

Now, you might hear that question and it might cause you to wonder why exactly they would ask a question such as this?

But remind yourself of the text from last week, in v. 3, we read this, that “[Jesus] presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.”

For forty days, the disciples listened to Jesus talk to them and Luke makes it clear that one of the predominate topics at hand is that of the kingdom of God, but Luke doesn’t bother to actually tell us what Jesus told them about the Kingdom. And really, Scripture in general doesn’t tell us too much about the Kingdom of God. The only way we can develop a good idea of what it is is by taking a systematic look throughout all of Scripture and what we find is simple:

The kingdom of God is synonymous with the kingdom of heaven and there are various statements made about it throughout the Bible, particularly in the New Testament.

We’re told in the Psalms that “the LORD has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all” and even Nebuchadnezzar makes the declaration that God’s kingdom is an eternal kingdom in Daniel 4.

We’re told repeatedly that God’s kingdoms is not of this world, Jesus makes this abundantly clear in John 18:36 and we know that they only way to be a part of this kingdom is through genuine repentance and belief in Jesus Christ.

Occasionally, we’re told of other details concerning this kingdom in passages like Daniel 2:44 and 6:13-14, Obadiah 1:21, Habakkuk 2:14, Micah 4:2, and Zechariah 14:9.

But beyond this, we really don’t know much detail about the kingdom of God.

And Luke’s goal in Acts 1 isn’t really to give us more detail about the kingdom of God, it’s simply to point out that Jesus told them about the kingdom.

So much so, that in v. 6, they want to know more and they question whether Jesus is going to “restore the kingdom to Israel” at that very moment.

As you know from our study through the Gospel according to John, this was a regular issue—people regularly thought that Jesus was going to inaugurate the kingdom of God during His time on earth; so it really shouldn’t surprise us that since Jesus had spoken to His disciples for 40 days about the Kingdom after being literally resurrected from the dead, that they might assume that Jesus was then going to inaugurate the kingdom.

But His response is simple and clear. In v. 7, we read, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.”

Jesus doesn’t directly answer the question—He doesn’t give them a yes or a no, which is reminiscent of many of the other times His disciples would ask questions and He wouldn’t answer them, but would rather use it as a teaching moment.

That’s precisely what He does—He doesn’t answer the question, but He does make it abundantly clear that it’s really none of their business when the Father decides to do what He plans to do—that’s how Jesus chooses to redirect or correct their thinking on the topic of the restoration of the kingdom.

John Polhill, “Jesus corrected the disciples by directing them away from the question about ‘times or dates’ (v. 7). These are matters wholly within God’s own purposes and authority. During his early life Jesus had denied such knowledge even for himself (Mark 13:32).” (John Polhill, Acts, Vol. 26. The New American Commentary. Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992, 84)

It’s not for them to know the times or seasons that the Father has fixed, but rather, v. 8 says that they “will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon [them], and [they] will be [His] witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Or in other words, Jesus refers back to this promise that has been given to them by the Father concerning the coming Holy Spirit.

And He emphasizes that they will receive some sort of power when the Holy Spirit has come—and in this instance, Jesus doesn’t really give us too much insight into what the power will do beyond one aspect of that power, but He doesn’t outrightly say it.

He says that they’re going to receive this power and that they will be His witnesses to the end of the earth.

It could rightfully be assumed then, that the power that they’ll receive from the Holy Spirit will be what enables them to be witnesses to the end of the earth. There are three points that I want you to note from this:

The power given by the Father through the Holy Spirit is for the purpose of them being witnesses. It isn’t just for any random thing that they want to use the power for, it isn’t even for seemingly good things—like providing for the poor or for healing the sick or for any number of different reasons—it is for the purpose of them being witnesses.

Now of course, that brings up the questions of what a witness is and what did they witness?

Witnesses are people who visibly saw certain events occur and in this instance, the events that they’re witnesses to include not only the life of Jesus, but really, the resurrection itself.

They were witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which in and of itself is substantial, but once the theological implications of Jesus’ resurrection were understood, we can see just how important it is that they witnesses it. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2, it is the crucifixion and the implied resurrection that provides salvation that is the very power of God.

And what Jesus is telling them is that what they witnessed is of such great importance, that they’re going to be witnesses of it in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

Great amounts of work have been written about the meaning behind Jesus’ use of different places, but let me encourage you not to read into it too much:

He mentions Jerusalem, because they were in Jerusalem.

He mentions Judea because Judea typically refers to what used to be known as the Davidic kingdom including the coastal areas of Galilee.

He mentions Samaria because that’s the larger region that Israel was located in.

And what you notice if you look at a map is that the area is simply increasing and increasing until it reaches what Jesus refers to the ends of the earth.

Jesus utilizes their question about the restoration of the kingdom to direct them to the mission that he’s commissioned them to do. They want to know when Jesus will set up the kingdom, but He makes it clear that it really isn’t any of their business when the Father decides to do something, but rather, they have their own calling or their role to accomplish and that role is to go with the power given by the Holy Spirit and be witnesses of what they had seen and what they had heard and what they had learned to all.

And then Luke continues the historical narrative in vv. 9-11. Take a look at them:

The Ascension (9-11)

Acts 1:9–11 ESV

9 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. 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.”

Without wasting time and without any sort of warning, after Jesus gives them this commission and while the disciples were still looking at Him, “He was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.”

Now clearly, this passage doesn’t say much about the ascension of Jesus—we aren’t given many details about the event at hand, other than suddenly, Jesus ascends, but we can utilize a few other passages to get an understanding of the ascension:

Luke 24:51 says that Jesus after speaking with them, blessed them and then was carried away. And between Luke 24 and Acts 1, that’s actually the bulk of what Scripture teaches us about the ascension.

Jesus foretold his ascension in the Gospels; Paul and the author of Hebrews later writes theologically about the ascension, but the event itself is really only seen in Luke 24 and Acts 1.

Jesus’ statements about the ascension emphasize the importance of the ascension—that Jesus had to ascend to go into the presence of the Father and while in the presence of the Father, He reigns at the Father’s right hand while preparing a place for His people to dwell.

Looking at the different theological statements that Paul and the author of Hebrews make—we see that the ascension foreshadows our own ascension into heaven in 1 Thessalonians 4:17, when Jesus prophesies His own ascension, He gives us assurance that He is preparing a place for us in John 14:2-3 based on His ascension, and the author of Hebrews refers to the ascension multiple times tied to Jesus’ authority as the ruler of all.

And of course, we know that Jesus makes it clear that He needs to depart through the ascension in order for the Holy Spirit to come and indwell God’s people.

JI Packer writes this about the ascension, “Jesus’ ascension was his Father’s act of withdrawing him from his disciples’ gaze upward . . . into a cloud . . . This was not a form of space travel, but part two . . . of Jesus’ return from the depths of death to the height of glory. Jesus foretold the Ascension (John 6:62; 14:2, 12; 16:5, 10, 17, 28; 17:5; 20:17), and Luke described it (Luke 24:50-53; Acts 1:6-11). Paul celebrated it and affirmed Christ’s consequent lordship (Eph. 1:20; 4:8-10; Phil. 2:9-11; 1 Tim. 3:16), and the writer of Hebrews applied this truth of encouragement of the fainthearted (Heb. 1:3; 4:14; 9:24). The fact that Jesus Christ is enthroned as master of the universe should be of enormous encouragement to all believers. The Ascension was from one standpoint the restoration of the glory that the Son had before the Incarnation, from another the glorifying of human nature in a way that had never happened before, and from a third the start of a reign that had not previously been exercised in this form.” (JI Packer, Concise Theology: A Guide to Historic Christian Beliefs. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 127)

We learn all this by taking a systematic approach and studying all that Scripture has to say about the ascension, but all Luke says in v. 9 is that Jesus was lifted up and taken from their sight.

Luke’s lack of detail is intentional because he isn’t trying to develop a comprehensive theology of the ascension, but rather, he’s trying to lay the foundation for what motivates the rest of the Acts of the Apostles and what we see in vv. 6-11 is that what motivates the rest of Acts is both Jesus’ command and the Ascension itself.

Now, while the disciples are astonished and they’re looking into the sky as Jesus is taken away, something happens in vv. 10-11, “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.’”

As they’re looking into heaven, which by the way, just means that they’re looking into the sky, two men appeared by them side-by-side.

There’s something unique about these two men in the way that they’re briefly described as wearing white robes and showing up spontaneously and suddenly.

The simple and brief description of these men match the description given elsewhere of angelic beings that have given significant messages throughout Scripture.

We aren’t given too many details, but throughout the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, we see multiple angels interacting with humans in various ways—mostly by giving messages from God to people (like Zechariah, Mary, even the women who come to the tomb).

And they’re all described very similarly—wearing white robes, fear-inducing, even to the extent that some people mistakenly try to worship them.

These are most likely angels sent to give a message and this message is simple, quick and easy for them to understand.

The message form the angels is found in v. 11, they said to the men, “‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up form you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.’”

Note again, that there really aren’t that many details given here. Again, because that isn’t Luke’s purpose, he isn’t trying to develop a comprehensive theology of the ascension or in this instance, its not a comprehensive theology of the eschaton—the end times.

Rather, it’s just a statement that what occurred in Acts 1 isn’t the end. If you’re thinking of redemptive history in terms of a play—what occurred in the Old Testament might be considered Act 1, the New Testament including the life of Jesus itself might be considered Act 2 with the Ascension being a significant part of the climax of the act that ends with the eschaton. Act 3 would be the new heaven and the new earth.

Jesus leaving them in the book of Acts is not the end of the story, but rather the beginning of what a play might call Act 2.

Or in other words, when you’re keeping it in this sort of context, it becomes clear that despite Jesus leaving them and despite the fact that He will eventually return in the same way, that isn’t the point.

The ascension isn’t the point and the eventual return of Jesus during the eschaton isn’t the point. Rather, the point that is being driven at in this text is the command that Jesus gives them before ascending.

Or in other words, though many people when they read this text hyper-focus on the ascension itself or the fact that angels have promised that Jesus will return the same way that He left and while those are both important events concerning doctrine and theology, they aren’t the actual focus of this text.

And that’s proven by the simple fact that Luke doesn’t record a ton of details about either event or the statement made by the angels—in a sense, what Luke says is nothing more than just passing statements about the ascension and the eschaton with the command by Jesus being sandwiched by these passing statements.

Again, the ascension and the eventual return of Jesus are important doctrines of theology, but the focus in Acts 1 isn’t on these doctrines, but rather what Jesus commands them to do before ascending.

The point that Luke is focused on that builds the foundation for the rest of the book is in v. 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 as far as the remotest part of the earth.””

This is what the book of Acts is all about—so much so that if you read the book of Acts carefully, this is a loose outline for the whole book.

The disciples start in Jerusalem, they move out into Judea, they continue into Samaria, and they continue to the remote parts of the earth.

And they proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ as His witnesses throughout all these various places through the power given to them by God through the Holy Spirit.

Which then brings us to our application for this morning. Clearly, what Jesus says to His disciples in Acts 1:6-11 is specific to them. They were told that the Holy Spirit was coming, that the Spirit would empower them to be witnesses, and they would go and proclaim the Gospel throughout Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the world; but, what is told here to the disciples carries significant application for us today as well and I think the best way for us to understand the text is by keeping it all in one unit, vv. 6-11 while looking at two specific ideas that are presented heavily in the text—Jesus’ eventual return and the proclamation of Jesus Christ.

Application

Concerning Jesus’ Eventual Return—as I mentioned a little bit ago, this passage isn’t so much about Jesus’ eventual return and it’s not even so much about His ascension, but these two events sandwich the actual point of these six verses. Nevertheless, because of these two events being mentioned in this passage, Christians today tend to focus so intently at these events that it warrants us taking a few minutes to talk about them—particularly concerning Jesus’ eventual return to earth.

We live in a society where many Christians are absolutely obsessed with the end times (and I mean this in a negative sense)—it is not good that many Christians today are absolutely obsessed with the end times and I can prove this utilizing Scripture.

Many Christians today act like it is their responsibility to try and determine when exactly everything in the book of Revelation is to occur and they think that they ought to iron out all the details and determine exactly when these things would happen.

They get so obsessed with these details, that they watch and listen to conspiracy theories, so-called prophetic preachers, and they get caught up in books and movies like the Left Behind series and Hal Lindsays, The Late, Great Planet Earth.

This obsession is primarily found in those that hold to a more dispensationalist view of Scripture, but there are some from other views of Scripture that find themselves obsessing over these sorts of details as well.

Despite the fact that Scripture repeatedly tells us that we won’t know the details and we can’t know the time that any of these things are to happen—for instance:

Matt 24:36-44 “36 “But about that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. 37 For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39 and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be. 40 At that time there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. 41 Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left. 42 “Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.” Matthew 24 43-44 “43 But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. 44 For this reason you must be ready as well; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.” No body knows when Jesus will return, but be ready for His return.

In reminding the Thessalonians that Jesus will come suddenly and that they need to get back to work, Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 5:1-6 “1 Now as to the periods and times, brothers and sisters, you have no need of anything to be written to you. 2 For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord is coming just like a thief in the night. 3 While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction will come upon them like labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. 4 But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness, so that the day would overtake you like a thief; 5 for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; 6 so then, let’s not sleep as others do, but let’s be alert and sober.” When He returns it’ll be like a thief in the night—sudden, quick, and unexpected.

Alan Bandy makes this statement in his essay “The Return of Christ,” “The return of Christ is also imminent, meaning it is near and when it comes it will happen quickly. The fact that we cannot know with any certainty about exactly when Jesus will return is clear when Jesus states, “Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming…. Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour” (Matt. 24:42; 25:13). Early Christians anticipated that Christ could return in their lifetime and admonished believers to watch and be ready. Because the specific time of Christ’s return is unknowable, believers are exhorted to be prepared by purifying their lives from sin and living in obedience to Christ daily.” (Alan Bandy, “The Return of Christ,” The Gospel Coalition, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/the-return-of-christ/)

Or put in an easy and digestible way, we believe in the personal, physical return of Jesus Christ in His own way and in His own time. He will return to reign on earth, judge mankind, and bless those who truly believe. (1 Thess 4:14-18; John 5:22-23; Rev 19:11-22)

When Jesus will return is completely unknowable and many of the details concerning His return are not known nor are they meant to be known by humans.

To waste (and I legitimately mean waste) hours and hours doing research and making assumptions and guesses about when or exactly how Jesus plans to accomplish His return, is a terrible stewarding of the time and resources that God has given us, when He makes it abundantly clear that we cannot know.

And consider the fact that the author of Hebrews makes it abundantly clear that the eschaton and the events within the eschaton are elementary doctrines—foundational in the aspect that we need to know that these things will happen, but elementary in the fact that studying it to the extreme like some who have tried to determine dates and exact details aren’t as advanced in their knowledge of God and the Bible as they think they are.

Rather, the fact that Jesus is returning again ought to do for us what the ascension and the promise of Jesus setting up His kingdom did for the disciples in Acts 1.

The truth that Jesus is returning is the foundation or the motivation for the command that Jesus gives.

So yes, it’s good to know that Jesus is returning in the same manner that He ascended, but the unusual obsession some Christian brothers and sisters is spiritually unhealthy because it is filled with speculation that is fueled by man’s opinion rather than biblical truth.

As a Christian today (and this is your first application for the morning, you need to know that Jesus will return personally and physically and it will be done in His own way and His own time, but don’t hyper-fixate on this one doctrine. Rather, use it to motivate the second application for this morning, which is really the point of Acts 1:6-11

Concerning the Proclamation of Jesus Christ—the whole point of Acts 1:6-11 is the proclamation of the truth—the empowering of the Holy Spirit for the disciples to go and be witnesses of Jesus Christ’s life, His death, His burial, and His resurrection. The point of Acts 1:6-11 is that the disciples were now commissioned with the task or the duty of going and proclaiming the truth (or as Matthew 28 says), they are tasked with going and making disciples.

And of course, Matthew 28 and Acts 1 are written specifically about the disciples or the apostles going and making disciples, but it’s clear throughout the New Testament that this idea of making disciples was considered something that all believers are meant to do.

As we continue in Acts, we see believers (not just the apostles) going and making disciples—all the church was persecuted because all the church was proclaiming the Gospel and making disciples. Acts 8:3-4 “3 But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house; and he would drag away men and women and put them in prison. 4 Therefore, those who had been scattered went through places preaching the word.” Those who had been scattered went . . . preaching the word.

Paul writes in 2 Cor 5:18-20 that “18 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their wrongdoings against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”

This idea of believers making disciples is all throughout the church regardless of the church member’s age, sex, career, or family.

Judging by the New Testament’s frequent mention of regular believers going and using their spiritual gifts to make disciples—we could rightfully say that it is pertinent for modern-day regular believers to use their spiritual gifts and make disciples.

This includes the very idea of proclaiming the Gospel and being witnesses of the truth of Jesus Christ.

How that’s done differs depending on your context in life—you may never stand behind a podium or pulpit and preach and teach. You may never stand on a street corner shouting truth (you may never preach).

But proclamation of the Gospel and teaching of truth doesn’t occur just behind a pulpit or podium. Proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ is done in how you live, what you say, and what you do.

You don’t need to be a pastor to proclaim the Gospel and teach truth; you just need to be willing to stand up and proclaim the Gospel and teach truth.

As a modern-day believer, you are a disciple and you are an ambassador of truth, and you are still commanded by Jesus to go and make disciples of every nation.

It’s the truth of Jesus’ death, burial, resurrection, and ascension as well as the fact that Jesus will one day return that ought to motivate your proclamation of the truth.

And let me be abundantly clear—if the of Jesus and His eventual return doesn’t motivate you to go proclaim the Gospel, teach the truth, and make disciples; you really ought to check your heart because something isn’t quite right.

Either you don’t understand the truth or you don’t love the people around you enough to proclaim the truth.

And in both situations, repentance is necessary.

The second application from Acts 1:6-11 is that you ought proclaim the Gospel and teach the truth because of what Jesus did and because of what He will do.

Put simply, Acts 1:6-11 utilizes the eventual return of Jesus and His ascension as motivation or as a foundation for you to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ and teach truth. Or in other words, reflect on Jesus’ death, burial, resurrection, and ascension; and remember the hope that you have in Jesus’ return; and use these truths to motivate you to proclaim the Gospel and teach the truth.

Pastoral Prayer

Congregational Singing

Psalm 23 (168)