MISSION POSSIBLE

Introduction

-{Acts 1}

-Mission Impossible was a TV series in the 1960’s and is a big series of Tom Cruise movies that revolves around a secret government espionage agency known as the Impossible Missions Force. As the name suggests, they are given the top secret missions that no other agency could pull off, and if they don’t pull it off the world could be doomed. The shows and movies would normally start out with the leader of the task force receiving a recorded message that would usually start by saying YOUR MISSION, SHOULD YOU CHOOSE TO ACCEPT IT IS…{whatever the mission was}.” Then once the message was over the device would destroy itself. Then the task force would go off on their impossible mission.

-In a real sense, we are part of a task force that is given a mission. Now, there are a lot of differences between our mission and the mission from the TV and movie series. First, our mission is not secret at all, but is very much open and known. Second, our mission is not impossible, you could call it Mission Possible. Even though a lot of people think it’s impossible it very much is possible. Third, our mission is given to us in Scripture where God reveals it to us, and our Bible won’t burn up after we see our mission because we need to be constantly reminded of it. Fourth, whereas the Impossible Missions Force could choose whether or not to accept the mission, we are not given such a choice—it’s assumed we’ll do it. But, there is similarity in that the stakes of our mission are very high because it not only involves the here and now, but it involves eternity.

-In the passage we’re looking at today, Christ is about to ascend into heaven, and the last words that He gives to His disciples were instruction on doing God’s mission. God has invited us all to join Him on mission. But I want to pause here a second, because I don’t want us to look at the passage in the normal way we look at it. Because usually when you hear a message about mission it’s very ethically-based and guilt-ridden. Meaning, the message comes across YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO DO THIS MISSION AND IF YOU DON’T DO IT YOU’RE A BAD CHRISTIAN. That isn’t going to motivate anybody to do anything, and that’s really not how it’s presented in Scripture.

-So, I want you to think about this—God chose you specifically to be on this task force. If you are a Christian, God recruited you to be on this special task force to fulfill His mission. This mission is a high calling, and it’s a privilege and its an honor to join God in this, and it’s something that’s supposed to give us joy, not guilt. This mission isn’t supposed to be something you really don’t want to do but you’re kind of forced to do it. It’s not like eating vegetables for some people—don’t really want to do it but your parents make you. I don’t want you to equate following God on mission to eating brussel sprouts (unless you really love brussel sprouts, then I suppose you could).

-So, I want to talk about this mission today, but I want you to look at it as a privilege of joining with God on a very high calling and it’s a joy to be a part of it.

Acts 1:1–11 ESV

1 In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, 2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. 3 He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. 4 And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” 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.”

-I want to study what this high calling of mission entails:

1) The focus of our mission

-After His resurrection, Jesus spent time with the disciples for 40 days preparing them to go out on the mission and instructing them about what the mission entailed. It tells us in v. 3 that the focus of the mission was on the subject of the Kingdom of God. Jesus, in the gospels, told us that He was ushering in the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God refers to God’s kingly rule and authority and sovereignty over people. Jesus through His life, death, and resurrection ushered in the Kingdom of God—all those who believe in Jesus Christ are part of the Kingdom and God rules over them in their hearts. Then, when Christ returns, He will set up the eternal Kingdom in the new heaven and earth.

-So, our mission is to share the gospel / good news that God reached out to a rebellious humanity who are under the rule of Satan and darkness, and God opened the door to come into His kingdom of light ruled by King Jesus. Jesus died to pay the penalty for sins and rose again to defeat death and sin, and we can be God’s children and part of His family. That is the focus of the mission. We are to tell people about the Kingdom and how to be a part of the Kingdom, which is all focused on the person of Christ.

-That’s all fine and dandy, but let’s face it—we have become so familiar with the gospel and with the kingdom, and frankly with Christ, that it has lost a lot of its appeal to us. We’ve lost sight of the wonder and amazement and awe of what God really did for us. And when we’ve lost our passion, we’re sure not going to want to do anything with it. If it doesn’t excite us anymore, we’re not share. You know how when you are excited about something you just can’t help but talk about it passionately.

-I’ll delve into my nerdiness here. Amazon Prime just came out with that new Lord of the Rings TV series The Rings of Power. And I won’t spoil anything for anybody, but I really like it. But I’m so nerdy about it, I will pause the show and start talking with Kyle how this thing in the series connects with the books and the movies, and he’s interested. And then I try to explain things to Trish and she enjoys the show but she’s not into it like me. She isn’t as excited about it so she’s not going to go around talking with coworkers about it. Whereas me, you want to talk about it, trust me I’m talking about it.

-So, here we have the God of the universe who created everything, and He saw His creation spoiled and tainted by rebellion and sin. He could have just let humanity destroy itself, or He had every right to destroy everything and everyone in His justice. But instead, God, out of love, so desired to bring a remnant of humanity back under His Kingship and enjoy Him and His love forever such that He sent His Son to die to take our rightful penalty so that we could be brought back to Him. We were in spiritual exile, and God opened the gate to let us back in. That’s really something to talk about. That’s exciting. And it’s available to whosoever will believe. That’s something worth talking about.

2) The power for our mission

-The neat thing about our mission is that we don’t have to come up with the resources and energy to do it ourselves. We don’t have to complete the mission on our own. In the Mission Impossible TV and movies series, they didn’t have to scrounge up their own equipment—the government gave them all sorts of neat gadgets to get the job done. What was needed for the mission was provided to them. This exciting mission that we’re a part of has a resource, a source of our power, that enables us to get the job done.

-In v. 5 Jesus said that His disciples would be baptized with the Holy Spirit, and in v. 8 He told His disciples that we would receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon us. In the original context, He was telling His apostles about what would happen on the day of Pentecost when in a very visible and tangible way the Holy Spirit would enter them and empower them as demonstrated through many signs and wonders. But that was for the initial indwelling and infilling of the Holy Spirit.

-Now, whenever someone comes to faith in Jesus Christ, when they receive the gospel and enter the Kingdom, they are immediately indwelt with the Holy Spirit. The same power that gave the boldness and ability to preach and share about Jesus and the Kingdom is the same Spirit that we are given upon our belief in Jesus. Often times we think that was then, but this is now, so we don’t have what the apostles had. But the same Spirit is within us. No, we don’t see flames of fire and we don’t start speaking in different languages, but we are empowered and gifted to go on the mission.

-There is a lot of confusion about this baptism of the Holy Spirit. Some will claim that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a separate event from being indwelt with the Spirit at conversion, and that it is accompanied by the signs of speaking in tongues and the like. First, on the day of Pentecost, they were speaking in actual languages, not some gibberish. Second, Paul will even say in his epistles that the gift of languages isn’t for everyone. So, this version of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is not biblical.

-But there is a baptism of the Holy Spirit, and it is the same as being indwelt with the Spirit when you believe in Christ. As one author described it:

[The baptism of the Holy Spirit is where] the Holy Spirit initiates Christians into realized union and communion with the glorified Jesus Christ, thus equipping them for sanctity and service.

-The baptism of the Holy Spirit is the spiritual empowerment to live a holy life and to fulfill mission. Peter told the crowd at Pentecost that they needed to repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins, and when they did that they would receive the Holy Spirit. And now the manifestation of the baptism of the Holy Spirit isn’t speaking gibberish or passing out or being drunk in the spirit or anything like that. The manifestation of the Spirit is wisdom and boldness and holiness and love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness and self-control. It is the tools for fulfilling mission.

-You know, the Mission Impossible team had all these flashy gadgets that allowed them to pull off some spectacular stunts to get away with whatever it was the mission was, and then they’d go out with a bang, sometimes literally. And we might expect our mission to be flashy like that if it is to be done right. But our mission is most successful when we do it with what the Holy Spirit equips us with—living according to holiness and godly character, and then just sharing, relying on the Holy Spirit to then work in the other person’s life. The Bible says that this is the Spirit who will be a Helper to us, who will give us the words we need when we don’t know what to say. He is the Spirit who will teach us all things and who will convict people of sin when they hear the gospel message. He is the Spirit who directs our mission and inspires us as witnesses, and who will give us perseverance to go on, and will give us comfort and encouragement when we feel down. Jesus said this would be our supernatural power for our mission.

3) The location of our mission

-When you watched the Mission Impossible shows and movies, the missions took them all over the world. They would find themselves in some of the most exotic cities and areas of the world, along with some areas whose environments were a little bit more harsh. But to complete their mission, they went wherever was necessary to stop the bad guys and make sure the good guys would win.

-Where does the mission of God as given to us by Christ take us? I first want to note that it takes us out of our comfort zones. Yes, it is easy to talk and share about sports and entertainment, but talking to people about the gospel and the Kingdom of God takes us out of the norm. And it means going places that are out of our routine. When you think about it, we are people that like the familiar. We go home, we go to work, we go to church, we go to a particular set of stores to shop, we go to our favorite restaurants. Only once in a great while do we go somewhere that is new and unfamiliar. It’s a big deal to go to a restaurant you’ve never been to before. You don’t know what to expect, and maybe have a little anxiety. If we have problems trying out a new store, we probably have anxiety talking to people about things that we’re not used to talking to them about.

-But that’s part of the great wonder and awesomeness of it. Imagine our military. Our armed forces are often sent into situations that have sketchy intel, but, hopefully, the military gave them everything they need for whatever situation they find themselves in so that their mission is a success. We have everything we need to fulfill our mission wherever we go outside our comfort zone. We have the Holy Spirit—the same Spirit that fell down on Pentecost, and the same Spirit that the Bible says raised Christ from the dead. And He will comfort and encourage when we are anxious about leaving that comfort zone.

-But obviously, the true location of our mission is all over the world. Jesus said that He would send the Holy Spirit to empower us to be witnesses about Him in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth. The mission was local, domestic, and international. No, not everybody can go everywhere all the time. We have jobs, we have family, we have responsibilities. But our mission field is wherever we go. We are on mission at work. We are on mission at school. We are on mission at the store. But that doesn’t negate the fact that we do go outside the routine and comfort zone to reach our Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth.

-Yes, COVID restricted us and slowed us down for a while, but things are slowly picking back up again. We are reaching people through House of the Harvest. We will be reaching people through our Fishers of Men ministry. We will find ourselves many more opportunities to fulfill mission. I am currently communicating with a ministry that will partner us with a pastor and a church somewhere in Central America that we will work with for years to come. I will be looking for a team of 10-12 people to go with me at the end of next summer as we fulfill missions around the world. But if you’re not able to go to that, find your mission field. Don’t wait for the church to make opportunities for you. You are the one called to the mission, you find the location God has for you to fulfill it, and fulfill mission in the places God has already placed you.

4) The time of our mission

-After Jesus gave these final instructions about mission to His disciples, it says that He was lifted up and a cloud (probably the Shekinah cloud of glory) took Him out of their sight. And what did the disciples do? They just stood there and stared up into heaven…and they stared, and they stared, and they stared. Finally, some angels had to come along and in essence say, WHY ARE YOU STARING UP TO HEAVEN? YOU’VE BEEN GIVEN A MISSION. GET TO IT. And then the angels told them how long they needed to stay on this mission. Jesus ascended into heaven, but Jesus will come back in the same way you saw Him go. There will be a day when Jesus returns bodily, visibly, physically, coming in His glory and might. But until that day comes, there’s a mission to be done.

-We can busy ourselves with a lot of things, and we can busy ourselves with a lot of spiritual things, and we can busy ourselves with a lot of good things, but we should not allow them to be excuses for not fulfilling mission. Stop staring in the clouds, and let’s start moving our feet and our mouths until the day that Jesus finally returns.

Conclusion

-Our mission from Christ is as joyous a thing as anything else in our life. Our mission is not some burden we carry, but is a high calling of purpose. This is the purpose for which you have been made and called. Why settle for less?

-A missionary to Africa told the story of an elderly woman who was reached with the gospel. Though she was blind and could neither read nor write, she wanted to share her new found faith with others. She went to the missionary and asked for a copy of the Bible in French. When she got it, she asked the missionary to underline John 3:16 in red and mark the page it was on so she could find it. The missionary wanted to see what she would do, so one day he followed her. In the afternoon, just before school let out, she made her way to the front door. As the boys came out when school was dismissed, she would stop one and ask if he knew how to read French. When he said “Yes” she would ask him to read the verse that was marked in red. Then she would ask, “Do you know what this means?” and tell him about Christ. The missionary said that twenty-four of the school boys that lady led to the Lord became pastors.

-This lady had a lot of excuses to not fulfill mission, and yet the joy of the high calling, and the fact of who it was that called her to this mission, kept her going. And in the power of the Holy Spirit she fulfilled her mission. What’s holding you back from experiencing a piece of eternal joy?

-Christian, come to the altar and ask God to open your heart and mind to what a great privilege we are called to, and that we would get that perspective and then go on mission.

-But maybe you are part of the mission field because you have yet to believe in Jesus....