WEBVTT 00:00:00.380 --> 00:00:06.320 Our God, as we come to your word, we just ask for help, that you would help us to hear what you have to say to us today. 00:00:06.860 --> 00:00:11.419 And that with the eyes of faith, we would receive it and that we would all be changed. 00:00:11.980 --> 00:00:16.539 And so we pray for that now, that you would meet with us through your word, by the Holy Spirit. 00:00:16.699 --> 00:00:18.179 In Jesus' name, amen. 00:00:19.640 --> 00:00:23.260 We just finished a series called Practicing the Christian Life. 00:00:23.480 --> 00:00:28.080 And next week, we're going to start a new series on Genesis chapter 3. 00:00:28.079 --> 00:00:30.299 Very foundational text in the Bible. 00:00:30.919 --> 00:00:38.640 And so on this holiday weekend, I thought we'd take a break, just one week between series, while lots of our friends and families are away. 00:00:39.280 --> 00:00:45.480 But also so that we could come back and renew a little bit of our vision and who we are here and what we're all about. 00:00:45.659 --> 00:00:52.359 So in between series, I'll quite often try to take a week just to rethink who we are and the mission God's given us here. 00:00:52.820 --> 00:00:56.000 And the goal of that is really, we might put it as re-enchantment. 00:00:56.000 --> 00:01:03.340 So we need to be always re-enchanted with who God has called us to be and what we're here for. 00:01:03.880 --> 00:01:10.680 And so our natural tendency will always be to drift and to forget and to be bored with our calling, with our mission as a church. 00:01:11.019 --> 00:01:13.700 And so we need renewal and re-enchantment always in our vision. 00:01:14.200 --> 00:01:21.000 And so we come back today for just a few minutes to think about our vision and what our church is here in the heart of the city to be about and to do. 00:01:21.000 --> 00:01:32.480 And so we've been saying the past year we exist alongside all the other Christians in our city to participate in whatever God would want to do to seek a citywide movement of the gospel. 00:01:32.840 --> 00:01:36.540 By helping people to find out about Jesus. 00:01:36.780 --> 00:01:38.099 Many people don't know about him at all. 00:01:38.219 --> 00:01:38.960 Find out about Jesus. 00:01:39.420 --> 00:01:41.060 To follow him in response. 00:01:41.560 --> 00:01:43.240 To grow in their love for God. 00:01:43.379 --> 00:01:44.319 Their love for one another. 00:01:44.319 --> 00:01:48.679 And then to turn around and seek the peace of our city in whatever way God's called them to do. 00:01:48.739 --> 00:01:50.619 So that's what we're about here and what we want to do. 00:01:51.099 --> 00:01:55.139 Acts chapter 1 is foundational for understanding what that's about. 00:01:55.659 --> 00:01:59.219 And we never got to look at it in our vision and value series last September. 00:01:59.780 --> 00:02:02.560 So our vision and value series last September went on for six weeks. 00:02:03.099 --> 00:02:04.719 And I never got to look at Acts 1. 00:02:04.780 --> 00:02:07.079 And I knew that you probably didn't want a seventh week. 00:02:07.099 --> 00:02:08.079 So we didn't do it. 00:02:08.080 --> 00:02:11.020 So here we are revisiting. 00:02:11.360 --> 00:02:13.100 But let's look at a text we never got to look at. 00:02:13.560 --> 00:02:14.480 And that's Acts chapter 1. 00:02:14.660 --> 00:02:18.260 So we're going to learn today about what Luke says here. 00:02:18.980 --> 00:02:20.540 About the fact of our mission. 00:02:21.040 --> 00:02:22.420 The nature of our mission. 00:02:22.980 --> 00:02:25.640 Our problem that we have with it. 00:02:26.160 --> 00:02:29.120 And then power that we need to seek it. 00:02:29.200 --> 00:02:30.120 So let's do that. 00:02:30.480 --> 00:02:32.560 First, the fact of our mission. 00:02:32.780 --> 00:02:35.240 So right here in verse 1 of Acts chapter 1. 00:02:35.240 --> 00:02:39.180 Luke says, 00:02:39.320 --> 00:02:43.640 In the first book of Theophilus, I've dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach. 00:02:44.280 --> 00:02:47.080 So Luke says here that he's writing two books. 00:02:47.379 --> 00:02:48.860 There's a first book and a second book. 00:02:48.939 --> 00:02:50.700 The first book is the Gospel of Luke. 00:02:51.240 --> 00:02:52.600 But the second book is Acts. 00:02:52.680 --> 00:02:53.360 The book of Acts. 00:02:53.860 --> 00:02:55.439 And so a lot of times commentators will say, 00:02:55.520 --> 00:02:59.260 You need to think about Luke and Acts as one book in two pages. 00:02:59.439 --> 00:03:00.120 Luke-Acts. 00:03:01.480 --> 00:03:03.080 And here, what does he say? 00:03:03.080 --> 00:03:07.760 He says, In the first book, I dealt with all that Jesus began to do. 00:03:08.380 --> 00:03:14.420 Now that means that he's saying that in the second book, he's dealing with all that Jesus continues to do. 00:03:15.439 --> 00:03:18.540 And so sometimes people come to the book of Acts and think, 00:03:19.120 --> 00:03:22.439 The Gospel stories are the ministry of Jesus. 00:03:23.500 --> 00:03:25.439 The book of Acts is the ministry of the church. 00:03:25.960 --> 00:03:26.840 But Luke says, 00:03:27.480 --> 00:03:29.880 The Gospel was about what Jesus began to do. 00:03:29.879 --> 00:03:32.439 The book of Acts is about what Jesus continues to do. 00:03:33.599 --> 00:03:39.340 And so one of the first things we learn here is that the book of Acts is the beginning of the story. 00:03:39.740 --> 00:03:44.379 And the story of our time, the story of the season we live in, the age of the church, 00:03:44.799 --> 00:03:49.199 means that Jesus is still the primary actor in all ministry. 00:03:50.400 --> 00:03:54.300 Jesus is the agent of every ministry that exists in the world. 00:03:54.639 --> 00:03:55.680 All Christian ministry. 00:03:55.680 --> 00:03:58.819 And all that Jesus began to do, that's the gospel story. 00:03:59.060 --> 00:04:00.700 All that Jesus continues to do. 00:04:01.140 --> 00:04:01.920 The story of the church. 00:04:02.060 --> 00:04:03.300 The story of the book of Acts. 00:04:03.439 --> 00:04:11.580 And so Ed Clowney, a late theologian in the States, he says that a better title for the book of Acts could have been, 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:14.680 By the way, the titles in the Bible aren't inspired. 00:04:14.800 --> 00:04:15.340 They're not original. 00:04:15.460 --> 00:04:16.420 We gave them the titles. 00:04:16.560 --> 00:04:17.360 And so you can change them. 00:04:17.360 --> 00:04:22.460 So Ed Clowney says a better title for the book of Acts would have been, 00:04:22.960 --> 00:04:29.180 The Acts of Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit by the first church, particularly the apostles in the first generation. 00:04:31.180 --> 00:04:32.740 That's exactly what Acts is. 00:04:32.879 --> 00:04:38.800 It's the Acts of Jesus through the Holy Spirit by the first century church. 00:04:39.699 --> 00:04:41.259 And that's a bit clunky. 00:04:41.480 --> 00:04:44.180 It's like how the Puritans wrote their book titles. 00:04:44.180 --> 00:04:47.480 That's, so we've shortened it to Acts of the Apostles. 00:04:48.420 --> 00:04:52.720 And if you've read the book of Acts, you know that when you get to the very end of the book of Acts, there is no ending. 00:04:52.819 --> 00:04:54.400 The story just stops cold. 00:04:55.079 --> 00:04:57.480 And the implication of that is really important. 00:04:58.480 --> 00:05:07.100 And one author talks about how Yusta Gonzalez, that the reason the book of Acts never ends, it doesn't end, it just stops abruptly, 00:05:07.199 --> 00:05:08.300 is because the story hasn't ended. 00:05:08.300 --> 00:05:10.620 It continues on with us. 00:05:10.699 --> 00:05:16.120 And so the first thing we learn here is that the ministry of Jesus Christ carries on in the age of the church, 00:05:16.300 --> 00:05:17.680 and that it's our ministry. 00:05:18.259 --> 00:05:21.400 It's the very ministry that we inhabit, that we're all about here. 00:05:21.520 --> 00:05:27.160 And in the context here, it's about the story of Jesus' final days on earth, these first nine verses. 00:05:27.680 --> 00:05:34.699 And in verse 2 and verse 9, what's mentioned is Jesus' ascension, His rising, His going away into the heavenly realm. 00:05:34.699 --> 00:05:40.420 And when Christ ascends, He's enthroned as King in the heavenly realm over all the universe. 00:05:40.519 --> 00:05:44.920 And that means two very important things for this ministry that we have, that He's given us. 00:05:45.300 --> 00:05:53.699 One is that if Jesus was to stay on earth physically, then you would have to go to Jerusalem or wherever He is to see Him. 00:05:54.300 --> 00:05:56.139 In other words, the ministry would be local. 00:05:56.879 --> 00:06:01.519 But when Christ ascends into the heavenly realm and is enthroned and sends His Spirit, 00:06:01.519 --> 00:06:03.879 the ministry immediately becomes universal. 00:06:04.699 --> 00:06:08.800 Immediately because it's the ministry of the Spirit through us, Jesus acting through us, 00:06:09.139 --> 00:06:10.879 now the ministry becomes global. 00:06:11.099 --> 00:06:11.839 It's for all the world. 00:06:12.920 --> 00:06:17.079 And in verse 9, we're told that He did ascend into heaven and that they saw Him do that. 00:06:17.579 --> 00:06:24.019 And that tells us also that Jesus Christ, right now in His enthroned status in heaven, is in charge. 00:06:24.899 --> 00:06:26.459 And there is a strategy. 00:06:27.379 --> 00:06:29.339 Jesus Christ has a strategy for the ministry. 00:06:29.339 --> 00:06:33.539 And that strategy exists in two stages, number one, or two ways. 00:06:33.639 --> 00:06:39.959 Number one, there's a plan to gather all of His people throughout all the world, throughout all the nations. 00:06:40.079 --> 00:06:41.019 And He's doing it. 00:06:41.500 --> 00:06:43.099 Even if we don't always feel that way. 00:06:43.879 --> 00:06:46.339 In our post-Christian city, we might not always feel that way. 00:06:46.439 --> 00:06:48.679 But the enthroned Christ has a strategy. 00:06:48.680 --> 00:06:51.480 And we are that strategy. 00:06:52.340 --> 00:06:53.340 We have been sent. 00:06:53.459 --> 00:06:55.519 We've been commissioned to fulfill that mission. 00:06:55.620 --> 00:06:56.980 He's actually working it through us. 00:06:57.100 --> 00:07:01.960 And so a couple problems that we face in our time, I think, that this really touches on. 00:07:02.019 --> 00:07:06.019 One is sometimes within the church, people will say, 00:07:06.019 --> 00:07:08.060 we talk about mission too much. 00:07:09.019 --> 00:07:13.339 So we use the word missional too often or mission too often. 00:07:14.039 --> 00:07:20.659 And missiologists, people who study mission full-time or pastors or church folk will just say, 00:07:20.759 --> 00:07:22.199 mission, mission, mission all the time. 00:07:22.399 --> 00:07:25.819 And then eventually the word mission is meaningless because we use it too much. 00:07:25.879 --> 00:07:27.939 But actually, I understand that concern. 00:07:27.939 --> 00:07:34.719 But actually, the word mission, where we get the concept of a vision, a mission that we have here at St. Columbus, 00:07:35.000 --> 00:07:38.019 is from the Latin word missio, which just means to be sent. 00:07:38.839 --> 00:07:46.339 And here we learn at the beginning of the age of the church that there is a missio, a sentness about the church. 00:07:47.019 --> 00:07:51.259 That you can't really use the word mission too much because we are sent. 00:07:51.740 --> 00:07:52.699 It is what we are. 00:07:53.040 --> 00:07:57.060 We're underneath the banner that we are sent people, commissioned people. 00:07:57.060 --> 00:07:58.519 Always on mission. 00:07:58.980 --> 00:08:02.040 Being missional is a word that you can't really over-ascribe. 00:08:02.780 --> 00:08:04.780 Because it is the nature of what we are. 00:08:04.879 --> 00:08:09.079 It's our essence, actually, as people who are carrying out the ministry of Jesus in our time. 00:08:09.680 --> 00:08:13.019 And then a second problem that sometimes comes up here is people will come to this passage and say, 00:08:13.360 --> 00:08:14.360 ah, but hold on a second. 00:08:15.319 --> 00:08:17.300 When you get down to verse 8 and Jesus says, 00:08:17.459 --> 00:08:22.939 you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to all the ends of the earth, 00:08:23.000 --> 00:08:26.060 people will say, that's not really a prescription for us. 00:08:26.060 --> 00:08:29.139 Because who is he talking to here in this passage? 00:08:29.240 --> 00:08:33.700 And in verse 3 and in verse 8, he's very clearly talking to the apostles. 00:08:34.460 --> 00:08:35.019 They're mentioned. 00:08:35.159 --> 00:08:35.820 Who are the apostles? 00:08:36.059 --> 00:08:37.100 They're the 12. 00:08:37.740 --> 00:08:40.539 The men who were direct eyewitnesses of Jesus Christ, 00:08:40.659 --> 00:08:42.759 chosen to plant the first churches. 00:08:43.100 --> 00:08:44.860 To bring the gospel to the world first. 00:08:45.679 --> 00:08:48.480 And so people will say, this isn't exactly our mission. 00:08:49.139 --> 00:08:50.679 Because this was directed at the apostles. 00:08:50.679 --> 00:08:56.279 But if you just scan your eyes down, you can see at the end of chapter 1, if you have a Bible, 00:08:56.899 --> 00:09:00.239 who are the people that were there when Jesus gave these words? 00:09:00.639 --> 00:09:02.199 And we're told it wasn't just the apostles. 00:09:02.339 --> 00:09:06.539 We're told there was about 120 people gathered in a room. 00:09:07.539 --> 00:09:10.899 And it was men and women and people who were apostles and who weren't apostles. 00:09:10.899 --> 00:09:16.860 And then in Acts 2, the Holy Spirit came down upon all of them and sent all of them to the nations, 00:09:17.019 --> 00:09:19.980 to the world, to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to the ends of the earth. 00:09:20.439 --> 00:09:23.740 And that means simply that you can't come and say, oh, the book of Acts. 00:09:23.879 --> 00:09:25.079 It's not prescriptive. 00:09:25.159 --> 00:09:27.259 It's just descriptive, as some often do. 00:09:27.519 --> 00:09:28.579 And it is indeed descriptive. 00:09:29.079 --> 00:09:31.000 But also we learn that this was a commission. 00:09:31.480 --> 00:09:32.840 The Holy Spirit was sent to who? 00:09:33.460 --> 00:09:34.440 All sorts of people. 00:09:34.899 --> 00:09:36.160 All sorts of ethnic backgrounds. 00:09:36.320 --> 00:09:37.000 All sorts of people. 00:09:37.120 --> 00:09:38.700 Men, women, young and old. 00:09:38.860 --> 00:09:42.460 Everybody sent and commissioned that this is the mission of the entire church. 00:09:42.600 --> 00:09:47.560 And so in verse 8, you've got the great thesis statement of the book of Acts. 00:09:47.780 --> 00:09:50.759 But it's also the thesis statement of the age of the church. 00:09:51.000 --> 00:09:52.759 And in some sense, it's our thesis statement. 00:09:53.180 --> 00:09:56.480 And it's where Jesus says, you will be my witnesses. 00:09:57.820 --> 00:10:01.700 From Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria to the very ends of the earth. 00:10:01.700 --> 00:10:07.020 And if you follow the outline of the book of Acts, chapters 1 to 5 is the ministry in Jerusalem. 00:10:07.379 --> 00:10:10.100 5 to 8, Samaria and Judea. 00:10:10.300 --> 00:10:15.160 From chapter 9 to 13 to the ends of the earth, Paul's ministry and the others' ministry. 00:10:15.560 --> 00:10:17.100 And then the book of Acts just stops. 00:10:17.860 --> 00:10:18.100 Why? 00:10:18.340 --> 00:10:31.480 Because, well, because we know that in the book of Acts itself, the apostles and the disciples took the gospel to Antioch, to North Africa, to the Greek isles, to present-day Turkey, to Serbia, to Romania. 00:10:31.700 --> 00:10:36.300 To Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania, Italy, maybe to France. 00:10:36.980 --> 00:10:47.520 And then in extra-biblical texts by tradition, we also believe and know pretty well that apostles took the gospel all the way to present-day Iraq and Iran and Saudi Arabia. 00:10:47.780 --> 00:10:51.100 And probably to India and maybe even further than that. 00:10:51.100 --> 00:10:53.200 But nobody came to Scotland. 00:10:53.879 --> 00:10:54.879 Not in the first century. 00:10:55.879 --> 00:10:57.540 Nobody came to Scotland in the first century. 00:10:57.659 --> 00:10:57.800 Nobody. 00:10:58.379 --> 00:10:59.820 These apostles weren't here. 00:11:00.080 --> 00:11:01.080 They don't exist today. 00:11:01.540 --> 00:11:01.779 We. 00:11:02.420 --> 00:11:04.240 The book of Acts never ended because we are here. 00:11:04.360 --> 00:11:06.759 We're here in Scotland in the 21st century. 00:11:06.920 --> 00:11:07.420 In 2025. 00:11:07.700 --> 00:11:08.720 In Edinburgh specifically. 00:11:09.480 --> 00:11:13.639 And so the work of Jesus through the Holy Spirit is our ministry. 00:11:13.860 --> 00:11:15.920 He is the actor and we are his agents. 00:11:16.040 --> 00:11:16.759 We are his witnesses. 00:11:17.000 --> 00:11:17.980 We're being told here. 00:11:18.540 --> 00:11:25.759 And that means, and I'll move on, that the word apostle, sometimes in the Bible it's used with a capital A, we might say, for the 12. 00:11:26.519 --> 00:11:33.100 But the verb is often used 79 times, in fact, across the New Testament to be apostolic. 00:11:34.060 --> 00:11:34.820 What does that mean? 00:11:34.820 --> 00:11:35.980 It just means to be sent. 00:11:37.180 --> 00:11:42.200 And so none of us are apostles, but all of us are apostolic in the sense that we have an apostolic witness. 00:11:42.660 --> 00:11:43.420 We're sent. 00:11:43.800 --> 00:11:44.600 We're on mission. 00:11:45.320 --> 00:11:46.520 So the fact of mission. 00:11:46.680 --> 00:11:48.040 Secondly, what is this mission? 00:11:48.879 --> 00:11:49.840 What's the nature of it? 00:11:50.300 --> 00:11:52.160 Well, verse 8 is the big idea. 00:11:52.520 --> 00:11:54.080 You will be my witnesses. 00:11:54.360 --> 00:11:56.800 So the word witness is the key word. 00:11:56.800 --> 00:12:00.180 And in Greek, the word witness is the word martyr. 00:12:01.139 --> 00:12:06.419 So oftentimes we think of a martyr as a person who is killed, murdered for their faith. 00:12:06.899 --> 00:12:10.819 But originally the word martyr simply means to bear witness. 00:12:11.199 --> 00:12:18.959 And a person who bears witness is only one who gives reliable testimony about the thing they're testifying to. 00:12:19.399 --> 00:12:21.819 So it's actually a judicial word, a courtroom word. 00:12:21.820 --> 00:12:29.020 So to be a witness is to give reliable testimony, to tell the truth, in other words, is the basic meaning of the word witness. 00:12:29.960 --> 00:12:39.300 And here, when you read the book of Acts, when you get past the first few chapters, people start to tell the gospel in all sorts of countries in the first century. 00:12:39.740 --> 00:12:44.520 And these are people who did not see Jesus resurrected before the ascension. 00:12:44.519 --> 00:12:49.059 And so some have come and sometimes said, well, witness, you have to actually be an eyewitness. 00:12:49.819 --> 00:12:54.379 And the eyewitnesses were the first people, we learn in verse 2, that he appeared to them physically. 00:12:54.779 --> 00:12:56.259 They were indeed eyewitnesses. 00:12:56.639 --> 00:13:01.199 But when you get to the rest of the book of Acts, you realize all these people are talking about the gospel to others. 00:13:01.379 --> 00:13:05.259 And they didn't see Jesus physically alive before he ascended. 00:13:05.840 --> 00:13:12.220 Which means the idea of witness is not just for the first people who saw him physically rise from the dead. 00:13:12.220 --> 00:13:19.220 It's for anybody who is able to bear testimony, to tell the truth about what God has done for them. 00:13:20.019 --> 00:13:21.160 And so what does it mean to be a witness? 00:13:21.279 --> 00:13:21.980 What is our calling? 00:13:22.040 --> 00:13:24.560 If you're a Christian today, what is your calling as a witness? 00:13:25.220 --> 00:13:27.060 And we could put it something like this. 00:13:27.060 --> 00:13:41.320 A witness is a person who tells the truth, tells the story of what God has done through the story of Jesus Christ in their own words, through your own words, in a way that somebody else can hear it. 00:13:42.220 --> 00:13:54.840 So that's what it means to be a witness, to tell the story of Jesus Christ, the truth about what he's done to save the world, in your own words, in a way that another person could hear it, in a way that they could hear it and receive it and understand it. 00:13:54.840 --> 00:13:59.019 And so the lesson here is really clear. 00:13:59.379 --> 00:14:03.500 I'll say it as simply as possible, I think, because it's important. 00:14:03.720 --> 00:14:04.280 And that's this. 00:14:04.340 --> 00:14:07.899 We're being told here that we have to talk to people about Jesus. 00:14:08.700 --> 00:14:09.720 It's as simple as that. 00:14:09.860 --> 00:14:11.240 We have to talk to people about Jesus. 00:14:11.240 --> 00:14:19.600 And it's been pointed out by others that to be a witness, to be called to this, is not to go out and tell people about theology. 00:14:19.919 --> 00:14:25.940 It's not to go and present doctrine and doctrinal systems to people, though, of course, truths of doctrine are involved. 00:14:26.720 --> 00:14:38.320 Instead, it's just to go and tell the story of what God has done through Christ in the middle of history, in whatever way you've been able to receive it, in order to give it to somebody in a way they can receive it. 00:14:38.320 --> 00:14:40.640 And let me give you one example. 00:14:40.900 --> 00:14:43.780 John chapter 4, the woman at the well. 00:14:44.320 --> 00:14:51.379 Jesus encounters this woman at the well in John 4, and he tells her everything she had done in life, her relationships. 00:14:52.300 --> 00:14:59.040 And she's changed by him, and she's forgiven by him, and she receives the word of eternal life, as he puts it, the water of life. 00:14:59.800 --> 00:15:00.980 And what does it say right after that? 00:15:01.060 --> 00:15:05.720 She goes out into her little Samaritan village, a woman who had no standing in her culture. 00:15:06.320 --> 00:15:07.140 She's poor. 00:15:07.440 --> 00:15:08.100 She's alone. 00:15:08.760 --> 00:15:13.460 And with great courage, she goes into her village, and it says that she told everybody, 00:15:14.160 --> 00:15:17.360 come and see a man who told me all that I ever did. 00:15:18.300 --> 00:15:22.560 And by implication, what that means is she's saying, come and look at a man, see a man, Jesus, 00:15:22.940 --> 00:15:27.940 who told me all that I ever did and forgave me, who loved me to the point of forgiveness. 00:15:28.060 --> 00:15:29.140 That's what she implies there. 00:15:29.660 --> 00:15:31.820 She, with great courage, went in and just told her story. 00:15:31.820 --> 00:15:40.060 And she told it in a way that other people could hear it and said, come and see a man who knows everything I ever did, 00:15:40.860 --> 00:15:42.800 loved me anyway, and forgave me. 00:15:42.799 --> 00:15:46.419 That's the basics of all it means to bear witness. 00:15:46.419 --> 00:15:54.360 And the second thing that we're told about bearing witness here in Acts 1 is that the object of that witness, what are we witnessing to? 00:15:54.559 --> 00:15:58.819 And, of course, Jesus, all that he came to do for us. 00:15:58.820 --> 00:16:04.980 But also in verse 2, verse 3, verse 9, it says that he taught them, he told them to bear witness to the kingdom. 00:16:06.280 --> 00:16:12.480 So another part of this is he says, don't, you know, you bear witness to Jesus uttermost and to the whole of the kingdom. 00:16:12.700 --> 00:16:13.940 And what does he mean by that? 00:16:14.200 --> 00:16:21.220 For 40 days, it says that he taught them about the kingdom of God before he ascended and told them then to go and bear witness. 00:16:21.220 --> 00:16:23.060 And what does that mean? 00:16:23.100 --> 00:16:30.660 Well, I think it means this, that in verse 9, when he ascends into heaven, he becomes the king of the cosmos, the king of the universe. 00:16:30.899 --> 00:16:32.259 He goes into the heavenly realm. 00:16:32.379 --> 00:16:35.040 He presents his blood to God the Father. 00:16:36.200 --> 00:16:44.000 And he says, by this priestly work that I have done for my people, for your people, Father, you will never demand payment for them again. 00:16:44.080 --> 00:16:44.700 They're redeemed. 00:16:45.399 --> 00:16:48.300 And then he says, and I will continue to be your priest. 00:16:48.860 --> 00:16:50.759 I will continue to intercess for you. 00:16:50.759 --> 00:16:54.700 I will continue to represent you before God, that you're always forgiven. 00:16:55.080 --> 00:16:57.919 Your sins cast away as far as the east is from the west forever. 00:16:58.700 --> 00:17:00.899 And I'll continue to be your king, your cosmic king. 00:17:00.939 --> 00:17:07.240 And I'll continue to be your prophet working through the Holy Spirit to tell you, you are a son, you're a daughter of the king. 00:17:07.339 --> 00:17:10.339 That's his cosmic ministry for us, Jesus. 00:17:10.559 --> 00:17:13.539 Prophet, priest, and king ascended in the heavenly domain. 00:17:13.539 --> 00:17:30.079 And then he left them to say, now you, you on earth, you witnesses are to be prophets and priests, representatives of God in wherever God has put you, holistically, to point people to the future kingdom. 00:17:30.519 --> 00:17:31.079 What does that mean? 00:17:31.079 --> 00:17:37.679 It means that witness is not only by word, it's not only by gospel, message, proclamation, but it's also by deeds. 00:17:38.759 --> 00:17:40.399 Witness by word, witness by deed. 00:17:40.460 --> 00:17:48.839 It means that we're here to be holistic in our evangelism, that we're to testify to the kingdom, all that God is up to by the way we live. 00:17:48.839 --> 00:17:54.000 And so we've been looking at the Sermon on the Mount on Sunday mornings, Sunday evenings, sorry. 00:17:54.659 --> 00:17:58.259 And a couple weeks ago, what did Jesus, what did Jesus tell us? 00:17:58.279 --> 00:18:04.299 He said, they ought to, you ought to live in such a way that people see your good works and give glory to your father who is in heaven. 00:18:05.480 --> 00:18:10.980 Or Ephesians 2, you are his workmanship created, recreated in Christ Jesus for good works. 00:18:10.980 --> 00:18:19.880 And we learn here that witness, the work of witness is by both word and deed, holistically, together, interdependent, never to be separated from one another. 00:18:21.440 --> 00:18:23.319 It always, it always works together. 00:18:24.920 --> 00:18:29.400 People in the modern world do not want to be objects of a mission. 00:18:31.559 --> 00:18:33.539 They don't want to be your object. 00:18:33.539 --> 00:18:43.899 And the important thing to see here is that what Jesus is calling us to in Acts chapter 1 is exactly to see that you should never have anybody as your object. 00:18:44.039 --> 00:18:46.940 Instead, he's saying, go into the world and love people. 00:18:47.799 --> 00:18:54.339 Love people so much that you want them to find the truth and the hope that you found, and you love them by meeting their needs. 00:18:55.500 --> 00:18:59.139 You love them by meeting their needs and giving them the truth that you found in your life. 00:18:59.140 --> 00:19:01.780 The mission is never to make anybody an object. 00:19:01.960 --> 00:19:05.080 It's just to extend the love of Christ into the world. 00:19:05.200 --> 00:19:08.240 And so let me give you a few ways you can do that very practically. 00:19:08.840 --> 00:19:15.720 So here's a very practical, everyday lifestyle method for being a witness in the world. 00:19:16.780 --> 00:19:21.160 Number one, have non-Christian friends and cultivate those relationships. 00:19:22.360 --> 00:19:23.080 Know people. 00:19:23.840 --> 00:19:24.740 Relationships are everything. 00:19:25.440 --> 00:19:28.620 Number two, be public about your faith. 00:19:29.140 --> 00:19:30.960 Never hiding your faith. 00:19:31.560 --> 00:19:39.300 In humble confidence, always, with humility yet confidence, always being ready to be public that you're a Christian at any time. 00:19:39.780 --> 00:19:44.500 Help others see that you're different, yet not that weird. 00:19:45.160 --> 00:19:45.920 Okay, that's very important. 00:19:46.480 --> 00:19:47.520 Public about your faith. 00:19:47.680 --> 00:19:49.720 Different, a little bit weird, yet not that weird. 00:19:51.480 --> 00:19:54.200 Number three, be zealous for good works. 00:19:54.200 --> 00:19:57.279 Paul even uses the language, outdo other people. 00:19:57.539 --> 00:19:59.759 Be competitive about your service. 00:20:00.259 --> 00:20:01.700 Meet other people's needs. 00:20:01.920 --> 00:20:02.640 Do good works. 00:20:02.720 --> 00:20:03.799 Be competitive about it. 00:20:03.920 --> 00:20:04.519 Outserve. 00:20:05.140 --> 00:20:09.240 So that people can see that you're different and give glory to the Father who is in heaven. 00:20:09.580 --> 00:20:11.620 Want to know what makes this person so different. 00:20:12.400 --> 00:20:18.259 Number four, bring your friends who aren't yet Christians, who don't yet know Christ, to your dinner table. 00:20:18.259 --> 00:20:25.720 And mix that community with Christian friends so that Christians and non-Christians can be friends with one another in communities. 00:20:25.720 --> 00:20:34.000 In order that people might begin to belong to a community of faith so that they might become people who think, I could believe this. 00:20:34.440 --> 00:20:35.120 I could believe this. 00:20:35.180 --> 00:20:37.839 There are people who believe this who aren't that weird. 00:20:38.519 --> 00:20:38.620 Right? 00:20:38.900 --> 00:20:41.819 And then number five, don't be afraid. 00:20:42.420 --> 00:20:45.140 Be loose and fast with invitations. 00:20:46.420 --> 00:20:47.480 Don't be afraid to invite. 00:20:47.779 --> 00:20:51.480 Invite people into the community, to the church, to events, to all sorts of things. 00:20:51.980 --> 00:20:53.539 Invite people to read with you. 00:20:53.799 --> 00:20:55.160 Invite people to come and talk. 00:20:55.160 --> 00:20:56.420 Invite people to coffee. 00:20:56.700 --> 00:20:57.560 Invite, invite, invite. 00:20:58.060 --> 00:21:01.160 Those five things, I think, are a lifestyle of being a public witness. 00:21:01.279 --> 00:21:04.580 Now third, we have a problem with this. 00:21:04.940 --> 00:21:05.779 Of course we do. 00:21:06.200 --> 00:21:06.860 Our problem. 00:21:07.940 --> 00:21:09.000 We have a problem with it. 00:21:09.000 --> 00:21:09.680 What is that problem? 00:21:09.860 --> 00:21:12.920 Let me just list a few ways we struggle. 00:21:13.700 --> 00:21:18.380 Number one, we feel guilt in our lives because we're not often active witnesses. 00:21:19.240 --> 00:21:23.200 And guilt reverberates stiffness, paralysis. 00:21:23.519 --> 00:21:24.940 Guilt creates paralysis. 00:21:25.920 --> 00:21:30.820 And so sometimes the more guilt you feel over Acts chapter one and other passages like it, 00:21:31.080 --> 00:21:34.580 the less you actually will engage in a lifestyle of witness. 00:21:34.960 --> 00:21:36.460 Guilt is a terrible motivator. 00:21:37.040 --> 00:21:38.300 Christ has removed it from you. 00:21:38.460 --> 00:21:39.060 Don't feel guilty. 00:21:40.279 --> 00:21:41.540 You're not, you're saved. 00:21:42.279 --> 00:21:42.900 You're safe. 00:21:43.759 --> 00:21:46.180 Number two, we struggle because we fear people. 00:21:46.400 --> 00:21:48.440 And we think, will I break this relationship? 00:21:48.660 --> 00:21:49.960 Will I hurt my relationships? 00:21:49.960 --> 00:21:53.180 If I'm a public witness, we need courage. 00:21:53.840 --> 00:21:54.539 Courage and wisdom. 00:21:54.779 --> 00:21:58.400 Courage like the woman at the well had in her little village, her little town. 00:21:58.500 --> 00:21:59.079 Courage and wisdom. 00:21:59.259 --> 00:22:01.259 Number three, we feel inadequacy. 00:22:01.859 --> 00:22:03.920 So we come and think, I need more training. 00:22:04.740 --> 00:22:06.200 There's a very important question to ask. 00:22:06.240 --> 00:22:06.980 It's very real. 00:22:07.039 --> 00:22:18.680 How do you evangelize in an age where people do not have any interest in the church, do not have any interest or believe in a sacred order at all, a moral order at all? 00:22:18.680 --> 00:22:24.480 Or even think and completely deny any sense of a need to be saved from anything. 00:22:25.220 --> 00:22:27.560 How do you talk to people about the gospel at an age like that? 00:22:27.920 --> 00:22:30.680 So there's a real issue there where we do need training. 00:22:31.480 --> 00:22:37.779 But sometimes even getting to that, even getting to that issue is blocked. 00:22:38.120 --> 00:22:43.680 And the reason it's blocked is because the most fundamental problem we have, and it's the simple fact that we don't want to. 00:22:44.400 --> 00:22:46.000 We just don't want to be a witness. 00:22:46.000 --> 00:22:52.099 And I was reading recently, Glenn Scrivener wrote a helpful article about this. 00:22:52.180 --> 00:22:56.259 He says, we may ask why words of witness aren't more forthcoming. 00:22:56.960 --> 00:23:05.700 The answer might touch on hostility from the world, secularization, fear, outdated cultural analysis, and so on and so forth. 00:23:05.759 --> 00:23:08.839 Yet underneath all this lies an uncomfortable truth. 00:23:09.359 --> 00:23:11.460 Our love for people is lacking. 00:23:12.299 --> 00:23:14.819 We don't want to because we struggle to love people. 00:23:14.819 --> 00:23:21.299 To love them enough to want to give them truth and good works in a way that they can receive and hear the gospel. 00:23:22.159 --> 00:23:30.519 Tim Keller says, we often don't ever face the problem of how to rightly evangelize in our age, in our context, because we've never actually tried. 00:23:31.819 --> 00:23:38.659 And so if we never actually try to speak the word of the gospel to anybody, we don't even know exactly what our needs of training will be. 00:23:38.660 --> 00:23:39.500 Right? 00:23:39.560 --> 00:23:50.340 So sometimes the most important thing you can do is take the step of becoming a public Christian, embracing a lifestyle of witness, to then even learn the exact training you might need in your life. 00:23:50.880 --> 00:23:52.019 To even seek it. 00:23:52.740 --> 00:23:54.160 Now this is not an us problem. 00:23:55.279 --> 00:23:56.420 No guilt at all here. 00:23:56.519 --> 00:23:57.180 This is not an us problem. 00:23:57.240 --> 00:23:57.960 This is a human problem. 00:23:58.100 --> 00:23:59.160 This goes back to the beginning. 00:23:59.160 --> 00:24:03.620 So if you look down here at verse 6, when they had come together, this is what they said. 00:24:03.820 --> 00:24:11.040 After a 40 days of time with Jesus, the apostles said, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom of Israel? 00:24:12.080 --> 00:24:20.220 Now you see, boy, John Calvin says there are as many errors in this sentence, this question they ask, as words. 00:24:20.220 --> 00:24:28.539 They have been spending 40 days with Jesus Christ, being discipled by him about the kingdom and about their job as ministers and witnesses. 00:24:29.079 --> 00:24:34.980 And the first thing they say is, okay, Lord, are you going to today restore the kingdom to Israel? 00:24:35.900 --> 00:24:37.740 And what are they asking? 00:24:37.960 --> 00:24:43.400 Boy, basically Jesus has said, you are going to extend my ministry into all the world. 00:24:43.940 --> 00:24:45.360 It's going to be very costly. 00:24:46.660 --> 00:24:48.799 You've been called to give your life away to this. 00:24:48.799 --> 00:24:51.579 And some of you are going to even lose life and limb for it. 00:24:51.919 --> 00:25:04.259 And they turn around and say, okay, so what you're saying is you're going to march to Rome, kick Caesar out of the throne, take the emperor's seat and restore the kingdom of God right now. 00:25:04.359 --> 00:25:05.940 And we are going to be in charge of the treasury. 00:25:06.200 --> 00:25:06.859 That's what they're saying. 00:25:07.299 --> 00:25:07.460 Right? 00:25:07.539 --> 00:25:08.779 You're going to make us comfortable. 00:25:09.200 --> 00:25:10.539 You're going to take over the empire. 00:25:10.659 --> 00:25:11.339 That's what you're saying. 00:25:11.799 --> 00:25:13.319 They completely missed it. 00:25:13.680 --> 00:25:14.019 Why? 00:25:14.779 --> 00:25:17.259 Because they struggle with the same problem we struggle with. 00:25:17.259 --> 00:25:18.740 And that's a market mentality. 00:25:18.799 --> 00:25:21.220 What's the market mentality? 00:25:21.319 --> 00:25:24.159 The market mentality is to say, I want to get, not to give. 00:25:24.240 --> 00:25:25.200 I exist to be comfortable. 00:25:25.879 --> 00:25:29.759 I walk down the Royal Mile most days at some point. 00:25:29.980 --> 00:25:32.299 And if you've walked down it, you've walked down it. 00:25:32.379 --> 00:25:32.500 Yeah. 00:25:33.899 --> 00:25:37.099 Right behind St. Giles is the statue of Adam Smith. 00:25:37.659 --> 00:25:42.220 Adam Smith is the father of the modern economy, the father of the modern market, 00:25:42.220 --> 00:25:46.880 who studied at the University of Edinburgh and then Glasgow, I think, if I remember correctly. 00:25:47.980 --> 00:25:49.440 And Adam, what did Adam Smith say? 00:25:49.500 --> 00:25:51.000 He said, what drives the market? 00:25:51.240 --> 00:25:52.339 What drives the modern world? 00:25:52.600 --> 00:25:53.700 The invisible hand. 00:25:54.180 --> 00:25:55.380 And what's that invisible hand? 00:25:55.579 --> 00:25:57.980 The invisible hand that's pushing everything that you don't see? 00:25:58.579 --> 00:25:59.500 Self-interest. 00:26:00.480 --> 00:26:01.759 Self-interest drives the market. 00:26:02.460 --> 00:26:05.599 And the market sometimes creeps into the spiritual mindset. 00:26:06.579 --> 00:26:12.380 And the market mentality says, boy, I just, I'm here to come to Christianity to get, not to give. 00:26:13.140 --> 00:26:16.559 I've gotten the gospel, but I don't, I'm not here to give anything. 00:26:17.139 --> 00:26:21.899 And Jesus actually said, I came here to give you everything and then to send you on a costly mission. 00:26:22.740 --> 00:26:23.599 No cheap grace. 00:26:24.379 --> 00:26:26.000 The gospel is beautiful. 00:26:26.119 --> 00:26:26.480 It's amazing. 00:26:26.559 --> 00:26:26.899 It's free. 00:26:26.899 --> 00:26:29.779 And then it's costly to us. 00:26:30.179 --> 00:26:32.200 And the disciples here are struggling with that. 00:26:32.279 --> 00:26:38.359 The old self comes back into our lives and says, boy, I don't really want to be on mission. 00:26:38.519 --> 00:26:39.679 And I think it's harder than ever. 00:26:40.059 --> 00:26:41.240 And what is the key? 00:26:41.419 --> 00:26:44.500 What's the key today is, as we draw things to a close, to break through. 00:26:45.299 --> 00:26:49.539 And the key to break through is 1 John 4.19. 00:26:51.380 --> 00:26:56.779 We need, we need not only, we need, we need more than a market mentality. 00:26:56.940 --> 00:26:59.259 We need an experience of covenant mentality. 00:26:59.700 --> 00:27:02.039 And to get that, we need an experience of love in our lives. 00:27:02.180 --> 00:27:04.960 1 John 4.19, I go forth in love. 00:27:05.039 --> 00:27:05.279 How? 00:27:05.440 --> 00:27:07.460 Only because he first loved me. 00:27:08.599 --> 00:27:14.039 And the key to break through and to become a witness is actually to have experiences 00:27:14.039 --> 00:27:18.099 of the love of God in your life over and over and over again. 00:27:19.259 --> 00:27:24.379 You have to be at a place in your life where you say, I can go and love in word and deed 00:27:24.379 --> 00:27:28.019 to people that God has put me around because of how much he first loved me. 00:27:28.359 --> 00:27:30.200 It's the experience of love that we need in our life. 00:27:30.339 --> 00:27:30.740 Communion. 00:27:30.740 --> 00:27:38.799 The real joy, the real key to a ministry life of life of witness is the fact that we've experienced 00:27:38.799 --> 00:27:39.700 such great love. 00:27:40.339 --> 00:27:44.099 And I'll move to the final, very brief conclusion by just saying this. 00:27:44.900 --> 00:27:51.759 We all know, we all know that real joy in this life does not come from seeking your own 00:27:51.759 --> 00:27:52.200 self-interest. 00:27:52.200 --> 00:27:57.000 The story of every celebrity in the world has taught us that over and over and over 00:27:57.000 --> 00:27:57.340 again. 00:27:57.700 --> 00:28:00.539 That you can seek your self-interest to the uttermost and you will be miserable. 00:28:01.240 --> 00:28:05.779 But if you're able to give your life away for something that's far greater, a mission 00:28:05.779 --> 00:28:11.420 that's so much bigger, you will actually find deep, deep satisfaction and deep, deep joy in 00:28:11.420 --> 00:28:11.759 your life. 00:28:12.299 --> 00:28:15.539 The world has never been safer than it is today. 00:28:16.059 --> 00:28:18.980 The world has never been as comfortable as it is today. 00:28:18.980 --> 00:28:23.400 The world has never been as easy to live in as it is today. 00:28:23.480 --> 00:28:28.200 We have never been as wealthy as we are as a society, as this very moment. 00:28:28.380 --> 00:28:35.759 And yet, people are more miserable, sad, lonely, anxious, and struggling with depression than 00:28:35.759 --> 00:28:36.400 ever before. 00:28:37.599 --> 00:28:38.160 Why? 00:28:39.240 --> 00:28:44.819 Part of the reason is because as long as you don't have a mission, a vision in life that 00:28:44.819 --> 00:28:48.640 is far bigger than you, you will struggle to ever have joy. 00:28:48.980 --> 00:28:52.900 So let me conclude with this, the power we need. 00:28:53.559 --> 00:28:54.259 And I just said it. 00:28:54.299 --> 00:28:57.019 We need a 40-day discipleship program. 00:28:57.500 --> 00:28:58.079 That's what we need. 00:28:58.460 --> 00:29:00.700 Jesus gave them a 40-day discipleship program. 00:29:01.339 --> 00:29:02.700 And not literally, we don't need that. 00:29:02.799 --> 00:29:06.960 But what I mean by that is, Jesus puts it this way in Mark chapter 1. 00:29:06.960 --> 00:29:10.480 Follow me and I will make you fishers of people. 00:29:11.279 --> 00:29:17.460 The prerequisite for being a person in witness, fishers of people in this life, is that you 00:29:17.460 --> 00:29:19.019 actually have to be following Jesus. 00:29:20.259 --> 00:29:26.600 And so I want to come and ask you this morning, not are you a Christian, but to the Christians 00:29:26.600 --> 00:29:28.900 in the room, are you following Jesus Christ? 00:29:29.560 --> 00:29:30.660 And those are different things. 00:29:31.820 --> 00:29:34.660 You can be a Christian and not be following Jesus right now. 00:29:35.440 --> 00:29:41.420 The prerequisite to be a fisher of people is to follow him in order to fish, in order 00:29:41.420 --> 00:29:44.180 to seek, to be a witness, to love people in our city. 00:29:44.740 --> 00:29:44.840 Right? 00:29:44.880 --> 00:29:45.780 Are you following him? 00:29:45.860 --> 00:29:46.780 Are you seeking him? 00:29:47.280 --> 00:29:48.640 Psalm 27, we prayed earlier. 00:29:48.780 --> 00:29:52.519 Are you seeking to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord every single day? 00:29:52.519 --> 00:29:58.639 In other words, you've got to have daily moments of worship and wonder or you will not ever 00:29:58.639 --> 00:30:00.680 be a public witness for Jesus Christ. 00:30:01.240 --> 00:30:05.240 If you're not receiving the communion, the love of the gospel, if you're not realizing 00:30:05.240 --> 00:30:07.680 that, boy, let me say it finally like this. 00:30:07.740 --> 00:30:13.779 If you are not in a place right now where you're experiencing the fact that you are his mission, 00:30:14.819 --> 00:30:18.119 it will be very difficult to go and seek the mission that he's given you. 00:30:18.119 --> 00:30:25.739 So you've got to come every day at some point and worship and wonder and say, I am the object. 00:30:25.819 --> 00:30:27.579 I am the object of God's great love. 00:30:28.179 --> 00:30:29.119 I am his mission. 00:30:30.219 --> 00:30:32.519 The missio dei, the mission of God, is me. 00:30:32.759 --> 00:30:35.019 That's what you've got to say every single day. 00:30:35.739 --> 00:30:40.719 You know, we say, people don't want to be the object of mission in the modern world. 00:30:41.359 --> 00:30:42.179 And I get that. 00:30:42.239 --> 00:30:42.639 I agree with that. 00:30:42.679 --> 00:30:44.859 But, boy, neither did we. 00:30:44.859 --> 00:30:47.379 You know, you say, I don't know. 00:30:47.479 --> 00:30:48.399 People just don't like it. 00:30:48.459 --> 00:30:51.719 But you didn't want to be saved. 00:30:52.019 --> 00:30:53.179 You didn't want to be rescued. 00:30:53.419 --> 00:30:55.579 You were the one that shook your fist. 00:30:55.719 --> 00:30:57.199 We, I, right? 00:30:57.419 --> 00:31:03.119 And yet Jesus in the middle of history came in love and rescued you before you ever even asked. 00:31:03.799 --> 00:31:08.959 And in the same way, boy, daily communion with God that I am his mission. 00:31:09.059 --> 00:31:09.799 He loves me. 00:31:10.039 --> 00:31:10.819 He knows me to the bottom. 00:31:10.899 --> 00:31:11.839 He loves me to the sky. 00:31:11.839 --> 00:31:20.299 I, that's the only way, that heart posture, that we'll be able to step out our door and be people who live a lifestyle of public faith. 00:31:21.539 --> 00:31:22.159 Let us pray. 00:31:22.279 --> 00:31:25.500 Father, we ask that you would make us witnesses. 00:31:26.279 --> 00:31:28.579 And, Lord, we recognize today that we are witnesses. 00:31:28.839 --> 00:31:30.579 So, Lord, teach us to be that. 00:31:30.579 --> 00:31:33.240 So, give us courage and wisdom. 00:31:34.980 --> 00:31:35.879 Courage and wisdom. 00:31:36.659 --> 00:31:46.539 To seek the vision you've given us in this city center church for our city, wherever the little place you've put us, to speak the gospel and to love people by meeting their needs. 00:31:47.439 --> 00:31:48.460 Awaken us, Lord. 00:31:48.899 --> 00:31:49.779 Shake up the dust. 00:31:49.839 --> 00:31:52.139 Shake the dust off of our hearts on this. 00:31:52.140 --> 00:31:59.060 And we ask that you begin right now as we close with singing with a fresh encounter with you, communion with you. 00:31:59.259 --> 00:32:01.640 So, give us that gift now, oh, Lord, we pray. 00:32:02.040 --> 00:32:03.620 In Jesus' name, amen.