Acts 1:1-11
May 4, 2008
1In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning 2until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. 3After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. 4While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. “This,” he said, “is what you have heard from me; 5for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
6So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. 8But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” 9When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. 11They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
Luke 24:44-53
44Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” 45Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 46and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, 47and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48You are witnesses of these things. 49And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
50Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. 51While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. 52And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; 53and they were continually in the temple blessing God.
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I saw a bumper sticker years ago which sets the tone for a theological discussion of Christ’s return. It stated, “Jesus is Coming,” and the fine print at the bottom added, “look busy.”
I thought of that this week as I considered this week’s text. We have the story-actually two stories--of Jesus’ ascension, in which he gives the disciples instructions and then vanishes. And then angels come and ask them, “why are just staring off into space? Get busy.”
The stories in Luke and Acts are slightly different—which is interesting, because the same person is telling them. We could try to moosh them together like we do the Christmas stories, but we will miss the point. They are different because they have different emphases.
Luke and Acts were written as one book. The gospel of Luke tells the story of Jesus of Nazareth, beginning with his uncle Zechariah praying in the temple before his birth, and the disciples praying in the temple after he ascends to heaven.
Acts begins with the disciples receiving Luke’s version of the “Great Commission,” and being sent out into the world.
Both versions tell of the coming of the power of the Holy Spirit. Both versions begin with the promise that the disciples will be witnesses to Jesus and his message, and that the story will be told first in Jerusalem.
But then, the Acts story moves out—literally—into the world.
Jesus gives the disciples a plan of action to carry the good news into the world. In Acts 1:8, Jesus tells them, “You will be my witnesses, in (slide) Jerusalem, Judea (slide) and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (slide)
Interestingly, this verse is also an outline of the book of Acts.
The Book of Acts describes the Apostles in mission in the first century after Jesus’ ascension—his leaving the earth. And it follows that three-fold pattern—Acts 2-7 describe the growth of the church in Jerusalem. Acts 8-15 in Judea and Samaria, and Acts 16 through the end of the book describe the acts (primarily of Paul) in spreading the good news about Jesus to the ends of the earth—at least as they knew it.
But, this outline can also be instructive for us in our work in the church, today. We have our own Jerusalems, Judeas and Samarias, and our own ends of the earth.
We are going to be celebrating our 175th anniversary over the next few months, and we can learn something about ourselves and our future as we look back.
We built this building in Jerusalem. Jerusalem? This isn’t Jerusalem. Ah, but it is.
The disciples were sent out first to the place in which they lived, the place which was most familiar to them. They shared the good news throughout the Greater Jerusalem Metropolitan area, and the church grew like mad.
And we grew within our own little realm of Jerusalem, er, Mansfield. We stayed in the place where we were most familiar and we grew. We grew primarily through the church nursery—because we had a phenomenal birthrate in the 1950s, but then again, most churches did. Some church growth experts have called it “bedroom evangelism.” Think about it.
We were a neighborhood church and grew that way. Occasionally we would invite someone from our immediate circles to visit, and we grew that way, too. Still, the church looked, well, probably a lot like the Jerusalem church in its early days—pretty homogeneous—we all looked pretty much alike—white, middle class.
But God wasn’t satisfied with a church that looked that way, and so the disciples were sent out into Judea and Samaria, and then to the ends of the earth. I want to come back to Judea and Samaria in a bit. Right now, I want to deal with the ends of the earth.
The church reached the ends of the earth pretty quickly, given that there was no mass communication and no rapid transit. Paul traveled by ship—in pretty dangerous conditions—and preached throughout Asia Minor (Turkey), Macedonia, Greece, and even Rome. In one lifetime. And where his message was received, others went out from there to spread the good news.
No doubt, the folks back in Jerusalem were asked if they wanted to go on mission trips, too. No, but they would send money to help. That’s OK, they were participating. And they did a remarkable job in spreading the word.
You, too, have done a remarkable job in reaching the ends of the earth. You have been reaching the ends of the other with mission offerings. First Christian Church Women have been sending money to support Disciples missions for well over a century.
Next month, on the 8th, I hope you will be here for the kick-off event of our Anniversary Celebration. Johnny Wray will be our preacher—and I consider him to be one of the top 10 preachers in the Disciples. Johnny is the Director of the Week of Compassion Offering ministry of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). That ministry is our relief and development program, and part of a multi-denominational program called One Great Hour of Sharing. Relief, in that when disaster and war arise, human sufferings rise with them. And we help. Sometimes, it’s other help that’s needed. Those Week of Compassion offerings we have given have dug wells that have made a huge difference in the lives of people far, far away.
Johnny has literally been to the ends of the earth in Christ’s name and in yours. In many ways and in many places, he is the face of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). When the tsunami hit three years ago, he was there and you were there, bringing good news and comfort and help. Week of Compassion responded in uncountable ways when my hometown of New Orleans was flooded during Hurricane Katrina. And when floods hit Ohio last summer, week of compassion dollars flowed into Mansfield and Findlay to help. Ohio is the ends of the earth if standing somewhere else.
You have reached out in countless ways to share the Gospel with others in faraway places. And we need to keep doing that.
But, then there’s this pesky business of Judea and Samaria. That must have been hard for the first Apostles (they were Disciples until they were sent out. Disciples=follow, Apostles=sent out or away). The really didn’t like the Samaritans and the Judeans, well they weren’t all that keen of having them in the church either. But, they reached out, and the church grew.
And so here we are, in the midst of our own Jerusalem, surrounded by Judea and Samaria. The birthrate in Jerusalem (that is, at FCC Mansfield) has dropped considerably. This neighborhood, which we once knew as Jerusalem, has now become the unfamiliar territory of Judea and Samaria. But, more than that, we are surrounded by an increasingly unchurched population. Folks who have either never heard the good news of Jesus Christ, or, more likely, had some bad experiences in the church in the past or simply got bored and quit going.
I meet a lot of folks who’ve been burned by the church. They’ve been judged and criticized and squeezed right out of Jerusalem and into Samaria. And, what they need is an invitation from someone—well, like you—with the Good News, indeed, that there are a bunch of folks who love Jesus and each other, and leave judgment to God’s loving heart.
They may have gotten out of the church, but now they need to find their way back. Maybe you—each of you and all of you hold the key for them. And a word of kindness may be all it will take to start.
The Luke lesson ends with the Disciples praying and worshiping in the Temple. In Jerusalem. But, you can’t grow from inside—you’ve go to get out of the church! Cleaning up around here in Judea and Samaria is a good start—and a good way to meet our neighbors.
And there’s nothing in here about age limits. And retirement isn’t a part of the biblical witness at all. Marj, one of our members from the last church I served went on a mission trip with us at age 84. Someone asked what she could possibly do to help with the work that was to be done. “I’ll encourage the others,” she said. And she did. In Ukraine. Which is at the ends of the earth mind you.
Imagine what you could do right here at home.
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