I want to start out tonight by reminding you of the teaching the disciples had received right before Jesus had ascended. In Luke 24:46-49 (which is the same context as Acts 1:1-11), Jesus tells the disciples, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and rise again from the dead the third day; [which had happened] and that repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you,; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” Then in the beginning of Acts he says, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witness both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
Therefore, to summarize, he had told them that they were to wait in Jerusalem until they were “clothed with power” (or they “receive power”) and then they were to take the message that Christ died and rose again (the gospel—1 Corinthians 15:4) to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and eventually to every nation. What I want us to feel and be burdened by tonight is the fact that this mission is still in need of being finished - almost 2000 years later.
Let me show you that it was started by pointing you to verse 28 of our text tonight. The high priest says to the disciples, “You have filled Jerusalem with your teaching.” Was that not the first step to be accomplished toward world evangelization? They had done what they were first commanded. They had waited, been clothed with power, and then they filled Jerusalem with the teaching of the gospel so that men were saved. And I hope as the disciples heard the chief priest say this that they realized what had begun. They had started the great commission. They had filled Jerusalem with their teaching.
We would later see the next wave of the mission complete in Acts 10 as Peter preaches and some Gentiles are converted. And then I think that is very much why the book makes a transition to Paul because he is passionate about bringing about the final stage of the commission given to the disciples, namely, preaching the gospel to every nation. In fact, Paul says this is his desire in Romans 15:18-21 as he writes, “For I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed, in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit; so that from Jerusalem and round about as far as Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. And I thus aspired to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named, that I might not build upon another man’s foundation; but as it is written, ‘They who had no news of him shall see, and they who have not heard shall understand.’”
It was Paul’s passion to see this commission given by Christ to take the gospel to every nation completed. But I do not believe that it has been completed yet, (as many of you who have been here a while know) even though it is 2000 years later. The reason that I do not believe it has happened is because I think by the word “nations,” the Scripture means people groups. That is, I think, Jesus is saying that the gospel must be preached to every group that speaks a different language and not just those recognized as being nations or countries. The reason I say this is because such groups exist while Revelation 5:9 and 7:9 tell us of the crowd in heaven that there will be people there from every tongue [language], tribe, and nation.
Therefore, if men are only saved by hearing and responding to the gospel (which is the case) and if God is going to call people to himself from every tribe, tongue, and nation, then the gospel must be preached among every people group among whom the gospel has not been named.
I just read yesterday from the annual report of the International Mission Board, “God has called His people to proclaim His name among all peoples. This is our task. But 2,161 ‘nations,’ or people groups, live in The Last Frontier—the part of the world with little or no access to the gospel. That’s 1.7 billion people who have virtually no chance of hearing the good news of Jesus Christ” (“The Unfinished Task 2000," p.2).
But I want you to know something: the mission will be accomplished. It’s going to happen. Listen to the certainty with which Jesus speaks in John 10:16, “And I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they shall hear my voice; and they shall become one flock with one shepherd”. Do you hear that? Jesus says that they will hear his voice and they will become part of his flock. This will happen. The only question then is this: will we be instruments through whom God brings this about or will we be content to sit by and miss God completing this great task through his people. I am challenging you tonight to pour your prayers, finances, and lives into completing this task. Therefore, let’s now go back to the disciples again in Acts and see how they filled Jerusalem with their teaching, completing the first part of the task, and then let’s strive to imitate them in order that we might complete the task that they began in Jerusalem.
They wanted it to happen, and yet they knew that it would never happen through them apart from the power of God. Let me show this to you in the text. We have seen their hunger for power in Acts 4:23-31, now look at their hunger to complete the task. Verses 17-18 tell us that they had been arrested and put in jail for teaching. However, that night an angel comes and opens the prison doors and frees them. So, what do they do then? They go right back to proclaiming the name of Christ even as the angel had commanded them in verses 19-20. Luke tells us in verse 21, “And upon hearing this, they entered into the temple about daybreak, and began to teach.”
They knew that they would be punished again, but they did not care. They hungered to obey God and to complete the task that he had given them before his ascension.
We need to have that same desire and that same realization that we needs God’s power. I will end with why you should desire to complete the commission, so let me speak now for a minute of hungering for power in order that it might happen.
Everything I have spoken of in the last weeks—hungering for power and praying for the gifts of the Spirit to be present in the Church—has its end in the completion of this task. That’s why Jesus said he was giving them power through the Holy Spirit, to be his witnesses (Luke 24:49 and Acts 1:8). And that is why we pray for the same thing.
In 1974 a group of men consisting of such noted thinkers as John Stott, Ralph Martin, Billy Graham, and Francis Schaeffer gathered in Lausanne Switzerland. There they drafted a document known as the Lausanne Covenant that addressed the need of world evangelization and called the church to strive for the completion of this task. What is interesting about this document is article XIV which reads as follows:
“Worldwide evangelization will become a realistic possibility only when the Spirit renews the church in truth and wisdom, faith, holiness, love and power. We, therefore, call upon all Christians to pray for such a visitation of the sovereign Spirit of God that all his fruit may appear in all his people and that all his gifts may enrich the body of Christ. Only then will the whole church become a fit instrument in his hands, that the whole earth may hear his voice”.
These men saw all the gifts in the church as a necessity to bring about world evangelization, writing “only then” will the mission be accomplished. I think that is why they cry for the church to pray for a sovereign visitation of the Spirit to anoint the church in truth, faith, holiness, love, and power.
Again, Jonathan Edwards wrote,
“From the fall of man, to our day, the work of redemption in its effect has mainly been carried on by remarkable communications of the Spirit of God. Though there be a more constant influence of God’s Spirit always in some degree attending his ordinances; yet the way in which the greatest things have been done towards carrying on this work, always have been by remarkable effusions, at special seasons of mercy.”
It is obvious, therefore, from these men’s words that the church needs to be hungering for the Spirit’s power in order to fulfill the work of God. We need to hunger and cry out to God for these “remarkable effusions” of the Spirit’s power in our lives. And I believe that these men arrived at this by the example that we are given here in Acts. God’s power in all over this book as these men are seeking to fulfill this commission.
As I read these verses the other day in a time of meditation, I was blown away by the fact that God sent an angel to break them out of prison in order that they might preach his word. After my time of reflection, I wrote these words, “Need we ever doubt the truth of 2 Chronicles 16:9? God is most definitely searching to show his power of behalf of those whose hearts are whole toward him.”
Is there any doubt? You set your heart on longing and praying that God would use you to complete this great commission, and then ask for power that it might be fulfilled, and I cannot see why God would not answer that prayer. Luke seems to be trying to show us in this book that God does not deny his power in the lives of those who are seeking to spread his gospel to all the nations. Thus, why would we be an exception? Hunger for God’s power in order that you might be his witnesses. That’s exactly what these early disciples were doing.
In other words, they went and proclaimed the word of God to men. They had been threatened, so they went and asked for boldness and signs and wonders so that men’s indifference would be broken and they could speak the gospel. Then the high priest and his associates were jealous, so the disciples were arrested by them. Then they were freed from jail by an angel and went right back to preaching the gospel again.
In light of that, why do we not hunger to proclaim it and then proclaim the gospel to men? They had much more reason not to go into the world preaching than we have, and yet they went. I don’t think they were any less scared than you or I are when we do it. However, they did something about it. They prayed for boldness and power in the form of signs and wonders and healings, and then they got up, went, and proclaimed the word.
If you are afraid and often paralyzed by fear when you think of sharing the gospel, then why aren't you fighting it the same way they are? Do you fight your fear in prayer and a request for power? I urge you to do just that.
And then as you proclaim the gospel to men, make sure you speak of the sinfulness of men as well as the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. I say that because it is almost humorous how we can predict what Peter is going to say to men. Just last week I said that I was sure that to everyone who was healed, Peter said that they crucified Jesus and God raised him from the dead. And sure to style, Luke writes of him in verse 30, “The God of our fathers raised up Jessu, whom you had put to death by hanging Him on a cross.” He is making sure that they understand that they are guilty objects of God’s wrath as they crucified the very one whom God raised from the dead.
The high priest felt the weight of being guilty before God, and I think that is one reason why he did not want them speaking. In verse 28, he says to them, “We gave you strict orders not to continue teaching in this name, and behold, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us”. He did not want to face the guilt that Peter was trying to make him fill by preaching the gospel.
We need to speak the gospel in the same way. Men need to know their guilt before a holy and just God. And as they then ask how a just God can justify men and still remain just, we take them to Romans 3:21-26 and teach them the gospel. We need to respond to our fears even as the disciples did. Pray for boldness and power; then you need to go proclaim the word to men, letting them feel their guilt and then the glory of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection.
But I would venture to say that you have heard a message like this before, possibly. I am sure that you have been exhorted by someone at sometime in the past to devote your life to the cause of missions. But maybe you have never felt the reason why this is so necessary. Maybe you have been without the drive that I believe gripped the apostles. I conclude by pointing out what drove them to work towards the completion of the task of world evangelization and should drive us as well.
I mean this is two respects. The first I have spoken of much, and so I will mention it briefly. They were driven by God in the sense that they wanted men from every tongue tribe and nation to join them in glorifying him. I believe they were men who knew they were created for God’s glory and were passionate about that, even as Christ had commanded them. But I also think they were driven by God in another sense.
I think the Spirit had reminded them of Jesus’ words in Matthew 24:14, “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all the nations, and then the end shall come.” They understood that before Christ was going to return, this mission of proclaiming the gospel to every nation would first have to happen. And I think they longed for his return with such intensity that they hungered and cried out to God for power and boldness to speak in the midst of their every fear because they wanted him to return so badly. I think what we see in Acts is the intensity of men who are so homesick for God that they are throwing their lives into completing this task, as they are empowered by the Holy Spirit.
In a great sense, we can play an active role in the return of Christ by putting our time, prayer, finances, and lives into completing the task that the disciples started in Jerusalem. G.E. Ladd writes in his book The Gospel of the Kingdom,
“Do you love the Lord’s appearing? Then you will bend every effort to take the gospel into all the world. It troubles me in the light of the clear teaching of God’s Word, in the light of our Lord’s explicit definition of our task in the great commission, that we take it so lightly … His is the kingdom; He reigns in heaven, and He manifests His reign on earth in and through His church. When we have accomplished our mission, he will return and establish His kingdom in glory. To us it is given not only to wait for but also to hasten the coming of the day of God.”
So I end tonight asking you the same question. Do you love the Lord’s appearing? Are you homesick for God? Do you cry out for his return to be today? If you do, then I am hear to give you good news. You can strive for that by committing your life to completing the task which began in Jerusalem. It is not yet finished, and only when it is finished will he return.
Let’s commit together to pour our prayers, finances, and lives into the unfinished task. Let’s pray to be clothed with power for the task. And let’s not stop battling and praying and laboring until that day. May his grace be with us. Amen