We are sent...

We are sent...Acts 1.6‐11
Allow me to ask you a question: Have you ever been sent with a message to someone?  Of course you have.  No doubt, as a child your mum or dad sent you off somewhere with a message or on an errand.  So we understand what it means to be sent.  We are given a task, a message, a mission to complete by someone. 
Acts is the second of Luke’s books in the New Testament. His gospel covered roughly 33 years of the life of Christ and this book covers roughly 33 years of the life of the Church.    The book of Acts is addressed to Theophilus (v3), who was most likely an official resident in Rome.  The two main characters of Acts are Peter and then Paul. The two main topics of conversation are the kingdom of God and the Spirit of God.  Most people know  of  the  Day  of  Pentecost in  Acts  and  even  then  it  is  misunderstood, misinterpreted and misapplied.  But that is for another day.  Read 6‐11.  I want to concentrate on verses 6‐8.


Verses 6‐8 The Mandate to Witness.  These three verses actually set the scene for the book of Acts. In these verses the church receives its commission. You know what a commission is?  A commission is an authoritative order, charge or direction.   For example you can receive a commission in the armed forces – the certificate comes with a royal seal and signature – assigning you authority and rank.  So as we read these verses I want you to keep in mind that definition – that the disciples and the church of God receive an authoritative order, charge and direction.
Verse 6 – Luke begins verse 6 with a simple little word ‘so.’  If you read through the rest of Acts you will see that it is one of his favourite words for connecting paragraphs together.  The disciples ask Jesus a question:  Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom of Israel?’  They had still failed to understand what Jesus meant by the kingdom of God. They had seen Christ die on the cross and rise from the dead but their minds are still focused on the restoration of Israel as a nation.   Could I suggest that many people who claim to follow Christ still misunderstand the kingdom of God and still focus on temporal things within the Church.  The disciples were expecting a political and territorial kingdom to be restored to Israel. Jesus had something entirely different in mind. They also expect it to happen immediately – ‘at this time’, showing once again their temporal understanding of the things of the kingdom of God.


Verse 7 – the disciples need their thinking and understanding to be revised and to understand the divine commission that they are about to be given.   For all of us we need to understand exactly what it is we have been commissioned as a church to do. Leaders, you especially  need to take this on board. The disciples had been asking about the restoration of the kingdom of Israel.  Jesus answers by telling them that the times and dates of seasons are not of their concern.   They must be willing to be ignorant of such details and to be content with what God does reveal.  How I wish so many people would take heed of this verse.  The endless books and hours wasted by Christians trying to figure out what God has not revealed, and had not planned to reveal to man, vastly swamps the time and effort put into obeying what God has revealed.  The ‘times and dates’ is Luke’s shorthand for the character of the age preceding the final consummation of  God’s plan.    God  has set this  by  His  authority and  therefore Jesus tells the disciples, and us, that it is not to be subject to the speculation of men.


Verse 8 ‘But’ – one of the great words of Scripture – bringing our attention to something significant, and here is no different.   The disciples and we also, are not to speculate about times and dates because we will receive power and a commission from God.  Read this verse closely and slowly – here is your commissioning as a Christian.
First – you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.   In 10 days from now the disciples will receive the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost.  You received the Holy Spirit when you came to Christ Jesus and were born again.  When you confessed your sins, died to yourself and you rose again a new creation in Christ Jesus.
They will receive power for a purpose: to be witnesses. Do you notice the little word ‘my’ before the word ‘witnesses.’   There is the authority, the commissioning authority, directive to action – my witnesses. They are not to go and tell people what they think or what they wish to hear. They are to bear  testimony,  witness,  to  Christ  Jesus  –  to  His  life,  death,  resurrection,  ascension,  and  his imminent return.
Their commissioning comes with a promise and a gift (the Holy Spirit), as does ours.  The concern of the commissioning is the person of Jesus Christ.  The power of the commissioning is the Holy Spirit
and  then  comes  the  plan  of  their  commissioning  –  begin  in  Jerusalem  and  travel  outwards. Therefore you disciples, you the church, are to be a missionary body which: Acts on Christ’s behalf in the extension of His ministry.   Do you understand that commissioning today?   Do you realise you are an extension of the ministry of Christ?   That is part of the commissioning given to the Christian church by Christ to and through the disciples on the day of His ascension into heaven.


The focus of that commission was, and is still, the proclamation of the kingdom of God in its witness to Christ Jesus. We sometimes hear the media talk about ‘staying on message’. The Christian church must stay on message – the witness to Christ Jesus.  You must stay on message – the witness to Christ Jesus.


This commissioning is guided and empowered by the Holy Spirit. He is the promised gift to enable us to be Christ’s witnesses today.   The army does not commission and officer without training and equipping him for the task ahead.  God has equipped you with the gift of the Holy Spirit and He has provided you with His revealed Word to train you in righteousness so as Paul says to the young Timothy – that you might be thoroughly equipped to do every good work, every good work that God has prepared in advance for you to do.


This commissioning comes with a plan – to start in Jerusalem, then Judea, then Samaria and finally the ends of the earth.   Your commissioning is to start in your church, your city and then the ends of the earth.  Some of the early disciples never left Jerusalem, some got no further than Judea, some Samaria and then some travelled the known world of the day bearing witness to Christ.  It was not that every one of them had to travel to the ends of the earth, BUT – hear this, every one of them was to bear witness.  Every one of them was commissioned to authoritative directive of being a witness.  You may never go beyond your church but that does not excuse you from being a witness.  Some of you may bear witness further afield, but all of us must bear witness.
I want you to note  the kingdom of God is spread by witnesses and not soldiers.  Secondly, I want you to note that the expansion of the kingdom of God is gradual.  soul work is slow work.


We are a sent people.  We have been commissioned by Christ to be His witnesses – are we doing that?