Acts 1:8 (NKJV) 8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
We have been studying the Commission that Jesus gave to the church. In Jesus great prayer for the church in John 17, he said that as the Father had sent him to the world, he was now sending us. It is our responsibility to take the gospel to the whole world and make disciples of all nations.
We have discovered that there are three statements of this Commission given by Jesus to his people before he left. The first is in Matthew 28:18-20. This scripture reveals 2 things about our commission. First, Jesus had the authority to give it to us. Second, we are to make disciples of all nations.
In Mark 16:14-20 we learn that we have been given power to go along with the authority of our commission. Authority can be defined as the right to use power. Authority without the power to back it up is generally ineffective. Power without proper authority to use it is illegal. We have both.
Today, I want to look at the last statement of the Great Commission found in Acts 1:8. This is one of the final things Jesus tells his church before he ascends to heaven. We have seen that both Matthew 28 and Mark 16 reveal some specific aspect of the commission in detailed. The same is true in Acts 8. In addition to authority, Matthew 28 tells us that we are to make disciples of all nations. Mark 16 says that we are to go into all the world and preach the gospel. Neither gives us details about the scope of the commission. Acts 1:8 does.
Whereas both Matthew and Mark tell us that ultimately the Great Commission must include every nation and whole world respectively, Acts 8 breaks this down to levels of priority. This is particularly important to the local church. Jesus tells them to start with Jerusalem, then to look at Judea, then Samaria and finally the rest of the world.
There is little that any of us living in our town or city can do to reach the world. The “world” is an unreal and unreachable goal. As long as that is all we focus on, we will usually do nothing. We may give money to support a missionary or even take a trip to a foreign land, but that is not a lifestyle. Jesus defines the “world” as beginning with your Jerusalem. We are called to fulfill the Great Commission where we live. That is something we cannot put off to someone else.
Our “Jerusalem” is not a place far away. It is not a place we can relegate to professional missionaries. Our “Jerusalem” is a real place with real people living in it. We see them every day. We may be the only ones who have the opportunity to tell them the message of the gospel. That is the message that reconciliation between them and God was made available in Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:19-20)
We must realize that the Great Commission is very personal. It applies to us right where we live. Therefore, any vision for a local church must somehow include saving the lost and teaching them to become disciples. The local vision must recognize and believe that God has given us both the authority and the power to do that in our community. If we do not start there, the uttermost parts of the earth will always be out of reach.
He continues by saying that they should progress from Jerusalem alone to Judea. This means that we must recognize that the commission is not just for our town or city but that it includes our county, our state and our country. How can we help other churches in our region to fulfill the commission? Do we have resources we can share? Has God called us to plant churches outside of our “Jerusalem?” Is there some way we can influence our nation for the Gospel? If nothing else, we can and should pray.
It is important that we remember that God has given us responsibility for our community. It is also important to remember that God cares about people outside of our locality. If we do not, we become so inward focused that we forget we are part of something greater than ourselves. I believe in the local church as the most important ministry Jesus established. I also believe that we must remember that we are only one part of the whole body of Christ and, as such, we must always remember that the commission is to all of us for the whole world.
He then tells them to go to Samaria. Many times, we think of Samaria as another geographical step. That may be true, but I think it can mean something else as well. Samaria was a place outside of the disciples’ comfort zone. It included people who were hated by the Jews. Most of the early believers were Jewish. They avoided Samaria and the Samaritans. It would have been questionable to them that the Samaritans could even be saved. However, Jesus said specifically that they had to carry the Gospel to them as well.
There are those around us with whom we are not comfortable. They are not like us. They may be of a different class, race or nationality. They may just be unlikable people. They may be “sinners” in a way that we would never associate with them. They are also part of the scope of our commission. As a local church we must go to them in whatever way we can. More important than finding some program is to be willing to reach out to them personally. And not just to reach them, but to love them and receive them.
One of the last great moves of God, the charismatic movement, involved something called “Jesus people.” They were irreligious young people who, in the midst of rebellion and rejection of anything that was “establishment”, found Jesus. Many churches would not accept them because they were unwashed and brought some very different and often very wrong ideas with them. Other churches did receive them, and they became part of the group that spread the power of the Holy Spirit throughout the world. They were the “Samaritans” of the 60’s and 70’s. Who are the Samaritans of your world?
Finally, every local church should also be willing to do something to reach out to the “uttermost parts of the earth. Some will send missionaries. Others will send money. All should pray for those who are called to leave homes and families to reach out to people who would never know Jesus. Little will strengthen a local church more in the spirit than being willing to invest in something from which they can receive no return.
The key to most things in life is balance. I believe that both as local churches and as individual Christians we must seek this balance in the area of the Great Commission. That means that we have to be willing to bring the gospel to those nearest to us. That includes our family, our friends, our coworkers and anybody else over whom we can exercise the influence that comes with relationship to bring them to Jesus. We also must be willing to consider that there is a world out there that Jesus died for. He did not just die for those with whom we are comfortable, and he did not just die for our local area. He died for the whole world.
Today it seems that world missions is becoming less and less important to the American church. I believe that the American church has prospered because it is a center of worldwide outreach. We must be willing to go to our Jerusalem, Judea , our Samaria , and we must not forget the uttermost parts of the world. It is our duty.
Leave a Reply