Finishing the Work of Christ
Notes
Transcript
During the last year and half we have been look at the the book of Romans and just how much it mirrors our modern churches and some of the issues that we face.
Now we are looking at the book of Acts.
This book is an example of how the power of the Holy Spirit guided the newly minted and infant church to grow and become the light of God.
It is our jobs to finish the work that Christ started.
The work of Christ was both finished and unfinished.
His work of redemption is finished and nothing may be added to it. John 17:4
4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.
His work of ministry and proclaiming the Gospel however is not finished.
He only started that work, we are the ones that must finish it.
The New Testament can be looked at in 3 Major sections:
The Life and Ministry of Christ.
The work of the Church.
Prophecy
Acts is the first book that covers the work of the Church.
In the book of Acts we see the completion of the work of Christs redemption and the beginning of the work of evangelism by the church begins.
The Message (vv 1-2)
The Message (vv 1-2)
From the beginning of His earthly ministry until His ascension Jesus had instructed His disciples by both deed and word.
His miracles were to strengthen their faith.
His parables were to clarify spiritual truth.
His teaching was to formulate their theology.
Through all of these things He reveled to them the truth they would need to carry on His work.
It is our jobs to carry the message of Christs redemptive work to the whole world.
But why don’t we?
Two major factors contribute to the church’s powerlessness today.
First, many are ignorant of biblical truth.
It is the job of every Christian to learn and to study the scripture.
Second, those who may know biblical truth all too often fail to live by it.
Proclaiming an erroneous message is tragic, yet so is proclaiming the truth but giving scant evidence that one’s life has been transformed by it.
Such people cannot expect others to be moved by their proclamation.
The Manifestation (v3)
The Manifestation (v3)
The apostles needed not only the proper message but also the confidence to proclaim that message even if it cost them their life.
They could hardly have been enthusiastic about proclaiming and facing martyrdom for a dead Christ.
They needed to know that He was alive and would fulfill His promise of the kingdom.
We see what He did to give them the confidence in His message in 1 Cor 15:5-8
5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.
The end result of these appearances was that the apostles became absolutely convinced of the reality of their Lord’s physical resurrection.
That assurance gave them the boldness to preach the gospel to the very people who crucified Christ.
The transformation of the apostles from fearful, cowering skeptics to bold, powerful witnesses is a potent proof of the resurrection.
No man will die for a lie.
Today Jesus does not manifest Himself physically and visibly to believers. John 20:29
29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Peter shares what our relationship should look like with Christ. 1 Peter 1:8
8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,
Our faith must be strong enough to believe with out seeing. Hebrews 11:1
1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
The Might (vv 4-5, 8a)
The Might (vv 4-5, 8a)
Having received the message, and witnessed the manifestation of the risen Christ, the apostles may have been tempted to assume they were ready to minister in their own strength.
To prevent that error Jesus, after gathering them together, commanded them not to leave Jerusalem Luke 24:49
49 And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”
To the apostles, who were no doubt fired with enthusiasm and eager to begin, that must have seemed a strange command.
Yet, it illustrates an important point: All the preparation and training that knowledge and experience can bring are useless without the proper might.
Power had to accompany truth.
Where do we get that power from?
The Holy Spirit, that is what guides and directs our live.
The Mystery (vv 6-7)
The Mystery (vv 6-7)
Like most Jews at the time the disciples thought that after the resurrection would be when Christ sets up His earthly kingdom.
Why not He had just defeated death so some Romans should not be a big deal.
This is where the mystery come in because not even Jesus knows when God the father will tell Him its time.
29 “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
32 “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
Since the time of His second coming cannot be known and the Lord could return at any moment and rapture His church we must be continually ready.
2 For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
Listen to His warning in Mark 13:33-37
33 Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come. 34 It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. 35 Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning— 36 lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. 37 And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.”
This stay awake means to have a constant state of willingness to share and bring people into the chruch.
To be ready to do what ever you need to do to share the gospel.
We must live with urgency and minister with passion.
The Mission (v 8b)
The Mission (v 8b)
Rather than have the Apostles sit and wonder and argue about when the Lord would return Christ wanted them to focus on the mission at hand.
To bring as many people into the kingdom as possible.
He even sets up how we are to do it.
1.) Jerusalem: Our backyards.
we are to be on a constant mission when we are around others that we know and interact with on a daily bases.
the people that live around us and near us are our primary mission field.
2.) Judea: Areas near us.
We go on short term mission trips
We support those that go.
3.) Samaria:
This must have made the Apostles pause for a second because they did not like the Samaritans.
They thought they were less than then and did not even talk to them or want to be around them.
But Gods word is universal.
4.) All over the World:
We must use means and give to organizations that allow for the Gospel to go to the ends of the world.
The Motive (vv 9-11)
The Motive (vv 9-11)
When the Apostles saw Jesus ascend into Heaven they were seeing the OT play out front of there eyes.
They may have been thinking about what it says in:
4 On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward.
The task of finishing the work that Jesus began, the duty of evangelizing the lost world, is a daunting one.
But the Lord in His mercy from the start has provided all the spiritual resources necessary to accomplish that task.
It is up to each believer to appropriate those resources and put them to use.
4 We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.