Date:   2/11/2007

Text:   Acts 1:1-11

Title:   Be My Witness

Theme: Since Jesus Christ is the king over all, we are given the privilege to represent and reflect Him on earth.

Introduction:

  I still vividly remember an incident in a Chemistry class when I was in college. The lecture was in Japanese which I haven't mastered yet. The professor was writing and explaining certain concepts on the blackboard. He then erased these writings and after a little while, he looked at me and asked me a question. I tried to understand the question and decided that I was clueless. He looked at me and said, “Hsueh kun (which is a very polite and intimate way for a professor to address the student), if you don't understand, ask me. The answer to my question was on the blackboard just a few minutes ago.” Even today, after almost 40 years, I still feel the heat from that embarrassing moment.

  This seems to be similar to what happened to the disciples in the passage we read earlier. Let me first give you a little background. From vs.1 we learn that Luke wrote The book of Acts for Theophilus, a high Roman official. Luke made reference to the earlier book, Gospel of Luke. They are actually one book in two volumes. In the first volume, Luke gave a detailed and accurate account of all the things Jesus did and taught on earth, including his resurrection and up till His ascension. Volume two, the book of Acts, was an account of the activities of Jesus' disciples after his ascension. It is important that we must not treat this book as a manual for mission, church growth or church planting. It is not a manual, but more like some of the OT books and the 4 gospels. It was an accurate record of activities of the early apostles and followers of Jesus Christ. In and behind such activities, we are to see truths that reveal to us about God's work, especially his redemptive work in the world.

  After Jesus'' resurrection, he spent another 40 days on earth with the disciples. During that time, Luke told us that Jesus was speaking and teaching the disciples about God's kingdom. This is the kingdom that God promised to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David and the Israelites. The first public message Jesus preached was, “the kingdom of heaven is near.” While he was with the disciples, they didn't fully understand this kingdom of God . Now after the resurrection and having sat under Jesus for 40 days and listening to his teaching about the Kingdom, did they have a better understanding?

  In vs. 6, “ 6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel ?” John Calvin said, in this one question, there are as many mistakes as the number of words. The disciples were clueless with Jesus'' teaching about His kingdom. Let's take a closer look at Jesus'' response to them.     

I •  Disciples are commissioned to be Jesus'' Witnesses.

  The disciples asked, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel ? They asked if Jesus will restore. Jesus'' response? “You will be my witness….” You, my disciples, will be my witnesses. The word witness means to speak out what you see and hear. A witness is to reflect and represent.

  Several months ago, in a social setting I was introduced to the Chinese Consul General. It's an honor to sit next to him. Consul General, whether it is from China , or other countries, are different. They represent their government in another country. They stand between their country and the local community. In another word, they are to be witnesses of their country.

  Jesus told his disciples that they are his witnesses. This reminds us that when God created Adam and Eve in his image, they were meant to stand between Him and the world. They were to rule the earth on God's behalf. They were to represent God and reflect His beauty, glory, holiness, love and integrity. They were God's Witnesses. Later, Noah and Abraham were to stand between God and the world. On behalf of God, Noah pleaded for the people to repent. Through Abraham, God was to bless all nations. Abraham was to represent and reflect God. Abraham was God's witness. Then came Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Samuel, David and Solomon. They were to stand between God and his people. They were his witnesses. At times, they didn't do well and often failed miserably. The prophet Isaiah told the Israelites, God's chosen people: Isa 43:10,12, “ 10 “ You are my witnesses,….. 12 I declared and saved and proclaimed, when there was no strange god among you; and you are my witnesses,” 44:8, “have I not told you from of old and declared it? And you are my witnesses! Is there a God besides me?” The Israelites were to stand between God and the world. They were to represent and reflect this one and only one True God. They were His witnesses.

  Then came Jesus. John 1:18, “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he ( Jesus ) has made him known.” Jesus came to make God known to us. During his 3 years public ministry on earth, he stood before God and the world. He represented and reflected God's beauty, holiness, compassion and integrity. He was that Witness. All previous witness had their failures. But not Him. He was the Witness par excellence.

  Now, as he is about to depart from this world, He told his disciples, you are my witnesses. You are to stand between me and the world. You are to represent and reflect me before the world. The apostle Peter wrote in 1 Peter 2:9, “ 9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” Not just the 12 disciples, but all followers of Jesus Christ, you and I are his witnesses; to represent him and to reflect his beauty, holiness, love and integrity.   

  We are God's witnesses on earth. At home, church, school and work place, we stand between God and the person before us. We stand between God and the person God brings into our lives at that particular moment. We are to speak out, to live out what we hear and see from Him; reflecting His love, grace and holiness.

II •  We are to be His witnesses to His kingdom.

  We are Jesus Christ's Witnesses. There is more to this. We are to be witnesses of Jesus and his kingdom. What is this kingdom like?

1 •  A spiritual kingdom.

  Again, let's go back to the disciples' questions: restore the kingdom to Israel ? They were thinking in terms of a physical, territorial kingdom; a kingdom with clear physical boundary and which can be located in the world map. It is a physical destination that one can travel to. Even in this day some of us Christians still focus on God's kingdom as a piece of land, a destination that we can fly to.

  Jesus'' response: vs.5, “for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now..” vs.8, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you…”Jesus is talking about a spiritual kingdom. The Kingdom of God is not a physical destination that you can buy a plane ticket and fly to. The promise given to Abraham referred to a physical and geographical nation. But as God's revelation continued to progress, it began to include all nations. Certainly this is not a reference to land and territory. Here Jesus explains that it is spiritual in nature. This kingdom depends on the power of the Holy Spirit.

  It is a kingdom of light vs. a kingdom of darkness. It is a kingdom of peace and not war. It fights with God's word and not man made weapons. It is a kingdom that captures persons' minds, value and surrender them to God's rule. It is a kingdom in which its citizens obey God's commands from their hearts.   

2 •  A kingdom that is international.

  The disciples think of the kingdom in terms of a ethnic group. ….restore the kingdom to Israel ? Jesus'' response: no, this kingdom includes people in Jerusalem , Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth. It's international in its membership. Again, isn't this what was promised to Abraham? Abraham was to stand between God and all nations, not just one nation. Later, the Israelites were told to stand between God and all nations. You see, from the very beginning of human history, God's intent for his kingdom is to include people from all parts of the earth. Isaiah 19:23-25, “ 23 In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and Assyria will come into Egypt, and Egypt into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians. 24 In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, 25 whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.” Israel , Egypt and Assyria are all part of God's kingdom. Isaiah, 49:6, “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

  When Jesus came into the world, he reached out to those whom the society despised. He healed and talked to the non-Jews. He broke down all social and ethnic barriers. His kingdom, spiritual in nature is to include all people, all nations. Then listen to what will happen in that new heaven and earth: Rev.7:9-10, “ 9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

  What does this mean to us? There are two thoughts I'd like to share with you. First, we need to accept the fact that the majority of this congregation is of Asian descent. We are more effective in reaching out to people with similar ethnic and cultural background. However, we must go beyond the color of our skin. God's invisible kingdom plus his visible church on earth is much greater than one particular skin color. We are so glad that some of our non-Asian friends are worshipping with us here. Your presence always reminds us that God's kingdom is international in nature.

  Secondly, being international is not confined to skin color. We must not let our Asian mindset restrict God's kingdom. Certainly there is plenty of discussion on this subject. Haven't we met someone that we say, “yes, you are from China , but you think like an American. Or, you grew up in this country, but your thinking is more Chinese than I.” Our challenge is not to let the ethnic way of thinking limit God's kingdom. For the last 25 years in ministry, I constantly taught that it is more important that we be biblical Christians, than Chinese, Japanese, or American Chinese Christians.

3 •  A kingdom that expands gradually.

  The disciples asked if Jesus was going to restore the kingdom now. Jesus told them no one knows the date or time, but the kingdom is to expand from Jerusalem to Judea, to Samaria and to the end of the earth. This is actually an outline of the book of Acts. This also tells us that God's kingdom expands gradually. Abraham was promised great land, but at his death, he only had a piece of land for his burial. This promise was eventually fulfilled in the times of David and Solomon. Even as the land was given to the Israelites, God was telling them his kingdom, a spiritual kingdom, would continue to expand to all nations. In the book of Acts, we see how this kingdom expands from Jerusalem to Rome . After the book of Acts, this kingdom continues to expand to the east, west, north and south. (See ppt 01/06) Even to this day, this kingdom is to be expanding from nation to nation and from one individual to another. Your presence here testifies to the fact that this kingdom has come to you. It will also go from you to your family members, colleagues at school and work.

  Look at it this way (PPT). Some of us are studying at different universities the Houston area. We are spread out throughout the Medial center, the various companies in and around Houston . Each one of us is a witness, standing between God and our colleagues. As we represent and reflect God, as we share with them the good news of God's kingdom, this is how the kingdom grows and expands from one place to another; from one individual to another.   

III •  We are to be witnesses for the king who reigns over all the earth.

  We have briefly looked at Christ who commissioned us to be his witnesses of a spiritual kingdom, a kingdom that is international and expands gradually. Now we come to the very important part of this passage. 1:10-11, “ 9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” What is the meaning of this ascension? We don't talk too much about it, right? Luke didn't explain here, but in 2:32, Peter explained, “ 32 This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. 33 Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. 34 For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, “ ‘ The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, 35 until I make your enemies your footstool.' 36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” This ascension signifies a triumphant home going of a King. He is now the king of universe. The disciples asked “are you going to restore the kingdom?” Jesus answered that I am going to initiate the next great step. I am going to sit on the throne, I am the King, the Ruler of all nations. From the throne, I will send my spirit to you; it is a spirit of power. This power will enable you to be my witnesses, to represent and reflect me in this city and beyond.

  This spirit came on that day of Pentecost. From the book of Acts, we see how this Spirit changed a group of timid disciples into ones that turned the world upside down with the gospel message of the kingdom of God . This power changed a group of scared, clustered disciples into ones that travel all over the world.

  You and I, as children of God, as his followers, have already received this Holy Spirit. Yes, by ourselves, we'll never be able to stand between God and the world. By our own power, we'll never be able to represent him and reflect his compassion, faithfulness, Grace, holiness and integrity in the world we live. But now he is truly the king, and had already sent his spirit to us.

Conclusion:

  In this beginning chapter of the book of Acts, we learn that we have been commissioned to be Witnesses of Jesus Christ. We are to stand between God and the world. We represent and reflect his beauty, compassion, holiness and integrity. His kingdom is spiritual and international in nature. His kingdoms expands orderly and gradually. And above all, because this Jesus is the King and Rule over all, he has empowered us to be his witnesses. We cannot do this on our own.

  Many Christians are caught up with the mystique of Jesus'' ascension and coming again. We are embroiled in all kinds of discussion about how and when he is coming back to earth again. Whenever we hear about wars in the Middle East , or natural disasters in the world, we try to pinpoint its reasons in the scripture and tie them to Jesus'' return. Sometimes we need to take note of these various events to remind us that we now live in the end times. Jesus can return anytime.

  However, isn't it even more important that while on earth, before His return, he has also given us the responsibility and status of being His representative on earth. We are to stand between him and the world, our friends and family members. We are His witnesses, standing between God and our world and reflecting him. Certainly none of us can do this on our own. We see how at times Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David and the Israelites had failed. This is why it is so important for us to understand that Jesus, after his resurrection had ascended into heaven. He is now the king and ruler over all. Not only this, he had also send his spirit upon us, to empower us to be His Witness.