Sunday, May 27, 2007

Andrew G. Pittman
Sunday Morning
May 27, 2007

Being and Doing God’s Mission
Acts 1: 6 – 9

I. Introduction.
There are some words we use without really knowing what they mean. Like the word “Integrity.” How would you define Integrity? Now there is a man of Integrity…I want to vote for a President who will bring Integrity back to the White House… What does that really mean?
I remember over 20 years ago, when Ronald Reagan was President, there was a huge public discussion about pornography. If I remember it correctly—and I should have Googled this just to make sure—it happened when Larry Flynt and Jerry Falwell were fighting each other in the Supreme Court. Ronald Reagan appointed what was then called a “Blue Ribbon Committee” to study pornography and report back to the American people. Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist was the chairman of this Blue Ribbon Committee. When the committee’s work was complete, Justice Rehnquist read their report. Now, I couldn’t make up something any funnier than the report. This is one of my favorite stories…After months of study, the committee reported: “We cannot give a definition of what makes something pornographic, but we know it when we see it.”
Maybe that is the way we use the word Integrity. I can’t really say what Integrity is…But I know it when I see it.
The dictionary definition of Integrity = a. Moral soundness; b. Wholeness or completeness. The second definition is actually the original meaning of the word. It comes from the same word as Integer. Do you remember when you had to learn about Integers in High School math? Integers = whole numbers. All this is to say that when we say that someone is a person of Integrity, we are actually saying they are a whole person, a complete person.
Now, I want to step away from the dictionary and give you my personal definition of Integrity. One aspect of wholeness that we might not immediately think of is that something that is whole is also consistent through and through. Think of a huge pan of brownies. If you were to prepare that pan of brownies, you would start with a bowl. You would mix together flour, sugar, chocolate, eggs and oil (or you might substitute applesauce for the oil if you were trying to cut calories). Then you would mix the batter until it was consistent through and through. Then you pour the batter into the pan and cook it. If the ingredients were mixed properly, then your brownies would have Integrity. That means every brownie tastes exactly the same. Every piece has the same amount of each ingredient and tastes the same. It doesn’t matter which piece you choose to eat. The corner brownies taste the same as the brownies in the middle.
Now when we apply the same concept to people, it is just a little bit different. We are not going to cut you up into 24 pieces and see if every piece is consistent. Instead, we are going to move you from one situation to another. For example, let’s think of another person, maybe it is someone you go to class with or somebody you work with or even a person who goes to church with you. Does that person act the same way around you as when he or she is somewhere else? Or does that person change? If there is a change, then the person is not consistent, not a person of Integrity. Now, think about yourself. Are you the same person around your family that you are around your friends at work / school? What about when you are here at church? Are you the same person here that you are when you are with your friends? Then, are you the same person when you are alone? Are you the same person with your friends that you are when you are surfing the Internet? Are you the same person on Sunday morning and Saturday night?
If you want to be a person of Integrity, then you must become the same person in every relationship you have. This kind of consistency is only possible when you are the same person on the inside and on the outside. As Christians, Jesus has called us to a kind of consistency between who we are and what we do. In other words, Being and Doing.
One of the best places to find this calling is in Jesus’ final words to his disciples before he ascended into heaven…
There are basically two stories of the Ascension of Jesus described in the New Testament. Matthew and Luke tell it just a little differently. They both tell us that Jesus ascended while the disciples stood watching. And they both tell us that Jesus gave his disciples instructions about what to do until he returned again.
In Matthew 28: 19 – 20, we read that right before Jesus ascended into heaven, he gave us the Great Commission…Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, even to the very end of the age.”

Luke tells this just a little differently…

Read Acts 1: 6 – 9
After speaking these words, the relationship between Jesus and the disciples changed forever. Once they had been able to see Jesus and touch Jesus and experience Jesus through their physical senses. But now, they could only experience Jesus in the same way we experience Jesus today—through our Spiritual Senses.

II. You Shall BE My Witnesses.
Notice that Jesus did NOT begin this Purpose Statement by describing what he wanted the church to DO…He began by describing what the church should BE…
I want to try to capture what Jesus said about BEING in just one phrase, “You shall BE my witnesses.”
As a product of modern American TV culture, the word “witness” always makes me think about a court of law…Perry Mason…Matlock…Law & Order…Boston Legal… If you ever watch these programs, you know that a trial can be won or lost (at least a TV trial) by the testimony of one witness…
What makes a witness a good witness? In my opinion, there are three things that separate good witnesses from bad witnesses.

First…A good witness must tell the truth…Second…A good witness must be willing to speak out regardless the cost…Third…And perhaps most importantly, a good witness must tell his or her own story…
A good witness can never tell someone else’s story…She must tell her own story…As it truly happened to her…As she experienced it…

When Jesus described the church as his witnesses, that is exactly what he had in mind…The church is to tell the world the story about a real-life experience with Jesus.
The idea of mission (witness) must begin with a real-life experience with the risen Lord, Jesus…The Holy Spirit will come upon you…Then you will receive POWER…Then you will BECOME witnesses…Witnesses with a story to tell about a real-life experience (a life changing experience) with the risen Lord, Jesus.

Do you ever wonder why some visitors come to church only one time never to return again, while other visitors return and eventually become members? Reformed Worship magazine conducted an informal survey in 1996, asking the members of 26 churches to describe why they decided to join that particular church after visiting. The #1 answer… The congregation acts like it really believes that Jesus is alive…
This is what Jesus was describing when he told us to BE his witnesses. We must witness—or experience—a real life encounter with Jesus that can be seen by other people when they are around us…

III. You Shall DO My Witnessing.
Once Jesus established what the church was to BE, he could describe what he wanted the church to DO…In particular, Jesus wanted the church to DO his witnessing in the world…Now that Jesus would no longer be present in a physical sense, he needed someone, anyone, the church to DO his work on earth.

How did Jesus want this work done? At this point we need to make a decision about the text. What do we believe about the book of Acts? Who originally came up with these words? There are basically 2 choices about this text…

1. Did Luke write these words? Some interpret these words to be a kind of outline that describes in spatial terms what Luke is about to spell out through the rest of the book of Acts. In other words, the first few chapters describe the spread of the Gospel in the city of Jerusalem. Then, we read about how the Gospel went through all Judea and Samaria. Then, the book of Acts closes as the Gospel begins to move into the remotest parts of the earth…
2. Did Jesus really say this? Others believe that Jesus spoke these words as a helpful way for the disciples to understand how to spread the Gospel from Jerusalem and then around the world…

I believe that Jesus really did give this command or mission to his disciples. But what did Jesus really intend? I mean, why did Jesus say: Jerusalem, all Judea and Samaria, and the remotest parts of the earth? Again, we have 2 choices…

1. Did Jesus select 3 general areas at random that didn’t really mean anything to him or his disciples?

2. Or did Jesus select 3 specific areas that he truly wanted the church to focus on.
Jerusalem…Literally the city of Jerusalem. Of course, this doesn’t mean that we ought to travel to Jerusalem and begin witnessing in the streets. Some people may be called to do that. But Jerusalem is the very city that the disciples lived in and it was the physical location they were in right that moment.
For you and me, this means the city of Lufkin…It means the brothers and sisters, friends, classmates and coworkers that we see every day of our lives. If you want to follow Jesus’ command, then you must begin by witnessing to the people that see you every day of your life!

Judea and Samaria…Literally the two adjacent regions of Judea and Samaria. This is a larger area that includes people that looked just like the disciples and Samaritan people who are a different race from the disciples. For you and me, this means that we must begin our witnessing at home, witnessing to the people who know us the best. Then, we must move outward to the people who live around us but are not our personal friends and family…It includes people who look like us and enjoy the same kinds of things we enjoy…But it also includes people who do not look like us…People of every race and nationality…

The Ends of the Earth…Literally, these are the people whom the disciples have never met and the people whom the disciples must specifically make an effort to go and witness to. In each of the above groups, it would be possible for the disciples to witness and evangelize through the normal course of their daily lives. But these are the people who can only be reached through a specific mission trip or a missionary effort…


IV. Conclusion.
In which of these 3 places was it most difficult to BE a witness? Jerusalem…Does that surprise you?…Jerusalem was the place where Jesus had been crucified…Imagine trying to convince those people Jesus was alive…They had watched him die on the cross!
It is the same for us today…Jerusalem is the place where we live…The people who see us every day…It’s hard to witness to people who know when you sin…
How well does Lufkin’s First Baptist, measure up to the mission that Jesus gave us? Remotest parts of the earth…We do a great job! Judea and Samaria…We do a great job! But what about Jerusalem? What kind of mission and ministry are we doing within a 20-mile radius of this sanctuary?
How will you help us to witness in Lufkin?


V. Conclusion 2.
Integrity…Consistency in all of your relationships…
Integrity…Being the same person, no matter where you live…Being the same person in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and the ends of the earth…

Read Matthew 28: 18 – 20