A Missional Church—Beyond Ourselves

Sermon Series: Who We Are

Scripture: Acts 1:8

Joshua Ryu

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Church, when we say that one of our visions at New Hope Fellowship is to be a missional church, we need to be clear about what we mean.

We are not simply saying that we want to do more missions. We are not saying that every year we should add another outreach event, another mission trip, or another ministry program. Those things may be good and necessary. But a church can do missions and still not truly understand what it means to be missional.

A missional church understands that mission is part of its identity because mission belongs first to Jesus Christ.

The book of Acts begins with that truth.

Luke opens by reminding Theophilus, the recipient of the book, that his first book told about all that Jesus began to do and teach. That word “began” matters:

●      The Gospel of Luke, the first book of Luke, recorded what Jesus began to do during his earthly ministry.

●      Acts records what the risen and ascended Jesus continues to do through the Holy Spirit and through his church.

Jesus has ascended, but he has not retired.

He is not absent. He is still reigning, directing, saving, and sending.

That means the church does not invent a mission and then ask Jesus to bless it. No. Christ has a mission, and by grace he brings his church into it.

Before Acts 1:8, the disciples ask Jesus, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”

They are thinking about the kingdom. They are thinking about when everything will happen. They want to know what Jesus is about to do.

But Jesus does not give them a timetable.

Instead, he shifts their attention from what the Father has reserved under his authority to what the disciples are now called to do.

Luke uses very interesting words to explain this: In verse 7, the Father has authority over the times and seasons. In verse 8, the disciples will receive power for witness. 

In other words: You do not need power to control God’s timetable. But you need power to be faithful in God’s mission as he invites us.

And then Jesus gives them this promise:

“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses.”

This tells us something fundamental about who we are as the church. And today I want to share 2 truth for our passage that Jesus shows us:

1. A MISSIONAL CHURCH IS A PEOPLE EMPOWERED BY THE SPIRIT TO WITNESS TO CHRIST

Jesus begins, “You will receive power.”

The Greek word is δύναμις. It carries the sense of power, ability, or strength.

But notice where this power comes from:

“when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.”

The disciples are not told to look deeper within themselves.

Jesus does not tell them to become more charismatic personalities, more persuasive speakers, better organizers, or more impressive leaders.

In fact, before he sends them, he tells them to wait. And that is striking.

Jesus is about to send them toward Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and eventually the ends of the earth. But before there is going, there is waiting.

Why?

Because Christian mission cannot be accomplished by human strength.

We can create a program without the Holy Spirit.

We can organize an event without the Holy Spirit.

We can fill a calendar, create a strategy, print invitations, prepare food, recruit volunteers, build a platform, and even gather a crowd without the Holy Spirit.

But, Church, we cannot raise a sinner from spiritual death.

We cannot open a blind heart to see the glory of Christ.We cannot produce repentance. We cannot create genuine faith. We cannot transform the human heart. Only God can do that.

That is why the power promised in Acts 1:8 is not power for self-exaltation. It is power for witness.

Jesus says:

“you will be my witnesses.”

The Greek word is μάρτυρες.

In Acts, the apostles have a unique role as witnesses because they actually encountered the risen Christ.

Later in Acts 1, when Judas is replaced, one qualification is that the replacement must be able to serve as a witness to Jesus’ resurrection.

That apostolic role is foundational and unrepeatable.

We were not standing beside the empty tomb with Peter and John.

We did not physically see the risen Christ during those forty days.

But the church continues the apostolic witness because we have received the apostolic Gospel.

We proclaim the same Christ they proclaimed: Jesus Christ crucified for sinners, raised from the dead, exalted as Lord, offering forgiveness to all who repent and believe.

And notice something else.

Jesus does not merely say, “You will do witnessing.”

He says:“You will be my witnesses.”

Church, Mission is not first an event. No. It is an identity.

That means our question cannot simply be, “What missions programs does NHF DT have?” If we are a missional church. No.

The deeper question is:

Are we living as Christ’s witnesses where he has already placed us? B/C that is our identity.

If you are a student, your school is not merely the place where you obtain a degree.

It is one of the places where Christ has placed you as his witness.

If you are a professional, your workplace is not only where you advance your career.

It is one of the places where your words, integrity, compassion, courage, and priorities can testify that Jesus is Lord.

If you are raising children, your home is not a distraction from mission. It is one of the first places where you bear witness to Christ.

If you live in a condo, take the same elevator every morning, see the same people, shop at the same store, sit beside the same classmates, or work alongside the same people every week,

●      those repeated relationships are not accidental interruptions to your Christian life.

They are part of the ordinary life into which Christ has placed you.

But we should also be careful here.

Being a witness means more than simply being a nice person.

A witness testifies to something.

The content of Christian witness is Jesus Christ.

Good works matter. Love matters. Hospitality matters. Integrity matters. Mercy matters.

But eventually Christian witness identifies the reason for our hope.

When you read Acts, again and again people speak about Jesus: his death, his resurrection, his lordship, the forgiveness of sins, repentance, and faith.

So why are we sometimes silent?

Sometimes it is fear.

Sometimes we do not want things to become awkward.

Sometimes we think we need the perfect answer to every question before we can say anything.

Sometimes we have unconsciously reduced mission to the work of pastors, missionaries, or the local missions team.

But Church, Acts 1:8 challenges that thinking altogether.

Christ gives his Spirit so that all of his people may bear witness to him.

And this really helps to redirect our understanding of the Gospel.

We do not witness to Christ so that God will accept us. No.

We witness because in Christ God has already received us.

Before we ever moved toward the world, Jesus moved toward us.

The Son of God entered our lost condition.

He bore our sin at the cross.

He died the death that we deserved.

God raised him from the dead.

And the risen Christ did not abandon weak, frightened, confused disciples. He promised them his Spirit.

So Christian mission is not anxious religious performance.

It is the overflow of grace.

The Gospel comes to us, changes us, and then moves through us.

When a church truly understands the Gospel, it becomes difficult to keep that grace locked inside.

The other day, P. John came into the office and said, “Josh, there’s a really good sale going on at ECS for coffee beans. Check it out.” Then he recommended Propeller Coffee beans to me.

It was something simple, but it made me think. When we find a good deal, discover a good restaurant, or try a coffee we really enjoy, we naturally want to tell someone about it. Nobody has to command us to share it. We share because we are excited about what we have found.

And if that is true about something as small as coffee beans, how much more should it be true about the Gospel? Our salvation?

We have been given something infinitely greater than a good deal. If we are excited to tell someone where to find good coffee, how much more should we desire to tell them where true life is found—in Jesus Christ?

Forgiven people want others to know forgiveness.

People who have received mercy begin to notice those who need mercy.

People who were once far from God begin to care about those who are still far from God.

A missional church does not manufacture outward movement by guilt.

But the Holy Spirit creates outward movement through the Gospel.

And that leads us to the second truth.

2. A MISSIONAL CHURCH IS A PEOPLE SENT BEYOND THEMSELVES FOR THE SAKE OF OTHERS

Jesus says in V8 that his witnesses will go:

“in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

There is movement built into the verse.

Jerusalem is where they are.

Judea is the wider region.

Samaria means crossing a painful religious and ethnic boundary.

And “the end of the earth” opens the horizon to the nations.

Then the book of Acts shows this promise unfolding.

The Gospel is proclaimed in Jerusalem.

Persecution scatters believers into Judea and Samaria.

Philip proclaims Christ in Samaria.

An Ethiopian hears the Gospel and is baptized.

Peter is sent to the Gentile household of Cornelius.

Scattered ordinary believers carry the message as far as Antioch.

Then, in Acts 13, while the church in Antioch is worshiping and fasting, the Holy Spirit sets apart Barnabas and Saul and sends them outward.

That is why Antioch is such an important picture of a missional church.

Antioch did not merely have a missions program.

The Gospel crossed boundaries to reach Antioch.

The Gospel formed a new community in Antioch.

Then the Holy Spirit sent people from Antioch outward again.

If I can rephrase this: The Gospel reaches them. The Gospel changes them. Then the Gospel moves through them.

That is Acts 1:8 becoming a way of life.

There is also an important Old Testament background to Jesus’ words.

The phrase “to the end of the earth” echoes Isaiah’s vision that God’s salvation would reach the nations in Isaiah 49:6.

Later, in Acts 13, Paul and Barnabas explicitly connect their mission among the Gentiles with Isaiah’s promise that salvation would reach the ends of the earth.

So, Church, God’s purpose was always larger than one city, one ethnicity, one culture, or one people group.

Accordingly, when Jesus says “Samaria” and “the end of the earth,” he is doing more than drawing circles on a map.

He is breaking boundaries.

Samaria represented people with whom Jews had deep: Religious division. Ethnic tension. Historical hostility. Suspicion.

And yet Jesus says: Samaria too.

The Gospel will move toward people whom the disciples might naturally avoid.

And that means mission is not only about traveling somewhere far away.

Sometimes your Samaria is very close.

It may be the person you do not naturally understand.

The neighbour whose lifestyle makes you uncomfortable.

The coworker whose values are completely different from yours.

The newcomer who does not know how church works.

The student who has never opened a Bible.

The person whose culture, language, generation, political assumptions, or social background makes conversation difficult.

The Gospel moves us toward people because Jesus moved toward people like us.

And once again, we must come back to the Gospel.

How far did Jesus Christ move to save us? Let me tell you.

Farther than Jerusalem to Samaria.

Farther than Antioch to Rome.

He crossed the distance between divine holiness and human sin.

He came to people who were not merely different from him. No. We were guilty before him.

We were sinners.We were rebels.We were enemies. And yet, Christ came toward us.At the cross, Jesus went outside the camp bearing reproach. He was rejected so that those who were far away could be brought near.

He shed his blood to redeem for himself a people from every tribe, language, people, and nation.

So a church shaped by the cross, the gospel cannot make “comfort” its highest value.

We cannot say, “Lord, thank you that someone brought the Gospel to us,” and then spend all our energy protecting ourselves from the inconvenience of bringing the Gospel to somebody else. 

This is where churches can slowly turn inward.

Internal care matters. Worship matters. Discipleship matters. Children matter. Marriages matter. Budgets matter. Facilities matter.

We should care for one another faithfully.

But if all our attention becomes consumed with ourselves, even good things can become inward-looking things.

A church can spend years discussing how to make Christians more comfortable while rarely asking:

How will those who do not know Jesus hear the Gospel through us?

Acts 1:8 lifts our eyes.

Jesus says there is a Jerusalem. There is a Judea. There is a Samaria.

And there is an end of the earth.

Church, we should thank God for every way he has allowed us to move outward: through planting campuses, partnerships with churches and mission organizations, local outreach, global missions, and people who desire to make their everyday lives available to Christ.

But this vision cannot belong only to the institution called New Hope Fellowship DT.

It must enter the ordinary lives of the people and members who make up New Hope Fellowship DT.

A church is not missional merely because we send money to missionaries and send short-term mission teams.

We increasingly become a missional church as our people begin asking:

“Lord Jesus, where have you placed me as your witness?”

“Who have you placed near me?”

“Where are you calling me beyond myself?”

For some of you, that may mean learning the name of a neighbor and inviting that person for a meal.

For some, it may mean finally speaking openly about your faith with a coworker after months and years of friendship.

For some students, it may mean refusing to treat university only as preparation for your future career and beginning to see your campus as a place where God has surrounded you with people who need Jesus Christ.

For some professionals, pursuing excellence may become less about proving yourself but more about serving others faithfully under the lordship of Christ.

For some of us, mission will mean crossing a cultural boundary inside Toronto before we ever cross an international border.

And for some, God may indeed call you to another city or another nation.

The point is not that everyone must do exactly the same thing to be missional.

The point is that none of us belongs only to ourselves.

We were bought with a price.

We belong to Christ.

And because we belong to Christ, our homes, education, careers, abilities, time, money, relationships, and opportunities are now available to the purposes of Christ.

This is who we are called to be.

Not merely a church that occasionally does missions. But A church that understands itself as sent.

Not a church driven by pressure. But A church moved by the Gospel.

Not a church confident in its own ability. But A church dependent upon the Holy Spirit.

Not a church obsessed with its own survival. But A church willing to spend itself so that others may know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

Conclusion

Let me give you three questions to carry into this week.

First, where is my Jerusalem?

Who is already near me?

Before thinking about another country, think about your actual life.

Who sits near you?

Who works beside you?

Who lives on your floor?

Who studies with you?

Who has God already placed within reach?

Second, where is my Samaria?

Who do I instinctively avoid?

Where have comfort, fear, prejudice, busyness, or unfamiliarity created a boundary that the Gospel is calling me to cross?

Third, am I trying to live missionally without depending upon the Holy Spirit?

Acts 1 begins with waiting and prayer before Acts 2 explodes into witness.

So pray specifically.

Ask the Spirit for courage.

Ask God to open doors.

Ask him to give you genuine love for people who do not know Christ.

Ask for an opportunity to speak the name of Jesus.

And then pay attention.

Church, the mission of God does not begin with us.

And it does not finally depend upon us.

The Father planned salvation.

The Son accomplished salvation.

The Holy Spirit empowers the witness of salvation.

And the risen Jesus Christ still reigns.

That is why we can go.

The same Christ who said, you will be my witnesses is the Christ who died for us, rose for us, reigns over us, poured out his Spirit upon his church, and will one day return.

Until that day, we do not stand staring into heaven.

We bear witness.

In our Jerusalem.

Across our Samaria.

And, as God gives opportunity, to the end of the earth.

Because the Gospel that came to us was never meant to stop with us.