The Great Commission & Ascension

We will be starting Acts with this lesson and working through the beginnings of the church in the first century. Here is the lesson I presented last Sunday. By the way, we were able to hire a preacher last Sunday. Thanks for your prayers about our search.

Blessings in Christ, Brad

The Great Commission and the Ascension.

Matthew 28:16-20

Here we come to the end of the gospel story. Luke is a little more complete about the account of the forty days after Jesus was raised from the dead. Luke also has an account of the ascension in his gospel. In this last meeting with his disciples, Jesus did three things:

1. Jesus assured his disciples of his power. He has authority on heaven and on earth. The disciples master was one without question having all authority. He conquered death after all. There was still confusion. Some were still asking if Jesus was going to return Israel to Jerusalem and establish a new earthly kingdom. Because of this, he had to go on to his home and do so publicly.
   

2. Jesus gave them a commission. They were commanded to go into all the earth and make disciples of all people as we are to carry this commission on through our own generation. They were commanded to baptize, immerse, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
   

3. He promised them a presence. As the realization of the commission sank into the disciples minds, they must have been humbled by the magnitude of their commission to go into all the world and win souls for Jesus. They were sent out just as we are to the greatest mission in history. We have the comfort/courage of the 'presence' helping us rely on the strength of the leader for our foundation of faith. The disciples knew that there would be a presence. Luke tells of the presence that was promised they would have to wait a time for in Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit. We as Christians have something to do and we have the help of the Holy Spirit where our courage comes.

Acts 1:1-11

Acts of the Apostles it is thought was part of Luke's account of the history of the beginnings of the Christian church. There is not a specific reference to Luke in the book. There is little doubt to scholars that Luke wrote this book. Acts especially reports on the work of Peter and Paul beginning with the ascension of Jesus. There is a school of thought that this was a letter to someone who loved God that was a Roman official since he addresses the letter to the most excellent (your excellency) Theophilous. This is a collection of windows into the growth of the Church in the beginning not a complete chronological record of historical events.

Jesus promises the help of the Holy Spirit. They knew it was coming and it came in power. There was no doubt that something extraordinary had happened when everyone present began to hear preaching in their own native languages.

The angles came after the ascension to reassure the disciples and remind them of their commission to seek and save the lost. This changes the focus from the disciples depending on Jesus to be right with them to now applying what Jesus taught them to go and teach and baptize people to become new disciples of Christ adding to the church.

Christians are to witness by:

1. Proclaiming 'I know that is true.' In the court of law, hearsay is not accepted. A witness says 'I know' not ' I think so.' There is a certainty with the testimony of the witness.
   

2. A witness is not of words but of deeds. We live the life of Christ and make our influence preach the life of Jesus to the point that it is irresistible to our friends and relatives to become Christians.

3. In the Greek, the word for witness and the word for martyr are the same. The witness is committed enough to the message of Christ that we can become martyrs. Think about it. Are we Christians to this extent? A witness is loyal no matter what the cost.

This passage leaves us with two of the most difficult passages of the Bible. They are:

1. The ascension was essential to the message. The message would not be nearly as powerful if the sightings of the risen Jesus in the forty days had just petered out. This time was unique and could not go on forever and be used to promote growth of the church. Humanity must take over and continually dedicate their lives to Christ and the growth of his church. The ascension laid to rest that the kingdom being created was going to be a physical kingdom led by the messiah on earth. We are obviously looking forward to the heavenly kingdom.
   

2. We must have the faith to imagine ourselves back in time accepting the ascension of Jesus just as it was written about in this passage and tells us what we need to look for as far as the second-coming – Jesus coming back for judgment.

Luke tells us in Luke 24:32 that the disciples returned to Jerusalem with great joy in spite of Jesus discontinuing his personal physical appearances for the disciples. The kingdom was defined. They had just been given their responsibility to go into all of the world teaching and baptizing in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.