Acts 1:8 You Will Be My Witnesses – Our Mission Grace 9/13/2009

"There will be a meeting of the Board immediately after the service," announced the pastor. After the close of the service, the group gathered at the back of the auditorium for the announced meeting. But there was a stranger in their midst. He was a visitor who had never attended their church before. "My friend," asked the pastor, did you understand that this is a meeting of the Board?" "Yes," said the visitor, "and after that sermon, I'm about as bored as you can get!"

Our board, which we call a Vestry, voted last month to adopt a new mission statement for Grace Church, Casanova. It has a reference to Acts 1:8 at the end which is the scripture I will look at today as we talk about the new statement. The mission statement is this: “Grace Church – Reaching the world for Jesus Christ, beginning in Casanova – Acts 1:8” Let me say it again: “Grace Church – Reaching the world for Jesus Christ, beginning in Casanova – Acts 1:8”

Acts 1:8 says this, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” or as another translation says “to the uttermost parts of the earth.” Jesus says this to His disciples just before He ascends into heaven at the Ascension. This statement, along with the Great Commission in Matthew 28 which tells them, (and us) to go, make disciples of all nations, is the marching order of virtually every Christian church. Above all else, we are to be about the business of spreading the good news of the Kingdom of God. That is the mission of the church – the whole church and every church. But instead of using the time worn “To know Christ and make Him known” statement the Vestry came up with something that is simple yet far reaching. It is so simple that it may seem innocuous at first. But upon further reflection there is more to it than one may catch at first. Let me say it once again.

“Grace Church – Reaching the world for Jesus Christ, beginning in Casanova – Acts 1:8” Beginning in Casanova. It would be so easy for us to see our mission as Casanova. But it doesn’t say that. It begins in Casanova and goes beyond. Way beyond! It says that Grace Church has the mission of reaching the world, that is “the uttermost parts of the earth”. The whole thing! That’s pretty big. It’s a mission so big that we can never accomplish it alone. We will need to work with the church and mission societies around the world in order to accomplish it. And, we need to depend upon the power of the Spirit of God to accomplish it as well. We are told this in Acts 1:8.

But we aren’t just reaching the world for Grace Church or even the larger church. We are reaching the world for Jesus Christ. We are told this also in Acts 1:8. “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” We are His witnesses and cannot do this on our own. First and foremost, we need the power of God working in us and through us. We need to be open and willing to have God’s Spirit move in us and work through us, individually and corporately. And next, we need to make connections to and partner with others who will do this work as well. Unless, of course, you want to personally go to Africa and Asia and South America and Europe to do carry out this mission.

We start in Jerusalem (Casanova) and move on to Judea (Fauquier), then to Samaria (Virginia). Then we move out to the ends of the earth, which only works well in a flat earth picture, so let’s say the uttermost parts of the earth, which is everything outside of Virginia.

The task at hand: to be His witnesses. Episcopalians are as afraid of the word witness as they are the words evangelism and tithing. I just used them all in one sentence so you all must be shaking in your shoes right now! But really folks, what does it mean to be a witness as say a witness in a courtroom? (answers) Basically a witness is asked testify or give testimony to tell what they have seen and heard. It all sounds so Baptist but it’s really just Christian.

I was asked to testify back in May. I gave my testimony at a deposition for a car accident I had witnessed. The deposition ended up being 56 pages long as I responded to questions from 3 different lawyers. What made it difficult to do was the fact that the accident was 2½ years before the deposition. There were things that were fuzzy and things I really couldn’t remember at all in that time. But there were also things that were crystal clear and it was easy to make definitive statements about those things. The lawyer for the person who was injured kept focusing on the things that were clear trying to make the case for his client. The lawyers for the two separate parties that caused the accident kept focusing on the fuzzy stuff trying to find a way to get their clients off the hook.

Jesus isn’t asking us to focus on the fuzzy stuff. He wants us to focus on the clear stuff as we are witnesses for Him. What’s crystal clear to you about what God has done in your life? Transformed life? Answered prayer? Miraculous healing? Maybe not a “miraculous” healing but one that is out of the ordinary – like 7 weeks of no pain after a supposedly painful surgery and recovery. That’s MY story and I’m sticking with giving God the glory for it. What about you? What has God done in your life recently or distantly that you remember clearly? Share it with others. That’s YOUR story. You don’t have to go out there and be the next Billy Graham, unless God is calling you to be the next Billy Graham. But probably not. God just wants you to be you and talk about Him and what he has done in your life so that others may know that God exists and cares about them in the same way He cares about you.

Living the words of Easter morning – Come and see – Go and tell! Come and see that the tomb is empty! Go and tell His disciples what you saw. “Grace Church – Reaching the world for Jesus Christ, beginning in Casanova – Acts 1:8” Ask God how YOU can reach the world for Him beginning but not ending here in Casanova. Who can you speak to, who can you meet with, who can you partner with to be a witness near or far? Get with them and begin reaching the world for Jesus!!!