Mission 94 - Extending

The mission of First Baptist Church is to exalt Jesus Christ and to equip believers to express their faith so that Christ’s Kingdom extends throughout the Lehigh Valley and around the world.

We have been looking at that mission in recent weeks. We have seen that it has four elements:

1. Exalting - putting the spotlight on Jesus Christ; lifting Him up and giving praise to Him for who He is and what He’s done.

2. Equipping - teaching people the Word of God, because the Bible is authoritative and it is practical. It equips us for living.

3. Expressing - encouraging people to obey the teaching of the Bible. We’re not here to turn people into Bible scholars full of head knowledge; we’re here to make disciples who will put the teaching of Jesus into practice.

Now we come to the fourth element, extending. Extending what? Extending Christ’s Kingdom. What do we mean when we talk about the Kingdom? Well, to have a kingdom, you have to have a king. A kingdom is wherever a particular king’s authority is felt. Let’s look at an example.

The official name for the country of Great Britain is the United Kingdom. It is “united” because it is a kingdom that is made up of several units that were once separate: England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

And it is a kingdom, because all of those territories come under the sovereignty of a single ruler. The United Kingdom is ruled over by House of Windsor, which is headed by Queen Elizabeth II. Whether you are a Welshman, or a Scotsman, or an Orangeman from Northern Ireland, or an Englishman, you are a subject of the monarch who is on the throne of the United Kingdom.

When Jesus came to earth, he came to introduce a new kingdom. He called it the kingdom of God, or the kingdom of heaven, and he talked about it a lot.

Matthew 9:35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom…

The very first statement Jesus made when he began his public ministry was “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Jesus talked incessantly about the kingdom. He said “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” He said, “…if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” He said “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.” He even told his disciples “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 16:19).

In fact, Jesus mentioned the kingdom over 100 times. It was the key element in His teaching. He said in Luke 4:43 “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God… because that is why I was sent.”

He gave his disciples many parables, or word pictures, to help them understand what it was all about. Look at Matthew 13 sometime, and see how many times Jesus says “The kingdom of heaven is like…”

Jesus had to do a lot of explaining because his kingdom was nothing like the world had ever seen before. It wasn’t an earthly kingdom at all; it was a spiritual kingdom.

It was invisible, but it was going to make a very visible impact. It was going to start very small, but it was going to grow very large. Some people who should have been in it weren’t going to be part of it. And others, who might have been excluded were going to find themselves included.

This kingdom didn’t have anything to do with military power or political power, yet it would make its influence felt all over the world.

It was ultimately going to become bigger and more potent than any nation or system of government ever devised by man. It would transcend borders and cultures. It would cross racial lines; its citizens would come from every ethnic group in the world.

Now you may be saying, “Well, that’s very interesting, but what does that have to do with me today?” Let me tell you what…

This kingdom is here now. This kingdom isn’t something we’re still waiting for, or something we’ll get when we go to heaven. The kingdom of God is here now. Jesus said that the kingdom is present wherever anyone does the will of God. Jesus taught us to pray “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

That’s the key. It’s doing the will of God. Remember, a kingdom is wherever the will of a king is obeyed; wherever the sovereignty of that king is felt.

When you receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you become a citizen of His kingdom. And when you do God’s will, when you obey the King’s commands, your life becomes His sovereign territory. It belongs to him. Jesus said “the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21) You become an ambassador - a representative - of the king.

When you do God’s will in your home, your home becomes an outpost of the kingdom of God. When you begin to show love and kindness to your neighbors for Jesus sake, you begin to push the boundaries of the kingdom of God out beyond your own home. The kingdom begins to advance up and down the street where you live.

The people in your neighborhood, or at your office, or at your school begin to feel the influence of the will of God through you. Ultimately, they too may become citizens of the kingdom.

That’s why, when God saves you, he doesn’t just take you home to glory. He leaves you here. Why?

He leaves you here so that you can help him take back territory from Satan. You see, Satan is a usurper. Satan set up a rival kingdom here on earth that he has no right to have. “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.” But Satan horned in and succeeded in imposing his will on the inhabitants of this planet.

But then Jesus came, and launched a counter-offensive. And that counter-offensive is slowly, and relentlessly pushing back the forces of Satan. To hear some Christians talk today, you’d think that we’re on the defensive and Satan is winning. That’s not true. The kingdom of God is growing, and advancing.

The Gospel is pushing into new territory. The spiritual strongholds of Satan are being demolished. Prisoners are being set free. People who had once been subjects of Satan, citizens of his kingdom, are being liberated and becoming citizens of the kingdom of God. Make no mistake about it: Satan is on the run. His days are numbered.

So when we, as a church, talk about extending Christ’s kingdom throughout the Lehigh Valley and around the world, we’re simply stating that it is our desire to see more and more people coming into the kingdom of God. Coming into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Learning to do the will of God from the heart; learning to follow the teaching of Jesus Christ the King. And when that happens, the kingdom grows.

Jesus gave us our marching orders in Acts 1:8. This is actually the last thing that Jesus said on this earth. The next time we hear his voice on earth will be at the Second Coming.

Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

When you look closely at that verse, you will see that there are two declarations that Jesus made. Both declarations are in the future tense.

1. you will receive power

2. you will be my witnesses

Now notice that each of those declarations is modified by an additional clause.

1. you will receive power… when the Holy Spirit comes on you

2. you will be my witnesses… in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

Let’s look at each one of these statements closely.

1. you will receive power

Notice that this is an absolute statement of fact. There is no “maybe” about it. You will receive power.

Not you “might” receive power.

Not “some of you” will receive power.

Not you will receive power “if you do such and such”.

This is a promise that Jesus made to His disciples and there is no condition attached to it. You will receive power.

But they didn’t have that power yet, did they? Far from it. Remember these were the men who deserted Jesus in his hour of greatest need. The leader of them, Peter, went as far as to deny that he even knew Jesus. And even after the Resurrection, they were still in some confusion. They were still afraid that the enemies of Jesus would come after them. So they certainly didn’t have any power yet!

But Jesus said they were going to receive power. When?

“When the Holy Spirit comes on you.” When there was no Holy Spirit on them, there was no power in them. But they would receive power when the Holy Spirit came on them.

There is a passage in the OT in the book of Zechariah where God is speaking to a man named Zerubbabel. God had commissioned Zerubbabel to rebuild the Temple at Jerusalem. It was an enormous task and Zerubbabel’s resources were very meager. But the Lord assured him that the task would not be accomplished by human strength.

Zechariah 4:6 This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty.

When God gave us His Holy Spirit, he gave us the power to do what He wants us to do. God never gives us a job to do for Him without also giving us the power and the resources to do it.

Now what did he want His disciples to do?

2. you will be my witnesses

What is a witness? Well, in legal terms, a witness is somebody who can attest to the truth of something because they experienced it firsthand.

If a man robs a grocery store, the people in the store are witnesses to what happened, because they were there when it happened. They saw what the robber did. They heard what he said. They know what he looks like. And if that man is arrested and brought to trial, they can serve as witnesses. They can attest to the truth of the matter. Their own personal involvement in the events is the key. That is what makes them witnesses.

This is how the word is used in the Bible. A witness of Christ is someone who knows Him. Someone who has seen what He has done. Someone who has experienced firsthand his power to change a life.

Notice, in Acts 1:8, that Jesus said you will be my witnesses, not you will “do witnessing”.

Christians today sometimes talk about witnessing as though it were something that a Christian could do or not do. But Jesus said that a witness is something you are, not something you simply do. It is a noun, not a verb.

Being a witness derives as much from your lifestyle, your values, your priorities, and your goals and dreams, as it does from anything you say. If you have met Jesus Christ and have experienced the change that He has made in your life, then you are a witness.

Doesn’t matter how much of the Bible you know or don’t know. Doesn’t matter if you have never taken a course in witnessing. Doesn’t matter if you are not a pastor or a missionary, or if you have never been to Bible College.

If you know Jesus Christ as your Savior, then you are a witness. And furthermore, the Holy Spirit is in your life giving you the power to be an effective witness.

People sometimes say to me “Boy, I’d really like to talk to so and so about my faith in Christ, but I just don’t know what to say.” You know what I tell them? “That’s good. It’s good that you don’t know what to say. Because then you’ll have to depend on the Holy Spirit to show you what to say. Just ask Him to give you the words. That’s his job.”

Now what you say may not come out sounding like the words of a Billy Graham, but your witness will come out with the Holy Spirit’s power. And that’s all that matters.

Look at the Christians in the early church. They didn’t have the Four Laws, they didn’t have Evangelism Explosion, they didn’t have the Steps to Peace with God. They didn’t have all the evangelistic tools that we have today. They didn’t even have the New Testament to share verses from!

All they had was the Holy Spirit and His power, and the witness of their own lives as they lived in obedience to the will of God. And that was enough to enable them to turn the world upside down with the Gospel.

Notice something else about that statement in Acts 1:8. Jesus said you will be my witnesses. The reason I draw your attention to this is that when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you do not become the Holy Spirit’s witness.

You do not become preoccupied with what the Holy Spirit has done for you. You do not go around talking about the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit’s job is to give you the power to be Christ’s witnesses. So when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, you’re going to be talking about Jesus, not the Holy Spirit. People are going to see Jesus Christ living in you, not the Holy Spirit.

Jesus told us where we would be His witnesses. It starts right at home. In Jerusalem. For the disciples, that was probably the hardest place to be witnesses. That’s where they ran into the most opposition. Got the most flak. Right at home in Jerusalem. Did you know that eventually, most of the disciples got kicked out of Jerusalem?

Home is where you may run into the most resistance to your witness. Even Jesus found that to be true. He said, “Only in his hometown and in his own house is a prophet without honor.” But that doesn’t mean that you’re not supposed to be a witness at home.

Then Judea. That’s the immediate neighborhood. In our case, that would be South Whitehall.

And Samaria. The other side of the tracks. In our case, that might be inner city Allentown.

The Jews hated the Samaritans and vice versa. Sometimes the hardest people to be a witness to are people who are not “your kind of people.” Because those people see you as an outsider. They see you with all your faults. They are not as willing to gloss over your flaws and your inconsistencies like people from your own station in life are. But Jesus said “you will be my witnesses in Samaria.”

And to the ends of the earth. This phrase, by the way, is what proves that Jesus was talking to us and not just to the Twelve. Because there was no way humanly possible for those men to be witnesses to the ends of the earth. They didn’t even know where the ends of the earth were in those days!

This is where it is vital for a church to have a global vision. If we are not somehow involved in being a witness to the ends of the earth, then we are not being completely obedient to the Lord’s command.

I thank God that he has given us opportunities, through our church’s missions program, of being a part of what He is doing is places like France, and Venezuela, and Eastern Europe, and Taiwan. And I would challenge you to think in terms of making your witness a global witness by being involved in our missions program, through your giving, your prayers, and your personal participation.

None of us are great missionary statesmen. None of us are dynamic evangelists. We’re just ordinary people. But we have met Jesus Christ, who has made us new people. He has made us citizens of His kingdom. It’s a kingdom that is on the move. It’s growing. It’s the greatest cause in all the world.

There’s nothing greater that you can do with your life than to be an ambassador of the King. And there’s nothing greater that we can do as a congregation than to give ourselves to extending His kingdom to the ends of the earth.