"Look the Right Way"

A Chinese farmer, after having cataracts removed from his eyes, made his way from the Christian compound to the far interior of China. Only a few days elapsed, however, before the missionary doctor looked out his bamboo window and noticed the formerly blind man holding the front end of a long rope. In a single file and holding to the rope behind him came several blind Chinese whom the farmer had told about his operation. They all knew the farmer had been blind, but now he could see. He told them of the doctor who had cured him; naturally, all these other blind people wanted to meet the doctor who cured the blind man.

The cured man could not explain the physiology of the eye or the technique of the operation. He could tell others he had been blind, the doctor had operated on him, and now he could see. That was all the others needed to hear. They came to the doctor.

This Chinese farmer was on a mission trip. He had a mission to give witness of the doctor’s ability to give people sight when they were blind. He didn’t go away to medical school to learn what he did not know about the eye or the operation. He did not depend on the doctor to make his way to the blind people. He began with who he knew, the doctor, told what he knew, the doctor can give sight to blind people, how it knew it, because he was blind but now could see because the doctor gave him sight, going where he knew others needed to know it, everywhere there were blind people, and why he wanted them to know it, because he was so grateful and appreciative for what the doctor did for him.

Imagine what these others who came and received sight had to say when they returned home and encountered anyone with a sight problem. They became witnesses of the truth they now knew.

That’s what missions is. That’s what it means for you a Christian to live on mission. That’s what we find Jesus telling the disciples to do in Acts chapter 1.

Because God is a Holy and Forgiving God and we are the ones He has forgiven let’s honor Him in standing to read His Holy Word.

“Look the Right Way”

We find how in our text for today. Because God is a Holy and Forgiving God and we are the ones He has forgiven let’s honor Him in standing to read His Holy Word.

Acts 1:8–14 CSB

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” 9 After he had said this, he was taken up as they were watching, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 While he was going, they were gazing into heaven, and suddenly two men in white clothes stood by them. 11 They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into heaven? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come in the same way that you have seen him going into heaven.” 12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, which is near Jerusalem—a Sabbath day’s journey away. 13 When they arrived, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying: Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James. 14 They all were continually united in prayer, along with the women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.

PRAYER

I have preached the past two Sundays about the need for us to be a missions central church. I preached about how God is a God of mission.

Mission is the Narrative of God’s Word the Bible

God’s mission is one of the central themes that propels the narrative of Scripture. It begins with God at Creation (to have a relationship with Mankind). After mankind, through sin, moves itself away from God, the mission is propelled toward a particular chosen people with a particular purpose of living on mission as a blessing to other nations by pointing them toward a relationship with God. Series Text is just one of many passages giving that command.

Psalm 96:2–3 CSB

2 Sing to the Lord, bless his name; proclaim his salvation from day to day. 3 Declare his glory among the nations, his wondrous works among all peoples.

We read here in Acts that after Jesus lived, died and rose again, to fulfill the mission, he passes this mission on to His followers. The rest of Acts, chapters 2-28, is Luke’s narrative of how God’s people faithfully lived out what He gave them to do here in chapter 1.

John 1:16–18 NASB95

16 For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. 17 For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.

John 1:14 CSB

14 The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

This same Mission is God’s Calling to Us

John 1:18 CSB

18 No one has ever seen God. The one and only Son, who is himself God and is at the Father’s side—he has revealed him.

John 1:18 CSB

18 No one has ever seen God. The one and only Son, who is himself God and is at the Father’s side—he has revealed him.

We find in scripture the repeated rebellion of God’s people against their God given mission. The climax of God’s missional activity is the incarnation - God putting skin on as the man Jesus Christ, fully God and fully man.

Jesus’ death became the atonement for the sins of all who believe on Him, removing for Christians what separates us from God. As he ascended and the church began, Jesus passed on the mission to all who are His followers to live as a blessing of reconciliation to the lost world, leaving behind the Holy Spirit to empower the accomplishment of the mission.

This Mission is God’s Calling to Us

“In our own time—standing as we do between Pentecost () and the return of Christ—our central task as God’s people is to live united in the love of other people and God, through Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit. God’s mission is about salvation; it is about reconciliation with God, one another, and all creation—through Christ. Mission is about God’s will being fully realized. God graciously invites us to actively participate in this realization.” - Faithlife Study Bible

Our church, us, we can be just as authentic, just as believable, just as trustworthy, and just as committed as Peter, James, John, Mary, Stephen, Phillip, Paul, Silas, Barnabas or any other Christian we read about it the book of Acts. We won’t be, however, until we look the right way.

“Look the Right Way”

No, I am not talking about how what kind of haircut you have, whether or not you have tattoos or body piercings, people with hair over their eyes or their body covered in tattoos can be a witness if they have been forgiven and saved by Jesus Christ. I am not talking about if you wear high dollar, high class clothes or clothes from the local thrift store. Being a Christian is about who you have in your heart - Jesus Christ through the presence of the HS.

I am not even talking about whether you are blind in both eyes or have 20/20 vision. When I say “Look the Right Way”, its about something else. I am talking about the spiritual vision we need to have that Luke outlines here in these few verses we just read a few minutes ago. In these verse we can find the vision necessary for our missions involvement, and until we perceive it clearly and follow it zealously, we will not be authentic, believable, trustworthy or committed.

Normally I develop my outline from the first verse of a text and follow through to the end, but in our current context it the opposite is necessary here.

Jesus has called and commanded us to be a missions central church.

But, if Jonesboro First Baptist is to ever live and be a Missions Central Church, we must first begin with a vision of Oneness.

We must have a vision of Oneness.

We find in v.13 - They didn’t depart to their own homes. They didn’t go hang out at the local restaurant or coffeehouse.

Here now in this room we find they had a vision of Oneness. We know this by what Luke tells us in v.14 - emphatic Greek - Homothymadon - meaning unanimous, they were without dissent; often translated as “together” - The point is they all were in One place for One purpose. They were all One-minded with One focus - receiving the Holy Spirit and being witnesses to the world of Jesus Christ. It began with prayer. 10 days of concerted and concentrated prayer.

As you read through Acts, you will find how Luke many times emphasizes the fact that God uses prayer to work in and through His church to accomplish His mission.

I imagine this was not the normal prayer meeting like in most churches were most folks pray with their minds on hold and their mouths on automatic.

Luke emphasizes the time was spent in united and continuous prayer, which mean they were continuously diligent in prayer. 10 days of concerted and concentrated prayer. As you read through Acts, you will find how Luke many times emphasizes the fact that God uses prayer to work in and through His church to accomplish His mission.

Prayer is the only omnipotence God grants us. Prayer moves the hand that moves the world. (1500 Illustrations)

We will never be a missions central Church until we are a unified church. Unity in prayer is God’s intended foundation for our mission. Remember the traits of such a church - #4 is they spend time together on their knees praying about and for missions.

When we are a unified Church around the single mission of the GC - we will see ourselves having again and doing again what we see here and in

Acts 4:24 CSB

24 When they heard this, they raised their voices together to God and said, “Master, you are the one who made the heaven, the earth, and the sea, and everything in them.

They had united prayers and we will too.

We see the rest of chapter 1 and in

Acts 15:25 CSB

25 we have unanimously decided to select men and send them to you along with our dearly loved Barnabas and Paul,

They had united decisions and we will too.

The truth from the Bible is this: when a church loses sight of the mission for which they were called, being witnesses to the world here and everywhere, that church becomes a divided house that will not stand because it is not standing for what it was designed to stand.

Nate Adams, our executive director of the Baptist State Association, has an unusual pair of eyes: his right eye is nearsighted and his left eye is farsighted. He said for years he didn’t know it because each eye compensated for the other: his right eye was on duty while reading, and his left eye did all the work while driving or at the movies. However, therein developed the problem, in that because his eyes were not working together as one in the messages they sent to his brain, his near-sighted right eye began to dominate what his brain saw. His left eye began to give up gradually making his distance vision fuzzier and fuzzier.

Conclusion: The NT Christians in Acts realized Jesus saved them to see perfectly. These Christians had a joyful boldness and spiritual effectiveness seen all throughout the rest of Acts

We must see the vision Jesus gave us for the World.

Pay attention to vs.9-11 where Luke’s focus is on two facts.

Jesus is no longer around. The Jesus they knew is now in heaven. (The Jesus in heaven is the Jesus you know.)

The angels message of rebuke is about their spiritual inertia and longing for Jesus’ presence with them. The Jesus they knew was coming again. (The Jesus who is coming again we know.)

The implication of v.11 is their gazing will not bring him back down. Jesus had given them their intended focus. The earth and reaching its people was to be their preoccupation, not the sky.

God in His sovereignty has so designed it that we can escalate the return of Christ by our going not our gazing. tells us The more Christians who take the gospel into the world, the faster the 2nd coming will happen. In that verse and over in the word for Nations in the Greek is ethnos, our word ethnicity, people groups based around language, culture and geographical ties. The IMB focuses now more on people groups than it does location because the ties are becoming less around geography and more around language and culture.

Luke is making the point that the missionary activity of the early church and now our church rests not only on v.8 -the mandate but also on v.11 and 10 - he is coming back again. This very promise of Jesus’ return is the foundation of our hope and should be the ground upon which we walk as we go out to the very ends of the earth.

So, as any church establishes its missional plan, as our church establishes our missional plan, it must be a plan that includes all people from all places and all races.

Conclusion: The NT Christians in Acts realized Jesus saved them to see. These Christians had a joyful boldness and spiritual effectiveness seen all throughout the rest of Acts

1. because When they came together they were not selfish. They were not concerned about what others were doing or not doing.

2. because they were single-mindedly concentrating on Jesus and fulfilling this Mission given them. They have a vision of Oneness.

Jerusalem - Begin in SoIL and SEMO. Have a gospel conversations everywhere you go and you will see that there are more lost people than you think - out there and in churches. If you have no concern for the lost in Southern Illinois you will never care if our church goes anywhere else in the world.

The Apostle Paul tells us in - we are one body made to drink from one spirit with one Hope given in by the 2 angels - the Return of our One Lord.

Listen, if 3 small churches with 85 elderly people in an un-evangelized region of Asia can grow to 550 churches with 55,000 believers. We have been given the same power to do the same thing.

Judea and Samaria is different than other churches and theirs is different than ours. 7 out of 10 people in North America are lost without a relationship. Our Judea will be those towns we would never travel to, but are similar to us, yet have no church. Our Samaria will be immigrants and don’t speak much English, and it will be Urban areas in Illinois and other states where we have nothing in common but they need to see Jesus in us there.

Ends of the Earth - I have a friend soon to be missionary in Haiti. Anna First pastor wants to partner to go to orphanage in Jamaica. There are unengaged - unreached people groups in Asia and Africa. I have been invited to take some of you to Romania.

You just need to see the vision and say here am I send me. My prayer is through these sermons on mission we will become a going church to match our giving to missions.

Corinthian was one of the worst churches to be a part of or lead because it was so divided that sin reigned and it was devoid of love. Yet Paul still gave thanks for them and loved them enough to urge them to but away their divisions be in agreement together and united around the mission.

Spiritual unity is the responsibility of each and everyone of you. (there is not unity without a shared allegiance to Christ and His mission). Spiritual unity is not something that we manufacture. It is something we already have in Christ, and we must protect and maintain it.

Spiritual unity is the responsibility of each and everyone of you. (there is not unity without a shared allegiance to Christ and His mission).

The thing about upper rooms in Jerusalem is they were choice rooms above the hustle and bustle of the city streets and away from disturbances. They were often rented out, serving as places for assembly, of focused study and united prayer.

The thing about church buildings - they are intended by God to be places for Christians to assemble with a focused study of the Bible and for Christians to be united in prayer.

When we gather our church together weekly with a vision of Oneness, of Unity, then we receive the message of mission sent by Jesus to our brains. When we worship and fellowship and study together with a vision of Oneness, of Unity, then we will leave empowered by the Holy Spirit to have a joyful boldness and spiritual effectiveness.

Remember the Chinese farmer. You know what’s worse than being blind, not having anyone lead you to the eye doctor. You know what’s worse than being lost, not having anyone looking for you.

Just begin with who you know: Jesus Christ; telling what you know: Jesus died on the cross for sins, rose on the third day and later went back to heaven, and if lost people believe and confess that truth Jesus can give them salvation; telling how you know it: because you were a horrible sinner who Jesus saved; begin by going where others need to know it: everywhere there are lost people; and why you want them to know it: because you are so extremely grateful for what Jesus did for you. When you do that, lost people will be saved.

Keep your mind and heart focused on Jesus in prayer together then you will not become nearsighted. It is awful hard for any of us to be self-centered when we are praying together for each other and for lost people.

Let’s pray together now.

They didn’t just sit around and drink coffee

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