Rise Up | Witnesses To The World
After Jesus rose from the dead, He spent some time with the disciples and with the people, further revealing Himself to them. The result left the disciples empowered to share the good news of Jesus Christ to the world. Furthermore, as we learned in our previous post, every Christian and every follower of Jesus Christ becomes a defacto missionary. No one is above the urgency to share the word of God in whatever context they find themselves wherever they find themselves. Yet, for all the miracles and glory that came from Jesus standing before them, the people still stood a bit confused with their mission. Their lives have been permanently changed, but where should they go?
‘So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 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.” And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
Acts 1:6-11, ESV
The idea of Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the worlds has long been discussed as the expanding influence of the church. For the disciples, Judea represented the immediate context of the disciples as he people they had a closest relationship with. Samraia represented one set outside of that with people they may have known of but resided outside their regular sphere of influence. As the Bible discusses the rest of the world, the idea is that for the entirety of the body of Christ, every country and place should be accounted for as having heard the good news of the Gospel. Through the empowering of the Spirit, which the disciples were instructed to wait until He came upon them, For all of us called to rise up, according to the mission and vision God has set for our lives, to proclaim the Kingdom of Heaven, we must be willing to abandon our personal desire for the sake of expanding the work of God in the world and revealing His person and nature to the world.
The Immediate Context
The first ministry every Christian will face comes in your home. This is the most immediate context. Even for those called to serve in a pastoral role, the qualifications of an elder and pastor specify that the person’s household should be in order. Your home is the first ministry that God has called you to care for. If you have children, you will always be the primary Gospel presenters. As teens, while they seek individuality and importance, they will need the loving support and teaching to guide them along this tumultuousness epoch of their upbringing. Even if we do not have children, our homes must be the first place Gospel is proclaimed, even if to ourselves. Who do you see every day that resides within your immediate context? Those person are the people God has called you to minister to and with.
Furthermore, this is also our immediate church family. The church needs you to move beyond mere consumers of religious goods to ministering to the people within the wall. The church exists to teach, train, empower, and send out people for the sake of the Gospel to proclaim the glory of God. The various ministries provide clear opportunities to invest in the lives of others and lay down the necessary foundation of faith. We should not shy away from giving our time for the ministries of the church because we covet our time to ourselves. As stated many times, church has never functioned properly in a consumeristic mindset but only works when everyone maintains the mind of Christ that gives of the self for the sake of others. Where does your church need more people to minister to others? How has God called and equipped you specifically rise up and live out your faith in your immediate context.
The Outside Context
Beyond our homes comes the outside context of our life. For most people, this is our jobs and the community. Our work and where we go every day is not just an opportunity to punch the clock but a ripe mission field to share the Gospel. When we go out into the outer context, we step into the mission field to proclaim the Gospel with our thoughts, our words, and our speech. God places us in our jobs with those we can shine the light of Jesus Christ to those around us. Then, when they see the effect that Christ has had in our lives, they will gain a glimpse of heaven through us. We explicitly share the Gospel with those in our community and in our jobs to impact the community. The church should have a lasting impact on the community and the outer context as a light to the world and a catalyst for drawing people closer to know the one, true God.
The Ends of the World
Finally, we must not scorn or scoff at people who feel the call to overseas missions. Throughout history, the church has thrived as people have been willing to fully empty themselves of themselves and dedicate their lives to the sharing the Gospel in foreign lands. Some will be called to go on short term trips for condensed periods of time pouring out with street evangelism and projects to show the love of Christ to others. Still more people will uproot their family and home in order to plant themselves in another community. The world still has many places in desperate need of a Savior who have never heard of the name Jesus Christ. For Americans, and probably everyone reading this work, we have at least minimally heard of the name of Jesus Christ. Yet, for large portions of the world, they die without ever having heard the name of Jesus Christ. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, we must be willing to give up everything for the sake of another to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those who have never heard His name.
In truth, none of the three areas will be easy and each will come with its own set of challenges and difficulties. Furthermore, we won’t always see the success we expect to get everything perfect. Yet, we cannot allow a fear of failure to paralyze us to inaction. For the sake of the world, we cannot sit idly by and allow the world to descend into the depths of hell because of our unwillingness to give up comfortable. We cannot be willing to pay the cost of eternity in the lives of our loved ones because of fear or apathy. Now is the time to rise up according to the calling we have been given by the power of the Holy Spirit, to proclaim the good news that Jesus saves to all who will listen.
