Reflecting on Acts 1:1-11“You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)
Jesus commissions His disciples multiple times (Matthew 28:16-20, John 20:21-23).
He says it in different ways, but they are essentially the same task.
The Spirit empowers them to make disciples by witness to Jesus in word and deed.
In others words, to continue the work that Jesus started.
Jesus is both the motivation AND the method for their task.
Everything Jesus did was empowered by humility, grace and compassion.
The power of the Spirit is not abusive or coercive, condemning or disrespectful.
The fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) is HOW the Spirit empowers us.
Our witness to Jesus and making of disciples must reflect that fruit, that power.
This may seem weak, but it is the power of God that reaches the ends of the earth.
Too often Christians have resorted to worldly, not spiritual power.
Crusades, colonization, forced or pressured conversions, nationalism, law and order.
Its witness is not to Jesus and his Way, but to the way of the Evil One.
We’re supposed to be delivering people from evil, not using evil to ‘deliver’ them.
When our witness doesn’t reflect the Way of Jesus, we are not Jesus’s witnesses!
PRAYER
Lord Jesus, You have shown us God's gracious love, and have sent us into the world to woo and win people to God with that gracious love. May we be Your witnesses Your way!
May others see Christ living in me by my words and deeds. Daily, I need to be practicing the Way. I need to be like Christ unto others. I need to be an instrument of His peace.