Mission Accomplished
Introduction. Since December we have spent most of our time on Sunday mornings studying the life of Christ from the gospel of Luke. We were first introduced to the Messiah’s forerunner, John the Baptist. We learned of the annunciation of Jesus, his birth to a virgin named Mary, his early life at Nazareth, his baptism in the Jordan, his temptation in the wilderness, his calling of Twelve unlikely disciples, his ministry in Galilee, his ministry in and around Jerusalem, his signs and wonders, his perfect life, his discourses, his parables, his controversies with the religious leaders, his trials, his denial by Peter, his betrayal by Judas, his crucifixion, his burial, and his resurrection.
And now we come to the final segment of his earthly life, as Luke summarizes the 40 days he spent on earth ministering to his disciples between his resurrection and ascension. However, if we are to learn the full story of Jesus’ last days on earth, we are going to have to look also at the opening of the sequel which Luke wrote, the Acts of the Apostles.
He probably had no choice but to write a second book because the first one was too long. Luke had filled completely the maximum length of a papyrus scroll, resulting in the longest book in the New Testament. But in addition to reaching the limits of first-century publishing methods, Luke has also reached a very appropriate place to conclude one book and begin another. Perhaps this will become obvious from the reading of these two portions back-to-back. Let’s begin our reading in Luke 24:36:
While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”
When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence.
He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”
Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.” (Luke 24:36-53)
“In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
So when they met together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 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.
They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:1-11)
Luke tells us that his former book, that is, his gospel, concerned all that Jesus “began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven.” But the life and ministry of Jesus did not end when he ascended to heaven. Luke’s second book, the Acts of the Apostles, will share what Jesus began to do in absentia through his apostles and through his church. And even that book ends without a conclusion, because the last chapter hasn’t yet been written.
Now let me paint the scenario we find here in Luke 24. As we noted last week, it is still Easter Sunday in verse 36, though undoubtedly very late in the evening. Jesus had appeared to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus (which we examined last Sunday), and when Cleopas and his friend finally recognized their traveling companion as Jesus, they hurried back to Jerusalem that very evening, where they found the eleven apostles (Judas having committed suicide) in an upper room talking excitedly about the fact that Peter had seen the risen Lord that day. The two Emmaus disciples joined in the celebration and eagerly shared the story of their encounter with Jesus, especially how they recognized him when he broke the bread.
While the disciples were talking about these things, Jesus himself appeared in their midst and said, “‘Peace be with you.’ They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost.” Now, let me ask you something: If they are in the upper room sharing accounts of how Jesus has appeared that very same day to at least three of them, why are they so startled and frightened when Jesus shows up? Well, John gives us a good hint in 20:19 of his gospel. There he tells us they had locked the doors for fear of the Jews. Now if you were huddled in a room with the shades pulled and the doors locked to keep everyone else out, and suddenly someone appeared without notice and without knocking, don’t you think that would be a little unnerving?
Jesus recognizes they have been on an emotional roller coaster, and so he tackles the issue that is most important for them—the need of establishing once and for all …
The reality of the resurrection
How does he do so? First, he invites them, “Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself!” Why his hands and feet? Because there was something unusual about his hands and feet that should settle the issue for them. There were nail prints in both hands and both feet. This raises an interesting question, of course. Why would a resurrection body, so different it was not easily recognizable, and obviously having a new life principle (for it can appear and disappear at will), still bear the scars of the crucifixion? I don’t know, but for reasons sufficient to God he allowed those wounds, so awful as a reminder of sin, yet so beautiful as a reminder of grace, to remain as a permanent part of the Savior’s person.
Then Jesus goes a step further to convince his disciples. He not only urges them to look but also to touch. “‘Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.’ When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet.” John tells us that Jesus went still further with doubting Thomas, telling him, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” It worked, because Thomas responded, “My Lord and my God!”
Once again we are introduced here to facts that are not easy to reconcile. Jesus’ resurrection body apparently had flesh and bones. Yet flesh and bones as we know them cannot pass through solid walls at will. There must have been something far different about the molecular structure of his resurrection body. The apostle Paul in his first letter to the Corinthian church, speaks at length about the nature of the resurrection body. He tells us that there is both continuity and discontinuity between the earthly body and the resurrection body. It is the same body yet different. It is the same body but completely transformed by God.
But Jesus goes even further to convince his friends. Verse 41 says they still thought it all too good to be true, so he asked them, “‘Do you have anything here to eat?’ They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence.” Was he hungry? I doubt it. I feel fairly sure from all that the Scriptures teach, that resurrection bodies don’t need physical food. Then why did he eat? It was for their sake, to further convince them that he, Jesus of Nazareth, the God-man who had walked with them for 3 ½ years and who had died three days before on a Roman cross and had been laid in a sealed tomb, had indeed risen from the dead and was now living and worthy to be worshiped. And they were convinced. Never again did they doubt.
Having convinced them of the resurrection, Jesus now turns to a second critical issue:
The necessity of the cross
In verse 44 Jesus begins to do for all the disciples what he had done for the two on the road to Emmaus. He opens their minds so they could understand the Old Testament Scriptures. Why is it necessary for our minds to be opened before we can understand the Scriptures? We don’t need that when we read the newspaper or a John Grisham novel; we just pick it up, and if we have average intelligence and we’re not too tired, we can understand it. Why does Jesus need to open their minds before they can understand the Bible? Because the Bible is not like any other book. It is a spiritual book, and we are notorious for the spiritual blinders and prejudices we bring to it.
One of the primary prejudices we bring to the Scriptures is that we tend to accept what is pleasant and reject what is troubling. Maybe there are some verses that don’t fit into our world view, so we twist them until they do. Maybe there are some doctrines that are difficult, so we ignore them. Maybe there are some themes that offend us, so we reject them and focus all our attention on our pet hobbyhorses.
Another area of prejudice we exhibit when it comes to Bible study has to do with application. We’re great at applying Scripture to other people’s lives while ignoring it in our own. Whenever some sin or failure comes up in a sermon, we can think of four or five people (even besides our spouse!) who are guilty. But how readily do we ask the question the disciples asked, “Is it I, Lord? Is it I?”
The specific reason Jesus needed to open the disciples’ minds is that they were unable or unwilling to accept truth that didn’t fit their preconceived notions. Logical consistency seemed to be their bugaboo. Jesus is the Messiah, right? God’s Messiah will be victorious, right? So that settles it. Any passage that speaks of the Messiah suffering or dying must be talking about someone else. They would cheat and reinterpret those passages to bring them in line with their preconceived notions. Sadly, we often still do that today.
Jesus says to them in verse 44: “This is what I told you while I was still with you: everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” He mentions all three divisions of the Old Testament. In essence he is saying, “From Genesis to Malachi the scriptures speak of me, and everything they say must be fulfilled. You cannot take just the passages you like—those that speak of me as a conquering King coming to vanquish wickedness and establish righteous rule. You must also take those that speak of the Suffering Servant and the Cross.”
Friends, one of the critical truths we must grasp is that the cross was not God’s Plan B, instituted because mankind rejected his Son. The cross was part of his plan from the very beginning. Revelation 13:8 speaks of “the Lamb slain from the creation of the world.” God knew from the beginning that his prize creation, mankind, would fall into sin. He purposed from the beginning to provide a remedy for that sin. That remedy would be extremely costly to God and to his one and only son, but they covenanted together to provide it anyway.
A third truth Jesus impressed upon his disciples in this final communication with them before his ascension is …
The urgency of the task
What task? The task of taking the good news of salvation by grace through faith to all people. Look again at verse 46:
“He said to them, ‘This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.’”
This is Luke’s abbreviated version of what is known as the great commission, given in fuller form in Matthew 28 and in Acts 1. In Matthew 28:18 we read,
Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age’ (Matthew 28:18-20).
In Acts 1:8 he puts it this way: “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
By the way, this is probably as good a place as any to remind you that the final portion of Luke 24 summarizes the last 40 days of Jesus’ life. Verse 36 clearly takes place on Easter Sunday night, and verse 50 tells of the ascension 40 days later. The teaching we find in verses 46-49 may have taken place anytime during this period. Matthew’s Gospel says that the Great Commission was delivered on a mountain in Galilee, so Jesus must have traveled some with his disciples during this post-resurrection period.
More important than the timing of the great commission, however, is its content. The disciples are to preach repentance and forgiveness of sins through Christ. There is no forgiveness without repentance. Forgiveness does not come by osmosis; it is not the result of mere profession; it is not something arbitrary that God does for us because he loves us; forgiveness is something God offers to those who repent, who turn away from their sin and toward the Savior.
To my knowledge neither the great commandment—“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and your neighbor as yourself”—nor the great commission has ever been rescinded. Further, this commission actually lays out a strategy: “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” These places represent concentric circles of influence.
This strategy is the reason why we offer Christianity 101 here at First Free, our Jerusalem; it is the reason why we plant churches here in St. Louis, including the inner city and in Dogtown, our Judea; it is the reason why we are planting churches in Hannibal, St. Joe, Park Cities, and why we support campus ministries around the country, our Samaria; it is the reason why this morning we are sending Team 8 to Tatarstan, the uttermost part of the earth (at least you can see it from there).
Further, the great commission is the reason why Jesus has not yet returned, nearly 2,000 years after the events recorded here. When, just two decades after the ascension, some skeptics challenged Peter as to why Jesus hadn’t returned yet, he responded,
Do not forget this one thing: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:8-9).
He is still providing opportunity for his church to fulfill the great commission.
So far Jesus has used his last hours with his disciples to stress the reality of the resurrection, the necessity of the cross, and the urgency of the task. Fourthly, he speaks to them of …
The source of the power
The task Jesus has laid upon his disciples is enormous—preaching repentance and forgiveness of sins to all nations—and Jesus knows they cannot do it on their own. He doesn’t even want them to try. In Luke 24:48 he says, “You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” What had the Father promised? Well, the Father had promised that when Jesus was taken from them, he would send someone else to come along side of them. This one would be with them permanently, in fact, would take up residence inside of them. This would be the secret of their power.
“Wait” is a key word here. In Acts 1: 4 it appears again: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” Action without preparation must of necessity fail. There is a time to wait on God, and there is a time to work for God.
The disciples, however, are not interested in waiting, for they ask him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” They can’t get the kingdom out of their minds. They are concerned with prophetic timetables. But he says to them, “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses …”
If they had left immediately on their preaching tours and missionary journeys, they would have undoubtedly fallen flat on their faces. But they did what Jesus commanded them. They stayed in Jerusalem. They prayed constantly in the upper room. And ten days after the ascension, on the day of Pentecost, God fulfilled his promise to send his Holy Spirit to indwell them and give them the power to accomplish all that God wanted them to do. And for 2,000 years, wherever God’s people have relied upon God’s Spirit for power, people have been saved, the church has grown, lives have been changed, and the world has noticed.
This promise of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a confusing issue to many people, so I want to take just a few moments to address it briefly. There are many who identify this baptism with water baptism, and there are others who identify it with the gift of tongues. And that’s not surprising, because both water baptism and the gift of tongues were part of the Pentecost experience in Acts 2. But I believe they were incidental to the baptism of the Spirit, not the essence of it.
When all that the Scriptures teach about Spirit baptism is taken into account, the conclusion can be safely drawn that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is experienced by every true believer and takes place at the moment he places his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. At that moment he is saved, is born again, is declared righteous before God, is forgiven of his sins, and is indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Sometimes a person is water baptized the same day he puts his faith in Christ; more often water baptism comes later. Sometimes a person may speak in tongues the same day he puts his faith in Christ; more often that comes later or not at all. After all, tongues is a gift, and not everyone receives the same gift, Paul tells us clearly in 1 Corinthians chapter 12-14. Water baptism and tongues are separate issues from the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
But, you may ask, if a person is baptized by the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation, why does Jesus here say to his disciples, even to his apostles, “in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”? Weren’t they saved? Yes, certainly they were saved, as were many in the Old Testament. But the baptism of the Holy Spirit was a new ministry that God inaugurated on the Church’s birthday, the day of Pentecost. Old Testament saints occasionally experienced the Holy Spirit coming upon them, but he did not indwell them, as he does believers since Pentecost. In essence, the permanent indwelling of the Spirit was God’s gift to his disciples to take the place of Jesus’ physical presence. The Spirit was given with the purpose of making them effective witnesses.
Without him we can do nothing. Ron Ritchie, a very successful pastor, brings home this truth of the importance of the Spirit’s power in a profound way to me. He writes,
So often in my own life I feel a certain natural adequacy because I have some experience and background. But I notice that every new situation I get into, the Lord reminds me of my inadequacy, and I am brought back to him so I can say, “Unless you fill me and control me, there may be some activity here, but it will have no eternal consequence. Please express yourself through me. May I have your power to make this come alive? May this be a situation where you are greatly blessed!” If I don’t do that, it will just be religious flesh all dressed up, and it will really have no effect for eternity. We need to guard against that. Our lives are designed by God to be filled with him and empowered by his Spirit so that his eternal message can penetrate the community we live in.[i]
And the promise of this gift is a large part of the reason the Gospel of Luke ends with a joyful transition.
The joyful transition
In Luke 24:50 we read, “When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven.” Bethany lies on the eastern slopes of the Mount of Olives. Near the crest, overlooking the City of David, is an ancient chapel called the Church of the Ascension. Several weeks ago as we entered that cold stone structure, we found a small group of believers from Linz, Austria. Their pastor was reading the story of the ascension to them, and then they sang together in worship of the Savior. It was beautiful. After they had finished, the pastor asked us to sing, and Gayle Wehrli led us in a beautiful worship song. The acoustics were incredible and frankly we sounded like a choir of angels. It was one of the highlights of our trip.
Speaking of angels, in Acts 1:10,11 Luke adds a key piece of information. He says,
They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking to the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
That is why we read in the final two verses of Luke, “Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.” Had Jesus not proved to his disciples the reality of the resurrection, convinced them of the necessity of the cross, showed them the urgency of the task, and revealed to them the secret of their power, and had the angels not promised that he would come again, there would have been no joy when they saw him leave.
But they were convinced of all those things, and what a difference it made! What a difference from their response to his leaving when his body was laid in a tomb 40 days earlier! This time when he leaves, they worship, they are filled with great joy, they are praising God. They are ready for the transition from disciple to discipler, from student to teacher, from spiritual adolescence to adulthood.
Conclusion: I took as my sermon title today, “Mission Accomplished.” “It is finished,” Jesus said from the cross. And the fact that God raised him from the dead and then took him to heaven by means of the ascension shows beyond the shadow of a doubt that he had completed his work on earth; his mission was accomplished. The ascension of Jesus was the final proof that he was truly the Messiah. Paul writes in Philippians 2:9-11:
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God.
That hasn’t happened yet. Every knee has not bowed nor has every tongue confessed. So, in another sense the mission is still being accomplished. The risen Christ is sitting at his Father’s right hand, and from that place of honor and power he is still working through his church to take the good news to all nations.
God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him (John 3:16).
There is still time for the mission to be accomplished in your life. There is time, at least one more opportunity, this morning—April 26, 1998, for you to receive eternal life.
I have a certain sadness in my heart as we finish Luke’s Gospel today. This has been an incredible journey. Some of you have never heard me preach on anything else, and you may have come to the conclusion that I don’t know anything else. Well, there isn’t anything else to know that’s more important, I’ll tell you that for sure. Paul wrote,
“The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God … Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? … Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18-24).
We have seen Jesus in all his glory—as shepherd, as Savior, as Lord, as friend. We have seen him as a lover of tax collectors, sinners, blind beggars, and lepers. Everywhere he went, he went about doing good. Everyone except the religious muckety-mucks wanted to be around him. He would walk and talk and teach and touch and pray and weep and comfort and rebuke. Every week as we heard about Jesus we have been encouraged, motivated, challenged, edified.
Jesus is our only hope, friends. He is the only one who can give us eternal life. And once we have that life, once we have been forgiven of our sin and healed of our brokenness, he doesn’t want us to ever stop talking about it. He wants us to share the good news in word and deed until he comes again. And we can, because he has given us his Holy Spirit to empower us. I think it is not an accident that the book of Luke ends where it began—in the temple with God’s people praising him for his amazing plan of salvation.
Tags:
Resurrection
Cross
Great Commission
Baptism of the Holy Spirit
[i]Ron Ritchie, sermon delivered at Peninsula Bible Church, November 29, 1992, https://cdn.pbc.org/Main_Service/1992/11/28/4284.pdf.