Matt Chandler - Witnesses to the Nations

After Jesus rose, the disciples asked if it was now time for Him to restore the kingdom to Israel. His response was one of protection and calling. He reminded them that only the Father knows the times, and called them to go into their neighborhoods, surrounding cities, and the nations and bear witness to what they had seen. By the power of the Spirit, His kingdom was to spread beyond Israel—to every tribe, language, and nation.

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If you have your Bibles, we’re going to go through this passage sentence by sentence in English so you can breathe. I can’t do that, though; the first Wednesday of every month, our staff participates in what we call Restore. We’ve been doing it for almost 20 years now, and the intent behind it, when we started, I think the first one we ever did was in my, you know, '01 Chevy Impala. The purpose is to gather our staff together and remind them that long before they were in vocational ministry, they were sons and daughters of God. Our worth and value aren’t based on what we do, but on who God says that we are. Ministry has a peculiar way of pulling you into performance, sometimes faster than other roles, and so we wanted to pause every Wednesday from nine to noon. We will pray, worship, testify, and then hear from the word of God that we are sons and daughters first — that’s what we do. We have a lot of fun while doing it. When we gather, if there are new people joining the staff, we have them stand up and introduce themselves. Then, we ask for a fun fact, and if we don’t think the fact is fun enough, we ask for an unpopular opinion. If that unpopular opinion isn’t unpopular enough, we take questions from the crowd. Also, if people are leaving, we want them to stand up and share where the Lord is leading them. We want to celebrate and pray over them, recognizing that God has brought them to us for a season. I don’t think everyone is here for life; in fact, I know they are not, but they are here for seasons, and we need to rejoice in those seasons. That’s what we do.

I was struck a couple of weeks ago when we did this, as we didn’t hold it the first weekend; we actually did it the next. I was struck at Restore, knowing I was about to preach this passage. At that Restore, we welcomed someone new to our little family of faith: Colleen Cersei, who is sitting over here, has joined our staff. That was a huge win in the Kingdom! If you follow sports, you’ll understand the excitement; it’s like, «Oh my gosh, who did they get?» Or if you follow college football, think of the transfer portal. Well, we snatched Colleen out of the transfer portal, and we couldn’t be more excited about her addition to our church. I love you, but I will not share her unpopular opinion today because it’s a playoff Sunday. Then, one of our staff members stood up to let us know that she would be rolling off staff. She has had two babies in the last few years and feels called by God back into her home, back into her neighborhood, to her husband and children. She’s very serious about helping us be a church that cares about the Gospel in our neighborhoods. She will embody that even more. Then, we had another family stand up, sharing their plans to go to the ends of the Earth. I was thinking, «Our heart is to mature and grow, not to become a dam or reservoir that holds it all in, but to let it spill out into our neighborhoods, our city, this town, this area, all the way to the ends of the Earth.» We want that.

As I was sitting there at Restore, knowing this was coming, I thought, «Oh my gosh, it’s happening! God is bringing us Colleen, sending Emma into her neighborhood, and even that family to the ends of the Earth!» I thought, «Okay, maybe, just maybe Wednesday is going to be profound.» So today, I want to talk to you about how not to be bored. We are the most entertained group of humans that has ever existed, yet we often feel unanchored and adrift. Let me help. I want to try to assist you, so let’s look at this passage. This is after Jesus’s death and resurrection, just before His ascension, similar to Matthew 28, which we read earlier. Here’s what He says to His disciples: «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.’» I want to stop there; there’s a lot packed in this, and it’s all significant. Here’s their question, which is loaded: «Hey, are You going to establish Your kingdom now? We just saw You raise from the dead, so it’s kind of bending our minds!» The question is tied to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and David.