An Impossible Mission

They were a small bunch. A little confused. Jesus gave them an impossible mission. 

Acts 1:6-8 (NASB) 
⁶  So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, "Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?" 
⁷  He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority;
⁸  but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth."

They had no money. No organization. They lived in a brutally hostile environment to their message. People were murdered for this radical religion of The Way led by Jesus and His followers. They were definitely in the minority and went against centuries of religious tradition. Many of these devout followers had previously denied Jesus and protected their own lives instead standing bravely and boldly. 

You could see why Jesus might look elsewhere for people to get on the ground floor of starting this new organization called the ekklesia. Through the ages different names have been attached. The church. Fellowships. Communities of Faith. Home gatherings. Cell Church. Temples. Tabernacles. 

These were given the impossible mission of taking the message of Jesus to the ends of the earth. Transportation was difficult. They rode horses, donkeys, on wagon or by ship or walked. That did not hinder them. They traveled tirelessly.  They had no computers. Yet they handwrite copies of the Bible. They had no cell phones and yet worked tirelessly to get th message out to individuals, small groups and even in entire communities. They had no Bibles. They just had a collection of stories about the life and teachings of Jesus. 

Undaunted by all this, they accepted the mission. The book of Acts tells the rest of the story. In case you have not read Acts in a while, let me summrize. They preached Jesus boldly. God empowered through the Holy Spirit. Many people got saved. New ekklesias started. Often the Jesus followers suffered for proclaiming that message. The message spread and still does today. 

Now church has become big business. Technological advances make getting the message around the world easier than ever. At the push of a button these blogs can be read by anyone with a computer or cell phone with access to the internet around the globe. During this pandemic Jesus followers have found new and creative ways to get the message out to more people than ever online. 

The mission may still look impossible. With all the tools God has made us available to us, will we accept it as whole heartedly as those early believers did when they had so much less to work with. Yet they had more. More power than the average believer. More conviction and boldness. They also had more perseverance. Those are things we all need to keep fulfilling His mission. 

What exactly is that mission? Like one pastor said, "Turning atheists into missionaries." That pretty well sums it up. We are not left to do this without divine help. May we continue to labort to the ends of the earth.