For all of the action in the book of Acts, it has an oddly unsatisfying ending: “Paul lived there [in Rome] two whole years at his own expense, and welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance” (Acts 28:30–31).
Haven’t the last 8 chapters been all about Paul getting to stand before Caesar? Does he get there? And what happens then? We don’t know. And didn’t Paul want to go on from Rome to preach the gospel in Spain afterward? Did that happen? We don’t know. Acts doesn’t tell us.
Acts ends in a cliff-hanger. Luke doesn’t tell us what happens to Paul and his aspirations. Why? Because Acts isn’t about Paul or his dreams. It’s about the Spirit and the gospel. Paul would eventually die, beheaded by the Emperor Nero. But here we are—the church—2,000 years later, proving to Nero that you can kill and imprison Paul, but you can’t stop the gospel he preached.
The torrential wind of the Spirit that filled the church in Jerusalem, that scattered the apostles all over the Roman Empire, and that turned the first-century world upside down wants to blow through Raleigh-Durham today. Summit, when we read the cliff-hanger at the end of Acts, we need to read it as an invitation for us to live sent, just as the apostles were sent.
1. Live SENT in our inviting.[1]
We need to take some risks in our invitations. Invite that neighbor to a worship service—you know, the one you never think would come. This will do two things: first, it will grow your faith; second, it will give God’s Spirit a chance to work. Remember, this isn’t about you, but about the Spirit’s power. Who knows what might happen if you give him the chance?
Can you imagine what our church might look like if everyone took this as a personal challenge? What if each of us reached just one other person this year? There would be thousands of changed lives. And isn’t that something you’d like to be a part of?
2. Live SENT in our volunteering.
For many people in our church, it’s time to start giving back to those areas that have been giving to you. People in this church have been a blessing to you; now be one to them.
As one example of this, I think of one of our recent high school graduates, a young man whose father died a few years ago. He was telling me how vital some older men in the church had been to him during that time: “As much as I love and appreciate those men, they’d be a failure at their job if they were the ones I remember and think about most. They pointed me to eternity. [They helped me realize] there’s a mission before me in this next stage of life. And I’m going to walk through that mission with the leadership of the King of kings… and my Prince of peace: Jesus Christ.”
That’s what the church should be—a father to the fatherless. And you could be used that way. Don’t miss that opportunity!
3. Live SENT in our generosity.
I know that many people get squeamish when the topic of money comes up. So I’ll be clear: we don’t need your money. And God certainly doesn’t need your money. But what does it say about your commitment to his mission if you don’t think it’s worth any financial investment at all? God hasn’t given us money so that we could live extravagantly and give sufficiently. We need to flip our priorities, living sufficiently so that we can give extravagantly.
4. Live SENT in our faith.
Acts doesn’t have an ending because it’s still being written, and we are writing the next chapter. Paul got the gospel to Rome; will we get the gospel to our community? Will we believe God for the people in our lives? The same Spirit that moved the Apostle Paul is available to us, and I want us to live sent in our faith, trusting an unknown future to a known God.
So pray with me for our community and our world. Pray for the person in your neighborhood who despises the idea of church. Pray for the unutilized church assets in this country, that they would be dropped in the laps of church planters and vibrant Christian ministries. Pray for our children, that God would raise up the next generation to send them out like arrows into the mission field.
Church, let’s wake up and join the church in Acts! Let’s wake up—and pray up, and sing up, and read up, and pay up! Just don’t give up or let up or shut up until everyone in our community has heard.
[1] I heard Andy Stanley give a similar challenge to his congregation recently. This list is indebted to him.
