Continuing What Jesus Started: Why We're Not Finishing His Work, We're Joining It

Carlos and his family have a tradition. They're headed to Knoebels, they've been visiting since his kids were young enough to need someone else buckling their seatbelts. His oldest is 25 now, his youngest 17, and they still go every year. They love it. But he remembers what the drive used to sound like when they were small: barely out of the driveway, house still visible in the rearview mirror, and someone in the back seat would ask, "Are we there yet?" He'd stay calm and tell them no, not yet. Then would come the follow-up, a little less patiently: "When will we be there?"

That question is older than any road trip. It's the same one the disciples asked Jesus in the opening chapter of Acts, right before he left them for good. "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" In other words: is this it? Is now the time you finally do what you promised?

A Word Worth Noticing

Before we get to how Jesus answers that question, it's worth slowing down on how Acts begins. Luke, who wrote both Luke and Acts, opens this second book by reminding his reader Theophilus that his first book covered "all that Jesus began to do and teach." Notice that word: began. Luke doesn't write, "Here's what Jesus did, now here's what the church will do." Acts isn't a sequel about a new main character. It's Luke 2.0, and Jesus is still the one working, still teaching, only now he's doing it through his Spirit and through his people.

That's the whole idea behind our mission at Calvary. When we say we exist to continue what Jesus started, we don't mean we're finishing something he couldn't finish himself. We mean we're joining something he's still doing.

Redirected, Not Rebuked

So how does Jesus answer the "are we there yet" question? Not with a date, and not with a rebuke. He doesn't tell the disciples to stop asking. He redirects them, from the timing of the kingdom to their place in it. "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set," he tells them, "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."

The mission was never "build the perfect church" or "have amazing programs" or "fix the culture." It's simpler and harder than that: you will be my witnesses. A witness testifies to what they've seen and know to be true, and these particular witnesses had seen everything. They watched Jesus heal, teach, feed thousands, carry a cross, and die. Then they watched him walk around alive for 40 days afterward. Christian mission starts with that testimony before it ever becomes activity. It's easy to read a passage like this and assume our job is to go do something impressive for God. The heart of the mission is simpler: telling what we've actually seen him do.

Sent to the Whole Church

This same charge shows up five times in the New Testament, once each in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and here in Acts. They're not five different missions. They're five windows into one: Jesus sending his people to be his witnesses. And notice who gets sent. Not just the apostles, not just people with formal training or a title. The whole church. All of us.

Wait First

It would be tempting to read this and think, great, we have a mission, let's go. But look at what Jesus says just before he sends them: wait. Wait for what the father promised, wait for the Holy Spirit. That's not because the mission needed a boost, or because the disciples needed a power-up. It's because the mission was never theirs to begin with. It's God's work, and we don't recruit the Spirit to help us accomplish it. The Spirit draws us into what God is already doing. That's why we don't continue what Jesus started by trying harder. We continue it by depending on him, even when good things like good programs, good preaching, and good facilities tempt us to think we can carry it ourselves.

Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the Ends of the Earth

Jesus names four places his witnesses will go, and it's worth noticing the small word connecting them: and. Not Jerusalem, then Judea, then Samaria, then the ends of the earth, as if this were a checklist to complete in order. It's Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and the ends of the earth, all at once, like ripples expanding out from wherever Jesus meets the world.

Jerusalem is where you already are: your kitchen table, the cubicle next to yours, your classroom. It's usually the hardest place to start, because the people there already know you, and your life has to match what you say you believe. Judea is one step further out, the people you could know if you wanted to, like the person at your regular coffee shop or the other parent at your kid's game. Samaria is different. It's the people you might have written off, the ones who make you uncomfortable rather than curious. When Jesus was rejected in Samaria earlier in the gospels, the disciples' first instinct was to ask if they should call down fire on the place. Those are the very people Jesus later sends them to love. And then there are the ends of the earth, which for most of us doesn't mean packing up and moving somewhere far away. It means going where God calls you to go, sending and supporting the ministry partners who go, and welcoming the ends of the earth that are increasingly moving into our own neighborhoods.

It's easy to love the idea of reaching people far away and let that excuse us from the person right next to us. Jesus doesn't let us pick one. Your mission field might be your family, your workplace, your kid's sports team, or a young life group you lead at your own kitchen table. Whoever Jesus has placed around you, that's your Jerusalem. Whoever you've been avoiding, that's your Samaria.

Gather, Wait, and Pray

After Jesus is taken up into heaven, the disciples stand there staring at the sky until two angels ask them, essentially, what are you doing? But the angels don't tell them to snap out of it and get to work. They remind them of a truth: this same Jesus is coming back. So the disciples go back to Jerusalem and, instead of launching straight into activity, they gather in a room together and pray.

That's the posture Acts hands us for the space between Jesus's ascension and his return: not passive or frantic or self-sufficient, but simply dependent on someone who was already at work before we showed up. We work because he reigns, we hope because he's coming again, we witness because he's given us his Spirit, and we pray because all of it is still his to carry, not ours. Which means an ordinary Monday, the kind most of our weeks are made of, is exactly where Jesus is working. You're not the power source behind any of it. You just get to join in.

Take It With You

Who has Jesus placed in your immediate circle, the people who already know you at your best and your worst, that you need to start praying for and looking for a chance to be a witness to? And who is your Samaria: the person or the group of people you've quietly written off, whose politics or background or way of life makes you uneasy? What would it look like this week to pray for that person by name instead of avoiding them?

Join Us This Sunday

Calvary Church gathers at two campuses: Souderton at 9:00 and 10:30am, and Quakertown at 9:30am, with a livestream available if you can't make it in. If this week's message stuck with you, or if you missed it, catch up at calvary-church.com/messages. We exist to continue what Jesus started, connecting people to God and to each other. We'd love to see you this week, and let's continue this together.