Finding Our Way Together- Jump In
Finding Our Way Together-Jump On In
Acts 8:1, 4
Recap
Church was never meant to be something we simply watch.
In Acts 1:8, Jesus tells his followers that when the Holy Spirit comes upon them, they will become his witnesses—in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and eventually to the ends of the earth.
Notice what Jesus calls them: witnesses.
Not warriors. Not people sent to force the Kingdom of God onto the world. Witnesses are people whose lives give evidence that something is true.
Our job isn't to change the world. Our job is to be the part of the world that is already being changed by Jesus.
We become a little pocket of the Kingdom right in the middle of everything else—a community where enemies learn to love each other, lonely people find a table, generosity makes more sense than greed, forgiveness interrupts revenge, and people become more alive, more whole, and more human.
But for that to happen, everybody has to jump in.
Acts 8 gives us a fascinating picture of this. When persecution scatters the church outside Jerusalem, Luke tells us that everyone except the apostles was scattered—and those ordinary followers of Jesus carried the good news wherever they went.
The movement didn't spread because a handful of gifted leaders did everything.
It spread because ordinary people realized:
Whatever God is doing in the world involves me too.
That's the difference between a club and a movement. A club is something you enjoy. A movement is something you participate in.
Church isn't something a few people do while everybody else watches. This is ours. We all have a part to play.
---Go a Little Deeper
One of the most important words in Acts 1:8 is power: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you…”
It's easy to hear the word power and imagine influence, control, authority, or the ability to make things happen. But Jesus immediately tells his followers what this power is for: “You will be my witnesses.”
The Spirit doesn't empower Jesus' followers to dominate the world. The Spirit empowers them to embody a different kind of life within it.
And when we keep reading Acts, that's exactly what happens. Ordinary people open their homes. They share what they have. They cross boundaries. They care for people who have been overlooked. They tell their stories. They welcome outsiders. They serve. They give. They show up.
The Spirit takes ordinary people and makes their ordinary lives part of what God is doing in the world.
That's good news because most of us will never stand on a stage, lead a ministry, preach a sermon, or have our names remembered by history. Neither did most of the people in Acts. Luke simply calls them “those who had been scattered.”
We don't know most of their names. But God used them anyway.
Maybe one of the biggest shifts that can happen in our understanding of church is moving from asking: “What does this church have for me?” to asking: “What part might God be inviting me to play?”
That doesn't mean everybody needs to do everything. In fact, that's a pretty good recipe for exhaustion. But everybody can do something.
One meaningful way to serve the church. One meaningful way to love your neighbor. Not everybody doing everything.
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Discussion Questions
1. What part of Sunday's message stayed with you the longest? Why do you think that was?
2. What's the difference between thinking of church as something you attend and something you participate in? Which mindset comes more naturally to you?
3. Jesus tells his followers they will be his “witnesses,” not warriors. How does that distinction change the way you think about the church's relationship with the world?
4. Sunday's message said, “Our job isn't to change the world. Our job is to be the part of the world that is already being changed by Jesus.” What might a community being changed by Jesus actually look like?
5. In Acts 8, ordinary followers of Jesus—not just the apostles—carry the movement into new places. Why do you think it's so easy to assume that ministry belongs primarily to pastors, staff, or especially gifted people?
6. Where have you experienced someone else's willingness to simply show up making a meaningful difference in your life?
7. If you asked, “What's my part?” right now, what answer comes to mind? Where might God be inviting you to serve the church or love your neighbor?
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Suggested Practice
This week, take one simple step: Consider joining a ministry team.
Visit the Emmaus Serve page and spend a few minutes looking through the different ways you can participate: www.emmauschurchsc.com/serve
As you look through the different teams, don't ask, “Which one of these do I have time to squeeze into my life?” Instead, try asking: “God, where might my presence make a difference?”
You don't have to do everything. You don't have to serve every week. And you don't need to have some extraordinary gift or qualification.
We're simply asking everybody to find something—one meaningful way to serve the church and help make room for God to do something beautiful in somebody else's life.
Take a look. Say a prayer. And if something catches your attention, jump on in.
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Closing Prayer
Holy Spirit, thank you for inviting ordinary people like us into what you are doing in the world.
Keep us from becoming spectators. Show us where we can serve, where we can love, and where our presence might make room for something beautiful to happen in someone else's life.
Give us eyes to see the opportunities around us, humility to know we cannot do everything, and courage to faithfully do the something that is ours to do.
Make us witnesses—not only with the things we say, but with the kind of people we are becoming together.
Help us serve the church. Help us love our neighbors. And whatever you do with us next, help us do it together. Amen.