The Big Story of the Bible, Part 12 - Chapter 11: Expansion
November 17, 2022 | by: Dale Thiele | 0 Comments
Posted in: Pastoral Encouragement
Chapter 10, Application, and Chapter 11, Expansion, of the Big Story of the Bible go hand in hand. Application focused on the theological work of the Holy Spirit applying the redemption accomplished by Christ. Expansion focuses on the historical outworking of that application in the church age. The full fruit of God’s Covenant of Redemption expand farther and farther to every corner of the earth.
Jesus’ final words before his ascension in Acts 1:8 give an outline not only for the book of Acts, but also this chapter of the Big Story. He said, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” The witness of Christ’s redemption expanded outward like ripples from Jerusalem. In Acts 1-7 the attention is primarily on the Jerusalem church. The persecution that arose after the martyrdom of Stephen pushed the church to expand out to Judea and Samaria. We see this expansion in Acts 8-12. And then the Holy Spirit led the church at Antioch to set apart Paul and Barnabas to carry the gospel to the Gentiles outside of that Palestine region. In each of his three missionary journeys, Paul travels farther and farther from Judea (Acts 13-20). Acts concludes recounting the story of Paul’s trials and travels to Rome (Acts 21-28).
This was God’s design from the beginning. He told Abram in Genesis 12:3, “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” The expansion of the church, through the preaching of the gospel, in the power of the Holy Spirit, is the fulfillment of Genesis 12:3. Jesus also said, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matt 24:14). Jesus says that the end, namely, his second coming, will not occur until the gospel has been preached through the whole world. It is not only the proclamation of the gospel that is predicted. In John’s vision of the throne room of heaven, he hears the angelic host praising the Lamb, saying, “by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Rev. 5:9). Jesus has effectively purchased a people for God. This specific group of people will hear the gospel and respond in faith. Jesus didn’t shed his blood just to give people the possibility of being saved. Jesus shed his blood to save them. And this group of people is from “every tribe and language and people and nation.” The work of redemption accomplished by Jesus and applied by the Spirit must expand to every tribe and language and people and nation.
We presently live in this chapter of the Big Story of the Bible. Our mission is to be a part of the expansion of the church through the preaching of the gospel. We hear this in Jesus’ own words, famously called the Great Commission, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:19-20). Christians throughout the history of the church have been inspired by these Scriptural promises and mandates to leave goods and kindred behind in order to bring the gospel to another tribe or language or people or nation.
William Carey was one such Christian who went and inspired many others to follow in his footsteps. In fact, Carey is called the Father of Modern Missions, because he sparked a new movement of missions in the last 200 years. In 1792 he wrote a little booklet titled An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens. Carey was confronting the unbiblical idea within the church at that time that God didn’t need the church to mobilize to bring the gospel to every tribe and language and people and nation. Since Carey wrote that booklet and traveled to India to preach the gospel, thousands of Christians have traveled to every inhabited continent to bring the gospel to people who have never heard the name Jesus. There still are tribes and languages that do not have the truth of the gospel.
The question this chapter presents us is “in what way am I participating in the expansion of the gospel throughout the world?” We have the privilege of supporting those who do go across the globe to share the gospel (3 John 8). We have opportunities to share the gospel with our neighbors right here in our own community. We ought to be praying diligently for laborers for the harvest (Matt. 9:38). God even calls some of us to go. What is your role in this great expansion?
