First Do...then Teach

Sermon Preached by Pastor Larry C. Brincefield on May 23, 2004.

Title: First Do…Then Teach

Text: Acts 1:1-11

Introduction

1. Many people are quite familiar with the death of Jesus Christ …

• And His resurrection…

• But people aren’t quite as familiar with the Ascension…

• The Ascension of Jesus Christ occurred 40 days after the resurrection.

• And, in fact, on the Liturgical Calendar, today is designated as Ascension Sunday…

• But last Thursday was actually the 40 day mark…

• And is considered Ascension Day…

2. Many movies that portray the life of Jesus Christ often end with the resurrection…

• And in fact, while I thought the movie “The Passion of the Christ”…

• Was a powerful movie that really spoke to my heart…

• I also wondered if perhaps they would do a sequel…

• That begins with the resurrection and covers the post-resurrection appearances of Christ…

• Including one of my favorite stories in the entire Bible…

• Where Christ appears to the 2 disciples on the road to Emmaus.

• And then ends with Pentecost…

• With another movie devoted to the evangelism efforts of those early Christians…

• But my point is, when it comes time for the Ascension…

• Most movies have already ended…

• This morning, I would like to devote some well-deserved attention to this important event in the life of Christ.

Read Text: Acts 1:1-11

1. The main message that we often focus on (rightfully so) is found in verse 11: “This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven”

A. Jesus ascended into heaven…

• To be seated at the right hand of God…

• Where He intercedes on behalf of His followers….

• And the main message of the ascension is…

• In the same way that He was taken away…

• There is coming a day when He will come back.

B. Christians are richly blessed by the promise that the ascension holds…

• And, in fact, we become so blessed in anticipation…

• That we focus so much attention on heaven…

• And sometimes, as the saying goes, “we become so heavenly minded, we are no earthly good”.

• Don’t get me wrong…we SHOULD have our thoughts on heaven…

• We should always have the realization that, as the old gospel song says, “this world is not my home, I’m just a passin’ through”

C. But, there is another message for us in the passage of Scripture…

• And this message will help us keep things in the proper perspective.

2. In verse 1, Luke writes, “In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach”

A. When we begin to study God’s Word…

• We find all kinds of meaning…

• And as we dig deeper and deeper into Scripture…

• We find that God reveals more and more truth to us.

• And as I began to study this passage of Scripture…

• I found another important message that God wants to teach us through the events surrounding the ascension.

• There is an importance to the sequence of words in the first verse… “to do…and to teach”

• That’s frequently how Jesus conducted His ministry…

• First He would DO…

• THEN He would TEACH.

B. Let me give you some examples.

• One time, a woman that was crippled and couldn’t stand…

• Jesus noticed her

• Scripture tells us When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, "Woman, you are set free from your infirmity." 13 Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God. Luke 13:12-13 (NIV)

• Then AFTER this event, He used it as an opportunity to provide teaching.

• First DO…then TEACH

• In the story of the 10 lepers…

• Jesus healed them and sent them to show themselves to the High Priest…

• And then one came back to express his thanks…

• And it gave Jesus an opportunity to teach.

• First DO…Then TEACH

• And you find this example over and over again throughout the Gospels…

• First, Jesus ACTED…

• Then, He took the opportunity to TEACH a spiritual truth.

• So, what does that have to do with the ascension?…

• And what does that have to do with us today?

2. Well, I’m glad you asked 

A. Because in verse 8, we see the verse that commentators point to as the key verse for the entire book of Acts…

• 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