Acts 1 - January 8, 2017
Turn with me this morning to Acts 1. It is good to be back with you today as we come out in a new year and celebrate all that our God is doing. We’ve had just one week go by - and if you made new year’s resolutions, I hope you have been keeping them. If you have already fallen behind, there is still time to catch back up. As we think about our goals, let’s realize that we often overestimate what we can do in a year - but we often underestimate what we can do in seven years. As we look forward, we need to make sure we are not just looking at the short term, but for the long haul.
When we think about Jesus and His ministry, let’s remember that most all of what we find written in the gospels comes from the last year of Jesus’ ministry. He has three years of public ministry, but most of the miracles and events of the gospels come from that last three years. Because we build on a foundation. Jesus built a foundation with the disciples the first years and built upon that foundation in the last year.
Some of you may just have a little knowledge of the scriptures, and maybe this year will be a year of getting a foundation in what the scripture teaches. For some of you it may be a growing year, starting to apply the truth you know to the way you live. But for most of us, we have the foundation, and this year should be a reaping year, as we see God doing wonderful things in our lives as we seek to serve Him.
But one thing that IS certain is that we will see change in our lives this year. Most people don’t like change. We like finding our “rut” - getting in a comfort zone and we like to stay there. But change is good for us. It helps us to be intentional about what we do. And this morning as we look at Acts 1, we can see that the disciples had to deal with change too. Let’s look at our passage:
Read Acts 1:1- 14 Pray
The book of Acts is written by Luke, a physician who also wrote the gospel of Luke. In verse 1 He tells that the gospel was written only with the events leading up the the ascension. And that is where he picks up the story here in chapter 1 of Acts. Verse 3 tells us, After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. So WHY would Jesus spend this 40 day period on the earth? Why not just ascend to heaven right away? He has already triumphed over death - He has already provided for our salvation - His job was finished - so why not just go back to heaven?
And I think the answer to that is that He stayed here forty days to keep hope alive! Think about the disciples after the crucifixion - they are discouraged, despondent, hopeless. But when they see Jesus, suddenly the hope is rekindled. But just hearing about a risen Jesus isn’t enough - remember Thomas, who HEARS that Jesus has risen, but says “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.” So as Jesus stays here for forty days, He is able to rekindle hope in everyone He meets.
Often we lose hope during times of change and transition. Often our plans are shattered and our dreams are broken, and we need God to give us a new perspective to be able to hold on to hope. We need to be reminded of God’s purposes, power, presence, and plan.
Jesus gives many convincing proofs that he was alive - He eats fish, He lets others touch Him, we can only guess all the things people wanted Jesus to do - but Jesus makes it clear that He IS alive. He is not just an angel or a spirit who appears to be human. He refutes the lies of the Pharisee who said that Jesu had died but the disciples stole the body away. By showing Himself alive, Jesus refutes all their claims. By showing Himself alive, Jesus also shows that He has kept His word - He had predicted several times that He would go to Jerusalem, be crucified, and on the third day raise back to life again. So as He shows Himself alive, He shows that His word can be trusted. And as He shows Himself alive, He shows that He has the power over death. That gives us hope that one day we also can have victory over death.
The Apostle Paul goes into a great dialog in 1 Corinthians 15, showing us that if Christ is not raised, then our hope and our faith are in vain. But Christ IS risen, He showed Himself and gave many convincing proofs He was alive for a period of forty days.
And then notice it says He spoke about the kingdom of God. The disciples had been looking for an earthly kingdom - they were waiting for Jesus to kick the Romans out of Israel and restore the glory days of the nation. But Jesus came to establish a different type of rule. He came to rule in our hearts. Jesus rules as King, and we never want to forget that. That means for us that we need to live NOT for OUR plans, but for God’s. Because He is the King, we need to remember that we are under His rule, and whatever He desires for us to do, we need to do. Because we are part of the kingdom of God.
Notice that it says Jesus went around for 40 days - the disciples after the crucifixion went to the upper room in Jerusalem and met Jesus there. Somewhere during this time period they had gone back to Galilee - met Jesus there again, had gone fishing. But now they have been told - vs 4 - Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. So they stay in Jerusalem and WAIT - you can just imagine the excitement that must have been building for them. They know something BIG is coming. They are excited because they are EXPECTING God to do something GREAT! Do WE expect God to do something great? Sure, we know God CAN do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us. But the problem is that often we just DON’T expect that God IS going to do that.
I would encourage you to expect great things from God in this coming year. Be excited about what the new year will bring. I truly believe that this could be the BEST year of your life! But often we say - NO, that won’t happen. Life isn’t nearly as good as it used to be. I’m getting older. I’ve got problems. Life just goes downhill. And what we’re really saying is “God, I really don’t believe you can do anything for me!”
I truly believe that this CAN be your best year - and MY best year - but let me remind you of the definition of insanity: doing the same thing and expecting different results. If we want to see God do some great things in our lives, then WE need to be willing to take the first step to make some changes. If we want a great year, we need to be willing to change the way we live.
What is our power for change? The same power the disciples turned to to turn their world upside down: the Holy Spirit. Jesus says in verse 5 - For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit. The truth is that the disciples really didn’t understand what all this talk about the spirit meant for them. But they believed that God was about to do something good. The didn’t understand the Spirit, but they anticipated His arrival. In the same way, as we look at our situations in life, we may not understand all that God is doing - we often question what He is up to - but we can still anticipate His working all things together for good and we can rejoice in the working of God, even when we go through hard times. That’s what James says - Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
In other words, we can rejoice even in trials, because those trials help us grow to be spiritually mature. God IS accomplishing His work in our lives, and so we rejoice in what He is doing.
So Jesus has heightened their anticipation with the promise of the coming Holy Spirit - vs 6 - they ask, Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel? After all, Jesus has been teaching for the past 40 days about the kingdom of God - maybe now that He is resurrected He will take the throne! But notice the answer Jesus gives: verse 7 - “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 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.”
Not these verses are familiar ones to us, so sometimes we miss the true impact when we are dealing with something familiar. So let me paraphrase Jesus’ answer for you: Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel? Jesus answers, Don’t worry about that - instead just focus on YOUR task! Do YOUR job and leave the kingdom issues to me! It is so easy for us to get caught up with things that distract us. Satan doesn’t need to get us to deny the Lord or go out into a life of sin to get us sidetracked - he simply needs to distract us. And Christians are so easily distracted - sometimes it’s tv, or nascar, or hobbies - sometimes it’s even Christian content - we become obsessed with spiritual warfare and the demonic or the sensational and look for miracles everywhere. But all these things can distract us from our primary duty, the thing that we have been called to do. So what is that? What is our task, our purpose, our duty?
Jesus gives the answer in verse 8 - to be a WITNESS - now notice that we are not “converters” it’s Gods role to change hearts and lives, not ours - we can’t change anyone - it’s simply our role to share the truth - yes, there are some people who have the gift of an evangelist - think about Billy Graham - he goes to town, shares the gospel, and hundreds of people come walking down the aisle. And we should praise God for evangelists like that. But we aren’t all called to be evangelists. But we ARE all called to be a witness. So what’s the difference?
A witness is someone who shares what they know to be true. We leave the results up to God - that’s His part - but OUR part is to share what we know is the truth. John declares this beautifully in 1 John 1 - That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched--this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us.
So we testify about Jesus so others also can believe and join us as part of the church, the body of Christ. Now is that is our job, then let me ask you a question: How good of a job are you doing at fulfilling your mission? How good of a witness are you? To be a witness you don’t have to have a bunch of bible verses memorized - you don’t need a slick plan to read five verses and lead someone in prayer - plans are good - and it would do us all well to think about our testimony - write it out and practice sharing what God has done for you - but to be a witness we simply need to share from the heart with others what God has done for us. And often that is the simplest way to open the door of conversation. Instead of trying to get someone talking about the theological views of the atonement, we can simply start by saying, “Hey, let me tell you something neat that God did for me recently!” And it will be amazing to see how God will take that and run with it.
So as we start the new year, as we look for God to make this a great year, let’s make a commitment that we will do OUR part and be faithful in giving praise to God and being a witness to others of what God is doing in our lives.
Now notice that after Jesus renews this commission - after He reminds us of our duty - vs 9 says, After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? 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.”
So Jesus is taken up - where does He go? Heaven! Not just into the heavens - as in into the clouds - but into the home of God. Hebrews 1 tells us, After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. So Jesus ascends to heaven to be seated beside the Father. What does He do there? He is our “defense lawyer” - our advocate - 1 John tells us, But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense--Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.
So Jesus is taken up to heaven - and what do the disciples do? They just stand there looking up into heaven - staring - they are watching to try to figure out what happened to Jesus.
It’s like the man who stayed up watching the western sky trying to figure out what happened to the sun when it set - he stood there all night and thought and thought and finally it dawned upon him.
Well, the disciples are just standing and staring - so the angels appear - and what do they say? Why are you all just standing around? They say yes, Jesus WILL return - one day - but it was not THAT day. So what? What is the point? What are the angels trying to say? And what is the message for us in this? Here it is:
*Get On With Life! Get busy doing the things God has called you to do. Instead of focusing on trying to figure out the incomprehensible - start doing the things you do know to do. We need to get busy focusing on the present. There is a great problem in humanity - that even though we are in the present, far too many people don’t LIVE in the present. There are many who are obsessed about the PAST. Either they think back to the “glory days” - I remember when . . .and they live in frustration and disappointment because things aren’t the way they used to be. Or they remember the pain and hurt of past situations that they never seem to get over. They relive the tragic events - even though they may have happened 30 years ago. We need to be able to release the past!
The other problem many struggle with is a focus on the future. The don’t embrace what God is doing in their lives today because they are too obsessed with thinking about what their life will look like 5, 10 years down the road. Well, when the kids are grown . . . when I retire I’ll have more time . . . once I can get these bill paid . . . and so often we get focused on the future and never even attempt to do anything in the present for God.
The balanced approach is to look to the past for inspiration - throughout the OT are references to the parting of the Red Sea and the exodus account - they are written to remind us of the power of God to work in our impossible situations. And yes, we look to the future for motivation - we remember that God WILL come back for us one day, so that motivates us to be faithful each and every day. Maybe it will be today. But we LIVE in the present - we embrace our situation in life today - and that brings determination.
Paul shares this balanced approach in Philippians 3 - But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus. So he doesn’t live in the past, and he looks to the future to motivate him to faithfulness today. In our lives, let’s embrace the day we have before us. Scripture tells us make the most of every opportunity.
Today, as start the new year, let’s look for God to make this a great year. Let’s not get sidetracked either by the past or the future, but let’s be busy TODAY doing that which we have been called to do: to be a faithful witness for Jesus Christ. And as we do that, we believe that God will work through our efforts to bring glory to His name.
One last thing to point out here in Acts 1 - they get busy doing their job, so what do they do? Look at verse 14 - They all joined together constantly in prayer. As we start the year and think about all that God has in store for us, let’s be men and women of prayer, who seek His face, who seek His direction, who seek to be led by the Holy Spirit. Let’s not dream up things to do for God in our effort, but let’s pray and seek God’s leading in our lives. Let’s pray right now.
