Luke wrote the book of ACTS. It’s a sequel to the Gospel of LUKE which gives an account of the life of Jesus and all that He said and did.
• ACTS tells us how the risen Lord works to build His church by His Word and the Holy Spirit, in particular covering the works of two principal apostles Peter and Paul.
• Both LUKE and ACTS forms a quarter of the NT and it’s written by a Gentile believer Luke, the only books written by a Gentle.
• We see the spread of the Gospel from beyond the Jews and Jerusalem, to the Gentiles and to the ends of the earth (Rome).
Luke records for us that Jesus showed Himself to His disciples after His resurrection and gave them convincing proofs that He was alive.
• In those 40 days prior to His ascension, Jesus strengthens their faith through His presence and through His words.
• Luke tells us His parting words: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised” (1:4) – the gift of the Holy Spirit.
He – the Counsellor, the Comforter, the Advocate, the Helper – will TEACH us all things and will REMIND us of everything that Jesus has said (cf. John 14:25-26)
• Dear church, the Holy Spirit dwells in us who believes. We are not alone and can never be alone. He guides us and help us understand Jesus and know His will.
• Jesus is with us today. He says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” (John 14:27)
• With the ascension of Jesus, the disciples were given this hope of seeing their Master and Saviour Jesus returns. We share that same hope today. We will see Him again.
Read Acts 1:12-14
With the parting of Jesus, Luke tells us “they returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives” (Mount called Olivet) where Jesus ascended.
• They went and gathered in an upper room, probably the same place they had the Last Supper with Jesus 6 weeks ago.
• They were united in prayer, with the family of Jesus and others.
We see their SIMPLE OBEDIENCE to Jesus. They trusted Jesus. His parting words were: “Do not leave Jerusalem and wait for the Holy Spirit.”
• There are few things in this life harder to do than having to WAIT. We like instant noodle, instant coffee, Instagram (instant camera + telegram).
• We don’t like to wait. It takes faith, it takes patience, and it takes lot of trust in the person who expects us to wait.
• I remembered Lester sharing a story about a family taking a road trip, to some place nice, and the child kept asking, “Are we there yet? Are we reaching?”
• Even if the dad had answered, “Well, it will be another 2 hours”, I don’t think the child would have understood. Waiting is uncomfortable to many.
Can we trust Jesus? Can we simply obey because we believe Him?
• How long should we wait? What exactly is the coming of the Holy Spirit? What are we to look out for?
• There were so many unknowns for the disciples. The only word they had from Jesus was, WAIT. And yet that was precisely what they did.
They returned to Jerusalem, went into an upper room, and waited together.
• 1:14 “They all joined together constantly in prayer”, in one accord, with one mind.
• They were not just together physically in one place but they were one in spirit, seeking God together with one mind and heart.
• And they were determined to wait as the Lord instructed.
• They did not know how long they would have to wait, and that makes it tougher.
• Yet wait was what they did for as long as it takes for the promise to be fulfilled. They SIMPLY OBEYED.
That’s difficult for many. We are people of action. We want quick answers and easy solutions. We don’t understand the need to wait.
• We want to do something. Or more precisely, we want God to do something. Why the wait? Why the 7 days? (that was how long they waited for Holy Spirit; Pentecost is 50th day from Passover.)
We have been waiting for COVID-19 virus to be contained. Every day we pray and hope for better statistics the next day.
• We don’t see a need for the delay, and yet God allowed it. That wait changes us.
• We learnt to trust God, pray more, be humble, be socially responsible, cooperate with the authorities, prioritize life choices, and care for the more vulnerable…
• Things that we wouldn’t have learnt without a crisis; things that we have taken for granted. We don’t waste this crisis. We lean on God and learn through it.
We see their SIMPLE DEPENDENCE on God.
• They met and prayed together during the wait, until the day when the Holy Spirit comes, they were still all together in one place.
• They were united in seeking God under stressful circumstances.
Luke recounts the attendance – the 11 apostles (as if we do not know them) – to highlight how diverse the group is.
• We have Peter, who denied knowing Christ just 6 weeks ago, John, the only faithful one at the foot of the cross while the rest fled, Matthew the tax-collector who works for the Romans (a cheater formerly), and Simon the Zealot (a group working against the Romans).
• Plus Jesus’ family, His mother Mary and in particular his brothers, who have been refusing to believe Jesus for a long time.
• But now they were all together, sharing a common faith in the risen Christ and waiting for the coming of the Holy Spirit.
The time together also led to another God-inspired outcome - the election of a replacement for one of the twelve - Judas, who betrayed Jesus and took his own life.
Read Acts 1:15-20
Clearly Peter has been reading and studying the Scriptures during this time.
• He was able to quote from the Psalms. This was more obvious after the coming of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2 when this ex-fisherman got up to preach his first sermon.
• He began with the most important text concerning the Holy Spirit in the OT and quoted Joel 2:28-32.
• Peter was here led to see from the Psalms how the enemies of the King were removed and replaced, and the need to fill up Judas’ place.
Luke explains what happened to Judas in parenthesis, verses 18-19.
• If we combine the accounts of Matthew (Matt 27:1-10) and Luke, this was likely what happened.
• Judas was overcome with remorse for having betrayed Jesus. He went back to the chief priests and returned the 30 silver coins.
• Judas hanged himself (Matt 27:5). His body decayed, the rope broke, or the branch of the tree he was using broke, and his body fell, bursting open on the land of the potter’s field (Acts 1:18–19).
• Matthew mentions the cause of death and Luke focuses on the horror surrounding it.
• When Judas threw the 30 pieces of silver down, the priests took the money and used it to buy the potter’s field (Matt 27:7).
• Judas may not have purchased the field personally, but he provided the money for it indirectly.
Judas squandered his place of promise. It was necessary to replace that position.
• Jesus said to them in Matt 19:28 (also Luke 22:30) that when the Son of Man sits on His glorious throne, the apostles will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
• When the angel showed John a glimpse of the Holy City in the New Jerusalem in Revelation 12, he saw: “The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.” (Rev 12:14)
• Jesus said the twelve would sit on twelve thrones reigning over Christ’s Kingdom when He returns to reign over the earth.
We see their SIMPLE FAITH in the Word of God. They were determined to make things right.
Read Acts 1:21-26
The one chosen must be someone who has been with us and Jesus from the beginning (during John the Baptist time) and also an eyewitness of Jesus’ resurrection.
• There were two candidates and they elected Matthias to fill that important place.
• This was the one and only time when an apostle has to be elected, not because Judas died but to fulfil the Scriptures and the will of God.
We see how the disciples OBEYED Jesus and OBEYED the words of the Scriptures.
• Clearly the period of waiting wasn’t a wasted time; it was not some useless extras.
• God prepared them. God led them. God taught them. It was purposeful.
If we are going through a period of waiting, understand this, nothing is wasted. God is at work in our lives.
• We pray and seek Him. We read His Word and understand His will. We trust and obey Him.
• We pray because God has promised. His promises do not render prayer unnecessary.
• In fact we persevere because we believe God, not that we doubt Him. It is His promises that give us the warrant to pray in the first place.
In the midst of COVID-19, we pray as Jesus taught us: Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And we wait.
• And while we wait, we pray. We seek God. We read the Scriptures. We understand His will. We obey Him and do His work.
• Like the disciples, we want to show that SIMPLE OBEDIENCE to Jesus, that SIMPLE DEPENDENCE upon God in prayer, and that SIMPLE FAITH to trust His Word.
Their wait eventually culminates in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the event that would transform their lives, their community and the rest of the world.
• No wait is ever wasted.
