This past week was a very fascinating week in the life of a church if you stop & think about it. We celebrated Easter last Sunday with special services & music. The church builds toward Easter for weeks but then as soon as Easter is over – it’s almost like back to business as usual. Normal services, normal activities.
But I want you to know something – it wasn’t back to business as usual for Jesus’ disciples & close followers the week after Easter. Most of them had seen Him crucified. And then wonder of wonders, He had risen from the dead. He had appeared to them on Sunday. You have His appearances to Mary Magdalene & to the other women; His appearance to Peter, to the men on the road to Emmaus & then to the other disciples, minus Thomas, later that evening. It had been quite a day for the disciples too.
Now the question I want you to ponder for a few moments is: what was it like on Monday for these disciples & followers of Christ? How about on Tuesday or Wednesday? I don’t know for sure if we have all the appearances of the Lord recorded for us or not but if we do then it was not until the next Sunday (today) that He appeared again – which was when He appeared to all 11 disciples & had His encounter with Thomas recorded for us in John 20. So what was going on in their minds & in their lives after those Easter Sunday appearances & the realization that Jesus really was alive?
? Were they looking for Him to appear again the next day (Monday)?
? Were they disappointed at the end of the day on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc. when there had been no
appearance? I mean Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday & no appearances. What were
they thinking/feeling?
? Luke tells us that as Jesus walked with the 2 on the road to Emmaus that beginning w/ Moses & all the
prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.”
? So maybe Cleopas & his friend had shared w/ the disciples what Jesus taught them & maybe they were w/
them during the week or part of the week for we do know the 2 of them returned to Jerusalem that Sunday
evening. In fact, 24:36 indicates that it was while all this reporting was going on that Jesus made his
appearance to the group…
? So maybe the disciples & followers of Christ spent the week pouring over OT scrolls rereading & studying &
discussing all those OT prophecies & references to Christ. That would have been an exciting Bible study to
have been involved in. [Can’t you just hear it as they searched out the prophecies - “Hey guys, here’s another
one!”]
? Or were they cautiously excited yet still huddled behind lock doors in fear? When Jesus appeared to them on
the following Sunday, they were behind locked doors as they had been on Easter Sunday.
? Did they have “spies” out trying to gather information about what the religious leaders & even the Romans
were saying in light of the “rumors” of Jesus’ resurrection? Were they trying to get a sense of the mood &
direction of the religious leaders?
? And of course 1 of the long-time unanswered questions for me has been: what about those saints that were
brought back to life when Jesus died & then went into Jerusalem & was seen by many (Matt.27:52-53).
? Matthew 27:51-53 – “And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth
shook and the rocks were split. The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen
asleep were raised; and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and
appeared to many.”
? What happened to them? Did they connect up with the disciples? I sure would want to talk with them. And
say what you want to about the disciples stealing Jesus’ body but what do you say about dead people
coming back to life in connection w/ Jesus’ dying & being seen by many people?
But back to my question: What was this past week like for them? I present these as possible scenarios. One of the things I try to do in reading Scripture is interject myself into the scene & try to imagine what would be going on & what the people involved would be doing or how they would responding. I think that helps you get a better sense of the passage.
After Easter is over it is easy for us to forget about what it was like for Jesus’ disciples & followers during this week. And I really don’t have a good answer b/c we are not told. The only possible report we have of anything that transpired with the disciples that week is in John 20:24-25 of the 10 telling Thomas about seeing the Lord, but we are not even sure when that happened – late Sunday evening or some other time during the week. I will tell you – this is 1 of those occasions when I would have loved to be privy to their conversations throughout the week.
So here they were – the risen Jesus had appeared to them. They had seen Him, touched Him, eaten with Him & talked with Him & then He had disappeared – how that happened, how the evening finished, I don’t know either. Did He simply walk out the door & say “I’ll see you soon, men”; did He simply vanish or disappear in the same way as He suddenly appeared; did He lay down to sleep w/ them & when they woke up He was gone – I don’t know how the evening concluded. But the point is – they knew He had risen although I imagined they were still bewildered by it all. But it is Monday now or Tuesday or Wednesday & no second appearance of Jesus – so I wonder if they were thinking, “Now what? Hallelujah, He is risen but now what are we suppose to do?” Or maybe they just continued to stay low-key out of fear of the religious leaders. Remember, the religious leaders were circulating the rumor that they had stolen Jesus’ body from the tomb so maybe as they encountered people they were being asked about that.
Again – what was this past week like for them?
Maybe we are given a little hint in John 21. Granted, this is later on b/c this follows Jesus’ 2nd appearance to them on the Sunday following Easter but observe their demeanor.
John 21:1-3 – “After these things Jesus manifested Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, & He manifested Himself in this way. Simon Peter, & Thomas called Didymus, & Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, & the sons of Zebedee, & two others of His disciples were together. Simon Peter said to them, ‘I am going fishing.’ They said to him, ‘We will also come with you.’ They went out & got into the boat; & that night they caught nothing.” Now remember the angel’s message to them: “…behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee, there you will see Him…” (Matt.28:7b). That is why they are in Galilee now but they had also been told to go to a particular mountain in Galilee where the Lord would appear to them. This event appears to have happened before the mountain appearance for John says in v.14 – “This is now the third time that Jesus was manifested to the disciples, after He was raised from the dead.”
So at this point they have seen the risen Christ twice. Peter’s statement in v.3 probably means more than just “I’m going to go do a little fishing while we wait.” Being impatient & the man of action that he was & possibly being a little lost & uncertain some scholars believe he is indicating that he was going back to what he knew how to do, to do what he knew in terms of caring for himself & his family. There is a good chance they have been to the mountain & Jesus did not appear to them on their timetable & now they have made their way down to the Sea. So this possibly gives some indication of their demeanor.
Anyway, after the night of fishing & catching nothing, Jesus appears to them in the morning on shore where He has prepared breakfast for them & after breakfast has his heart to heart talk with Peter.
I have been asking you to try & imagine what that 1st week after Jesus’ resurrection must have been like for the disciples. I haven’t really answered my question b/c we are not given enough information to do that. But let me make a point & then draw an application for you.
As I read the accounts of the disciples after Jesus’ resurrection – there’s nothing I find really impressive about them.
? They doubted the resurrection.
? They didn’t believe eye-witness accounts. In Luke’s gospel we read in response to the women’s report of
seeing Jesus that “these words appeared to them as nonsense and they would not believe them” (24:11).
? Thomas wouldn’t even believe his fellow disciples’ account of seeing the risen Jesus.
? They needed hard evidence to convince them.
? The scene of them going fishing is less than impressive.
? In conclusion, none of the post-resurrection accounts found in the Gospels concerning the disciples would
make you want to turn this movement over to them.
Question: when do we see the change in the disciples? When do we see the boldness & faith in their lives? After Pentecost & the coming & being indwelt by God the Holy Spirit. The crucifixion had taken place. The resurrection had taken place. They had seen & talked w/ the risen Lord but it was not until the coming & infilling of the HS that we observe anything significant happening in them or through them.
In fact, observe with me some of the contrasts after Pentecost:
? 2:14ff – Peter stands up in front of a crowd & preaches his 1st sermon & he didn’t preach some wishy-washy
sermon either.
He said in part, (22) “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know – this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death, but God raised Him up again… 36Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ – this Jesus whom you crucified… 38Repent…”
? 3:11ff – Peter’s 2nd sermon carried much the same tone – 13“The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus, the one whom you delivered and disowned in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release Him. But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, but put to death the Prince of life… 19Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away…”
? At the end of this sermon the religious leaders arrested Peter & John who was with him & brought them before the Council. Would Peter back down like he had done around the fire when he denied Jesus? No, for we read (4:8ff) “Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, ‘Rulers and elders of the people, if we are on trial today for a benefit done to a sick man, as to how this man has been made well, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead – by this name this man stands here before you in good health…’”
? So in these 1st 2 sermons & in his private encounter w/ the religious leaders, Peter is not backing off placing blames where it belongs.
? The leaders then threatened Peter & John & told them to not preach about Jesus anymore. How would they respond? 4:19-20 - “But Peter & John answered and said to them, ‘Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”
And it is the same all the way through Acts. If you had never read these accounts before you would be turning back & forth from the Gospels to Acts & back again trying to figure out if these are the same men b/c something happened. Something dramatically changed them.
Well, we know it wasn’t something but a someone – God the Holy Spirit came & indwelt & empowered them. That’s why Jesus commanded them in Acts 1:8 to stay in Jerusalem until the coming of the Holy Spirit b/c when the Holy Spirit came they would be filled w/ power, power to be His faithful & mighty witnesses. And that’s exactly what we see happening after Pentecost.
And since the HS is God, what is the depth of meaning in those words (2:4) “all of them were filled w/ the HS?” It is saying they were filled with God Himself! May I ask you: Have you lost the wonder & yes, the awesomeness of that truth? Has that grown old & comfortable w/ you? Recognize what God did here. Frail, powerless, weak, timid men were not just given help around the edges, but were filled w/ God Himself. And it radically changed them & their service for God.
Brethren, we are no different than the disciples. We have far too many Christians who are kind of like the disciples before Pentecost. They believe in Christ. They gather to worship Christ. They believe in His death & resurrection, but there is no power from on high in their lives. They are not making any impact in their world. There is no boldness to declare Christ. There is no power to live the Christian life. There is no transformation in their lives. They plod along struggling with the same issues & character weaknesses like they always have. It’s like they have an 8 cylinder engine but only about 1 cylinder is firing.
Yet, who can deny that this is the great need in our churches today & in individual lives today? Too much of our religious life is made up of programs & human ideas, talents & strategies. We are constantly trying to stay 1 up on newest strategy or program & stay up with the culture. And while these have some value, they pitifully fail to meet the true need of the hour. We buy the latest book to improve us & help us cope or the newest Bible study. What is missing today is God coming & filling peoples’ lives & transforming them & making them into something entirely different from what they were. What Christian here in the 21st century cannot agree that we desperately need a fresh filling of the HS in Christians’ lives?
Samuel Chadwick succinctly put it, “The Christian religion is hopeless without the Holy Ghost.”
Everyone of us here today is deeply concerned about the direction of our culture & country. We are not going to affect our culture & be used of God to challenge & change peoples’ lives w/o the empowerment & enablement of the HS. We will be like the pre-Pentecost disciples.
Don’t misunderstand - We cannot do w/o the crucifixion. It is essential to our faith. We cannot do w/o the resurrection. It gives validation to our faith. But those 2 events by themselves did not change these men & bring about the boldness & faith we read about in the rest of the NT, a boldness & faith that literally changed their world.
Have you been experiencing this empowering of the HS? Is it part of your daily experience? God intended it to be the norm, not the exception.
Question: Does your Christian living look more like the pre-Pentecost disciples or the post-Pentecost disciples? What do you truly desire it to look like?
But brethren, if we want it, we have to be:
? Dissatisfied w/ our lives,
? Dissatisfied w/ our level of commitment,
? Dissatisfied w/ our lack of spiritual power,
? Dissatisfied w/ our lack of intimacy with God,
? Dissatisfied w/ basically staying in the same place spiritually
? Dissatisfied w/ it all & wanting more of the reality of God in my life & wanting it to the place of dethroning
myself & enthroning Him.
I was involved in an ordination interview & couple of years ago & we were questioning the ordinand about this subject, that crisis of sanctification or Lordship & the gentleman put it like this: He said, “You ever seen those bumper stickers which say, ‘God is my co-pilot.’ [That’s cute on a bumper sticker, but it is awful theology.] That means God’s in the car with you. You’re saved, but in sanctification & being filled with the HS it is me moving over & making God the pilot, not the co-pilot.”
But you see – to many of us just want God in the car, but not in the driver’s seat. If you are 1 of those – you will never experience what those followers of Christ did that day so long ago. You will never be changed & transformed. You will never be greatly used of God to impact people & the kingdom. You’ll just pretty much remain the same. Good person – but spiritually powerless.
Have you reached that level of dissatisfaction yet & are ready to say, “God, you can have all of me – not just today in a church service but also on Tuesday afternoon & Thursday evening – in fact you can have all of me all the time. Come from Heaven again & fill me, control me, empower me, transform me & use me by filling me w/ Yourself. I move over & offer to You the driver’s seat of my car & life.”
Anybody here this morning reached that level of dissatisfaction that you’re willing to do that? We need something from Heaven like those in that Upper Room experienced on the Day of Pentecost. The glorious truth is: God is waiting to give it. He didn’t stop with the early church. Do you want it?
