In Jesus Holy Name May 15, 2022
Text: Acts 1:3 Redeemer Lutheran
“Acts: The First Thirty Years”
Easter Monday - Creative Waiting
• Did you ever wonder what the disciples were doing and thinking on Easter Monday?
• The book of Acts is a letter written by Luke to a friend named Theophilus. It is a great history of the first 30 years for this new Jewish “sect”, called: “Followers of the Way.”
• Have you ever wondered if there was just a bit more to some of the lessons your learned in Sunday School? For example: Some think that Samson’s weakness was his hair, but it was really wine and women.
• Ever wonder why God would tell his prophet Hosea to marry a prostitute?
• Why did the disciples on Easter Monday believe Jesus was going to replace the Roman Empire with the Empire of Israel?
Shipwrecks, snakes, murder, offering plate theft, beatings, imprisonments, miracles, argument in church meetings, dealing with prejudices, the conversion of a man who persecuted the followers of Jesus. How could the new “church” survive?
This is the story before us in the book of Acts. The Book of Acts will be our Sermon series and Sunday Morning Bible Class discussions for the next several months. As we enter this journey may God bless our study and lives.
Have you ever heard yourself speaking to your computer saying: “I just don’t get it.” This happened several times to me these past few days. Once while trying to create a slide show for Sunday morning bible class and then this week I was trying to buy tickets for the CIF Baseball Sections in which our grandson was playing.
Normally you drive to the game, park the car and pay at the entrance gate and walk in. Oh No…..you now have to download the “GoFan” App on your phone. Then you have to find the correct CIF Sections for Central California, not tennis, not swimming, but baseball to purchase the tickets.
Then, following directions, you are told tickets can not be purchased at the
gate, but they must be visible on your mobile device. You can not print out your tickets. So now you must transfer you tickets from the “GoFan” app to your email or One Drive to be viewed. After about 40 minutes I said: “I just don’t get it.”
Well I did find them on my mobile device, under Duck Duck Go, and we were able to attend the game in Modesto.
I think you can use this same phrase “I just don’t get it” to describe the disciples reaction to Jesus on Easter Monday. They did not get it. They did not understand what the resurrected glorified body of Jesus meant. They were shocked when the Jesus they knew was no longer limited by stone walls. He just appeared in their midst.
Acts is the 2nd volume of a two volume set of letters that Luke is writing to Theophilus. (Read Acts 1:1-3)
Read Acts 1:6 They just don’t get it. The disciples are still looking for Jesus to make Israel a world power. They are looking for their new office space in Jerusalem.
Read Acts 1:7 This is the outline for the Book of Acts. Jerusalem, Samaria and finally Rome. Read Acts 1:9
The physical presence of Jesus dominates the Four Gospels. The Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity dominates the book of Acts. In the Gospel of John Jesus had talked extensively about the Holy Spirit. Now the disciples will experience the power of the same Holy Spirit that dwelt in Jesus.
They will soon tell the “story of Jesus”, His substitutionary death on the cross that removes the fear of God’s wrath against our broken commandments. They will tell how we will be “justified” and have our broken commandments totally erased. They will tell that all who put their trust in Jesus will experience the gift of eternal life.
But at the moment Jerusalem is not safe.
Acts 1:4 says that Jesus commanded the disciples to stay in Jerusalem. I imagine that was the last place many of them wanted to be. After all, this was the city where Jesus had been crucified. The men who put him death a few days earlier were still in power. If they killed Jesus, why wouldn’t they kill His followers? Jerusalem was no longer a safe city. They were hiding some place in the City. If you were a follower of Jesus, anyplace on earth was safer than Jerusalem. Getting out of town was not a bad idea.
But Jesus commanded them to stay. If they left, it would show a lack of courage and reveal a fear of what man might do to them. It would also show a lack of faith—as if they could not trust the Risen Savior, sometimes invisible… to help them. By staying in Jerusalem Jesus forces them to confront their fears and quells their budding enthusiasm.
Waiting is hard for all of us Type A action-oriented people who want to make things happen. There are times in life when God says, “Slow down. You’re going too fast. I don’t want you in the fast lane right now. Get off at the next exit and let’s talk it over.” When that happens our response is usually, “Go ahead and talk, Lord, while I drive down the road.” Suddenly another hand takes the wheel and we find ourselves heading toward the exit. It is the hand of God using the circumstances of life to get our full and undivided attention. (from Ray Pritchard Sermon Acts 1)
Have you ever wondered why God doesn’t speak to you more clearly? Could it be because you’re going so fast that you can’t hear his voice? Waiting rearranges our priorities, slows down our schedule, and forces us to listen to God.
Truth be told, most of life is waiting. Waiting for an appointment to see the doctor. Waiting to graduate. Waiting to be accepted in college. Waiting for your first job offer. Waiting to see if the bank will give you a loan. Waiting for the right time to start a family. Waiting for your test scores. Waiting for your loved ones to come to Christ. Waiting for the Lord to bring the right man or the right woman into your life. Waiting to find out what God wants you to do. Waiting for someone to buy your house. Waiting for your prayers to be answered. (Ibid R. P. sermon)
Waiting is one of the hardest parts of the Christian life.
Jesus gave specific instructions in three areas:
He told them what to do—Wait.
He told them where to do it—in Jerusalem.
He told them what to wait for—the Promise of the Father (the coming of the Holy Spirit).
But he didn’t tell them how long to wait. They had no idea whether they should wait a week, a month, a year, ten years, or for 40 years. You wonder if prayer is a waste of time because God has not answered your petitions. Perhaps you’ve been waiting for months or years already and deep inside you feel like giving up. Don’t.
Remember Abraham and Sarah who waited 25 years after the promise for the birth of Isaac. Remember also what happened when in a moment of weakness they took matters into their own hands and Ishmael was born (see Genesis 16).
You may be waiting on God right now. What should you do? Here is my counsel:
Do not anxious. The Lord knows His timing.
Do not panic.
Do not take matters into your own hands.
Do your duty each day as God shows it to you. Go to work. Take care of your family. Clean the house, fix meals, take your kids to school and activities.
Surrender your life and time to the Lord—” Thy will be done.”
But what should you do while you wait? Ah, what a perfectly American question that is. We want to do something, not just sit in silence. Very well, before you get out bed in the morning, pray this prayer: “Lord, help me to do my tasks today with joy. Amen.” Just do your job and do it with a smile while you wait on God.
Acts 1:4 Read
Acts 1:6 They still didn’t get it. They thought that the resurrected Jesus was going to replace the Empire of Rome with the Empire of Israel. No… Jesus had to spend the next 40 days with them explain to them what the “kingdom of God” was really about. He would once again take them through a long bible study. This is what Jesus did with the two disciples on the Road to Emmaus. Read Luke 24:27
Read Luke 24:44-50
Luke is writing his 2nd letter to explain what God was doing in the first 30 years of the lives of the apostles. He is writing the history, the road blocks, the human stories of how God would use His people, empowered by the Holy Spirit to take the Gospel from Jerusalem, to Samaria, which means they would have to overcome their own prejudices, then on to Rome. Salvation is an act of God.
Soon the apostles will experience, telling the story of Jesus in languages they never learned. Flames of fire will send them into the streets. They will be shocked when 3000 people asked to be baptized. That creates its own set of problems. They will be persecuted, dealing with theft from the offering plates. The will experience shipwrecks, snakes, and miracles.
Luther was correct in explaining the work of the Holy Spirit in his definition to the third article of the Apostle’s Creed.
“I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen.
What does this mean?
I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith. In the same way He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. In this Christian church He daily and richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers. On the Last Day He will raise me and all the dead, and give eternal life to me and all believers in Christ.
This is most certainly true.
