Countdown to Pentecost
ENTERING THE UPPER ROOM
Acts 1:6-14
(Preached at FUMC, McMinnville Tn 5/28/2006 by Dr. Steve Angus
Whenever a Christian visits the Holy Land one of the places he wants to visit is the Upper Room. There were so many significant things that occurred in the Upper Room. It was in the Upper Room that Jesus and the disciples celebrated the Passover together and Jesus gave to us The Lord’s Supper. It was in the Upper Room that Jesus spokes the words of John 14, "Let not your heart be troubled, you believe in God, believe also in me." When the agony of Good Friday had passed and the glory of Easter occurred, many believe it was through the locked door of the Upper Room that Jesus came and showed himself to the disciples. It has been traditionally held that it was to the Upper Room that the disciples retreated to after the Ascension of Jesus and when the Holy Spirit was poured out on a praying group of disciples on Pentecost.
The Upper Room is significant to the Christian. We as United Methodist have a devotional guide we call the Upper Room. At the board of Discipleship in Nashville we have the Upper Room prayer chapel with a wood craving of the Last Supper. It is only logical that a Christian visiting the Holy Land would want to visit this place.
During one of my visits to the Holy Land our guide took us to a room and said, "This is a traditional site of the Upper Room." A few day latter he took us to another place and said, "This is a traditional site of the Upper Room." He went on to say that there are 5 or 6 that could have been the location or it may not be any of them. In reality, we do not know where the Upper Room was located. But you know, perhaps that is good. For you see, when we get right down to it, the Upper Room is not a geographical location, it is any place we seek the Living God. In other words, the Upper Room may be the woods, a closet, a church, a drive in the car, or our bed late at night. The Upper Room are those places in our life when we encounter God.
There is no question about it, every Christian needs an Upper Room. We need the things only the Upper Room can provide.
The Upper Room is a place for solitude. There are times in our life when we need to be with our self. If nothing else it becomes a time when we can sort through things and set a course for our life. We so often underestimate our need for and the power of silence and aloneness.
The prophets of old did this. Moses the lawgiver and liberator of the Hebrew people is a good example. In essence he was in solitude for 40 years, tending his father in laws sheep before he had his burning bush experience. When he was leading the Israelites out of Egypt Moses would often spend days in the mountains in solitude with God.
Jesus also sought that solitude. He would rise up early in the morning and would sometimes go into the mountain to get away from the crowds. Our Upper Room is that place were we can experience this kind of solitude.
The Upper Room is that place were we find our spirits, our minds, even our bodies renewed. It is that place were we receive the rest we need. For example there was Elijah the Old Testament prophet. There were times when he was alone with God and God would send the birds to bring him something to eat. After Jesus was in the wilderness the angels came and ministered to his needs. The Upper Room a place were our spirits renewed, the obstacles of life are brought into perspective removed and we are able to go about life in a renew way.
In one of his books, Charles Allen tells about a highway that was being built in England. In the way stood a very, very old building. The workmen tore it down and cleared off the ground on which it stood. After the ground had been exposed to the sunshine and rain for some months, a wonderful thing happened. Flowers began to spring up, and botanists and naturalists from all over England came to study them. Many of the flowers were identified as plants the Romans had brought to England almost 2,000 years before. Some of the plants that sprang up are completely unknown today.
Hidden there in the ground, without air and light, the seeds seemed to have died. But they were not dead. As soon as the obstacles were cleared away, and the sunshine let in, they sprang into the fullness of their beauty. This is what can happen in the confines of our Upper Room. What was ugly and hard is some how transformed into life.
The Upper Room is a place of prayer. Allot of prayer took place in that original Upper Room. In fact the prayers offered by the disciples did not last for just a few hours. They stretched over a period of weeks. Did the prayers suddenly end on the day of Pentecost? Of course not, the disciples entered the Upper Room of prayer on a regular basis.
The Upper Room is a place were we can study and mediate on the scriptures. We each need an Upper Room were we can experience solitude, have our spirits renewed, pray and study the scripture. Let’s face it. This is a lot of work. It takes time to do these things. Sometimes the search for The Upper Room is long and difficult. But, the benefits, the rewards are worth it.
Think for a moment about what the disciples experienced because of time spent in the Upper Room.
It was in the Upper Room that the disciples encountered Jesus. Isn’t that what we are longing for? It may take time but when we earnestly enter our Upper Room we to will experience the Risen Lord. It sometimes requires patience and a lot of hard work. We may encounter Jesus in a dramatic way or in a still small voice, or simply in a peaceful quiet.
It was in the Upper Room that the disciples received the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was a gift that Jesus had promised them and now in that Upper Room they experienced just a small taste of what the Holy Spirit could do in their lives. When the Holy Spirit was set free in their lives they received a new courage that allow them to do and experience things they never dream possible.
This leads us to our next statement about the Upper Room. It was the Upper Room from which the disciples went out with renewed strength and power to face the world. In the Upper Room they encountered Jesus which in turn allowed them to get on with the work of the kingdom.
William Hinson, Sr. retired pastor of First United Methodist Church in Houston, the largest church in American Methodism, tells the story about a time when he was going to Columbia, South Carolina to preach in a revival. He had not slept well the night before and had gotten up that morning and preached in two Sunday morning services. He went immediately to the airport to leave for Columbia. He had looked forward to sleeping on the plane but it just so happened that the person next to was a talker and so much for sleep. His plane arrived late so he was immediately picked up by a church member and whisked off to the church. He arrived at the church just a couple of minutes before the service was to begin and did not have the opportunity to freshen up at all. He felt yucky. As he preached he could feel his body swaying from fatigue. When the service was over he was lead to the fellowship hall were a receiving line was set up to greet the visiting preacher. The line seemed to extend forever. Near the end of the line, a large man stepped aside and suddenly he saw his youngest daughter.
His daughter was attending school in Augusta, Georgia and when she heard her dad was going to be in Columbia had borrowed her boyfriends noisy car and had driven for hours just to be with her dad and to talk with him about some things.
They left the church and went and got some coffee and pie and then went to the hotel and talked for several hours. When she finally left he said he realized the most unusual thing. He was no longer tired. He had spent time with someone very special to him and found himself renewed. (The Power of Holy Habits, p. 18-19)
That’s what our Upper Room is all about. It is time we can spend with Jesus and find renewal. We may enter the Room feeling beaten up and discouraged but we can come away revived.
Perhaps you want to make a commitment to spend time each day in the Upper Room with Jesus.
