Leader: Pastor Stan Norman
“What Are We Waiting For?”
Acts 1:1-11
Willapa United Methodist Church
May 4, 2008
Stan Norman
“In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning until the day when he was taken up to heaven.” (Acts 1:1 NRSV). The first book, what was the first book? I hope all you Disciple Bible Study students know the answer to that question. The first book is the Gospel According to Luke. Luke 1:1-4 says, “Since many have undertaken to set down an orderly account of the events that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed on to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, I too decided, after investigating everything carefully from the very first, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the truth concerning the things about which you have been instructed.” There’s that Theophilus guy again!
Luke uses the Ascension of Jesus Christ into heaven as the link between the Gospel that bears his name and his second book, The Acts of the Apostles. Both are written to Theophilus. There are as many theories about who Theophilus was as there are letters in his name. In the final analysis, we don’t know who Theophilus was, but we do know that Theophilus means “friend of God” and that the two books were intended for wide dissemination, not just for one person to read. Perhaps Theophilus represents all of us and the many Christians in between who have read Luke and Acts, seeking to know Jesus better.
The Gospel of Luke ends this way: “Then he said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you – that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.’ Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands, he blessed them. While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the temple blessing God.” The text that Al read to us is a slightly different view of the same event – by the same author.
The Gospel of Luke is an account of Jesus’ life and ministry, and the Acts of the Apostles is an account of how the early Christian church carried on Jesus’ ministry after his Ascension. For me, at least, the principal difference lies in the two questions that are asked in the Acts account, and in Jesus’ response to the first question and our response to the second. Please pray with me.
May the words of our mouths, the meditations of our hearts, and the conduct of our lives be always acceptable to you, O God, our strength and our blessed redeemer. Amen.
Jesus spent forty days with the apostles and with other followers after his resurrection, offering them “many convincing proofs” and teaching them to interpret the scriptures. Today is Ascension Sunday, but Ascension Day was Thursday, May 1st, forty days after March 23rd. Since Easter this year was the earliest one that we will ever see, May 1st is also the earliest Ascension Day that we will ever see. The season of Easter is 50 days long. Tradition tells us that the apostles waited in Jerusalem for ten days following Jesus’ Ascension to receive the “promise of the Father”, to be “clothed with power from on high.” Ten days from May 1st (next Sunday) we will celebrate Pentecost, the arrival of the Holy Spirit and the birthday of Christ’s Church.
In the midst of the forty days of teaching and encouragement, we find the apostles asking Jesus, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” Sometimes I think that the ignorance of the apostles is proof positive that Jesus was divine. Only God could have the tolerance and patience to explain again to those who had followed him for three years that he was not that kind of Messiah, not a political or military leader. But, Jesus doesn’t rebuke them, just like he didn’t rebuke Thomas for asking for proof of the resurrection. He just says that it is not for humans to know God’s timing, the details of God’s plan. Implicit, I think, in Jesus’ response is the charge to keep busy making disciples in the meantime, and not sit around trying to guess when God will act.
A charge to keep I have, a God to glorify,
a never dying soul to save, and fit it for the sky.
To serve the present age, my calling to fulfill;
O may it all my powers engage to do my Master’s will!
Arm me with jealous care, as in thy sight to live,
and oh, thy servant, Lord, prepare a strict account to give!
Help me to watch and pray, and on thy-self rely,
assured, if I my trust betray, I shall forever die.
When Charles Wesley wrote those lines in 1762, his inspiration was Leviticus 8:35, but I think it could just as easily have been Acts 1:6-8; because after Jesus tells the apostles not to concern themselves with God’s timing, he commissions them to be his witnesses, his missionaries, starting in Jerusalem and extending to the ends of the earth.
Let’s take stock of where we are before we move on to the second question. The apostles still don’t get it. They are still concerned with the political kingdom of Israel instead of God’s kingdom on earth. Jesus patiently explains once more that God’s timing is not for them to know, and that they have an important mission to perform while waiting for God to bring about the final victory. They are to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth. Knowing that this mission is beyond their human capabilities, Jesus assures them that they will receive power from on high. We call that divine power the Holy Spirit.
During Disciple Bible Study last week, one of the questions that came up was “What is the meaning of the Tranfiguration, what are we supposed to get from that?” I think the Virgin Birth, the Baptism of Jesus, the Transfiguration of the Lord, and the Ascension of the Lord all had the same purpose – to give us a taste of the immeasurable power of God – just a taste, because we couldn’t handle much more. Sometimes we, like the apostles, get so comfortable with the loving, gracious God that lives in our hearts, that we forget that this very imminent parent and friend is also the all-powerful God of the Universe, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. Events like the Tranfiguration and the Ascension are the two-by-fours that God uses to get our attention. As the author of the Letter to the Hebrews reminds us, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Hebrews 10:31 NRSV) Our God is indeed an awesome God!
When God gently taps us with his two-by-four by doing a “God thing,” like the Ascension, what is our reaction? Like the apostles, we are likely to stand there with our mouths open, steering into space! And, that brings us to the second question, the question asked by two angels, messengers from God.
I like to think that these are the same angels who stood at the tomb on that first Easter morning and asked, “Why do you look for him among the dead? He is alive!” But, I think there is a not-so-subtle difference in their purpose and approach. At the tomb, they are placing God’s exclamation point on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. At the Ascension, they are helping launch Christ’s Church on its mission. Luke records the question as, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up to heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
Even the apostles were able to figure out that the angels were telling them to stop staring into space and get busy. Luke says that they went to Jerusalem and devoted themselves to prayer and worship until God sent the power of the Holy Spirit to them…as promised. That’s the context of the Ascension of the Lord in the year A.D. 39. But, what does the Ascension say to us in A.D. 2008?
Well, call me sentimental or call me conservative or call me orthodox, but I think the message that those two angels are still bringing to us today is essentially the same. Jesus Christ is alive and well, and because he lives we who believe in him will also live. Jesus has given us an important mission to perform as soon as we receive the Holy Spirit, and that mission is to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ in word and in deed to the ends of the earth. We are directed to wait until we receive the power of the Holy Spirit. Thanks to our gracious God, we don’t have to go to Jerusalem to receive the Holy Spirit, and we don’t have to be baptized to receive the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will find us, the moment we confess with all our heart and soul that “Jesus Christ is Lord!”
So the question that God has for us today is, “What are we waiting for, an engraved invitation? Your invitation to discipleship is engraved on my beloved Son’s hands and feet. Please RSVP, ASAP!”
Amen.
E-mail Sermon May 4, 2008 - "What Are We Waiting For?"