While we Wait

Waiting can be hard.

Have you ever had to wait patiently for something that you just couldn’t wait for? I remember when I was growing up as a kid in Sunday school we use to come with our loose change and the teacher would collect it all year so as a class we could do something fun and special in the summer. Sometimes it was a trip to an amusement park or water park.

We would normally find out a couple weeks or so before the trip and as a kid between 8-10 years old I had to wait. I was so excited for the trip I just couldn’t wait but I had to, during the waiting I would bother my older sister probably on a daily basis about how much longer do I have to wait? While waiting I would tell anybody who had an ear where I was going and with whom. I couldn’t contain my excitement. Some things are indeed worth waiting for.

The disciples in our text today are seeing Jesus risen from the dead again. They are filled with joy and disbelief at the same time. They have witnessed first hand the crucifixion of Christ and are witnesses to his resurrection. Imagine the joy and excitement that filled their hearts when their eyes were open to the truth of the Gospel. Christ tells them to wait for the promise of the Father. For the coming of the Holy Spirit.

Today we find ourselves much like the disciples at the end of the Gospel of Luke. While the Spirit of the Lord is here, God’s promised Holy Spirit has already come into this world and changed the very atmosphere of our world. Today we eagerly await the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. While we wait the work of the Holy Spirit goes on within and through us. I ask each one of us today are you as relentless about sharing the good news of the gospel, as a young kid is about his excitement about going to an amusement park? We are still his witnesses, it is through proclaiming the good news of repentance for the forgiveness of sins in our actions and with our words that the transforming work of the Holy Spirit goes on. While we wait the promise of God our father, let us continue the work begun over 2000 years ago. While we wait the work of the Lord goes on.

Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 4264 Life’s Waiting Stages

4264 Life’s Waiting Stages

Life is composed of waiting periods. The child must wait until he is old enough to have a bicycle, the young man until he is old enough to drive a car, the medical student must wait for his diploma, the husband for his promotion, the young couple for savings to buy a new home. The art of waiting is not learned at once.

—Howard Whitman

Acts 1:8 NRSV

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Acts 1:8

Luke

The Gospel of Luke is really a two part volume. Part two of this series we know as the book of Acts. Luke speaks about the life, ministry and mission of Christ. Acts is the continuation of that mission, by the power of the Holy Spirit, in and through his apostles.

In this resurrection appearance in Luke Christ proved to his disciples that he was not a ghost. The Emmaus Road disciples had just joined the disciples and proclaimed what they had seen on the road and at the table. Perhaps they thought they had seen and were talking to a ghost because of how Christ just vanished from the table once their eyes were open. Christ in this encounter proves to them that he has physically risen from the dead.

We see in this passage the words joy and disbelief in the same passage. The disciples were over joyed at what their eyes saw in front of them but still had doubts about what exactly they were seeing. After all how can this phyisically be possible?

Have you ever had one of those moments? A moment filled with joy at what you were seeing but also in disbelief over it? I know I have. Two of those moments for me happened around the same event in my life. Going to and returning home from Iraq. One wasn’t filled with joy. I remember saying goodbye to Heather for the last time before leaving fully knowing that yes I was going to war, but part of me asked myself is this really happening? Is this moment in my life real? The second was when I returned home from Iraq, that moment was filled with joy and disbelief. After a year + of living in a war zone I was finally home. I remember being so overjoyed that yes I got down on the ground and kissed the nasty dirty sidewalk outside of logan airport, this moment only existed in my dreams until this day. This day it was real, it wasn’t a dream it wasn’t a hope it was reality. The long awaited day of reunification of friends and family is now right in front of me.

The disciples gathered here knew Christ had indeed risen we know this from the preceeding verses. In verse 34 we see them proclaim that the Lord has risen indeed. Christ in this encounter shows them that he has been physically risen from the dead. He says to them see I have flesh and bone, and that apparently wasn’t enough so he asked for something to eat.

Christ then opened their eyes to the scripture in the law of Moses, the psalms and the prophets and showed them how all of that must be fulfilled. He tells them how He the Christ must suffer and die and rise again on the third day, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed to all the nations. You are my witnesses to these things. Christ goes on to tell them to wait in Jerusalem until the promise of the Holy Spirit arrives.

Repentance for the forgiveness of sins

-Repent What does it mean?

-What is sin?

-Christ makes this possible

The Holy Spirit

-The disciples wait in prayer

-The power of the Holy Spirit Ignites a fire that burns to this day

-Lets Work with the holy Spirit to continue the work he has given us to do.

While we Wait

We are awaiting the promise of God our father. The Holy Spirit has come and is at work in the world already. We eagerly await that glorious day that the trumpet will sound and the Lord will descend. What do we the church the hands and feet of Christ do while we wait?

First we need to be in prayer. Awesome world changing things happen when God’s people pray. Second we are his witnesses. We proclaim the gospel of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. We believe Christ will come again and we need to share his message as enthusiastically as a kid excited about going to an amusement park. We must share the gospel both in deed and word. What is sharing the gospel in deed? It is showing someone you care, whether it be spending a saturday doing work projects in your community, volunteering at the food pantry, or helping out or donating to First Step. These are actions that share the Gospel. Through these actions the Holy Spirit will open doors for us to share the gospel in word and we will be Christ’s witnesses here in Rutland.

After 40 days being tempted in the wilderness waiting to start his ministry. Christ returns in the power of the Holy Spirit and proclaims.

Luke 4:18–19 NLT

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.”

Luke 4:18-19