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The Reading of Holy Scripture (Acts 1:1-11, ESV)
If you accept this word that has been read in your hearing as what it really is, the word of God, will you receive it by faith by saying together: “Amen” ?
Pray
“Power in the Waiting”
Before Jesus ascended into heaven, he gave his followers instructions (really, these were more than instructions.
These were commands with authority.
These were orders…).
The first order was not an order for his followers to “go.”
The first order, was an order for his followers to “wait.”
It is not that Jesus did not want the Gospel to go forth in that moment to all the earth, but Jesus knew that the Gospel would not go forth without the power of the Gospel propelling it!
Jesus ordered his followers to wait for power before they go!
My children are learning what it means to wait.
We’ll get ready to leave the house and Marianne and I will say “It’s time to go get into the car!.”
So the kids start running to the car and then one of us looks at them and ends up yelling; “Wait!
Put on your shoes first!…Wait!
Put on your pants first!...
Wait before you go!”
You are not prepared yet!
The early Church was not prepared yet for the mission of God to carry the gospel of Jesus to the world.
They had been with Jesus.
They knew what they were to do.
But they were lacking one necessity — the power promised to them!
And Jesus says to them: “Wait!”
Waiting resists impatience.
Waiting allows for the preparation and provision that is needed to succeed.
But there is another reason for waiting, and that is to resist impulsiveness.
Sometimes my kids will say “I’m hungry.
I want a snack.”
Most of the time they ask for a snack right before we are about to eat a meal.
And so we say: “Wait, we are about to eat dinner.”
If you eat this snack now, you won’t eat the dinner we are preparing for you!
Don’t spoil the meal that is about to come!
God is going to use the early Church in a mighty way to spread the Gospel beyond Jerusalem, to the ends of the earth!
But if the early Church attempts to fulfill that mission on impulse, without first waiting for the empowering of God, they will fail!
Waiting resists impulsiveness.
Waiting resists spoiling what is to come.
Both impatience and impulsiveness are impediments to the powerful advancement of the Gospel!
And so the Lord says — “before you go, wait.”
When I tell my daughter Addison to wait, she sighs and says: “But Daddy, it’s hard to wait.”
Waiting is hard, but when waiting involves the things of God, waiting is essential.
Empowerment is in the waiting!
Not waiting on God is disastrous!
Jesus does not send his followers into the world on mission unprepared or unprovided for.
And Jesus will not allow his followers to spoil what is yet to come by attempting to obey his commandments in their own strength and in their own power!
He is sending them help.
He is sending them power.
But power will not come as they go — power will come as they wait!
The power of God is available for those who wait on the Lord.
Introduction
The book of Acts is what is called a “Theological History.”
It is a narrative of historical events that capture the workings of God through the early followers of Jesus as the Church is built and as the Church carries on the work of Jesus in the world.
Acts is the second book written to a man named Theophilus.
The first book is the Gospel of Luke.
Listen to how Luke’s Gospel begins:
Luke writes to Theophilus so that Theophilus might have certainty concerning the things he has been taught about Jesus.
Like Theophilus, you may have questions about who Jesus is, and what Jesus has done, but God offers through His Word that He has breathed out and preserved — a certainty for you concerning these things.
Verse 1 gives us the subject of the book of Acts —
Jesus is the subject of Acts!
Don’t be distracted by the title “Acts of the Apostles.”
This is not a book about the Apostles or their work, this is a book about Jesus!
And Jesus working through the Apostles and the Church in the person of His Holy Spirit!
Luke records what Jesus began to do and teach.
That word “began” is important, because this is not a record of what Jesus did and taught, it is a record of what Jesus began to do, because it is what Jesus is continuing to do through His body, the Church.
What God begins, God continues.
What God continues, completes.
Jesus did not ascend into heaven without giving commands.
The word “commands” or “instructions” in verse 2 implies they are given with authority.
These are orders, not suggestions.
They are not optional!
(See NET Bible note).
Verse 2 says that Jesus had given these commands- these orders, “through the Holy Spirit.”
The Holy Spirit is the power through whom Jesus gives these orders to His followers, and the Holy Spirit is also the One who empowers Jesus’s followers to obey them!
When you stay at a hotel with doors that are opened by a keycard, the front desk takes a blank card and programs that card with a code.
That code has the power to open the lock on your room’s door!
But you are powerless to open your room’s door with that code, unless the front desk hands you that key card to take with you!
In the same way, Jesus, through His Holy Spirit gives orders that have the power to change the world!
But Jesus will then give His Holy Spirit, he will give His power to his followers so that they will have the power to obey what He has ordered!
The Holy Spirit is mentioned 3 times in this passage.
He is the One through whom Jesus gives orders to His followers in verse 2.
He is the One in whom believers in jesus will be baptized into in verse 5.
And He is the One who will rush upon believers in verse 8!
Verse 3 even implies that it is the power of the Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead!
Jesus presented himself alive to his followers after his suffering.
His suffering speaks of his death on the cross.
His life speaks of his resurrection from the dead!
All of this was necessary for Jesus to endure so that we might be forgiven of our sins and and have eternal life!
This had to happen first, before the mission of God could go forth to the ends of the earth!
Listen to what Jesus said to two disciples during one of these appearances on the road to a place called Emmaus:
Everything God does, God does in the right order, in the right time, and for a purpose.
All of Jesus’ work and teachings point to the kingdom of God.
The kingdom of God is the rule of God, the authority of God, the power of God, the will of God, and the worship of God!
What kind of Church does God desire His Church to be?
God desires His Church to be a Kingdom-Focused Church.
God desires Southside Baptist Church to be a Kingdom-Focused Church.
This means we focus on those things that are important to Jesus.
Not to focus on ourselves, but to focus on Kingdom matters.
By using what God has given us to bring others into the will and worship and Kingdom of God through a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.
Twice in Acts 1:1-11, this word of contrast, this word “but” is used, once in Acts 1:4, and again in Acts 1:8.
“He ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father...”
That word “but” creates a tension.
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