The Apostles' Motivation
Notes
Transcript
Intro/Context:
Intro/Context:
So last week we talked about the first few verses of Acts and we talked about the proofs of the resurrection
(that Jesus was seen by over 500 people), the promises of the Father (that He would send the Holy Spirit), and the power of the early church. So we are continuing in the story about the Apostles motivation for ministry and waiting for the promise of the Spirit.
So at the core of this message is the phrase
Why we do what we do for the Lord is just as important as what we do for Him. Our motivations are important to God.
The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold:
But the Lord trieth the hearts.
Proverbs
**Explain verse
There are many compelling motives for living for the Lord, such as the Love of Christ. Another compelling motive is His imminent return, and after His return, we will stand before the judgement seat of Christ.
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
** Explain verse
A young man became a City Police Officer in a small Midwest town with a population of 2200. The first week on duty he closed an investigation of a local man who held a position in the School system. The man had gained the confidence of the parents, students, and the community. After a traffic stop months earlier there arose a question as to his identity. It took months and many investigators to discover his true identity and that he was wanted for bank robbery and murder.
(hopefully mr. mcbrayer isn’t the same way)
But this man tried to hide who he really was from the authority. A lot of times we try to do that with our authority as well. But God knows everything, and one day we will stand before Him and He will judge us.
a preacher from the 1800s once said: “It is Christians only who are in view here. All that we have hidden shall be revealed. The things we have done in the body will come back to us, whether good or bad. Every pious thought, and every thought of sin; every secret prayer, and every secret curse; every unknown deed of charity, and every hidden deed of selfishness; we will see them all again, and though we have not remembered them for years, and perhaps have forgotten them altogether, we shall have to acknowledge that they are our own.
Is not that a solemn thing to stand at the end of life?”
1. The Motivation of the Ministry (v. 9-11)
1. The Motivation of the Ministry (v. 9-11)
The Lord was about to depart from earth and return to His former glory. Before doing that, He was going to leave the apostles with a final and powerful motivation to faithfulness.
a) The Lord’s Glorious Ascension
Jesus is now in His resurrected body: After His resurrection, Jesus appeared to the disciples and spent time with them, teaching them what they would need to know to carry on His work.
The apostles are standing on the Mount of Olives (v.12)
And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven.
Luke 24:50-51
They got a little taste of what Heaven would be like. They saw Jesus appear in rooms maybe walking through walls after the resurrection
Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.
The best thing about Heaven wont be the streets of gold, the pearly gates, the mansions, the best thing wont even be that we get to finally see our loved ones that had passed before us, the best thing about Heaven will be that we will be in the presence of Jesus. And the apostles here got to be in the presence of the resurrected Jesus and see Him go up to Heaven.
b) The Angel’s Wonderful Promise
The angel gave the disciples the promise that they were not being forsaken. Not only would the Holy Spirit come as Jesus had told them, but the very same Jesus who had now ascended into Heaven would one day return to the very spot on which they were standing
And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives,
Which is before Jerusalem on the east,
And the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west,
And there shall be a very great valley;
And half of the mountain shall remove toward the north,
And half of it toward the south.
This same Jesus will return, and this promise becomes a powerful motivation for us to serve Him.
And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.
They were expecting Jesus to come back at any time. Even Paul wrote that he thought that Jesus would come back during His lifetime.
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
**explain verse
If you knew that Jesus was coming back tomorrow at 5:00 pm, what would you do with the rest of your time?
explain
Paul lived life that way, he was fully convinced that Jesus would come back during his lifetime.
2. The Member’s of the Assembly (v. 12-13)
2. The Member’s of the Assembly (v. 12-13)
The apostles were chosen by the Lord and they were personal witnesses of the resurrected Saviour.
a) They were Gathered According to God’s Sovereignty
And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree: Him God raised up the third day, and shewed him openly; Not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead.
These men were chosen by God for that particular moment in history. Peter was reckless, but zealous. James the brother of John, was faithful and courageous. John was gentle and passionate, he was responsible. Andrew was concerned for others. Philip was practical and thorough. Thomas was a doubter but still a believer. Bartholomew was blameless and patient. Matthew was a liar turned into a man of truth. James was humble and reserved. Simon was a rebel zealot. Judas the brother of James was steadfast.
Mary and the half-brothers of Jesus were present in the assembly. They would provide a sense of leadership in the church at Jerusalem. There were roughly about 120 people there (v15)
These were men who were similar to us. They had recently lost a good friend, or so they thought, in Judas Iscariot.
They were brought together for a purpose.
God sovereignly brought all of these particular people together for a purpose. They were all extremely different, but they all had the same purpose. They were all waiting for a moving of the Holy Spirit
b) They were Waiting Obediently
Jesus had given them instructions to stay in Jerusalem until they received the Holy Spirit.
And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.
They went about a Sabbath day’s journey, which is about 2,000 cubits or 3/4 of a mile. This was the distance that the Jews were allowed to walk to a Synagogue on the Sabbath day for worship.
They are waiting in an upper room. This was probably a large room on the second floor of a believer’s house.
As the day of Pentecost approached, they spent their time in the temple and the upper room waiting for God’s power.
And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.
God told them to wait, so they waited. Sometimes God asks us to wait for particular things, sometimes we get impatient, but we need to keep praying and keep expecting God to answer the prayer. He will either answer yes, no, or not yet.
3. The Method of Waiting (v. 14)
3. The Method of Waiting (v. 14)
Illustration about Abbie waiting for the love of her life: me
This group of people were waiting for the Holy Spirit, what they didn’t realize was that this would one of the greatest movements of God in history.
a) Perseverance
The Bible says they “continued” in Jerusalem. Many times we fail to see God’s power revealed because we give up too soon.
And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
They did not know how long they would have to wait, but nothing would stop them now.
They would not stop praying until they received the promise of the Spirit.
And they had perseverance and continued serving the Lord together for the rest of their lives, yes they had disagreements and mishaps, Paul and Barnabas had to separate later on in the story because they had a disagreement, but they all kept serving God regardless.
b) Unity
The Bible says that they were all in “one accord”. There were no dissenting voices or murmuring gossip in the upper room. They had a oneness of heart and mind. They were all after the same thing.
They were united under the commands of Christ
They all obeyed because they had faith in what Christ did and loved Him for it. When you love someone with a full and perfect kind of love, then it is not hard to do what they ask you to do. In fact you count it an honor and a joy to be able to serve them because you love them so much.
They were united under the doctrines of Christ
Doctrine is the glue that holds the church together.
Charles Spurgeon faced those in his day who promoted unity over the truth. He wrote, “A chorus of ecumenical voices keep harping the unity tune. What they are saying is, “Christians of all doctrinal shades and beliefs must come together in one visible organization, regardless… unite, unite!: Such a teaching is false, reckless, and dangerous. Truth alone must determine our alignments. Truth comes before unity. Unity without truth is hazardous. Our Lord’s prayer in must be read in its full context. Look at verse 17: “Sanctify them through they truth: thy word is truth.” Only those sanctified through the Word can be one in Christ. To teach otherwise is to betray the gospel.”
People will disappoint you, but we must reunite around truth.
If we gather with a common belief and a common cause, we will seek and find a common unity. repeat
c) Prayer
The apostles realized that there was a gap in their ranks caused by the suicide of Judas. They were also, no doubt, praying for the coming of the Holy Spirit.
** Prayer is a powerful thing, and a lot of times we forget that and take that for granted. In 2001, my friend Joshua Mead surrendered to be a missionary. He didn’t know exactly what that meant, he didn’t think he was qualified, but He thought God wanted him to do it, so he did. He went to Bible college and learned everything he needed to know about missions and theology and preaching, but after three years, He was struggling with where to go as a missionary. He eventually got married and him and his wife began traveling the country raising support to get on the mission field. him and his wife began to pray about where God would want them to go start a church. After a year of praying in the summer of 2006, God laid on their heart the country of Senegal in West Africa. Eventually after a couple years of raising funds they made all of the arrangements and took a step of faith and went there to begin their mission and they went to Senegal. They got there and started witnessing to the people in the sandy villages and started a church. One of the old ladies came up to him after a church service and told him how glad they were that they were there to start a church, and that they had been praying for a long time for someone to come and tell them about God and who the real God was. He was amazed by her statement and asked her when they had started praying for someone, and she said the summer of 2006. It was the exact same time that God had called him to go to Senegal. It had taken a while to get there, but God answered the prayer. And now they have multiple thriving churches and are even training locals to become pastors. All because on little old lady, half way across the world prayed for a messenger, God answered her prayer.
There are thousands, literally thousands of stories like this, where people pray for someone to come tell them about God, and God answers and sends someone. What could you be praying for right now?
Remember, our prayer from wednesday is: God, change my desires to your desires, give me your desires.
When we pray, remember:
When we pray, remember:
1. The love of God that wants the best for us.
2. The wisdom of God that knows what is best for us.
3. The power of God that can accomplish it.
Pray without ceasing.
Do you long to see God work mightily in these days? We know that we can see such a work, because we serve the same resurrected Saviour as the apostles did. He still delights in using ordinary people; therefore, we must wait in unity for His power and blessing.