@Tamworth Community Presbyterian Church 15/5/16
“He ascended into heaven…and he will come again”
Are you any good at those word games, anagrams, find-a-words, quizzes or crosswords? So here’s a question, how many words can you think of starting with the letter “C” that have to do with being a follower of Jesus? Let’s have some answers: eg. Church, Community, Christ, Communion, Christian.
As we start looking at the book of Act is there a stand out word that encapsulates this book for you?
Here’s a wordle from Acts (link)The resurrection of Jesus changes everything & it’s meant to, so how is it then that so often I find myself jumping from one thing to the next with God?
We face a temptation that we can jump so quickly from Jesus rising again from the dead, to Jesus being taken up into heaven, where he is right now, that we kind of collapse what there is in between. The other temptation is that we make Jesus so distant that we start to think Jesus hasn’t got a clue what it’s like living like one of us.
So quickly after that Easter the question is asked about what changes after the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. That question is around the theme of the kind of Jesus we go looking for? As we see in today's passage all the disciples sit down with him and now what gets asked is what’s going to be different. Because if you look qt what was happening at the time the Roman Empire just kept rolling on, just as the religious Jewish leaders kept on being the ruling religious elite. There were now reports of any street riots, in many respects nothing much seemed to change at all, and yet we know everything had: Jesus has conquered sin and death, as we read in Acts 1:6
6 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
It is a good question to ask about how were things going to be different now, as Jesus had spoken about a new kingdom of God coming, now it had arrived. The trouble is the disciples expected their resurrected Messiah, Jesus to bring down the curtain of history and restore God’s people to their proper place. Jesus answers his disciples saying Yes and No. Jesus tells them yes things were going to be different, and no things will also in some ways seem the same, what will happen is that some things will matter more.
These disciples get to meet with Jesus
Through 40 days following that first Easter Sunday
his resurrection changed everything
& all these disciples can think about is ruling the world
their question is about knowledge
“Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
we want to know please
see how Jesus shifts the focus from knowing to action
In a world in which the Messiah has come conquering sin & death
It’s not what you know that counts, it’s what you do with it
The new world order of priority shifts
question is: Are you ready to change the world with what you let capture your heart ?
verses 7-8
7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
The disciples want to know who now rules the world Jesus tells them the good news movement begins with being a witness to the ends of the earth
like when you drop a stone in a river and the wave ripples out from the centre
Here Jesus talks with his disciples in Jerusalem
In the region of Judea
To the neighbouring suburbs of Samaria
Out furthest of all to the ends of the earth
Or in our context
Jesus might have said be my witnesses in Tamworth, and all Manilla, Gunnedah, Quirindi, Moonbi, Nundle, and yes even Armidale, then up and down and across the eatern sea board of Australia and beyond the oceans and seas
This rippling doesn’t stop until all the world gets to hear
This witness to the life, death, resurrection,
Ascension, present intercession and promised return of Jesus
it should strike us hard as the disciples ask to know from Jesus what’s going on, instead he replies by telling them to go and do
be witnesses - get up – get out – get going
as we read in verses 3-5
3 After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. 4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
Jesus taps into that thirst we have to know things long before they happen
Over 40 days Jesus teaches his disciples
We would love to know all of what he said
I think we get a clue of some of it from what Jesus does with the men he meets on the road to Emmaus in teaching them all of how God’s plans through the Old Testament were now fulfilled
How the Bible makes sense of life we’re told in Acts 1 that Jesus teaches them about the kingdom of God
Jesus eats with his disciples and speaks with them, making this promise
verse 5
5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
And verse 8
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
The Holy Spirit is purposeful
He is the guard and guide of the deposit of Jesus in us
He guarantees the truth of Jesus to us and in us
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the risen Jesus in us
Teaching, convicting, guiding and revealing God’s truth
in us and to us and can speak through us
The Holy Spirit is also the one who when we don’t know what we should pray or have not the words to speak intercedes for us before God, and how he gives us wise words when they seem foolish
We find out from Jesus ministry is something we’re all called to be part of
Ministry is about the work of being witnesses of Jesus
Our ministry is a supernatural activity
Our church is not some human institution
It is as someone put it “a divinely-infused group of people”[2]
our witness is to a gospel about God’s grace
Grace is unsettling
it is the means by which God takes us
Forgives us, sets our feet on a new course
Fashions us then into his likeness
In the resurrection and ascension and then pouring out of his Holy Spirit Jesus forms us as part of unique group of believers called his bride, the church. The household of believers
Forgiveness from God is what we receive
That fresh start is possible with God
be witnesses - get up – get out – get going on that change in us by God
Jesus is the last word on change
As his disciples soon found out
9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. 10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
Another 10 days time
Peter stood to address a crowd that had gathered
Hearing a message about Jesus that was life altering
confirmed with this same Holy Spirit given out
with the same Holy Spirit we have also received
the same spirit empowered witness to our world
God’s spirit in us
standing and testifying to the power of God
to Jesus’ resurrection power of forgiveness and grace
who makes broken lives new
who gives us the power of his presence
to set about witnessing to the wonder
and splendour of his love
so how are you seeing Jesus formed in your life?
in the theatre of God’s glory what opportunities for mercy and forgiveness have you been noticing you’ve been asking for, or even unasked have received, or sharing those with?
who will you pray for
that God would stir you to share what you know about Jesus
who has God pressed on your heart
that you want to bring them along to our church
Let’s pray for the courage to open up our mouths and for God to witness through us in this…. To Jesus now risen again and who reigns and who intercedes for us from heaven
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