October 4, 2009

Luke 24: 36-49; Acts 1:1-14

We are beginning a new sermon series today from the book of Acts. The theme for the overall series is “The Church: Living under the influence.”

We will learn next week from Acts 2 that when the Holy Spirit came upon the people – the crowd thought the disciples had been drinking too much.

But then Peter stands up, takes charge, and proclaims loudly – “listen here folks, they can’t possibly be drunk, it is only 9 o’clock in the morning.” And then Peter goes on to explain that what is happening is a result of people being filled with the Holy Spirit.

The whole book of Acts, then, is about the church being empowered by God’s Spirit to carry on the ministry of Jesus in the world. It is a really good thing whenever the church gets charged with an LUI of the Holy Spirit.

It is a good thing because we are constantly to live our lives under the influence of the Holy Spirit. That is where our strength and wisdom and courage and hope come from.

Without the Holy Spirit we are powerless and directionless.

One of the reasons I want to do this series of sermons from the book of Acts at this time is because we are in a period of transition as a church.

We have just moved to a new building. We had a number of individuals and families move away this summer.

We have had some new folks join us and you are still trying to figure out what we are all about. We are now in the community of Swissvale that has different gifts and challenges and so we are trying to discern how God is leading us in this neighborhood.

We are also adjusting to a bigger building and we are trying to find out what works best for us here and what we want to change that will help us do worship better.

All of these transitions can make us feel a little off balance and even fearful. The book of Acts can help us because it is all about a church in transition as it learns how to carry on the ministry of Jesus in the world.

Acts is full of stories of healing, stories of people being led by the Holy Spirit, stories of courage as people confronted political authorities, stories of conversion and new life, and stories of the church growing and expanding.

But Acts also includes stories of persecution and internal struggles.

• Judas, one of the twelve apostles, betrays Jesus and they have to choose another apostle.
• The disciples are thrown into jail by the authorities for talking about Jesus with their neighbors.
• Preachers are run out of town and there are shipwrecks on missionary journeys.
• The church has some internal problems – there is some deceit and lying to one another that almost destroys the community from within.
• They struggle with prejudices and racism as the Hellenist women get left out by the Hebrews.
• And they battle over the Bible and the inclusion of Gentiles into the community.

So, Acts gives us many pictures of the church being faithful and courageous in following Jesus, but it also depicts the internal squabbles, failures, and struggles of faith.

I think the book of Acts can be helpful to us because it gives us real life pictures of how the early church worked at these transitions as they tried to carry out the ministry of Jesus in the world.

I don’t think we are called to imitate the early church in every way, but these stories can function as a norm for us on how we can order our community life and live in the world as faithful followers of Christ in the power of the Spirit.

My prayer is that as we reflect on how the Holy Spirit led the early church – we may find help in discerning the shape and mission of our life together in this place.

So, I would like to encourage you to be reading through the book of Acts over the next weeks and months. Read the whole book through at one setting if you can and then each week read the scriptures for the coming Sunday. The scriptures will be listed in your bulletin for each week.

Before we look at chapter one today I want to give a very brief background to the book of Acts.

First of all, Acts is the second half of a two volume work. Both the Gospel of Luke and Acts are written to the man Theophilus.

Theophilus was a particular individual, but his name also means “friend of God”. Some scholars believe Luke was using this name in a symbolic way to say he is writing to all of those who are “friends of God.”

Either way, Luke claims in Luke 1 that his main purpose for writing this two volume set is “to write an orderly and accurate account of everything that has happened concerning Jesus.”

The Gospel of Luke tells the story of what Jesus began to do and teach. It talks about Jesus’ birth, his life, and his teaching up through his death and resurrection.

The book of Acts, then, is about what Jesus continues to do through the Holy Spirit at work in the church.  Acts picks up the story of Jesus’ ascension and the beginning of the church at Pentecost and its spread all the way to Rome.

Acts tells the story of the spread of the Gospel to Rome in four different Pentecost stories.

• Acts 2 has the Spirit being poured out on Jewish people.
• Acts 8 has the Spirit being poured out on the hated Samaritans.
• Acts 10 has the Spirit being poured out on the Gentiles.
• And in Acts 19 the Spirit is poured out on those who had only heard of water baptism.

These different Pentecost accounts show how the Jesus story is good news for all people. They show how the Holy Spirit is going before the Apostles – breaking down old barriers, bringing new life, and restoring people within a new faith community.

And the interesting thing is how Acts ends in chapter 28 in an open-ended fashion. There really is no ending to Acts. The work of the church goes on around the world wherever people continue to confess Jesus as Lord.

The God of Acts is an active God, a God who will direct the church in every age. The God of Acts is not a God who has retired to Florida and left us in charge.

Acts helps us see that God is still in charge and the same Spirit that fell on the people at Pentecost is still active and working in our world today.

So, I believe Acts will help us address a number of issues and things that are of particular interest in our own day. I think it will help us learn new ways to be and do church. And I certainly hope it will encourage us to be bold witnesses for Jesus in all that we do.

Our challenge is to be just as open to the Spirit as they were and, then, to be willing to act on what we hear and know.

Well, that is a very brief background to Acts. Let’s look now at the first chapter.

Luke begins Acts with all of the disciples gathered together in Jerusalem. He tells us that there are 120 people gathered in an upper room.

Now, for most of us, we read that number and it doesn’t mean anything. But for Luke’s Jewish readers 120 in a room would have been significant. According to Jewish law 120 males were required to form a synagogue with its own council.

So, for Luke to mention that 120 disciples were gathered together means they already have enough people to form a legitimate community. This group of 120 can function as a body of believers.

It is also significant that in this group of 120 there were not only males but also some women. Luke tells us that along with the Apostles and Jesus’ brothers, there is also his mother and many other women.

This new community that is forming around Jesus is one that is breaking down social and religious barriers by including women from the very beginning.

Now, the first instruction Jesus gives his disciples is to “wait for the promise of the Holy Spirit”.

As Jesus prepares to leave his disciples you would think he would tell them to “go – get out of town. Get on with the ministry I have given you. The world is in desperate need – get moving – do something”

Up to this point the disciples have been with Jesus for three years. They have heard his teachings, seen his miracles, and watched him get crucified.

And then after his resurrection, he appears to them many times over a 40 day period – continuing to teach them about the kingdom of God. You would think that after all of these experiences with the risen Jesus and his teachings – that they would be ready to “get on with the ministry of Jesus in the world.”

But instead, Jesus tells them to wait – to wait for the Holy Spirit.

One of the challenges the disciples faced and we face too – is the challenge to wait for God to send us. We don’t go when we are ready – we go when God says “go”.

I think waiting is almost always difficult – especially in our activist age – which prizes human strength, self sufficiency, and autonomy.

Our challenge, I think, is not the intellectual one of knowing what needs to be done. Our challenge is to have the authorization and empowerment of God’s Spirit which enables us to do the work of Christ. Knowing what to do is not enough – we also needs God’s empowerment and God’s gift of doing it in a spirit of love.

In ministry we need to know that it wasn’t just our good ideas we are working with. We need to know that it was God’s idea – that God has sent us – that God is with us.

In Acts every decision that is made and every action that is taken is bathed in prayer and waiting on God. The disciples were simply following the lead of Jesus.

• Jesus spent time in prayer and fasting before he chose his disciples.
• Jesus spent 40 days in prayer and fasting before he began his ministry.
• And all during his ministry – even when people were crowding around him and pleading for him to do something – Jesus often escaped to a quiet place for prayer and communion with God.
• Jesus was constantly waiting for God to give him direction on what to do next.

The early church continued those practices.

• They waited in prayer for God’s Spirit to fall at Pentecost.
• They waited and prayed as they discerned new leadership among them.
• They waited and prayed as they confronted the authorities.
• They waited and prayed as they discerned which cities to approach next.

For Jesus and the early church waiting was not being passive. Waiting meant cultivating a receptive heart through prayer and fasting and reading of scripture.

This active waiting is a time of calling out to God, being confident of God’s faithfulness, and expecting God to show up.

The need to “wait and pray” reminds us that the gift of the Spirit is never an assumed possession of the church. The Holy Spirit is always a gift which must be sought anew in prayer.

I think this word of “waiting for God’s Spirit” is something maybe we need to hear today as well.

I know that we have been waiting and praying for the last two years for God to lead us in finding a new place to meet. We believe God has led us to this place.

Now, as we are here, I think it is important to “wait and pray” for what God is calling us to next. Maybe the next few months our prayer should simply be – “God open our eyes to see what you are doing in this community. Open our hearts to receive the gifts this community has to offer us.”

I am excited about how the Mission and Service Commission is beginning to meet some community leaders here in Swissvale to learn about the community and what God is already doing here.

This act of praying, listening, and building relationships is all a part of waiting for God’s Spirit. I believe that as we wait and pray and seek God together – God will not only show us the way but God will empower us to do what needs to be done.

This morning, I simply want to encourage us to pray individually, in our small groups, in our commissions, and corporately for God to fill us with the Holy Spirit and to show us what God is doing in the community.

It is not about what I want for myself or even if we can afford it but it is about waiting on God for direction and being empowered by God’s Spirit to do whatever is asked of us.

So the first instruction Jesus gives his disciples is to wait for the Holy Spirit before they do anything.

At the same time Jesus tells them to wait for the Holy Spirit’s empowerment – he begins to teach his disciples about their mission in the world.

However, the disciples have difficulty hearing it because they have a different question on their minds.

They want to know – “Jesus, when are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel? You have been talking about the kingdom coming for years now – when will it happen?”

Their interest here is in dates and times and what will happen in the future. It many ways it is a reasonable question – it is a question that many of us have too.

It is easy to get fixated on the future and when things are going to happen and how they will take place. The Christian church has gone down this road way to many times.

But Jesus here refuses to respond to their speculation about the future. He rebukes all such fixating on the future, on trying to predict it, and on sky-surfing. Jesus says the coming Spirit will not reveal special knowledge about God’s plans for the future.

Instead of focusing on the future, Jesus patiently redirects his disciples and the church to their mission now.

Jesus says that when the Holy Spirit comes – “you will receive power to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Jesus tells his disciples – your calling, your purpose, and your mission as a church is simply to “be witnesses to the risen Jesus”.

The NT word for “witness” really means “martyr”. Witnessing is not just telling people about the risen Christ – although that is important. We need to be ready to talk about what Jesus means to us and how he has changed our lives.

But witnessing is also a profound “caring for” and sometimes “suffering with and for people”.

Our witness is always a cross-bearing love. It is a love that cares for the whole person – their spiritual, emotional, and physical well-being.

The power of the Holy Spirit is not given to us for our own “little private experience of God” or to “meet our needs”.

The power of the Holy Spirit is given to us so that we might be witnesses to “all that Jesus began to do and teach”. The Holy Spirit empowers us to give ourselves away to heal human suffering and to take the love of God into the world.

Jesus’ mission was to preach good news to the poor, proclaim release to the captives, and to set the oppressed free.

As follower of Jesus that is also our mission. We are witnesses of this good news.

The Holy Spirit is given to us to help us live this cross-bearing kind of life and to empower us to share it with our neighbors and colleagues.

As one person has said – “witnessing is simply one beggar telling another beggar where to get food.”

When we become Christian, we become part of a long line of witnesses, members of Christ’s body on earth, bearing witness to a love and power that still moves the planets and heals broken hearts.

I know that it is easy to become distracted by dates and times and future happenings but Jesus wants to bring us back to our central mission and calling.

And that mission and calling is to be “witnesses to the risen Jesus”.

I think the best good news of this passage is that it is the Holy Spirit who gives us power to be witnesses and who is at the same time working in other peoples hearts.

We do not have to do the convincing or convicting. We simply bear witness to Christ and what he can do in our lives.

Too often today we are ashamed to be witnesses of Christ.

A large part of our feeling ashamed about witnessing, I think, has to do with how “witnessing” has been done in the past. Witnessing is not about forcing Jesus on people.

We need a new vision today that trusts God’s Spirit to do the work as we bear witness to all that Jesus has done and taught.

Witnessing does not have to be a fearful thing.

In First Peter 3:15 he writes: “Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and reverence.”

Witnessing to the risen Jesus is being able to share with others the hope that is within you with gentleness and reverence.

If you have hope this morning because of Jesus – then you have something to share with others. Our calling, our mission as a church – is to bear witness to the risen Jesus.

So, in this first chapter of Acts we are reminded of our calling and mission as a church – to be witnesses of the risen Jesus. But we also have been reminded to “wait for the Spirit’s empowerment” to carry out that mission.

May God give us a clear sense of our mission and empower us to be agents of healing and hope in our world. Amen.