We Are Church | Wait for the Gift - Acts 1:1-5; 12-26 | February 23

INTRO

Hey family!

It’s been a hot minute since we’ve done this together. Hasn’t it?

We’re past the holidays and the vacations. I think.

We’ve been building and preparing for this moment.

Before us–the book of Acts. Are you ready? It’s sure to be quite the journey.

Along the way, we’ll encounter incredible power and purpose given to the followers of Jesus to accomplish His continuing mission by the presence of His Spirit. We have been given incredible power and purpose.

We’ll be challenged, as we are intended to see this ministry by the Spirit continue with the Church–with us. That there is a real spiritual effect of His unseen presence as the Church acts in His authority. As we act on His behalf. We’ll be challenged to really question if we are not involved in the movement of His mission, do we really and truly believe Jesus is alive? Do we believe He offers us freedom and saves us from our slavery to our disordinate desires? Do we really believe the world needs this message?

The book of Acts focuses almost exclusively on the church’s outward, directed mission. And so, Acts must be viewed from a missionary perspective and we too must find our places in its beautiful story–His story, as it continues to unfold today. Not just back then, but it is continuing today!

As such, we will also be greatly encouraged.

I CAN WORK WITH THAT

Let’s start with the encouragement, shall we?

You know it’s funny–what I’m greatly encouraged by as we set off on this adventure? I’m encouraged by the people who find themselves with a seat at the table.

Luke starts by reminding the recipient of this account (and the last), Theopholis, and us as well, “about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2 until the day He was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles He had chosen.” (Acts 1:1-2)

This is a continuation of a story. We know these guys.

We’ve met them many times before. They’re not exactly the brightest stars in the sky if you know what I mean. They’re not the sharpest tools in the shed. You know I learned a couple weeks ago that all the swords and arrows in movies are plastic and foam. Sometimes they’re real metal, but always dulled for safety. Then they go in digitally and add sharp edges to every weapon you see on the screen. These guys are the dull movie props of the ancient Near Eastern world.

There is a pretty funny story in Matthew 16, where Jesus and the fishermen, not to be confused with Hootie and the Blowfish, Jesus and the crew are sailing back from one side of the lake to the other when Jesus warns them, “‘Watch out! Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.’ 7 At this they began to argue with each other because they hadn’t brought any bread. 8 Jesus knew what they were saying, so He said, ‘You have so little faith! Why are you arguing with each other about having no bread? 9 Don’t you understand even yet? Don’t you remember the 5,000 I fed with five loaves, and the baskets of leftovers you picked up? 10 Or the 4,000 I fed with seven loaves, and the large baskets of leftovers you picked up? 11 Why can’t you understand that I’m not talking about bread?’”

How come you don’t get it?

It’s because Jesus picked the nobodies. He picked the uneducated. He picked the not good enoughs.

Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt and say we’ve all been there, but even still, isn’t it the least bit ridiculous that Jesus picked a handful of fishermen and a tax collector, most of whom are teenagers to continue His mission?

Never, has a more important assignment been entrusted with a less capable group of people. They are constantly misunderstanding Jesus and getting it wrong. Even after Jesus ascends into Heaven and sends the power of His Spirit to fill them up, are they met with disbelief that such a rough group of uneducated men could speak with such authority.

I get it. There’s not thing like a group of young, dumb dudes with some serious bro energy to take on the world. If anyone was going to be overconfident to the task that’s who it would be. Never, has a more important assignment been entrusted with a less capable group of people.

They were Galileans! Which doesn't mean much to us, but in their world it’s the same thing, essentially, as calling them rednecks. But then again Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engval, and Larry the Cable Guy are well known for the things they say as well. Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised.

Galileans had difficulty pronouncing certain words. They had the habit of swallowing sounds as they were speaking; so they were looked down upon by the people of Jerusalem as being provincial (cf. Mark 14:70). That’s a nice way of saying that they were “Country Bumpkins”. They were not considered to be very intelligent or cultured. Other Jews regarded them as stupid and unpolished.

Therefore, since the disciples who were speaking were Galileans, it bewildered those who heard because the disciples could not by themselves have learned so many different languages.

As we read further on in this chapter, we see the whole gang is there; skipping down to verse 12, “12 The apostles returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walk from the city. 13 When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James… along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.” (Acts 1:12-14)

What an important detail it is that even Jesus’ brothers who considered Him to be out of His mind (Mark 3:20-21) in His life, had a seat at the table following His death. Something had changed within them.

He hasn’t yet joined this ragtag team (we haven’t even met him yet in the Scriptures); but even the murderous Paul would be welcome at the table. This should meet us as such unbelievable encouragement. At the table are the less than goods, the not so goods, the disbelieving, and the previously evil.

Jesus looked around at this group, at the apostles, at the woman, at His family, at the 120 disciples who had not abandoned Him and thought, “Yeah, I can work with these guys.”

And that should encourage us! We should be encouraged! Because it means me too! Me too! We’re like the miracle team from the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid.

The "Miracle on Ice". It was a hockey game played between the Soviet Union, who was a four-time defending gold medalist team full of professional players with significant international experience and heavily favored for the win. Against the youngest team in the tournament and in U.S. national team history, composed mostly of amateur players. But hey, at least they could skate, probably.

Despite everything, the United States won the gold. The Davids upset Goliath.

God is looking out at us this morning and He’s thinking, “Yeeaaahh! I can work with this lot!”

BEING WITH JESUS CHANGES YOU

He can do something great with us!

Because it’s not about us! And it’s not dependent on our ability!

You know what the qualifications of the apostles was?

Do you know? Do you know what made them qualified?

They were with Jesus.

When they were selecting a replacement for Judas Peter stood up and said, “21 Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus was living among us, 22 beginning from John’s baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection.”

Not someone who is smart.

Not someone who is well-spoken and doesn’t say umm too much as to sound like an idiot.

Not someone who has it all together.

No! Someone who was with Jesus.

Their qualifications were that they were with Jesus. It is stillness in His presence which makes them ready (Psalm 37).

When Peter and John are seized by the Sanhedrin in a few chapters for boldly proclaiming the Gospel and the resurrection, it says these religious leaders “realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, [and] they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.” (Acts 4:13, NIV)

There’s something about being with Jesus that changes us.

Many scholars believe Peter couldn’t even read. And yet, there is something about being with Jesus that changed him and produced within him a confidence and authority that could only come from the power of the Spirit of God in him.

It’s like those color changing spoons you used to get in boxes of cereal. I think I got a couple in some boxes of Trixx. You remember those things. As they sat in the cold milk they began to turn blue until the whole spoon had fully changed color.

There’s something about being with Jesus that changes us.

WAIT FOR THE GIFT

It was to those who were so unqualified that He gave 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.” (Acts 1:4-5)

Wait for the gift!

Something we’re going to have drilled into us over the intervening weeks. Something we are going to learn over and over again is that walking into this movement means being witnesses.

What we’ll see next week, not to give too much away, is that the Church is not a place to attend but a movement to belong. And this is a movement of empowered witnesses.

The funny thing about being a witness is that if you’re a witness to something, you’re not doing anything. You’re telling about what has been done. We’re not achieving something. We’re telling the world about what Jesus has already done.

We are witnesses.

It doesn’t matter how talented your team. Everything that you’ve experienced–it doesn’t matter! Jesus says you wait. Wait for the gift.

These are red letters.

In certain bibles, words that were directly spoken by Jesus are placed in red letters. Now, most of these words Jesus spoke are found in the Gospels; Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. But we find Jesus still speaking in Acts and Revelation.

Jesus says, “Wait for the gift.”

Wait…

They were following his instructions

UNITED, PERSISTENT PRAYER

What were they doing–besides waiting?

Acts 1:14, “14 They all joined together constantly in prayer…”

They were united in persistent prayer.

They had not been commanded to pray, only to wait.

But Jesus’ own example provided enough guidance for them to seek His presence in prayer even as they waited for the gift of His Spirit.

Jesus' disciples saw how important prayer was in His life.

“One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When He finished, one of His disciples said to Him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray…'” (Luke 11:1, NIV)

So stirred were they in the depths of their being by the prayers of Jesus that the disciples implored Him, “Teach us, LORD! Teach us to pray!”

In the book, “With Christ in the School of Prayer”, Andrew Murray writes, “Most churches think their members are gathered simply to take care of and build up each other. They don't know that God rules the world by the prayers of His saints, that prayer is the power by which Satan is conquered, or that by prayer the church on earth has disposal of the powers of the heavenly world. They don't remember that by His promise Jesus has consecrated every assembly in His name to be a gate of heaven where His presence is to be felt and His power experienced in the Father as He fulfills their desires.”

“Who can say what power a church could develop and exercise if it gave itself to the work of prayer day and night for the coming of the kingdom, for God's power on His servants, and to His Word for the glorifying of God in the salvation of souls?”

Prayer is vital for the Church!

Jesus modeled for us a life of total dependence on the Father in prayer.

There is a lesson for us in Jesus' example of prayer. We are all called to be disciple makers, and so when others see us actually doing what we have been talking about, and especially if we do it over and over (like Jesus did), our example is more likely to get through to those we are teaching.

They devoted themselves to constant, corporate prayer until God answered from Heaven.

FOOLS RUSH IN

Here’s where we go wrong.

Sometimes–we just go and do, we forget to wait. Heck, we forget to pray.

We photographed a friend from college’s wedding several years ago down in Georgia. It was funny actually, it was during COVID and we drove across the state through Murphy and down into Georgia. Everything was closed on this side of the line, but as soon as we crossed the border there was a high school football game going on with packed stands.

At the wedding, our friend prepared a special song at the reception. He played and sang for his wife. It just so happened that his wife had also hired a musician to play the exact same song for our friend as a surprise. The song was Elvis Presley’s “Can't Help Falling in Love”, which opens with the words, “Wise men say, only fools rush in…”

In our haste, we rush ahead of God.

The Bible is full of negative case studies that demonstrate the consequences of going before God. Abraham and Sarah in their impatience attempt to lay hold of God’s blessing through their own creativity and it ruins lives. Solomon can’t wait for Samuel to show up and he loses the kingdom.

We must learn to be patient and wait on the Lord.

I am someone who sees the need for change and wants it to happen immediately–post haste. But I am learning to wait.

We are encouraged by the prophet Isaiah, “12 For you shall not go out in haste, and you shall not go in flight, for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.” (Isaiah 52:12)

This is a promise. The Lord will move. We must wait.

We often find ourselves in a waiting period, anxious for God’s answer, but it’s important to remember: don’t rush God’s timing.

We have to wait.

“Be still in the presence of the LORD and wait patiently for Him to act.” (Psalm 37:7, NLT)

SO AM I STILL WAITING

But just because we're waiting, doesn’t mean we’re not doing anything.

Sometimes when we find ourselves in a period of waiting what we end up doing is stalling.

This past week several discipleship groups started among our family members. What I have come to realize as I’ve been meditating this week, is that where we are is in a period of waiting.

I want more.

I want us to be doing more.

I want us to be involved in the movement.

I don’t want us to escape God’s blessing.

I want what God has promised in Ephesians 3 to find it’s home in us. That He would “do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us…” (Ephesians 3:20, NIV)

I don’t want to have to wait…

But even in this waiting we are growing in knowledge and love of God as we seek Him together in prayer.

The goal of these discipleship groups is that they would be focused on those outside of the family. But for now we are waiting. And in our waiting we are growing in Christ likeness and letting His word and mission ignite our spirits.

Yes, we are waiting. But it isn’t passive.

I believe God is ready to blow in this place. I want to be prepared when He lifts the cloud and calls us forward.

LEAVE THE UPPER ROOM BEHIND

Because, here’s an important detail that might go overlooked.

The disciples don’t return to the upper room after Pentecost.

Once the Spirit shows up they are on the move.

Once they set their hands to the plow they never look back.

Sure, they may at times find themselves waiting. But it is only for the hope of movement. Waiting is only to provide the power to surge forward.

The spirit has arrived, go and make disciples and listen in your going for all that the Spirit has for you.

OUTRO

You want to know the crazy part?

They didn’t know what they were waiting for–not really.

We’re left at a cliffhanger…

How is God going to do what God has promised to do?

And the truth is, I don’t know. I’m still stuck wondering how He could possibly use such flawed and faithless failures–like me. I don’t know what God is going to do. But I am believing that we will see great and wonderful things.

And we don’t have a seat at the table because we are good enough, or smart enough, or talented enough, or attractive enough. We haven’t earned it. We’re just a bunch of bros.

And Jesus says to us in Matthew 11, “11 I tell you the truth, of all who have ever lived, none is greater than John the Baptist. Yet even the least person in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he is!”

The least in the kingdom is greater than John the Baptist. Least in the kingdom.

Someone here today is the least talented and least capable person in our church. Mathematics tells you that has to be true right? Some of you are thinking I think that’s me. And God up in Heaven is like, “Yep, that’s you. You are the least in the kingdom.”

Right? It has to be true. Everybody turn and point to the person you think that is the least… No. I’m just kidding.

But Jesus says you are greater than John the Baptist.

Why? Because you’ve seen Jesus and you have the Spirit of God. Don’t tell me you don’t belong at the table. Don’t tell me you don’t have what it takes. Because you have greater in your potential than John the Baptist.

I don’t know what God’s going to do, but I want to believe that He’s going to do it. I want to pray and wait for His Spirit to move. Are you willing to risk this belief with me? Are you ready to step into your inheritance? To step into the great potential, the purpose and power that God has for you today?

Come and grab me, grab your neighbor, grab a complete stranger and make it known, declare it out loud today as we sing and respond.