May 4, 2008 Ascension Sunday

Sermon Title: “Tarry in Jerusalem”

Series: None

Text: Acts 1:1-11

Dr. Steve Jackson

NewSong Community Church

Delivered on May 4, 2008

 

“While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father.”  Acts 1:4

 

Tarry in Jerusalem

 

You know, growing up in a military family as I did, I learned early on that goodbyes are seldom easy. Donna, Leigh and I were riding in the car this weekend and I don’t know how we started talking about it, but Leigh asked me what it felt like to not have my Father around when he was stationed overseas. Dad went to Korea when I was in the fourth grade and Viet Nam when I was in the eighth grade and was gone for a year both times. Dad’s being away wasn’t unbearable, and many people have to do it – some more often and for longer than I did. The hardest part for me was going to the airport and watching my dad walk down the concourse towards his plane. I knew that other than an occasional letter I wouldn’t hear from him for a year. Back in those days they didn’t have email or cell phones like they do now. Goodbyes are tough, especially if the one leaving is a parent, sibling, child or spouse and you know they’re going to be gone for a long time.

 

Today is Ascension Sunday, the day we celebrate Christ’s return to Heaven. Actually Ascension Day was last Thursday – forty days after Easter – and ten days before Pentecost – which we will celebrate next Sunday. The passage we read this morning is Luke’s account of Jesus saying goodbye to His disciples. For over three years their lives have been intimately intertwined. They saw good times and bad times together. They ate together, traveled together, and slept together. What’s more, Jesus had changed their lives. They had experienced the crushing blow of His death and then the ecstatic wonder of His resurrection. Then they spent 40 more incredible days with Jesus as he taught them more about the Kingdom of God. But now the time had finally come to say goodbye. He’s leaving, He’s going home. Things would be different from now on. As they walked out to the place where Jesus would be lifted up he had just a few more instructions for them, and then it would be time to say a final goodbye.

 

As I read over Jesus’ last words to his disciples I kept thinking of my own experience of having someone I love say goodbye to me. I also thought about what I would say to someone else if I were the one leaving. It’s interesting, but the things Jesus says here are actually the same kind of things I’ve heard, and that I would say. Not the specifics, of course, but the general thoughts conveyed are the same. And so this morning I want us to look at some of Jesus' last words to those He loved because what Jesus said to them applies to you and me as well.

 

WAIT FOR ME

The first thing Jesus said to the disciples was WAIT FOR ME. In verse 4 Jesus instructs the disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the promise of the Father, which of course is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. This would occur at Pentecost, only ten days later.

 

I believe if I were leaving someone I loved I’d say the same thing – “wait for me.” I’m reminded of seeing movies where someone is boarding a train or an airplane and saying goodbye and the one leaving calls out to the one being left behind, “Wait for me!” In other words, “remain true to me – I’ll be back.” At first that might not seem applicable to what we’re discussing here – but it is. God says for us to wait for him – to wait for the power and guidance we will receive through his Spirit. He’s warning us to not tire of waiting and turn to other things and other people for fill the needs in our lives that God alone can fill. Waiting in this sense requires loyalty, fidelity and patience. But the reward for those who wait is well worth it.

 

But let’s be honest. Waiting is very difficult for many of us. I am confident I’m not alone this morning when I admit that I don’t like to wait in traffic, or in line at the grocery store or the bank, or in a doctor’s waiting room. “Hurry up and wait” seems to be the way it is in today’s fast-paced world. But not enjoying waiting isn’t just a modern phenomenon – nor is it a purely secular one. Back in the days of Acts people hated to wait too; even good God-fearing folk like us.

 

What I mean by that is something you may not have noticed before. The Bible says in the 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians that more than 500 people saw Jesus alive after he was resurrected (1 Cor. 15:5-6). That means that at least that many started out waiting for Him. But ten days later Luke tells us only 120 were still waiting in the upper room (Acts 1:15). That means at least 380 people got tired of waiting on God’s promise and left – they lost 76% of the people in just a few short days! After the Spirit came at Pentecost the crowds picked up again. Peter’s first couple of sermons brought some 8,000 people into the fold. But then the church tired of waiting for Christ to come back and so folks began dropping away again. This pattern has repeated itself time and time again in the church.

 

To them and to us Jesus commands us to wait. God is always on time and His delays are not denials. He has an appointed time for everything in His plan. Many times we miss His blessing or answer because we run out of patience. Other times we miss out because we’re looking for the wrong thing to begin with. To me that’s what’s going on with the disciples in the account we read this morning. Did you notice that immediately after Jesus reminds the disciples to wait for the Holy Spirit they ask him, “Lord, is this the time you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” (v. 6). They’re looking for the wrong thing. They’ll wait a lifetime for that because it just isn’t going to happen. The same thing applies to us. If we are waiting for the wrong thing then we’re never going to see God do it.

 

 

Notice two more things about waiting on the Lord. First note where he instructed them to wait – in Jerusalem. Jerusalem stands for the church. God instructs them, and us to wait together for him. That way we can encourage one another and not give up hope.

 

Second, don’t forget what they were waiting for: to be clothed with power from on high. We need God’s power to do God’s work. Our tendency is to race ahead of God and do it our way in our strength. But that’s not the way God wants us to do it. “Tarry in Jerusalem” says the old King James version of that verse. We simply must wait on the Lord if we’re to accomplish his will in and through our lives. I couldn’t help but remember that great verse from Isaiah when I thought about this, “But those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint” (Is. 40:31).

 

I know you hate to wait – me too, but let’s wait upon His Spirit. He has good things in store for us.

 

DON’T WORRY

A second thing you often hear at goodbyes which is also found in this passage is the phrase DON’T WORRY. Again, I picture a scene in a movie as the train pulls out of the station and the one leaving says to the one staying, “Don’t worry while I’m gone.”

 

That’s what’s going on in today’s passage when the disciples asked Jesus, “Lord, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” Jesus patiently responded “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority” (v. 7).  Translation – don’t worry about it. Many of us stew and worry too much and most of what we worry about we have no control over and it’s God’s business anyways.

 

Worrying is like paying interest on a debt before it comes due if it even comes at all. Worry drains the energy God gives you to fulfill his purpose in our lives just as surely as leaving your lights on will drain your car battery. One guy likened worry to a rocking chair saying that like rocking, worry gives you something to do but it doesn't get you anywhere. Worry pulls tomorrow’s clouds over today’s sunshine. Another said, “I've seen my share of trouble in my life, most of which never happened!” God is a help in trouble. In worry you are on your own. Worry is actually faith in the negative instead of faith in God.

 

The remedy for worry, of course, is to trust God to take care of that which only God can do. Back in the 19th century there was a town in Austria that learned that Napoleon was just over the next mountain with 18,000 soldiers about to attack. The town council met and agreed that to surrender immediately was their only option. But the old pastor of the village church reminded the council that the next day was Easter, and begged them to hold services as usual and to leave the trouble in God's hands. They followed his advice. The next morning as the church bells rang out to announce the service the French soldiers heard the bells ringing and concluded that the Austrian army had come to rescue the town during the night. They broke camp, and before the bells had ceased ringing, vanished.

 

But we don’t need to look outside our church or beyond our own time to see situations that some of us have going on that we’re worried about – health situations, job situations, financial situations, relationship worries, and more. And to each one of those God says, “Don’t worry.” He says the same thing to us as a church as we currently ask questions like, “Where are we going to find a good Worship Leader? Or a Children’s Director? And how are we ever going to find land we can afford so we can build a church? God’s reply? Don’t worry. Trust my Spirit. Tarry in Jerusalem, stick together and trust me – then you’ll receive all the power you need from on high.

 

Don’t worry does not mean don’t do anything. It means we should do what we can do, and leave the rest to God. He will provide. We can feel confident in his hands.

 

BE MY WITNESS

A third thing Jesus says to his disciples in this passage as He departs is to BE MY WITNESS. Christ says, “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (v. 8).

 

We are to wait for him and we’re not to worry while he’s gone. Both of those are somewhat negative. Here we have the positive – a task. We are to actively promote the kingdom of God by telling others what he has done and is doing in our lives.

 

When I was thinking of the statement “Be my witness” I remembered something my Dad said to me when he left to go to Viet Nam back in 1969. Actually I don’t know if he actually said it, or if it was implied. But regardless, what I took from it was that I was not to forget that I was representing him and our family name while he was away. We lived in a small town in Mississippi that year and I was 13 years old. That was a recipe for disaster and everybody knew it. Everywhere I went people knew that I was his son and whatever I did would reflect on him. I was aware of this. (By the way you’ll be happy to know I did little to put the family in shame that year.)

 

Of course telling people about Jesus is a little different than simply avoiding making a spectacle of yourself. Of course we should remember that we represent Jesus and people are watching us. But beyond that we’re to actively promote the kingdom. 1 Peter 3:15 says, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.”

 

Witnessing matters in the grand scheme of things. Graffiti from the 1800s discovered by workers renovating the Washington Monument a few years ago has quite a different tone from that usually found today on the sides of buildings and subway cars. “Whoever is the human instrument under God in the conversion of one soul, erects a monument to his own memory more lofty and enduing (sic) than this,” reads the inscription which can now be viewed by visitors to the monument. It is signed BFB. No one knows who that is, or who left the small drawings and 19th century dates on other walls. The markings in the lobby of the monument were covered over when it was decorated at the turn of the century but were rediscovered when the monument was renovated a few years ago.

 

Jesus’ command here is for the entire church, we are to be his witnesses “to the ends of the earth.” Obviously not all of us can physically go to the ends of the earth. We can’t all go to Africa or El Salvador as some from NewSong have done. But perhaps we can donate an item or two for a yard sale, or go pump gas at a “full-service” outreach, or go to Atlanta and speak to someone under a bridge about Jesus. All these things are also witnesses to Jesus Christ.

 

Rick Warren asks, “Why doesn’t God just take us on to heaven when we become believers?” He goes on to point out that there are only two things you can do on earth you can’t do in heaven. One is to sin and the other is to tell people about Jesus Christ. Which one do you think God left us here for? You got it – we’re to be his witnesses.

 

But here’s the interesting thing. Looking again at the text, Jesus had just told his disciples that they would be His witnesses all the way to the ends of the earth, but what do they do? They stand there in amazement, staring up at the sky. I believe Luke pointed out that detail to remind us God doesn’t intend for us to stand around – He’s got work for us to do! There’s plenty to do before He returns. And as the two angels promise, he will return in the same way they saw Him go.

 

I’LL BE BACK

And that’s the fourth and final thing I often hear, and say myself when I’m saying goodbye, I’LL BE BACK.  Of course these days it’s difficult to say or hear that phrase without thinking of Arnold Schwarzenegger. You could also get me on a technical point here because it’s the angels who actually tell the disciples, “This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go to heaven” (v. 11) and not the Lord himself. But I hope you’ll forgive me there.

 

Again, calling up on personal experience, I remember when Dad was overseas I had a wall calendar where I’d check off the days until he returned. I was so excited about seeing him again – there was a void in my life when he wasn’t around.

 

Multiply that about a thousand percent and you’ll get a glimpse of how much we long for Jesus’ return. Of course the good news is that even though Jesus is absent from us while he is in heaven and we’re here on earth, he has sent his Holy Spirit to comfort and guide us. That’s how Jesus holds the two statements, “I go to prepare a place for you…” and “I will be with you always, even to the end of the age” in a dynamic tension. He has gone away, but he’s never really left us thanks to the Holy Spirit, and he will return at the end of time as judge.  That’s straight from the Holy Communion liturgy: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ shall come again.

 

And so my friends the Lord has a word for each one of us this morning. Some of us need to hear him say, “Wait for me.” Others need to hear, “Don’t worry.” Still others need to called out of their comfort zones to hear, “Be My Witness.” While still others need to hear him say, “I’ll be back.” Which one of those are you? This morning as we take communion together, speak to God about that and I assure you He will meet you at your point of need. Let’s pray.