What Are We Waiting For?
Scripture: Joel 2:28-29; Luke 24:45-49
Nathan Reeder, May 16, 2010
Opening Illustration: Awkward Silence
Nobody likes waiting. I don't. You don't. You probably didn't like me making you wait.
And even though living in Southern California means we have a lot of experience waiting, it doesn't mean we're any good at it -I'm referring to the giant parking lot we call a freeway system. Luke and I get so much experience waiting on our commutes from Pasadena we should be the most patient people on the planet. But unfortunately, the more practice you have at waiting, doesn't necessarily make you any better at it, does it?
What was it like as I made you wait? How did it make you feel?
Nobody likes being told to wait. Think about this: waiting your turn, waiting in line, waiting room. To Americans, waiting can sound like a four-letter word.
The last several times I've gone to see a particular doctor I've spent an obscene amount of time in his waiting room. I don't get it. I show up 15 minutes late and they bill me for the visit and make me reschedule. They make me wait for over an hour and pretend like it's no big deal. My last three visits I've had to wait over an hour and ten minutes each time!
Waiting is something we're all familiar with. So I'm sure you can imagine what the apostles must have been going through when they were in their own waiting room, waiting for their own appointment. Would you please turn with me to Luke 24, beginning in verse 45. What I'm calling the "waiting room" the Bible calls the upper room, and that's traditionally where Jesus first appeared to all the disciples and gave them instructions on what was to happen after He left them to ascend into heaven. So please read with me Luke 24 beginning in verse 45:
Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here [WAIT] in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high"
I've included some notes in your Order of Worship to help us understand this passage a little bit better. It also includes some fill-ins. But don't worry, if you miss one you can copy off your neighbor without losing credit.
The disciples had spent a lot of time with Jesus by this point. Everywhere Jesus went, they went. Every word He spoke, they listened. Every miracle He performed, they witnessed. One of the Jewish sages of the Mishnah, Yose ben Yoezer, used to say, "Cover yourself with the dust of [your rabbi's] feet, and drink in [his] words with gusto." The disciples were literally inseparable from Jesus after they responded to the call to follow Him. They had literally covered themselves with the dust of their Rabbi.
- They had the KNOWLEDGE.
- They knew the Scriptures.
- Jewish children study the Bible~ from a very early age, committing much of it to memory.
- They knew Jesus' teachings. Jesus was their lens for interpreting the Scriptures.
- They knew the Scriptures.
- They had the EXPERIENCE.
- They had witnessed Jesus' miracles, death, and resurrection.
- The Book of Acts tells us that many in the upper room had been with Jesus since His own baptism and had remained with Him until He ascended into heaven.
- They knew the power and salvation that was being offered to everyone in Jesus' Name.
- They had been sent out in pairs and performed miracles and healings in Jesus' name before His Crucifixion.
- They had witnessed Jesus' miracles, death, and resurrection.
- They had the DESIRE.
- They had a burning desire to share the message of Jesus with the world.
They had the knowledge. They had the experience. They had the desire. But Jesus said, "Wait. You're not ready. Not yet." [PAUSE]
I think what the disciples were going through is similar to what some of us went through when we graduated from high school or college. We think we have the knowledge, the experience, and definitely the desire to take that next step -to live life on our own, to make our own way. But our parents or guardians know better. They know we're not quite ready to make it on our own, and so they discreetly help us from a distance until we can make it on our own.
I think that's what Jesus had in mind for the disciples when He said, "It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate [the Holy Spirit] will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you" (John 16:7).
Jesus knew that the early Church still lacked something. It was something that Jesus had to learn Himself -that's right, according to the Book of Hebrews even Jesus had to learn some things.1 And it was something that the Church would have to learn through experience, not through His teaching.
So what were they waiting for?
Jesus knew that the disciples needed to learn about the Church - how this community of Christ-followers was going to operate. [Refer to notes] This is what I think the disciples, ancient and new, need to realize about the Church.
1. The Church is not LIMITED in the same way as Jesus.
It may sound odd to speak about the limitations of Jesus because we like to think of Him as "God-Man," which if you think about it sounds a lot like a superhero.
"Faster than a speeding camel, more powerful than a yoke of oxen, and able to leap over the Temple Mount in a single bound."
It reminds me of the prayer of Homer Simpson, "I don't know if you're up there, but if you can hear me, I could really use your help Superman!" Saint Homer may be a work-in-progress but he definitely illustrates how many people have fantastic notions about Jesus.
We can easily develop misconceptions about Him. That He was strong, good-looking, well-spoken, you know, a lot like me.
But the Scriptures say, "He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him."2 So let me briefly outline some of Jesus' limitations.
-
Lacked clout in His community
- After Jesus first sermon, His listeners tried to kill Him. Which regardless of how bad I'm doing, is not ok.
- Blue-collar worker
- Trained as a carpenter
- His family thought He was crazy and eventually kicked Him out of their house
- Became homeless and lived off handouts
- Jesus said he had "nowhere to lay his head" (Matthew 8:19).
- From the wrong neighborhood
- An inconsequential part of the Roman Empire (Jesus liked to keep it rural.)
- Didn't have credentials
- Never wrote a book
- Never traveled more than 200 miles from the place He was born
- Convicted criminal
- Executed
- Followers abandoned Him
- And oh yeah, He was a single person
Why am I saying all this? Here's my point: Whereas the mission of Jesus was restricted by the limitations of one man, the mission of the Church is not.
2. The Church has resources that Jesus NEVER HAD and the apostles NEVER DREAMED OF.
We have political access, national stability, rights and freedoms, formal education, financial prosperity, and, oh yeah, there's over 2 billion of us around the world! I'm not saying that all Christians enjoy the same resources that we do, but as a whole the Church has an unimaginable amount of resources compared to the disciples in the upper room.
And I'm not saying this to put down Jesus or His ministry. Given all His limitations, Jesus altered the course of human history in a way that no one ever has or ever will. I'm saying this because the Church has potential to do so much more! The people and resources that the Church has are limitless in comparison to what the disciples had in the upper room. The Church is not LIMITED in the same way as Jesus or His first followers. Because the Church has resources that Jesus NEVER HAD and the apostles NEVER DREAMED OF.
But if Jesus didn't have the numbers or the resources to rely on, what did He have?
The Bible says in Acts 10:38 that "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power... he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him."
It was the Holy Spirit. The Bible goes out of its way to connect every aspect of Jesus' life with the Holy Spirit:
- His birth: Mary "was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 1:18).
- His baptism: When Jesus had been baptized the Spirit of God descended on Him like a dove (Matthew 3:16).
- His temptation: "Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil" (Matthew 4:1).
- His preaching
- His healings
- His exorcisms
- His death
- His resurrection
Every aspect of Jesus' life was an outworking of the Holy Spirit on His life.
Christians believe Jesus to be fully-human, meaning the only way He was able to accomplish the amazing things He did was through the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Jesus was the Son of God, but the Bible teaches us that He emptied Himself completely to live in solidarity with you and me (Philippians 2:7). He modeled dependence on the Holy Spirit as if He was no different than us.
Jesus became "Christ," meaning "Anointed One," only through being anointed by the Holy Spirit. Without the anointing of the Holy Spirit, Jesus of Nazareth would not have been the Messiah.
So the important lesson for the Church is that while we have numbers and resources that Jesus never had:
3. The Church's RESOURCES are its greatest LIABILITY.
Just as Jesus could not rely on His own limited resources to carry out His mission, so too the Church cannot rely on its resources to carry out its mission.
It's easy to rely on resources because they're tangible. They can be quantified. They can be measured and counted.
And this is especially true for this church. Presbyterians are one of the most educated denominations in the United States. Our church is situated in one of the most affluent areas in the entire world. We have some of the smartest, most talented, and most resourceful people in this congregation that I've ever see. Our temptations are real; they are formidable; and they are our greatest liability IF WE ARE NOT CAREFUL.
So my question for you is: What resources do you find yourself relying on? When the Church looks to its resources should it instead be looking to God? Attending to His Holy Spirit?
4. The Church "must" rely on THE HOLY SPIRIT.
This even sound ridiculous to me because the riskiest resource of them all, and yet the only one on which we can truly rely, is the Holy Spirit.
Jesus was empowered for mission by His anointing by the Holy Spirit, and He told His followers to wait for baptism by the Holy Spirit before they were to continue His mission of reaching this planet with the love of God. Jesus knew that without the Holy Spirit the Church would fail.
More than churches full of RESOURCEFUL people, God desires INSPIRED people full of THE HOLY SPIRIT.
Spiritual Stewardship We're in the midst of a stewardship campaign where this church is asking its members and friends to commit to support the ministries of this church through a financial pledge. And because I recently became a member of this church, the first thing my wife and I did was to pledge because we believe it's important for us and for the church.
But I think equally important as your pledge is for everyone who worships at WPC to take part in the Inspired Living Workshop on May 22 and June 6. More than your financial contribution, this church needs your spiritual commitment to live a life inspired by the Holy Spirit. Because without the Holy Spirit we may be big, but we will never be bold.
Just like the first disciples, our church must wait on the Holy Spirit. And so I hope when you hear "wait on the Holy Spirit," it doesn't sound like a four letter word.
As Americans we can think of waiting very passively - like sitting around doing nothing. But what if we thought about waiting in the same way a waiter or a waitress waits on a table? A good waiter is attentive, enthusiastic, and always making sure that the table is never in need of anything. And if that's how we thought of waiting we could join the Psalmist in exclaiming, "I wait for the Lord, my soul waits!"3 [PAUSE]
Are you actively waiting on the Holy Spirit? Are you seeking after the Spirit through corporate worship, prayer, and the Scriptures? If not, the Inspired Living Workshop is a great place to get started.
Westminster Presbyterian Church
We have the knowledge.
We have the experience.
We have the desire.
What are we waiting for?
It's the very same thing the disciples were. We need the Holy Spirit. Because despite all of our resourcefulness, that's the only way we can truly make a difference. [PAUSE]
When you finally leave this world and you meet Jesus face-to-face, I imagine you want Him to say something like, "You know, we hated seeing go. You were doing so much good down there! You were living an inspired life that furthered the Kingdom and transformed people's lives. Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."
Don't settle for uninspired living. It's not worth it. Jesus said, "I came to give life in all its fullness."4 What are you waiting for?
AMEN.
- Hebrews 5:8
- Isaiah 53:2
- Psalm 130:5
- John 10:10
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Westminster Presbyterian Church |