• Acts 1:6-8

Acts 1:6-8

Sermon preached on December 13, 1998 by Laurence W. Veinott. © Copyright 2009. All rights reserved. Other sermons can be found at http://www.cantonnewlife.org/.

Unless otherwise noted, quotations are from The Holy Bible: New International Version (NIV). Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.

For quite awhile now I've known that Phil has a brother named Art. In some of the conversations we've had Phil would mention his brother Art. About a year or so ago I began to get email from Art Bridgman. The email wasn't anything personal, but rather it consisted of jokes and humorous stories. When I received them, I wished that I had some that I could send him back. But it wasn't very long before I received a very funny joke from another friend. But I hesitated to send it to Art because it wasn't politically correct. I don't know quite how to say this but it made fun of women's driving and a few other things. But it was so funny I decided that I would send it on to Phil's brother Art. The next day I get an email from Rebecca, Phil's daughter. The email began something like this, "I can't believe my pastor would send along a joke like that…” Art had passed it on to a lot of his relatives and friends and I was a little bit embarrassed that Rebecca knew it came from me. So the next week in church I was telling Phil about it. I told him that I had sent Art a joke and he had passed it on to Rebecca and she was a little bit annoyed with me. Later, Donna-Jean joined us and I started to tell her how I was in trouble with Rebecca. I said, "I sent Phil's brother Art email and…” She looked at me and said, "Phil's brother Art doesn't' have email. Phil's father Art has email." I was shocked. If I had known I never would have sent Phil's father that email. I totally misunderstood the situation.

Did that ever happen to you? One of the most embarrassing ways it happens is when you ask a question that shows your ignorance. A while ago I heard a joke about Compaq Computer. The story was that they were considering changing the command, "Press Any Key" to "Press Return Key". The reason purportedly was because so many people were calling up technical support and asking where the "Any" key was. Someone who asks a question like that really betrays their ignorance of computers.

It's the same with some people who are new to the Internet. They want to know where the Internet is. They may even ask, "Who's the head of the Internet. Who runs it? I've heard of people saying , "I need to call the Internet. Could you give me the number?" Anyone who asks such questions shows that they know nothing about the true nature of the Internet.

Sadly, we have an example of such a question here. After His resurrection Jesus had been with the disciples over a period spanning forty days. Verse 3 tells us that during that time He had been teaching them about the kingdom of God. Yet the question that they asked here shows that they totally misunderstood His teaching. Hardly any of it sank in. They come to Jesus and they ask Him,

"Lord, are you at this time
going to restore the kingdom to Israel?"

Now, how many things can you get wrong in one question? John Calvin says this about their question,

"there are as many errors in this question as words."

"The verb, noun and the adverb all betray doctrinal confusion about the kingdom. For the verb 'restore' shows that they were expecting a political and territorial kingdom; the noun 'Israel' that they were expecting a national kingdom; and the adverbial clause 'at this time' that they were expecting its immediate establishment."

"but we had hoped
that he was the one
who was going to redeem Israel."

That first Easter Sunday was one of the greatest days in the history of redemption. The women had told the disciples that the tomb was empty and that the angels had told them that Jesus has been raised from the dead. But what was the attitude of these two disciples? Their faces were downcast. (Luke 24:21) They should have been rejoicing because the resurrection showed that Jesus had triumphed over death. But no. They totally misunderstood the work of our Lord. Their faces were downcast.

John the Baptist

This was true even of the great prophet John the Baptist. At first he knew that Jesus was the Christ. When He was teaching and He saw Jesus He said, (John 1:29)

"Look, the Lamb of God,
who takes away
the sin of the world!"

But later on he had doubts. You'll remember when John's disciples told him about the works that Jesus was doing, he sent two of them to Jesus to ask,

"Are you the one who was to come,
or should we expect someone else?"

John didn't fully understand the nature of Christ's work. What he expected Jesus to do and what Jesus was doing didn't quite match. He began to have doubts.

How slow we are to understand the teaching of the Lord.

Remember the incident in Matthew 16:5f where Jesus and the disciples went across the lake and the disciples forgot to take bread? At that point Jesus said to them,

"Be careful.
Be on your guard
against the yeast
of the Pharisees and Sadducees."

Do you recall the reaction of the disciples? They got it all wrong. They discussed it among themselves and said,

"It is because
we didn't bring any bread."

They totally misunderstood Him. Jesus was aware of their discussion and He said to them,

"'You of little faith,
why are you talking among yourselves
about having no bread?
Do you still not understand?
Don't you remember the five loaves
for the five thousand,
and how many basketfuls you gathered?
Or the seven loaves for the four thousand,
and how many basketfuls you gathered?
How is it you don't understand
that I was not talking to you about bread?
But be on your guard
against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.'
Then they understood
that he was not telling them
to guard against the yeast used in bread,
but against the teaching
of the Pharisees and Sadducees."

They totally misunderstood him.

Now all the examples I've cited refer to incidents before the day of Pentecost.

We might be tempted to think, "Well, we don't have to worry too much about that now. We have the Spirit now and one of the great functions of the Spirit is to lead us in all truth. (John 14:17, John 16:13)

But what we see from the rest of the New Testament is that even after the day of Pentecost it was very easy for the disciples to go astray, to totally misunderstand and totally misapply Jesus teachings.

The Lord's Supper at Corinth

We see an example of this in the last half of 1 Corinthians 11. They totally misunderstood the purpose of the Lord's Supper. This misunderstanding led to a division in the church. The rich would come and they would have a great feast. The poor would have nothing. It was such a disgrace that God sent great punishment upon that church- many of them became sick and many died. One of the things that the Lord's Supper is to show is that we are one in Christ. Yet their practice of the Lord's Supper brought division in the church.

Peter stopped eating with the Gentile Christians.

We see another example in Galatians 2:11f. You'll remember that Peter was the one that was told to go to Cornelius' house and was show saw the Gentiles receive the Holy Spirit. He knew that there Gentiles had been brought into the church and that now there was no division among the people of God. Yet, what happened to him? In Galatians 2:11f we read that separated himself from the Gentile believers and refused to eat with them. He did it because he was afraid of those who came from Jerusalem. Other Jewish Christians joined Peter in this hypocrisy and many were led astray. When Paul found out about it he had to publicly rebuke Peter.

John in Revelation

We see another example of this in the book of Revelation. In Revelation 19:9 an angel was telling John to write certain things. The angel said,

"Write: 'Blessed are those
who are invited
to the wedding supper of the Lamb!'
And he added,
'These are the true words of God.'"

At that John fell at the angel's feet to worship him. The angel said to John.

"Do not do it!
I am a fellow servant with you
and with your brothers
who hold to the testimony of Jesus.
Worship God!
For the testimony of Jesus
is the spirit of prophecy."

The angel told him not to do it. Yet later, what does John do? He starts to do the same thing- to bow down and worship the angel. In Revelation 22:8f we read that when John heard and saw glorious things, he fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing him the things. Again the angel had to tell him not to do it.

How slow the people of God in the Bible were to learn the things of God. How slow they were to progress in the things that God revealed to them.

The great question is this:

Aren't we just like the disciples who asked this question?

Christians, Christians, do we understand the kingdom like we should? Do we understand our role in the kingdom? Do we focus on the major things instead of the minor things? Or do we have too narrow a view, like the disciples here did?

It is my concern that the church today is the boat. We're happy the way we are when in actual fact we haven't understood what Jesus wants us to do. We're like the disciples in the verse before us.

How are we like them?

First of all, many Christians today are too inactive as far as going out into the world with the gospel.

The disciples asked Jesus,

"Lord, are you at this time
going to restore the kingdom to Israel?"

They were expecting Jesus to do it all. Now in a sense we could say that that's a good emphasis. It is He who will establish His kingdom. Ultimately it is God who works in us. We can do nothing without Him. (John 15)

But as I look at this it seems that the disciples thought that their work was done. They were wanting Jesus to set up His kingdom without any effort on their part. But Jesus turns everything upside down and says to them,

"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."

They had the job of going out into the world. They had much work to do. But they weren't focusing on that. They wanted God to do it all.

Does the church today take evangelism seriously like it should? Some have described the church of this age as the "Fortress Church". We're not going out and conquering the world, we're holed up trying to protect ourselves from it. Jesus wants us to go out and make disciples.

Secondly,

Christians today are too narrow in our application of the Kingdom.

The disciples were looking for the Kingdom to be restored to Israel. They were much to narrow in their outlook.

What about us. Are we too narrow too?

There's a funny story about denominationalism that I like. It's not theologically accurate, but it does illustrate the disunity among some Christians today.

The story is of a man who died and went to heaven. Peter meets him up there and starts showing him around. As they're walking around, he says, "Over here are the Baptists, over here are the Presbyterians, over here are the Methodists. Then when they're going by another group, Peter lowers his voice to a whisper and says, "We have to be quiet here, they think they're the only ones here."

Are we concerned about Christian unity like we should be? In John 17:22f Jesus prayed to the Father with these words,

"I have given them the glory
that you gave me,
that they may be one
as we are one:
I in them and you in me.
May they be brought to complete unity
to let the world know that you sent me
and have loved them
even as you have loved me."

We Christians are to be one as the Father and Jesus are one. We are to be brought to complete unity in order to be a witness to the world! And yet where is the concern about that in the 20th century evangelical church? We Presbyterians are probably worse than any other denomination when it comes to unity.

There's another story that illustrates this. It's a story about two Englishmen, two Germans and two Scotsmen who were all stranded on an isolated island. They were found ten years later. Those who found them discovered that the two Englishmen had founded a university. The English are noted for their love of learning and these two men and cooperated and founded a little university. It was discovered that the two Germans had established a little manufacturing plant. Germans are noted for their industrial skill and these two men had cooperated and set up a little factory. It was discovered that the two Scotsmen had established two Presbyterian Churches.

Are we really concerned about unity, being one as the Father and Jesus are one? Are we really concerned to be united in order to be a witness to the world, so that the world would know that Jesus is real and that God loves us? The most that we do is pay it lip service to unity. We need to love another as Christ has loved us.

Thirdly, are we concerned about Christian living like we should be?

The disciples wanted to know about the dates and the times. Many Christians are really concerned about prophecy. I remember reading a story about Martyn-Lloyd Jones and how he and G. Campbell Morgan were getting ready for an evening service and Morgan said to Lloyd-Jones, "Well have a big crowd tonight." Lloyd-Jones asked him how he knew. Morgan replied, "I've announced that I'm preaching on prophecy."

People are interested in prophecy, perhaps more than they are in revealed truth. We need to focus more on what has been revealed to us, rather than the things that haven't been revealed.

Calvin: "There is nothing which holds us back more from our duty than excessive concern and curiosity in this field..."

Sometimes don't do our duty because we're more concerned about things that haven't been revealed. Today there's a lot of interest in the Y2K problem and what's going to happen just over a year from now. We don't know. But it's not nearly as interesting to hear sermons on love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Do we take Christian living seriously? Are we living so that people will see Christ living in us? Or does the world see something else in us when it looks at us.

Yesterday there was a commercial on TV in which they had some spots from various TV shows that are upcoming. I don't know the name of the show they were trying to get people to watch, but I found the spot very interesting. I guy opened his door and there were two 'evangelists' there. They asked him, "Have you ever thought about the afterlife? " The man replied, "Are you two going to be there?" They replied, "Yes, that's what we've come to tell you about." At that point he shut the door in their faces.

The message was very clear. If those kind of people are going to be in heaven, he didn't want any part of it.

Do we live so that people will want to join us? (Titus 2:10)

Christians, be teachable under the Word. Read it prayerfully. Seek to apply it to your life. The Scripture contains words of life, words that can change your life and the lives of other around you. Be teachable under the Word. As James 1:22f says,

"Do not merely listen to the word,
and so deceive yourselves.
Do what it says.
Anyone who listens to the word
but does not do what it says
is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror
and, after looking at himself,
goes away and immediately
forgets what he looks like."

May God give us grace that we may understand and apply God's Word to our lives.