4-26-09
Text: Luke 24:44-53; Acts 1:1-11

 ● Jesus has been making appearances to his followers; interestingly, not as a means of silencing the skeptics, but as a means of solidifying their belief in him amidst some pretty confusing circumstances.

He was “opening their minds to understand the Scriptures”, Luke records. He was not, I believe, offering them selected texts to fortify their argument, but telling them the story of all that God has been up to and all of the many ways that he has been moving to restore all that he loves; all of those ways now reaching their climax/fulfillment in Jesus.

 ● Not only telling them the story, but placing them in the story. Rather than “side-lining” us in such a way as to not “mess it up again”, he actually desires that we become part of the healing/restoring process; having ourselves been transformed, we become agents of the transformation. “Heal, forgive, set people free: make resurrection happen wherever you go!”

 ● And he talked to them about the “Kingdom”. He talked about this new creation, this new way of being human that was really a return to all that he had initially intended.

He talked about a new way of thinking, a new way of ordering their lives with God as King which was actually bringing the future to bear on the present.

 ● Jesus’ initial instructions for his followers--- “wait”.

            Can you imagine the chaos that would proceed from that group without the Holy Spirit? Each running off with their “own understandings”, taking up their own causes and agendas.

 ~ Waiting to be empowered implies that nothing short of God’s personal presence (grace) will be sufficient for the ‘meantime’.

            Waiting would be the means of ensuring a common heart, a common mission. We’ll need understanding, we’ll need to know the truth, we’ll require comfort, we’ll need direction, we’ll need counsel… we’ll need to know we’re loved.

 ● We as Christians will always be defined by how well we wait--- how well we manage the in-between time [the time between the ascension and return]. How well we hold to a future hope in the midst of some pretty conflicting evidences.

 ~ Waiting always seems synonymous with both ‘frustration’ and ‘anticipation’.

            Waiting seems to be the link between the frustration of what you are currently experiencing and the realization of what you are hoping for.

            We wait… for a call from the interview, for the test results, for customer service (but, we do know that they appreciate our patience), for the answer to prayer, for the vacation, for our turn. Mostly, we wait for God.

 ● Waiting is associated with all that inconveniences us, all that interrupts us as well as all that we long for, all that we confidently expect.

In a word, we’re “heartsick” (Proverbs 13:12 “Hope deferred…”). It means that we expect something else (what we hope for); so--- we wait for it.

 ● Admittedly, there is very little that transpires around me which evokes feelings of hope. Most of what I see is not what I had hoped for.

And, if you’re not waiting/hoping for something, then you already have everything you want. If you are still waiting/hoping, you are longing for something different, something better!

 ● And, in the final analysis, it’s not just about how long we wait, but how we wait. It’s about what the process does to us or produces in us.

            Trust is not our default mode while we wait: anxiety is.

 ~ Waiting means that we must learn to receive.

            “Wait to be empowered”. It suggests that what we most essentially require for life is not something that we can rush out to obtain on our own, but something we will need to be given.

 ~ Waiting is what’s required when what you are expecting is the realization of a promise.

Numbers 23:19 “Does he promise and not fulfill?”

Psalm 145:13 “The Lord is faithful to all of his promises…”

Hebrews 10:23 “He who promised is faithful”.

 ~ While waiting, faith refuses to interfere.

Faith means learning how to ‘cooperate’ without ‘interfering’.

Anytime that God’s interaction with us is determined to be delinquent, it creates a gap. That gap, that discrepancy, usually provides the environment for some of life’s greatest temptations.

 ● Giving up on God often seems reasonable under many conditions. After all, continuing to believe in such times seems less like hope and more like we’re delusional.

 ● But think about all that we miss in our lives because we give up too soon?! Give up on our circumstances, on ourselves, on others, on God.

            How many moments have we missed because we left too soon? [I remember vividly the occasions when I left the ball-park only to hear the roar of the crowd as the home team rallied to win. “Right after you left,…”].

We usually devise a strategy for taking matters into our own hands [Although we’re sure he meant well, God has obviously over-extended himself on this one and is in “way over his head”].

But, if I “make it happen”, how will I ever be able to know if it was me or God? How can I “rest” knowing that I have manipulated the circumstances?

 ~ Hope seems to always require some practical response in our current life-situation; something to indicate that we really believe.

Noah started on the Ark with no rain in sight; Moses and David took care of sheep on the backside of nowhere while awaiting their moment. Joseph waited in wells and prisons for the dream to come true. Abe and Sarai, they loved God’s sense of humor, but they started the addition anyway.

Hebrews 11 says,“…all of these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised” [They didn’t receive “all”, but they did receive some].

 ● It means acting like we really believe it’s going to happen. Admittedly, sometimes that’s the best that we can do!

            Most often, waiting faithfully is the ultimate expression of trust. There will be times when no amount of faith will change your circumstance.

 ~ Waiting requires watching.

 Psalm 130:5

“I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning”.

 Micah 7:7

“But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior…”

 ► Waiting/watching means that you are becoming aware of all that doesn’t seem to be happening.

 ►Waiting is what keeps us right here; right in the moment.

Waiting often makes us stop long enough to be aware of what’s around us; all that we’ve overlooked because we were waiting for something else.

 ►Think of all that you’ve discovered and seen for the first time while you were waiting? The conversations you’ve had?

 ►Waiting confronts us with our incessant need to be doing something [favorite bumper sticker: “Jesus is coming soon: everyone look busy!”]

            It reveals how unsettled our hearts really are at times. It demonstrates the level of ‘unrest’ which characterizes our lives.

 2 Peter 3:8-9

“But you must not forget this one thing, my dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent”.

 ● The delay usually involves not only what God is attempting to accomplish in our own lives, but what God is trying to do in someone else’s life as well; the repentance and rescue that he is working in them in the process.

            Remember, God thinks in terms of people, not just individuals.

 Would we somehow be more content in the delay if we were convinced that it would ultimately be beneficial for another?

 ~ What are we waiting for?

Have you ever waited so long that you forget what you were waiting for! If we forget we are waiting, then we’ll be tempted to assume that this is all there is!

            Sometimes we forget, sometimes we need to be reminded, sometimes we get distracted, sometimes we get overwhelmed, sometimes we get tired.         

 ● Jesus’ instruction was not just “wait”, but “go”.

            How often do we say that we are just “waiting on God”, when God is “waiting on us?”

 ● Jesus is saying, “Work, love, forgive, heal, serve, sacrifice, feed the hungry, cloth the naked, set things right--- give people a taste of what’s to come”.

            The call out was grounded in the promise of his presence with them. We don’t need to wait for permission.

 ~ What’s your sign?

What are you waiting for? The only “sign” we need is the brokenness and dysfunctionality we see all around and within us. That indicates that God’s mission of reconciliation and shalom has yet to be completed, therefore, we need not wait further instructions… “Go, I will be with you”.