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“IN THE MEANTIME”

ACTS 1:1-14

The author of the book of Acts was Luke, of Gospel fame. Luke’s first Gospel book was such a bestseller that the publishers said: “How about writing a sequel?” The setting for the book was that time immediately following Jesus’ resurrection, those forty days in which the disciples experienced the presence of the risen Christ.

The opening chapter of the Book of Acts describes the fundamental crisis of the early church: the absence of the earthly Jesus. The disciples were asking: “What do we do now? How are we to live in the in-between time?”

In a way, that is always the question of the church: How shall we live in the in-between time of Jesus’ first and second coming. The Book of Acts gives us a glimpse.

I typically hug my father-in-law twice a year – one to say “hello” and one to say “goodbye.” My wife’s parents live on the Arizona/California border and because of the distance we only see them once a year – two times if we’re lucky. We always look forward to seeing them, but with seeing them also comes the realization that in a few days we’ll be leaving again. And saying “goodbye” is always more difficult than saying “hello.”

You know how it works. The suitcases are in the car and the engine is running. We’re all standing at the door, shifting from side to side, awkwardly looking down at our feet until finally someone breaks the silence and says: “Well, I guess it’s time to go.”

Grateful that someone has stated the obvious, we all simultaneously reach out and start hugging and kissing each other goodbye. We dab our eyes and in hushed tones we say to each other: “Great to be with you. Thanks for everything. Call us when you get home. See you next year.”

And then we stand on the porch and wave back and forth. They back out to the end of the driveway and look back. We wave again. And we keep waving until the car disappears over the top of the hill.

We don’t like goodbyes.

I remember an overcast Sunday afternoon, almost three years ago, saying goodbye to the congregation of our first pastorate. We had a farewell service in the sanctuary that was standing room only. In between songs and speeches, people took turns roasting me and imitating my weaknesses. We had so much fun! We laughed until our sides hurt.

They would have roasted my wife as well, but the only thing they could imagine “roast worthy” was that she didn’t have the common sense to do a background check on me before we were married!

After the service they lined our family up in the foyer and one by one every man, woman, and child filed past us to say their goodbyes. To be honest, very few people “said” anything – most just shook their heads, bit their bottom lip, and contorted their face like a baby who hasn’t figured out how his tear ducts work.

Whoever said, “parting is such sweet sorrow” never had to stand in a line and hug 250 people with contorted faces! It took over half and hour and by the time the last person staggered through we were absolutely exhausted.

We thought we were finished until we walked out the front door and noticed that the ENTIRE CHURCH had gathered on the front lawn to see us off. I don’t mean a few had hung around to turn off the lights and lock the doors – I mean EVERYONE had stayed! They had decorated our van with balloons and written in white shoe polish on our rear window: “KANSAS OR BUST!”

You take in the little things you normally don’t notice when you’re saying goodbye, and so I slowly walked to the van, taking my time, trying to soak in every detail: The crack in the sidewalk – the stucco façade of the building – the pink chrysanthemums in the flowerbed – but most of all the people. I wanted to remember their faces. Somehow I knew that this was the last time I would ever see many of them this side of heaven, and I wanted to remember.

These people were our best friends. They had taken in a pastoral family barely old enough to be a family and had loved us unconditionally. They loved us when we were up and when we were down – they loved us when we were right and when we were wrong. It had been a five-year honeymoon of laughing and loving and dreaming together. Up to that point they had been the best years of our lives.

I can still see the rear view mirror image of that sea of forlorn friends waving goodbye from the front lawn of our church. We drove out of town, past the city limits, and for twenty minutes all five of our family stared out the window of our van not saying a word. I think we were afraid that if we said anything we’d start crying and not be able to stop. Saying goodbye to those friends was the hardest thing we’d ever had to do!
Oh, there was no doubt in our minds that we were in the center of God’s will, and we were happy to be going. But never assume that being happy about going makes leaving any easier. It doesn’t.

We don’t like goodbyes.

That’s why it’s easy for us to understand what the disciples must have been feeling when they had to say goodbye to Jesus. It was the hardest thing they had ever had to do. And even though they knew that Jesus’ going away was necessary, it didn’t make it any easier for them.

They had been together for 3_ years of ministry, but John tells us that Jesus had said to them: “I’m going away soon. And when I’m gone you’re not going to see me anymore.”

And like a four-year-old at a funeral the disciples were asking questions: “What do you mean you’re going away and we’re not going to see you anymore? Where are you going? Why do you have to leave? Are you coming back?”

Jesus understood their uncertainty: “I’m going to the Father because that’s been the plan all along – but I’m also coming back. But don’t think that ‘in the meantime’ I’m leaving you alone. The truth is, my leaving is actually best for you because if I don’t go the Counselor won’t come. And so I’m going to make you a promise. Even though you can’t see me with your eyes or touch me with your hands, I’m going to send my Holy Spirit to indwell you. And that Spirit is going to teach you and lead you and remind you of everything I’ve taught you. And when he comes it’s going to be your job to tell the world about me.”

And then, Luke tells us, they had a forty-day farewell service to say goodbye. Jesus spent forty days fasting to begin his earthly ministry and forty days feasting to end his earthly ministry. Forty faith-building, vision-casting days of teaching about the power of the kingdom of God.

The problem was the disciples suffered from the same disorder so prevalent today: dyslexia of the ears. They got Jesus words all turned around! When Jesus talked about God’s kingdom, they thought he was saying YOUR kingdom. And when Jesus talked about DIVINE power they thought he saying POLITICAL power.

And so they wanted to know: “Is now the time (kairos) when you’re going to restore Israel to power?”

But Jesus didn’t have any interest in “when” – he was concerned about “how.” He said: “Oh, there’s going to be a kingdom all right, and there’s certainly going to be power. But turn up your hearing aids! I didn’t say YOUR kingdom, I said GOD’S kingdom. And I didn’t say EARTHLY power, I said HEAVENLY power. And so you don’t need to worry about the “how long/chronos” and the “when/kairos.” What you need to be concerned about is what’s going to happen in the ‘in between time’ because you’ve got a job to do.”

And then Jesus gave the missionary mandate for what every disciple then and every disciple since is to be doing between his first coming and second coming: “When the Holy Spirit has come upon you will receive power and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem (with your family), in Judea (with your friends), in Samaria (out there with all the folks you don’t like and who don’t like you – with all the wrong-headed, hostile, most sinful people you can find).

In fact, while you’re at it, why don’t you just go on out to the ends of the earth because anywhere you are and everywhere you go I’M GOING WITH YOU! My kingdom isn’t about the end of the world – My kingdom is about the ends of the earth!”

That was a major change, not only in direction, but also in strategy! Up until that time Israel had waited for the nations to come to them. Now Jesus was saying my witnesses are going out to the nations! And you better be glad Jesus’ followers got that last part right, because guess who the ends of the earth are? IT’S US!

The disciples were expecting a power to “rule.” But what they received was a power to “witness”. “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.”

The Greek word for “power” is dynamis. It’s where we get our English word for “dynamite.” Jesus was talking about supernatural energy and a holy explosion that can only come from God himself. It was resurrection power! And that power only comes with the Holy Spirit, because HE IS the power.

The Holy Spirit doesn’t BRING the power – he IS the power! There IS no spiritual power apart from the presence of the Risen Christ! And that’s why it’s essential that every Christian be filled with the Spirit!

But the power of the Holy Spirit is given for a very specific purpose. “To be MY witnesses!” A primary reason for gift of the energizing, life-giving Spirit of Jesus is for communication.

Yes, the Holy Spirit cleanses our life! Yes, the Holy Spirit purifies our hearts! Yes, the Holy Spirit comes to give direction! But the cleansing, purity, and direction come for a single primary purpose: TO BE A WITNESS!

We know about witnesses?

In a court of law, having evidence is crucial. In fact, one of the worst things you can say about evidence is that it is circumstantial. But in a legal proceeding, even more important than evidence, is witness. In every trial, both prosecution and defense want and need witnesses.

In the course of a trial, the court isn’t as interested in the character or personal attributes of a witness. What the court primarily wants to know is what the witness has seen and heard.

The witness’ life up to that moment of seeing and hearing may have been rather uneventful. The witness can be young or old, rich or poor, educated or not. But who cares? The main thing is the simple ability of the witness to tell the court what has been seen and heard.

And so you might hear a witness say: “I was driving along 87th Street, on my way to work.”

“Yes we know, please get on with your testimony.”

“Well, then I heard this loud crash, coming from down 87th Street.”

“Was the crash sound from the East or West?”

“It was west. It was a huge crash, and I turned and looked in that direction and that’s when I saw it!”

That’s how our testimonies go. A witness is someone who has seen and heard something. And so we use that word “witness” in a two-fold sense. A witness both witnesses an event and then, when that witness tells something about the event, he or she witnesses to others about the event.

What is Jesus telling his followers they are to be witnesses to? “You will be MY witnesses” meaning you will witness to what you have seen and heard and experienced through my risen, redeeming, ruling life. But you cannot be “MY witness” until you receive “MY power.”

Do you know what Jesus was saying? Not even 3_ years of shoulder-to-shoulder ministry with Jesus, and forty intensive “boot camp” days with the resurrected Christ was enough to make them vital witnesses!

And the same is true for us. No amount of biblical instruction can make us effective witnesses! We can have theological information seeping out of our ears and not be a vital witness! Do you know why? Because there is a dimension to being a witness that is totally dependent upon the gift and power of the Holy Spirit in our lives!

No wonder Jesus told his disciples to wait and pray until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven! He wanted them to know that when the Spirit comes it is always a gift. But he also wanted them to know that when the Holy Spirit comes on you, you better fasten your seat belt, because when he does you can’t do anything BUT talk about it!

When the Holy Spirit fills a human heart with his power and presence, He generates the passion to carry out Christ’s command. And so for a person to claim to be filled with the Spirit and yet not be passionately concerned about witness is to deny their calling.
The same is true for a church. Can a church that claims to be Spirit-led, but who sits on their corner content to minister merely to those who come to them, also claim to be faithful to their calling? The Church of Jesus Christ is called not to “sit still” but to “move out” – not to “pull out” but to “reach out.”

Do you know the irony in all of that? In the same way that witness is impossible without the Spirit – so also the Spirit is given for witness. It is true that no person can be filled by the Spirit of God, and keep that Spirit to themselves. Because wherever the Spirit is, Jesus is going to flow out – which is just another way to say that wherever Jesus doesn’t flow out – you can count on it – the Spirit is not there!

But it is also true that there can be no genuine Spirit empowerment unless we are engaged in being witnesses. There are many people today who are seeking the gifts and power of the Holy Spirit for their own needs. That is only the beginning. The deepest dynamics of the Spirit of Jesus are reserved when we are involved in the lives of people who need him!

Far too often we have heard a gospel preached that isolates and insulates us from the world. And so many Christians are wanting a private experience of the Spirit, without being willing to pour themselves out for hurting people and giving themselves away to heal human suffering.

Jesus never promises an easy evangelism that avoids the risk of relationship and the pain of sacrifice. Being Christ’s witness is not just spouting religious concepts and boycotting institutions. The word for witness is literally “martyr” which means we lay down our lives for the sake of Jesus Christ. Witnessing is a profound caring for and sometimes suffering with and for people, because people are first on God’s agenda.
Jesus won’t allow his disciples to make a little shrine on the hill to mourn his leaving. Instead, he fills us with his Spirit and propels us back into a hurting world to vicariously be his hands and feet. But to our astonishment we discover that it is also IN that hurting world we find more power than we ever dreamed possible.

More witness – more power! More need – more miracles! More compassion – more spirit!

There they were on ascension morning. All of the disciples gathered on the lawn in front of the church to say goodbye to Jesus. They knew they would see him again. He promised he’d be back.

And suddenly right before their eyes he was taken up in a cloud to heaven. And they stood there with their necks cranked as far back as they would go, mouths wide open, with that deer in headlights look in their eyes. I want to tell you, the disciples were ready to build a shrine right then and there.

When suddenly two angels appeared, no doubt the same that had announced his birth and resurrection, back to announce his second coming. They said: “Men of Galilee, why are you standing here staring at the sky?”

Do you want to know what they were saying? “Jesus is coming back. You can count on it. But in the meantime, you’ve been given a job to do and the power with which to do it. So there’s no use looking up in the sky for Jesus – better to look around you because that’s where you’re most likely to find him."

You and I live in the in between time of Jesus’ first and second coming. And so, if your faith is feeling a little anemic and you find yourself missing Jesus, I think I know the remedy. . . It’s time to witness!