The Empowering Presence

January 8, 2012

Acts 1:1-11
Rev. Jim Capps

On a dangerous sea coast where shipwrecks often occur there was once a crude little life-saving station. The building was just a hut, and there was only one boat, but the few devoted members kept a constant watch over the sea and with no thought for themselves went out day and night tirelessly searching for the lost. Some of those who were saved, and various others in the surrounding area, wanted to become associated with the station and give their time and money for the support of its work. New boats were bought and new crews trained. The lifesaving station grew.

Some members of the lifesaving station were unhappy that the building was so crude and poorly equipped. They felt that a more comfortable place should be provided as the first refuge of those saved from the sea. They replaced the emergency cots with beds and put better furniture in the enlarged building. Now the lifesaving station became a popular gathering place for its members, and they decorated it beautifully and furnished it exquisitely, because they used it as a sort of club.

Fewer members were now interested in going to sea to do this work, The lifesaving motive still prevailed in this club’s decorations, and there was a miniature boat in the room were the club initiations were held.

About this time a huge ship was wrecked off the coast, and the hired crews brought in boatloads of cold, wet, and half-drowned people. They were dirty and sick, and some of them had black skin and some had yellow skin. The beautiful new club was in chaos. So the property committee immediately had a shower built outside the club where victims of shipwreck could be cleaned up before coming in.

At the next meeting, there was a split in the club membership. Most of the members wanted to stop the club’s lifesaving activities, since they were unpleasant and a hindrance to the normal social life of the club. Some members insisted upon lifesaving as their primary purpose and pointed out that they were still called a lifesaving station. But they were finally voted down and told that if they wanted to save the lives of the various kinds of people who were shipwrecked in those waters, they could begin their own lifesaving stations down the coast. They did.

As the years went by, the new station experienced the same changes that had occurred to the old. It evolved into a club, and yet another lifesaving station was founded. History continued to repeat itself, and if you visit that sea coast today you will find a number of exclusive clubs along the shore. Shipwrecks are frequent in those waters, but most of the people drown.

It seems to me that we who call ourselves Christians in the churches of 21^st Century America are much like the members of the Lifesaving Station. Over time our primary purpose for being has eroded to the point that we have lost our sense of passion and urgency in seeing people become disciples of Jesus Christ. Our deep desire to be politically correct and not offend anyone at any time has caused us to abandon the Great Commission of Jesus Christ. We have become content with majoring in the minor. Like the Church of Ephesus in John’s Letter to the Churches in Revelation 2 and 3, we have “forsaken our first love.”

Today, I am beginning a series of messages entitled, “Renewed by the Spirit.” There is no recent program or best-selling book or latest study that will change and redirect us. It must come from God and not our desperation or our ingenuity. I wholeheartedly believe that we need to be renewed by God’s Spirit in much the same way that God has worked in His Church from the very beginning.

Let’s turn our attention to the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, maybe better named the Acts of the Holy Spirit. It’s there that for the last time Jesus tells His fledgling group of followers that it is the Holy Spirit who will come upon them and empower them to accomplish God’s primary purpose for them. Without doubt, if they had not been renewed and empowered by the Holy Spirit, we would not be here today.

Read Acts 1:1-11

IN ACTS 1, THOSE EARLY CHRIST FOLLOWERS WERE IN A SEASON OF TRANSITION.

Jesus poured Himself His disciples for 3 long years. They were doing on-the-job training as they heard him speak, saw him act in the lives of hurting people and experience His interaction with all kinds of people, some who were for Him and some very much against Him.

Then two unthinkable things happened. First, Jesus was betrayed, tried and crucified on a cruel Roman cross as a sacrifice for our sins. While His disciples saw the tide of public opinion turned against Him over his last days on this earth, they never thought Jesus would die and be buried in a borrowed grave. This was a shocker! But even more phenomenal was His resurrection from death to everlasting life.

In the 40 days previous to Acts 1, the Risen Lord had appeared to His disciples helping them to process and try to make sense of a Savior who died, was buried and the third day rose again. Those moments with the Master were crucial for the whole Christian endeavor.

Lloyd Ogilvie, pastor and former Chaplain of the United States Senate writes about growing up in the Midwest. When storm approached, he and his friends would count the time between the lightening and the thunder. If I remember right, the strike is one mile away for each second.

Ogilvie likens that distance as similar to what the world of Jesus’ day experienced between the lightening of the Incarnation, which was Jesus coming to earth in human form and the thunder of the Holy Spirit coming at Pentecost. Jesus’ disciples were to remain there in Jerusalem and wait in what will amount to 10 more days for the coming of the Promised Spirit.

As I have said in the past, in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit came sporadically on special people at special moments. 10 days after Jesus Ascension into heaven, the Holy Spirit would come to permanently indwell all Christ Followers in all the moments of their lives.

There was really no way those early followers could know what would happen at Pentecost. When they baptized with the Holy Spirit, they would experience unimaginable joy and meaning. They continue to be an example and inspiration to us as we desire to be renewed by the Holy Spirit. While our world is quite different to be sure, we have the same Holy Spirit continually indwelling each one of us who follow Jesus all the moments and days of our lives.

What’s more, God wants us to be renewed by the Spirit so that we have the power to accomplish all of God’s purpose for us.

THOSE EARLY CHRIST FOLLOWERS WERE PROMISED POWER TO BE WITNESSES WHEN THE HOLY SPIRIT CAME.

After all that had taken place, Jesus’ death and resurrection as well as 40 days of appearances, His followers knew that He was capable of setting up the kingdom about which he had talked, preached and taught. Yet, after 3 years of being with Him on an almost daily basis, they still didn’t understand what Jesus meant by Kingdom.

After all that Israel had gone through after their Greatest King, David died, it’s no wonder that they were still thinking of a political, economic, military reign by the Messiah. Jesus’ very name meant “Savior” or “Deliverer.” Certainly the prophet who predicted the coming of the Messiah, had in mind the same kind of kingdom they were thinking of when they asked Jesus, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” That’s what anyone would expect from Great King David’s Greater Son.

As you have heard before, in the Greek, there are two words for time. Chronos is the orderly measurement of our minutes, hours, days, etc. A watch is a chronometer. The other word is kairos, the time of fulfillment, God’s special time, Kingdom Standard Time. The disciples are asking about kairos. Jesus quickly says that only God knows kairos.

Yet, Jesus knows that in 10 days, at Jewish Festival of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit would come on them, continually indwelling them, bringing them power. The word power is the same word from which our words dynamite or dynamo have their roots. It’s a power above anything they had ever known and beyond any power they could have dreamed. We only need read through the Book of Acts and we see these plain, ordinary men and women accomplish things beyond their fondest imaginations. The source of that dynamo or power is the Holy Spirit living in them.

As an example, Peter who just 50 days before had denied Christ 3 times, spoke boldly, proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ before hundreds of people from around the then-known world. That ordinary group of disciples spoke with courage, with patience, with understanding, far above anything they had exhibited before.

To go a step further, they would receive power to be Christ’s witnesses, telling the world the truth about all that they had seen and heard. The Greek word for witness is martus, the same word from which “martyr” comes. They were willing to stake their lives on being witnesses.

Dear friends, when we become Followers of Christ, accepting God’s gracious gift of forgiveness and new life in Christ, we are given that same Holy Spirit for the same purpose of being witnesses of what we have heard, seen, experienced and know to be true about Jesus. As was true for Jesus, we are witnesses by both our words and actions.

Do you get the full impact of what that means? Renewed by the Spirit we have the power to be used by God to be witnesses who can help change people’s lives for the better. It’s never us, but always the good news of Jesus that changes people’s lives. I must say that being a witness for Christ is among the very most meaningful things I ever have the privilege of being.

OK, so we know when (when the Holy Spirit comes upon them) they will receive power and what they will do (be witnesses), but where will they go to be witnesses?

THEY ARE TO START WHERE THEY ARE AND THEN MOVE OUT IN CONCENTRIC CIRCLES AS LED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT.

They are to start right there in Jerusalem where they presently find themselves. Now please note Jerusalem isn’t home for most of them. Most of the disciples are from Galilee, which is quite a different place than the more sophisticated city of Jerusalem.

To go a step further, Jerusalem is the place of their greatest opposition. Think about it for moment. Jerusalem is the city where Jesus’ greatest opposition resided. Jerusalem is the place where they arrested, unfairly tried, and crucified their Master.

Next, they are told that they must go to all Judea and Samaria. Judea was the region or state in which Jerusalem was located. Samaria was the area just to the north of Judea where they would be crossing significant cultural and ethnic lines. It’s where Jesus met the woman at Jacob’s well and gave her a large dose of Living Water. This step would be difficult also and would require the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit if they were to accomplish Christ’s expectations for them.

Finally, the last concentric circle would be “to the ends of the earth”. Regardless of language, cultural or ethnic obstacles, they were to go as witnesses of the Risen and Reigning Lord. By God’s grace, people like Paul, Barnabas and Silas would be called and empowered by the Holy Spirit to join their number and lead the way into God’s future for them.

While far from being perfect, these followers of Jesus were obedient to their Lord, even though they still didn’t have all the answers. These same people who scattered in fear during Jesus darkest hour and who still didn’t understand what His kingdom was all about just before His Ascension, when indwelt and renewed by the Spirit were used to accomplish Christ’s mission for which they were called.

The Book of Acts tells of their witnessing first to Jerusalem, then Judea and Samaria, and then to ends of the earth as they knew. They did not morph into a kind of “Life Saving Station” club. Renewed and empowered by the Spirit, they were courageous witnesses who were willing to become martyrs for the cause of Christ. All of the 12 were executed for their faith in Christ, except for John and he was exiled. Renewed and empowered by the Spirit to be witnesses, it wasn’t long until it was being said, “they have turned the world upside down.” Praise and glory be to God for the example they set for us!

APPLICATION

As we begin 2012, has the Church of Jesus Christ in the United States become like the Life Saving Station I talked about at the beginning? Because of our lack of passion and compassion which come from the same Holy Spirit who empowered those early believers in the Book of Acts, have we lost our sense of purpose so that we are largely irrelevant to our world? As both young and old look at us, are they saying “So what?”

In a hard-hitting article in Tuesday’s USA Today Cathy Lynn Grossman deals with this very question, quoting people across the theological spectrum:

“The real dirty little secret of religiosity in America is that there are so many people for whom spiritual interest, thinking about ultimate questions is minimal.”- Mark Silk, Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut.
David Kinnaman, President of the Barna Group, a Christian research firm, in You Lost Me, a book about young adults drifting away from church. He finds that young adults are uninterested in trying to talk a diverse set of friends into a shared viewpoint in a culture that celebrates an idea that all truths are equally valid. Personal experience and personal authority matter most. Hence, Scripture and tradition are quaint, irrelevant artifacts. Instead of followers of Jesus, they’re followers of 5,000 unseen “friends” on Facebook or Twitter.
Diana Butler Bass, church historian and contemporary author- “We can’t underestimate the power of the collapse of institutional religion in the first 10 years of this century. It’s freed so many people to say they don’t really care. They don’t miss rituals or traditions they may never have had anyway. For them, the Almighty is off the radar, like some tiny foreign country they know exists but never think about.”

Dear friends, I believe that we have gotten to this place by majorin g in the minor. We have been more

concerned about the “numbers racket”, filling the plate and filling the pew”; about buildings and the latest programs which will make us bigger and more competitive; about being politically correct in all ways so that we don’t offend anyone; about church and denominational issues. Because of all of this we have become “franchised clubs” which have lost their distinctive purpose. In so doing, people ask, “So what?” when they think of us.

The problem is that people were created to need God. The Jesus whom we talk, sing and pray about can still meet the deepest needs of people. People who are lonely and hurting; feeling guilty and are afraid to die; looking for guidance and direction; in need of comfort, help and hope. In word and deed, we must be witnesses, passionately, positively pointing people to the Jesus who can meet their deepest needs. We must be renewed by the same Holy Spirit who empowered those first Christ followers.

In this season of transition when we actively make plans for the future, we must be renewed by the Spirit. In the next few months as we look at denominational issues, we must be renewed by the Spirit. Between now and June as we look at what our focus should be as a church, we must be renewed by the Spirit. At the right time, when we search for a new senior pastor, we must be renewed by the Spirit.

As we share this series of messages on the ministry of the Holy Spirit, I would challenge you to pray daily that ZPC would be renewed by the Spirit. If you are not a part of a Bible Study or small group, I would invite to commit to do so as soon as possible. Time and time again, it is as we study the Bible that we are renewed by the Spirit. Maybe it means by being in a One2One relationship with someone that you will be renewed by the Spirit. If you would like to be a part of a small group or in a One2One relationship study, you can sign up for one in the gathering place.

I have often been renewed by the Spirit through the great Banquet, a 72-hour week-end with God. ZPC will be having Great Banquets for both men and women in March. If you are interested in knowing more about being on a Great Banquet, there are sign-up sheets in the Gathering Place.

I have been renewed by the Spirit in various kinds of service to others. If you would like to explore that possibility, we will have sheets where in the gathering place where you can express your interest.

I believe wholeheartedly that 2012 is a kairos moment when God is calling us at ZPC to be renewed b y the Spirit so that we can fulfill the purpose for which God called us into being in the first place.