June 1, 2001 Acts 1:1-14
1 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3 After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. 4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit."
6 So when they met together, they asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" 7 He said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 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." 9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 "Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven."
12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walk from the city. 13 When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. 14 They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers. (NIV)
One of the first sins ever committed in this world was the “excuse”. After Adam had eaten from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, he excused his sin by blaming Eve. And then Eve excused her sin by blaming Satan. The Bible is full of people who made excuses when God called them to a line of service. You may remember the story of Moses. When God called him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, Moses said, “I’m not eloquent.” So the Lord said, “I gave you your mouth - I can enable you to do it.” How did Moses respond? “Send someone else.” So God said, “I’ll give you Aaron as a spokesman! Now go!” God didn’t want excuses. He didn’t want people to say, “I can’t” when He called them.
Today’s text gives the same kind of scenario. Jesus had guided his disciples through some very trying times. He had taught them for three years, preparing them for their own ministries. He had died for them and given them faith to believe in Him as the Messiah when He rose from the dead. But now it was time for them to go on their own. Jesus told them, you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. The only catch was, Jesus would no longer be by their visible side to hold them by the hand. When the truth finally had sunk in, they would be overwhelmed. How would they survive on their own? They couldn’t!
In a similar way, many of us think that God gives us tasks that are just too difficult for us to handle. Whether it’s getting the crops planted before the next rainfall or raising three kids at one time, sooner or later - all of us have thought to ourselves, “I can’t do this.” Jesus has some good encouragement for us today.
Jesus Gives Two Cans to Those Who Think “I Can’t”
I. Jesus says, “you can with Heavenly Help”
The story is told of little Joey - a boy born with club feet. The doctors had assured his parents that he would walk normally with treatment, but that he would never be able to run well. But the parents never told Joey this. Day after day he would join with the other kids, and try to run and play with them. Eventually, in 7th grade he even tried out for the cross country team, and made it. What was the reason the parents gave for Joey’s success? “We never told him he couldn’t do it.”
That is a good reflection of the humanistic approach to life today. The theory our children are being given is, “you can do whatever you set your mind to. The only thing that will stop you is when you doubt yourself.” So people today are filled with self confidence. Your children are being taught that they can be whatever they want to be. When he or she says, “I can’t,” they are quickly corrected with a pep talk - “you CAN!” It sounds good. It makes you feel good for a while. But unfortunately, it often leads to feelings of disappointment and failure when expectations are not met.
When the disciples - frightened of being alone - tried to talk Jesus into staying with them, did He say to them - “you can do it! You can carry the torch! You can make the church grow! You don’t need me!”? Look again. Jesus never pointed his disciples or Moses to an inner strength - He never wanted his disciples to rely on their own self potential. With God, He works in the exact opposite way, because He knows what we are like - and He wants us to be realistic about ourselves. Jesus said, out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. The only potential that we are born with is the potential for evil. So God wants us to realize that we are weak - that we don’t have the ability to do whatever we want to do.
Instead of pointing the disciples to themselves, Jesus gave them a much greater strength. He promised to give them a power source that could leap much taller buildings, give far greater speeches, and had an unlimited potential. He said to them, “wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. . . You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; Although John’s baptism also gave the Holy Spirit - this baptism would be an even more powerful baptism - enabling them to speak in languages that they had never even heard of before.
This is what gave the disciples confidence. It enabled them to say, “I can carry the torch of faith - not just to my neighbors or friends - but to the ends of the earth.” Jesus gave them confidence by showing them that the future of the church was not resting on their abilities, their eloquence, or their know how. The future of the Christian church was in the hands of God - He would work through them. And if that weren’t enough, God also gave them extra encouragement. As they were staring up in the sky, what happened? Suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 "Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven." Not only did the disciples gain confidence from knowing the Holy Spirit would work through them, God also showed that He would also use angels to guide and protect them. They had heavenly helpers to achieve God’s mission. This was one reason they were able to say, “I can.”
And God still works the same way. All of you who were baptized have been given the same Holy Spirit and the same angels. They are just as powerful now as they were then. If the Holy Spirit enabled the disciples to spread the Gospel back then, He can do the same today. He enables us to speak in a different tongue also - for every time we say “Jesus is Lord,” we are speaking a language that we were not born with - a language that cannot be taught by men - foreign to his natural vocabulary. Knowing this changes our attitude. With their power, we no longer will say, “I can’t.” As long as they are working through us, we will say, “I can,” realizing that it isn’t dependant on us, but on the Heavenly Helper working through us and God’s heavenly helpers standing beside us. We can bring our children up in God’s Word. We can earn a living. We can resist temptations. As long as we keep connected to the Holy Spirit through the Word of God, there is no reason for us to say, “I can’t.” As the angel told Elizabeth, “nothing is impossible with God.” If that is not your attitude, then you need to get reconnected to the Spirit. Remember that it isn’t Pee Wee Herman living in you - it’s the Holy Spirit - God Almighty!
II. Jesus says, “you can with the help of your friends”
Jesus told His disciples to wait in Jerusalem for this gift of the Holy Spirit. This may sound like an easy thing to do. But any of you who have waited for a vacation, a promotion, the ground to dry out, or for a rain realize that waiting isn’t all that easy - especially when your life depends on what you are waiting for. At this point, the disciples’ lives were constantly in danger - they needed more power to face such hatred and unbelief. But all they could do was wait. So you might compare it to waiting for your friend to deliver your rifle with a bear charging you at full speed. It wasn’t easy.
It must have been very difficult to sit there for those ten days and just wait for the gift that would enable them to carry on God’s mission. But notice what Jesus didn’t say. He didn’t say, “go to your room and wait alone.” He only said, Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised. He allowed them to spend time together as they waited for this gift. This is what they did. They returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walk from the city. 13 When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. 14 They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.
What is the significance of this? Remember what the disciples had just been through. They all had seen their leader - the one they expected to set up an earthly kingdom - leave them! The angels pretty much told them, “don’t expect Him to come back for a while!” They needed to hash this out with one another - they needed to struggle with it - talk about it - come to terms with it. If they were left alone, they might have despaired - thought - “there’s no way I can survive!” But by being able to meet together with the fellow believers, they were able to encourage one another and reassure each other. They were able to talk about the coming gift of the Holy Spirit in eager expectation. Instead of despairing - all of the disciples and the women encouraged one another, praying for strength. By allowing them to meet together for those ten days, Jesus gave them another reason to say, “I can.” They weren’t in the battle alone. They had the help and support of other Christians to help them through this difficult time.
You see, the Church works like a pile of coals. When coals are piled together, they feed off of each other’s heat, keeping each other warm and glowing. But you’ll notice, that if one coal falls to the side, it soon loses it’s heat and it’s fire goes out. That’s what almost happened with Elijah. He had just won a great victory over the 450 prophets of Baal. But then Queen Jezebel threatened his life, and Elijah fled for his life. He was left alone in a cave at Mount Horeb, hundreds of miles away from home. It was at this point of loneliness that Elijah despaired for his life. He said to the Lord, “I am the ONLY ONE left, and they are trying to kill me too.” So God reassured him, “you are not alone. There are 7,000 that have not bowed the knee to Baal.” With that reassurance, Elijah went back to accomplish his mission. That’s the way the Christian Church works. When Christians are left alone - they quickly despair. But when they have the support of others, they are able to grow. Jesus knew this, so he allowed the disciples ten days to feed off of one another before sending them out.
If you have been despairing of your life, wondering if you will be able to survive the trials and temptations that you are facing right now - let me ask you this - have you been in fellowship with the saints? Have you taken the Lord’s Supper lately? Have you been coming to church? Have you been spending time talking to fellow Christians - coming to the Bible classes - staying afterwards just to talk? The devil knows how to attack - by bringing you apart from the group. Those who are despairing are most often those who have withdrawn from the fellowship.
My friends, life is getting more and more difficult. The devil is getting more and more freedom. We are facing more problems in marriage, in school, in the working world every day. As you can see from today’s example, you need each other! Coming to church and helping out with activities isn’t just about what I can get out of a service. Every time you come together - you are encouraging someone else and being encouraged yourself, just by being present with one another. It gets you to realize that you have the support of fellow Christians, enabling you to say “I can” instead of “I can’t.” That is one major reason Jesus established the Church and gives us pastors, teachers and each other - for that very purpose of fellowship. Remember that next time you think about skipping a dinner or worship service at church. These are more important than we give them credit for. We need that support so we can say, “I can.”
There is a difference between humility and unbelief. If at this point the disciples still had said, “I can’t spread the gospel,” it wouldn’t have been humility. It would have been unbelief. My friends, know the difference. It is ok for you to say “I can’t,” when you realize that you are a weak human being. But now that you realize that you have the Holy Spirit and the support of Christian friends, Jesus has given you two reasons to say “I can.” Continue to listen to His promises. Continue to meet together. These sources of strength will enable you to say - “I can spread the gospel! I can raise my children! I can stay in the faith! I can resist the devil! I can do all things THROUGH HIM who gives me strength!” Amen.
