“The Disciples Final Exam”
Luke 24:44-53 & Acts 1:4-11
Ascension/Graduation Sunday, May 30, 2003
************
(half-sheet handout)
The Disciple’s Final Exam
(based on Luke 24:44-53 & Acts 1:4-11)
The disciples had spent three-and-a-half years with Jesus in ministry. What were the most important things Jesus tried to teach them, and in turn, us during his last moments on earth?
Question #1 – What do we witness? (Luke 24:46-48)
Question #2 – What do we do? (Luke 24:49 & Acts 1:4-5)
Question #3 – Why did Jesus not come?(Acts 1:6-7)
Question #4 – Where do we witness?(Acts 1:8)
Question #5 – Where is Jesus at today?(Acts 1:9-11)
Extra credit: What does it take to graduate as a Christian?
Introduction – Illustration – my final exam.(I had a final exam in a credit/no credit course that I didn’t need to take in order to pass. I choose not to take it instead of making the effort.)
Point- the disciples couldn’t do what I did, their life was hanging in the balance!
Jesus had given them some things to think about.
He has given them to us as well.
Question #1 – What do we witness? (Luke 24:46-48)
We are witnesses to Christ’s suffering…we are witnesses to Christ’s resurrection…we are witnesses to Christ’s redemptive grace-filled offer…and we are witnesses of the remission of sin.
“And you are witnesses to these things.” (v.48)
Jesus had just shown these disciples the ultimate “shock and awe” campaign.
Just when the disciples thought it was over that Good Friday afternoon…
But they were shocked by Easter morning….
And awed by the teachings that were now starting to make sense…(ex. the road to Emmaus – vs. 31 – “then there eyes were opened.”)
We witness to the suffering, death, resurrection of Christ and the redemption and remission of sin that is offered to all humanity. This is our witness.
Did you get this one right? Good, question #2.
*********
Question #2 – What do we do? (Luke 24:49 & Acts 1:4-5)
We tarry (according the NKJV) other versions say that we remain or stay…until what???
“until we are endued with the power from on high”
Acts 1:5 says “you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
There’s been a lot of theological thought around this verse. Some say that the Holy Spirit comes after baptism, some say during, and that we can only come to a true understanding of what we are to do once we’ve been baptized with Spirit one way or another…”
In either case, its not a matter of the answer, it’s a matter of the question. Let me explain.
What we do while we wait for Christ’s second coming is based solely on our Spiritual gift. Therefore the question should not be one of when (I believe a strong case can be made for either), but is should be a question of how.
Turn to I Corinthians 12:12-14….
“For as the body is one and has many member, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ! (listen up here)
For by one Spirit were we all baptized
(the same spirit that baptized the disciples also baptized us when we came to faith – notice when is not the issue – it happened!)
into one body---whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free (it doesn’t matter where we’ve come from – we are a new creature in Christ)
and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many. (we are in this together)
What do we do while we wait? We become the Spirit-filled, Spiritual gifts given, Spiritual gifts using, people of Jesus Christ. “When” is not the right question? We need to be asking “how” do we continue the ministry that Jesus Christ started on this earth 2000 years ago.
Without Christ there is no Christianity. Without the Holy Spirit there are no gifts. Without gifts, we are powerless. (But taking this more positively….)
We do have Christ in Christianity? Amen??? The Holy Spirit has given us gifts? Amen???
And we, as the people of Jesus Christ, are anything but powerless? Amen!
What do we do, we wait to see how the Spirit is going to use us, and then follow Its direction.
Did you get this one right? Good, onto question #3…
******
Question #3 – Why did Jesus NOT come? (Acts 1:6-7)
It’s amazing to me that after three-and-a-half years the disciples still didn’t get it!
Just before Jesus was to leave them. Just before the birth of the Church, the filling of the Holy Spirit, the thousands coming to be saved through the ministries of Peter, Paul and the others, they are still asking, “It is time to restore Israel yet?”
Even in the midst of all the teaching, all the private moments, all that they had been through, they were still looking for Jesus to conquer the Roman empire and take his rightful place on the earthly throne. But that’s not why Jesus had come.
Think about it with me for a minute…
Did Jesus come back after his resurrection and dispose of Pontious Pilate? no
Did Jesus talk about overthrow at any time in his ministry? no
Did Jesus do anything after his resurrection that would indicate this?
He went through locked doors…yes
He ate fish on the seashore…yes
He visited some disciples on a road….yes
But he never looked for fame…or for power…or for revenge even though he had the right!
And Jesus taught this in his ministry as well…
In the Good Samaritan story, did Jesus teach us go after the bad guys or help the victim?
In Matthew 25 does Jesus lift up those who search after power and revengeor are we to help those that are the helpless, the victims, those in crisis?
When Christ fed the 5000, did he just feed himself or did he feed the multitudes?
Jesus did not come to restore the throne of David here on earth.
Jesus came for a different form of restoration.
Through the Spirit, it’s a restoration of each and every individual…
This restoration leads us to the One who offers salvation, convicting us of our need for salvation, and sustaining the believer once they’ve experienced salvation.
Our Bibles tell us that Jesus came so that we may life and have it more __________(abundantly.)
Our Bibles tell us that Jesus did not come into this world to condemn by to _________(save it.)
Our Bibles tell us that Jesus came into this world to be the Good Shepherd, to be our Way, to be
our Truth, to be the Bread of Life.
Our Bibles tell us that Jesus came into this word to be the Light to a world stumbling in sin, to be the True Vine by which we attach ourselves so that his life can flow in and through us.
Our Bibles tell us that Jesus came to be that Door, that Gate, that prevents predators from attacking and encloses us each night in His care and constant devotion.
We don’t need Jesus as an earthly king, we need Him as our Spiritual King.
Rulers come and go in this world, and our Bibles tell us to honor them, and we do as
much as we are able.
But I know that my Lord and Savior didn’t come to this earth to be wrapped up in a bunch of politics. Jesus Christ came to save…to provide restoration of each
individual. Amen????
Did you get this one right? Good, onto question #4…(only two “short answers” to go)
*****
Question #4 – Where do we witness? (Acts 1:8)
John Wesley wasn’t too far off when he said the world is our parish. Jesus told the disciples that they were to start at home (in Jerusalem), expand to the neighbors (in Judea), continue past the neighborhood in foreign lands (Samaria) and continue to journey to the ends of the earth.”
We, too, have that mandate. Not only in this passage of Scripture but also in words of the Great Commission found in Matthew 28… “Go therefore and made disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you….”
In Mark 16 we read, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature…”
While this church is a community church, we must never forget that our community has no boundary. We are called to be his witnesses to Wakelee, to Marcellus, to Cass County, to our state, our nation, and our world. Jesus told the disciples that their witness has no boundary, neither does ours.
I hope everyone was able to get that one right…Let’s look at the last one…#5…
******
Question #5 – Where is Jesus at today? (Acts 1:9-11)
Jesus wanted to make sure that his disciples knew where he was going, and who would be sent in His place.
Verses 9-11 give us some of the most awesome “shock and awe” of this whole chapter. Can you imagine sitting their looking up into heaven and wondering “Now what?”
The disciples stood there looking so long that angels were dispatched to set them straight, vs. 11 in Peterson’s translation reads, “Why do stand and look up toward empty sky? This very Jesus who was taken up from among you to heaven will come as certainly---and mysteriously---as he left.”
Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James, son of Alphaues, Simon, and the other Judas, son of James all finished their final exam as they looked up toward the sky and tried to put all this “shock and awe” into perspective.
They went back to the upper room, prayed, and began the continuation of the kingdom, even though Jesus was not among them.
The Spirit had not come yet. Jesus had gone home to be seated at the right hand of the father. And they were left to wait.
In very much the same way, Jesus is not physically with us today. That will only come when he arrives to take his people home. But today, unlike the disciples at this moment, we have the Spirit, the one who advocates, sustains, directs, convicts, forgives, and restores.
And last, but not least, the extra credit…
*********
Extra credit: What does it take to graduate as a Christian?
Watch out, extra credit questions are often tricky!
While we are to understand that we witness to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ,
While we are to understand that through our Spiritual gifts given, we continue in the ministry that Christ started,
While we are to understand that Jesus did not come into this world to conquer or condemn it, but to save it,
While we are to understand that our witness as no boundaries and that even though Jesus is not physically with us here today, his Spirit is,
To graduate as a Christian is simpler than all of this, in fact it relies upon one question…
Where is your faith?
Romans 10:9 simply states that “if we confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in our heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
And I John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
***
God has made us a promise. It’s the same promise he made to the disciples. It’s the same promise he’s made to the generations before us and will continue to make to the generations after us until His coming…ask for forgiveness, it will be granted….ask for the Spirit’s leadership, it will be provided.
Will you join me in prayer….
O Lord and Savior,
We give you thanks for the instructions you gave to your disciples. Not only for the years of ministry training that they received, but also for the loving, caring, and gracious way you continued to share with them.
Lord, in many ways, we are much like them. Forgive us for the times we have failed to listen with an open heart, for the times we’ve not followed you as much as we say that we do, for the times when we are left “looking to empty sky” when you’ve already given us the answers.
Lord, you’ve given us so much. And, in return, you’ve asked us to be your witnesses to the ends of the world as we know it. Help us to take up the cause. Help us to speak and share with our neighbors, our community, and those outside of it. Help us to fully graduate into the Christians you would like us to be.
We pray these things in your name….Amen
# 374 – Standing On the Promises
Closing Benediction…
As graduates, let us go from this place…
strong in our faith, filled with Spirit, and
ready to meet the world as we witness to the life death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Thanks to him, we’ve passed! Amen.
Note: If for any reason you did not find this sermon helpful, please let me know by contacting me at gb@clergy.net. Your input will help me personally and my congregation as I learn professionally.
