Acts: WK 2
Waiting …
Acts 1.4-5
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.”
Acts 1.12-15
12 Then the apostles 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.
15 In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty)
Luke 24. 50-53
50 When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them.
51 While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven.
52 Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.
53 And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.
The 120 chose to wait with an attitude of praise.
They could have seen his ascension as a reason to worry and question their future.
What caused the majority of them to not go and wait?
Our posture in waiting changes everything.
1 Cor 15.3-8
3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
5 and that he appeared to Cephas,and then to the Twelve.
6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.
7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
Without obedience it is impossible to walk in the fullness of the Spirit. The only way to know his plan is to be close enough to hear his voice.
John 10.25-27
25 Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me, 26 but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. 27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
Sheep are valuable in that they provide wool, meat, and milk. They also naturally herd, meaning that keeping a flock of sheep together is pretty manageable. However, when sheep feel threatened, they have one defense: huddle together and run away.
The only way a shepherd can get a sheep to go where he wants is for him to gently lead it along, walking ahead of it. Eventually, the whole flock will come to know and recognize the shepherd’s voice and words.
A key idea to understand here is that sheep respond to a voice and a word they recognize. Sheep may not be too intelligent, but they’ll trust a shepherd they know. If someone they don’t know tries to herd them with words they don’t understand, they will run away in fear. When they hear the voice and words they know, they respond in trust.
There are examples of extraordinary people who heard the voice of God in extraordinary ways. God calls Abraham out of the Ur of Chaldees and makes him the father of a great nation. God appears to Moses in a burning bush and speaks audibly to him about the assignment to lead the Hebrews out of bondage in Egypt. God speaks to a discouraged Elijah with a still, quiet voice. And then there are the priests, and kings, and prophets of the Old Testament, many of whom God speaks to directly and unmistakably.
The history of Christianity is also filled with stories of people who had a special ability to hear the voice of God. From Paul’s Damascus road experience, to the revelation God gave to John on the Isle of Patmos that has become our Book of Revelation, we know that God speaks directly to certain people at certain times.
For sheep to listen to the shepherd, he or she has to say something. The first thing we need to realize is that Jesus still speaks to us today. He speaks through Scripture, which is how most of us know anything that Jesus has said. He speaks thru prayer, and thru his people.
No one cares for the sheep like the shepherd!
sheep are defenseless against predators. They can’t fight back and they can’t outrun predators. They simply panic. They’re afraid of water and can only be led to still water by a shepherd (Psalm 23:2), and who can blame them? Sheep can’t swim. Imagine getting all that wool soaked, so they’re really good at doing two things in water…sinking, and drowning. They’re also very good at getting stuck on their backs and being totally defenseless. They can be frightened into having a heart attack by imagining a dog or wolf is going to attack, even if it doesn’t. And sheep must be led to green pastures (Psalm 23:1); otherwise they’d eat the grass down to the roots, destroying the pasture.
In ancient times, when a shepherd laid down at night to guard the sheep, guess where he lays? Right at the door or the gate of the fence or pen. No one can come in or go out without going over or through the shepherd, including ravenous wolves, so He guards the sheep all night and feeds them during the day. They are all under His constant vigilance, just as believers are under Jesus’ constant care. He knows His sheep and knows that they can become restless, so the shepherd has to go slow in some cases to stay with the stragglers. He watches over them day and night, and only His voice do they know, and only His voice will they hear, and only His voice will they obey.
but He also knows their voice (John 10:4).
Before David became king of Israel, he was a shepherd. He took care of and protected flocks of sheep, and he wrote this psalm describing God as a shepherd and God’s people as His flock.
Through this beautiful metaphor, Psalm 23 gives us invaluable insights into the character of God and His plan for His children.
Psalm 23
1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.
Isaiah 53
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
John 10.11-13
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.
There’s no way around this, God actually honors and blesses us right in front of our enemies! That’s right! He shows off by abundantly blessing us before the very ones who want to see us fall! We don’t have to worry about what others say or think about us because we know that God has our backs and that serving Him is never for nothing.
He will never fail us, and He’ll make sure that justice prevails. If God is for us, who can ever be against us? (Romans 8:31). We can be sure that God’s goodness and mercy will pursue us every single day when we allow Him to shepherd us. With God’s love and goodness overtaking us, we can dwell in His presence every day until we finally spend eternity with Him.