Are We on Pentecost Watch? Acts 1:6

In Book Notes: Stories From American History, H.W. Brands, Professor of History, Texas A&M reflects on how, in the 1890s, America had a definite sense that something important was ending and something far greater was beginning. America had just celebrated its one hundredth anniversary and there was, writes, Brands, a feeling that the frontier phase of American history was ending. “The frontier had vanished, so Americans had this notion that they were running up against the end of their history as they had known it and were on the edge of something new.”

In the first chapter of Acts, Luke, the author of the gospel and of this historical account of the early movements of the church, describes what Brands calls “the edge of something new” as also a reality for this loose band of believers, in a post-resurrection community. God was moving this band of believers – not yet a “church” - to the next level; they were witnesses to His crucifixion, His burial and His resurrection and now it was time to take them up a little higher and that higher ground was Pentecost! For, Pentecost marks the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Jesus’ disciples and is also considered the birth of the early Christian church.

God was positioning this band of believers for something greater – He was posturing them for Pentecost!

However, the birthing process of the early church was not complete. But we know that whenever there is a birth happening – there’s going to be some pain and pangs!

You see, when you chart the movement, the attitude, the position of this loose band of believers, they are not only on the “edge of something new” but they are also on the “edge”!

For, after the resurrection, the gospels depict a post-resurrection community griped by fear, anxiety, uncertainty and were doing the best they could by coping! Christ had appeared to them numerous times, offering peace, comfort and assurance that the plan was still on time.

They were either on the “edge of something new” or they were on the “edge”: “Don’t push me ‘cause I’m close to the edge, I’m trying not to lose my head” – have you been there? Have you been on the cusp of something new, something greater, something next level but felt as if you were on the edge of losing your mind?

They were on the edge of something new, something greater, but this loose band of believers who were to become the seedlings of the early church, were also imprisoned by their own perspectives, as indicated by verse 6, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” In the preceding verses 1-5 (and indeed the post-resurrection gospel accounts), Christ had appeared to His disciples “alive” and by “many proofs” over 40 days, “speaking about the kingdom of God”.

Yet the disciples did not have the kingdom of God on their minds but rather the restoration of Israel. This was their NOW. But God was moving them to their NEXT.

What does this pericope teach us? What spiritual lesson may we extract from the vicissitudes of this loose band of believers who would go on and give birth to the Christian church and turn the world as they knew it upside down? What is the redemptive hermeneutical principle?

As you move through your NOW, watch – be on guard, remain alert, man your post - for what God is going to do NEXT!

The Pinnacle of Pentecost

You see, Pentecost represented a pinnacle that would usher in the universal, spiritual kingdom of God; it was the anointing of what would become the Christian church and Pentecost would become its launching pad. Pentecost, therefore, was the high point of post-resurrection activity. Resurrection would lead to Pentecost. No resurrection, no Pentecost.

The Anticipation of the Disciples

For the disciple’s perspective, though, it was a temporal, national kingdom which gripped them; it was the restoration of Israel to prominence and was rooted in Jewish prophecy.

Lessons

There are both personal and corporate lessons we can lift from this clash of perspectives rooted in the post-Christian community and its pre-Pentecost reality.

One, God is always moving us up to the next level. Just as God is moving, in the text, the church from one level to the next, God desires to likewise with each of us. God is always doing something new! “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?” God says to Isaiah (Isaiah 43:19)

Two, sometimes it’s not what we do NEXT, it’s what we do NOW. Verse 4, “…he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait…” God reserves the right to redirect us from next to now. In our sundry season of indecision, of waiting for clarity, it is easy to confuse our next with our now. This is where we find solace in scripture: “Be still and know that I am God”. (Psalm 46:10)

Three, we (the 21^st century church) mimic the early church when we move purposely from chaos to community, from fear to faith, from fragmentation to fellowship in anticipation of what God is doing NOW and what God is going to NEXT! “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by His own authority…” (v.7)

In your NOW, watch – be on guard, remain alert, man your post - for what God is going to do NEXT! “I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus”. (Philippians 1:6)

Pastor C. can be reached at info@pastorwericcroomes.com