Just a few weeks ago, we completed another year of the NIFW Gotham Fellowship. Similar to last year, I felt a tension in my spirit as our Cohort wrapped up our year together:
Excitement that our Fellowship year was complete, but sadness that we won’t gather to enjoy weekly time together any longer.
Gratitude for the learning and growth we’d experienced, but a desire for more study and conversation as we seek to thoughtfully engage God’s mission in our everyday places.
Confidence in our Fellows, that each of them are prepared to engage the brokenness in their work with real creativity, yet hesitancy that each of us has room for further development and a need for the kind of support and encouragement that a community like Gotham offers if we’re truly going to thrive in serving God with our best.
This week marks the celebration of Ascension Day - the day when the global Church remembers and meditates on the events around Jesus’ departure from the disciples after 40 days of ministry following the resurrection.
Acts Ch.1-11 shares the details of Christ’s ascension – his last conversation with the disciples, the event itself, and then the disciples' conversation with two angels immediately following their leader and Lord’s departure. In reflecting on this text, it’s not lost on me that the disciples likely felt a sense of tension themselves, in considering their readiness to continue forward the mission of Jesus according to the instructions they received in these conversations. That tension is evident in the two postures we see the disciples called to in this passage; one that can be summarized with a short statement that’s a bit cheesy, but also profoundly important:
“Hurry Up!” and “Wait…”
So first: “Hurry Up!”
The disciples are clearly called to engage in the mission Jesus had assigned to them with a sense of urgency.
Immediately following his ascension, two angels appear with the disciples and challenge them:
“What are you doing standing here looking into the sky? Don’t you know he’s coming back!?”
“This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you’ve just seen him go…” (Acts 1:11)
The angels prompt the disciples with a sense of urgency:
“You know the mission you’ve been given. You know how to get after it. Get on with it already!”
It seems in the text that Jesus had been gone for all of 30 seconds! Why the rush?
Maybe there’s no inappropriate time for a Christian to be reminded that each of us who have experienced God’s grace personally do well to live with a sense of urgency. The gospel inevitably leads followers of Jesus to commit our time and energy to partnering with Jesus in caring about the things that matter to him and acting on those convictions. These angels want the disciples - and you and I - to know that there’s no better time to get started in this than our present moment.
Can you look back and remember times in your journey of faith when you felt that you needed something more before you would be ready to take on a new challenge in serving God? I certainly can. I’ve thought, “If I had just a little more knowledge, more resources, more wisdom, more courage… If I could just be a little more polished, a little less fearful - then I’d be ready...”
The words of angels to the disciples encourage you and I: We’ll always have room to grow and mature, but part of the way God has designed for that to happen is for you and I to try and start flying our service to God. We’ll learn through our mistakes, bumps, bruises, and wins as we go.
Has God put a dream in your heart or given you a vision for how he’s called you to participate in his mission, and it’s due time for you to take a step of faith in getting after it?
Maybe it’s asking a friend or co-worker to read a book like Tim Keller’s “Making Sense of God” or CS Lewis “Mere Christianity” and discussing it together weekly over lunch.
Maybe it’s making the effort to get to know a younger believer - taking them out for coffee or lunch - and being a mentor for the first time. Really investing in their faith.
Or maybe you’ve sensed for a while a desire from God to start a new initiative, pursue a big goal, or further your education in response to a way he’s the way he’s created you to shine a light on him.
What are you waiting for? This passage tells us to get to it, with one caveat…
Hurry Up! And Wait…
“Wait.” This is the second posture the disciples are called to in this passage.
Jesus instructs them to live with a continual sense of dependance of the Holy Spirit as our provider in all things.
Before he ascends, Jesus instructs the disciples:
“Don’t leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” (verse 4)
Maybe part of the reason our fears and hesitations limit us and we so often feel a need for something more than we have within ourselves is that God desires for his people to have an awareness of our own inadequacy in order that we’d continually turn toward him as our Provider.
Maybe our feelings that we need something more aren’t meant to limit us, but to drive us toward continued reliance on the Holy Spirit. Without his help, his power, we’re destined to fail, but with him all things are possible.
That’s what we see throughout the rest of the Book of Acts, where we see dramatic stories that portray what can happen when the Spirit comes:
The gospel is spread across cultures in miraculous ways.
The greatest enemy of the church becomes her greatest pioneer for expansion.
Persecuted followers of Jesus are supernaturally broken out of prison.
People are healed of health conditions, demons are cast out, and the dead are even raised.
Throughout these stories in the book of Acts, we see the disciples pursuing the mission of God full-steam-ahead, but also waiting on the power of God as they do it.
Again, think about the dreams or visions that came to your mind a moment ago, for how God is calling you to engage his mission in the world.
Here’s a spoiler alert - the testimony of scripture and two millennia of Christian history remind us that pursuing ambitions for God will never be easy. If we pursue them on our own, it won’t be long before our tank is empty. We need to lean into God every step. There will be days, maybe even weeks, months or years, where we’ll wonder if we’re ever going to get there with all of the peaks and valleys. We will likely want to give up, but God will give you what you need to keep following him and he’ll keep drawing you closer to him every step of the way as we look to Jesus. Jesus has provided for our need in the ultimate way through his death and resurrection and we can rely on Him to be faithful in providing all what we need to make his glory known in our lives.
May you and I respond to God’s kindness toward us by living with a sense of urgency as we seek to make the love of God known in the places where he has called us. And, may we wait on the Lord at every step of our journey, that our success would not rest on the limitations of our own humanity but on the will and ability of our risen and ascended Savior.
