Sun, 1 January, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

Acts 1:1-11

¹ In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, ² until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. ³ To them he presented himself alive after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.

⁴ And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; ⁵ for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

⁶ So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” ⁷ He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. ⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” ⁹ And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. ¹⁰ And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, ¹¹ and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

Happy New Year! Welcome to a the beginning of another year of reading through the Bible following Robert Murry M’Cheyne’s Daily Bible Reading Calendar. As we start through the Bible again, I will continue to write a short daily meditation on one of the four readings from the day.

For our second secret reading of the day, we begin reading through the book of Acts.

The disciples have just been through the difficult time of Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection. After spending three years with Jesus, they are now finally starting to understand what has been going on around them. But, amazingly, at the point of His ascension, they still don’t get it. “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” They still are looking for a political leader who will expel the Romans and restore the nation of Israel to the political prominence it had under David and Solomon. They still don’t understand what Jesus has for them to do. And so Jesus gives them the great commission.

What do we learn from this?

We aren’t that different than Jesus’ disciples. We think we understand what God is doing around us, but often we really don’t know anything. Even after following God for quite some time, we can discover that we are quite clueless about what He is doing and how He works.

In the United States, Evangelical Christians and Liberal Christians are both very prone to make the same mistake the disciples make here. We (on the right) look to Jesus as a political leader who will restore national morality, and make our nation great in the world or we (on the left) see Jesus as the one who will bring social justice and releave the suffering of the poor. We see our Christianity in terms of of our politics. The Christian Right is associated with conservative politics and the right leaning political party. Liberal Christianity is also guilty of this, associating with the left leaning political party.

But Jesus gently rebukes the disciples (and us) by telling them that they are not to be trying to figure out when He will return and what will happen then. Instead, they are to be busy taking the gospel to the people around them. We are to be my witnesses, taking the gospel ever further out into the world, until it reaches the ends of the earth.

We certainly are not to abdicate politics. As Christians, we should take seriously Jesus’ command for us to render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s (which includes taking part in the political system). But we must not make the mistake of thinking that the role of the Church is to get the right people elected. We will not win the nation for Christ at the ballot box. We do want to elect Godly leaders, but that isn’t what the Church is to do. The Church is to preach the gospel. To the people in our immediate area, and in an ever increasing radius, until all the world has heard the gospel. We don’t win the nation to Christ. We offer Christ to the people around us and let God work in their lives. As God works to regenerate people in a nation, it will have an impact on the nation that will influence the politics of the nation. It will influence the morals of a nation and social justice within the nation as more and more lives are changed by the power of God. As people are living lives of growing obedience to God’s word, there will be a great blessing of peace and prosperity. That is a great side effect of the gospel. But it is a side effect. We want godly laws, and we will get them as we have more and more Christians in a nation, but we won’t legislate people into God’s kingdom.

So rather than looking to Jesus as a political leader who will restore national greatness, Jesus tells us to be His witnesses. There is much to do. Not only are there people on the other side of the world who haven’t heard the good news of Jesus Christ, there are people on the other side of the street.

Where is Christ in this passage?

Jesus Christ is ascending to heaven, leaving His disciples to take the gospel to the world. But, as Matthew records in his gospel, Jesus has not left the disciples nor us to do this on our own. He has promised to be with us to the end of the age. He goes with us and works within the hearts of people to bring them to salvation. It isn’t up to us to argue people into the kingdom of God. We are simply called to be His witnesses, and He will do the work, as He goes with us.