Being Witnesses - Acts 1:1–11

        

Our passage this morning comes from Acts. This is Luke’s second book; he’s also the author of the Gospel of Luke where he tells the story of Jesus; his audience is the Gentiles. The book of Acts is the story of the gospel news going out to the Gentiles. Jesus spends 40 days with his disciples after his resurrection, showing them that he’s truly alive. Jesus spends this time teaching and equipping his followers to carry on his work; echoing Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness preparing himself for the work that lay ahead of him to take our sin on himself and to prepare a people ready to witness to him as the promised Messiah.

Ascension Day is often connected to Jesus’ ascending into heaven in order to take his place beside God. Our theology connects Jesus’ ascension with the kingship of Jesus, which it does, while Scripture’s focus on Ascension Day is the charge to go and be witnesses to the gospel news of Jesus and the forgiveness of our sin through the death and resurrection of Jesus, and to teach the world of the kingdom of heaven. Jesus tells the apostles to go to Jerusalem to wait for the gift of his Spirit so that they will “receive power to be his witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Jesus tells his disciples before his death that he needs to go home. In John 16, Jesus says, “but now I am going to him who sent me… it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because people do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.”

Why didn’t Jesus simply stay and become king right away. Here’s a few thoughts on why. Jesus is our mediator, bringing our cares, concerns, and hopes to the Father. Jesus is allowed into the throne room because he’s God, and represents us because he’s also human and without sin. The Belgic Confession puts it this way; we believe that we have no access to God except through the one and only mediator and intercessor: Jesus Christ the righteous. He therefore was made man, uniting together the divine and human natures, so that we human beings might have access to the divine Majesty. Otherwise, we would have no access. Jesus is the only mediator, the only access we have to the Father through faith. And as Peter says in Acts 5:31, “God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.”

 Jesus said he needed to go back home to his father. In John 14, John shares that when Jesus told his disciples that he was leaving, he told them, “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God.” Jesus knew that trusting God’s wisdom in this would be hard at times. “In my Father’s house are many rooms. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you may also be where I am.” Jesus has some stuff still to do that we’re not completely aware of yet before he’s ready to come back and fully establish his kingdom; challenging us to trust God that his plan’s the right and best one.

Jesus physically returns to heaven, a sign of how our physical bodies will be renewed in our resurrection as we’re joined to Jesus’ death and resurrection when we accept him as Lord and Saviour, symbolised in baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Jesus doesn’t give up his humanity when he returns to heaven, but continues to be fully human and fully God. Jesus sends his Spirit so we can be his witnesses, beginning in Jerusalem and their neighbours, then moving out to Judea and Samaria, to people like themselves with a similar history and understanding of God and the world, and then out to the ends of the earth, to all the other peoples and cultures, many who will understand and see the world in very different ways, and will need to be taught and shown who Jesus is.

This is about growing in trust in Jesus’ way and God’s plan. When Jesus meets with Thomas and Thomas is finally convinced that Jesus is really alive, Jesus says, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” This is the challenge of faith; we’re called to believe without seeing Jesus’ physical body. We’re called to trust God and to trust the words of those who did see Jesus. When Jesus left us to go home to heaven, he sent his Spirit to us to make our hearts its home, giving us the assurance that what we hears true and trustworthy. The Spirit’s given so that we can be Jesus’ witnesses in the world, beginning locally. Jesus left so that we can be his presence through the Holy Spirit, changing the world using everyday people like us who take his call to love the Lord your God with everything you have and your neighbour like yourself seriously. Part of loving our neighbour is inviting them to repent and believe in Jesus because the kingdom of heaven in near.

Jesus doesn’t promise easy. Jesus left so our faith can grow stronger through difficult times, especially difficult times that come because we’ve chosen to follow him. You’re not promised an easy life because you believe and have faith. We’re promised heartache and persecution instead, beginning with the reality that Jesus has left us and we only have our faith and the Holy Spirit to reassure us. Peter writes to people going through hard times because they’ve chosen Jesus over the world’s rulers, but these hard times are making their faith stronger. “For a little while you may have to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” How we go through hard times can show others who Jesus is and how his presence strengthens us.

Jesus is looking for people to follow him out of love and their own free will. When people are introduced to Jesus, it often takes some time for them to come to a place where they can accept him. They need time to learn about Jesus and experience the effects of the Holy Spirit in their lives and hearts. There’s a period of time where people need to discover that they can trust God and Jesus. In most cases, this doesn’t happen over night, it takes time and so Jesus goes home for a time so that there will be time for people to come to know and accept him. Jesus commands his followers to go out into the world and make disciples. This is a process, something that happens through building trust relationships and speaking about God with those people he places into your lives. Jesus left to give time for those who don’t believe to change and accept him as Lord. As Peter says, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” Jesus left and sent his Spirit so that we can go into the world and bring others into the Body of Christ. God doesn’t want anyone to be lost and so he’s waiting while sending us out to share the Good News.

The angels said, “This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” The story isn’t over and our part in it isn’t done yet. There are people to be saved, prayers to be prayed and growing still to do. In the meantime, the disciples are reassured that Jesus will return again one day, but until that time, we’re called to be his witnesses to the ends of the earth, but it begins with our neighbours, and sometimes, even with our own family. The reality though is that we build our friendships, our trusted relationships and have no deep desire to build more or deeper relationships of faith with more people. It takes effort, it takes investment in them, and most of us aren’t really willing to make these investments, even though we know those around us haven’t accepted Jesus, haven’t been invited to get know Jesus, challenged to repent and believe. This is why Jesus sends un the Holy Spirit, to create that desire for others to know Jesus. We’re to continue his work of inviting people to believe in Jesus, to repent and believe for the kingdom of heaven is near.

We do this by sharing who God is as our Father; who Jesus is as our saviour who’s working to redeem and restore creation from our slavery to Satan. Jesus loves the entire world and doesn’t want anyone lost. We need to develop that same love and urgency for the people in our community. It’s not always easy to share the gospel news, but Jesus never promises easy. The majority of people in our community have little or no relationship with Jesus, may that drive our hearts to care for their souls over our personal wants or comfort.   

Wisdom is a Good Thing - Ecclesiastes 7:1–8:1; Ecclesiastes 9:13–10:20

These 2 passages are rather long, but are written similar to how Solomon writes in the book of Proverbs on the value of wisdom. Solomon connects a variety of situations and thoughts together to give a wide-ranging vision of what wisdom looks like, contrasting it with folly and wickedness. Solomon begins by reminding us of the value of a good name, and then how death is a good day since our time of suffering is finished, while birth is only the beginning. There’s a sadness in looking at the world from the perspective of living under the sun. Solomon then says something I thought humorous, “Do not say, “Why are the old days better than these?” He tells us it’s not wise to ask these kinds of questions, to live in the past rather than in today with an eye to living for the future. We reflected on this a bit last week when looking at how God has place eternity in our hearts and to enjoy today while investing in our children for the future. While we’re called to not look back to the old days with rose coloured glasses, we do look back in order to remember and believe in God and his providence, protection, and presence.

Scripture describes wisdom as living well with God, others, and ourselves, living according to God’s will. J.A Louder observes, “Wisdom is concerned with the correct ordering of life. Wise action is that which integrates people harmoniously into the order God has created. The rules of life that prescribe how human beings must integrate themselves into that order are the precept of wisdom.” Wisdom is living according to who God created us to be as his image of him in his world. Ecclesiastes calls us to an awareness and a fear of God that helps us live within God’s design and plan for creation. Truth Seekers are taught how to study the Bible, how to read it and understand it so they can learn the truth of who God is, how we’re saved from our sins, and our sinful nature is renewed. Basically, truth seekers are seeking wisdom and going to the right place to find it: Scriptures.

Wisdom teaches us how to see the world through God’s eyes. Solomon recognizes this in verse 13, “Consider what God has done: Who can straighten what he has made crooked? When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider this: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, no one can discover anything about their future.” Living wisely is usually developed by living in today rather than the past, or too far into the future, as Jesus reminds us in Matthew

Wisdom sees the world through the eyes of reality, good people often die for being good, while many wicked people prosper and live long lives. Many wise people are not always listened to, “wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.” Under the sun, there’s a great deal of meaningless, much ‘hevel’ or mist. This is how Solomon has been approaching wisdom in most of Ecclesiastes; using his rational intellect to examine the world. He's studying wisdom itself; what it looks like, how it works. He often uses contrast to examine and describe what wisdom looks like, a common way of showing how wisdom works in life, something we often find in the book of Proverbs. He’s also looking to understand the stupidity of wickedness and the madness of folly, and ultimately, he finds it all absurd, craziness.

Solomon tests everything in order to find a better wisdom, but he can’t find it. He found few wise people; he sees that even though we’ve been created upright, we are easily mislead by schemes, schemes to get rich, power, influence, the desires of our hearts. As Solomon looks at folly, he sees that the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure, extortion turns a wise man into a fool, patience is better than pride, anger sits in the lap of fools, and calls us not to be over-righteous or overwise, to not be over-wicked, avoid extremes. Don’t pay attention to every word people say for you have often cursed others yourself, be careful of the woman who’s a snare, or searching out many schemes for your own profit. He concludes that wisdom’s definitely better than folly if we desire a good life, that there’s more to gain from wisdom than folly. This may seem like common sense, yet that’s really what wisdom is, common sense rooted in knowing God.

Solomon knows that there will be times of suffering and adversity, there will be times of success and in all times, we are called to live as wise people; seeking out God’s wisdom rather than the wisdom found under the sun. Solomon sees some good coming out of difficult things: death, sorrow, the house of mourning, adversity. Our hearts are often shaped by God through times of struggle. In Jesus’ teaching, especially in the Beatitudes, we see a similar thought developed, that there are some good aspects to suffering here on earth, those who suffer are “blessed,” Matthew 5:3–12, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted…. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me….” Times of struggle and suffering can lead us back to following God’s ways again, as we see in the stories of Israel falling away from God, only to come back during times of punishment. Struggle and suffering also shape our character, as Paul tells us: suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. Often in suffering, we experience the presence of God and his grace and glory in us and even through us.

Solomon often talks about death. The hope of the resurrection doesn’t rest in denying death, but in embracing its full scope: it’s a punishment as the result of sin, it’s an enemy, however, it’s been defeated through Jesus’ death and resurrection. For Solomon, acknowledging the reality of death is the beginning of wisdom as it creates a humbleness in recognizing that in the end, we all meet the same end, at least if you’re looking at life under the sun. This is part of why the church celebrates the sacraments. The sacraments are signs pointing us to Jesus. In our baptism, we acknowledge that in Jesus, baptism symbolizes the beginning of the journey of faith as we die to our old selves and are raised up to new life in Jesus; in the Lord’s Supper we recognize that Jesus’ death and resurrection bring new life and that as members of his body, we also participate in his death and resurrection and have eternal life in and through Jesus. This gives us the strength and hope to commit our lives to Jesus’ way and teaching.

If we’re looking for understanding, we’ll not always find it as we live under the sun since humanity isn’t very rational, we’re easily seduced by Satan. Wisdom’s valuable if rooted in God and his ways, yet it will seem at times that foolishness and wickedness do better. This calls for trusting in God’s wisdom and timing. Living according to God’s way brings peace and good to those around you by how we treat and respond to others, by doing our daily work and toil and enjoying the blessings of each day with our loved ones.

Wisdom tells us who God is: wisdom’s more than knowledge, it sees all of creation and finds God’s fingerprints over all of it. We see God at work in the structure of creation, in the beauty around us, in the moral order that’s consistent across most cultures. Wisdom tells us who we are: when we know God, we can see ourselves in light of his greatness. As Calvin said, the more we know God, the more we know ourselves. Wisdom shows us how glorious it is for God to care for us. We see and hear God’s wisdom in his Word: wisdom always begins and ends with God, so we must be people willing to listen to God’s Word and root our lives in it, because then our lives are rooted in Jesus, grafted onto him as our source of life.

Wisdom means acting on what we know: wisdom without action is meaningless. Lives that show God’s wisdom become strengthened in God’s power. Jesus’ ministry involved a great deal of teaching, offering wisdom to the people. At the end of his sermon on the mountainside, in Matthew 7:24–25 Jesus tells his listeners, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.” Wisdom is not of much use if it’s not lived out in real life, and we’ve been offered the greatest wisdom in the world in the Bible. Take the Word, read it, study it together, allow its words and guidance to soak deep within your minds, hearts, and souls, and then live it out in our world that desperately needs wisdom from above rather than what is being offered up here under the sun.

Contentment - Ecclesiastes 5:8–6:12

There are those in my family who’ve struggled with addiction. Addiction’s often rooted in hurt or discontentment that drives a person to look for something that will take it away and give them a sense of relief, even if it’s temporary. We usually associate addiction with drugs or alcohol, but we can also become addicted to experiences, or anything that promises happiness, security, or escape. The newest addiction today is not a substance, but the little screens most of us have in our pockets or purses. Nir Eyal, an expert in “behavioural engineering,” has advocated the development of programs that turn customers into addicts through a hook model: a looping cycle of trigger, action, reward, and continued engagement… the hook model creates craving… what draws a person back is, Eyal says, “not the sensation we receive from the reward itself, but the need to alleviate the craving for that reward.” It creates an increasing sense of discontentment, drawing you away from the people around you and even more importantly, from God and the joy and satisfaction you can find in him.

Solomon recognizes that the love of money can become addictive, leading to a lack of contentment and gratitude for the daily gifts God offers us. This section begins with a hard reality, Ecclesiastes 5:8–9, “If you see the poor oppressed in a district, and justice and rights denied, do not be surprised at such things; for one official is eyed by a higher one, and over them both are others higher still. The increase from the land is taken by all; the king himself profits from the fields.” This was first raised by Solomon in 4:1-3; we shouldn’t be surprised by injustice; sin infects everyone, including those who rule and have authority.

The scholar Van Leeuwen explains that when Solomon says one official is “eyed by a higher one,” he’s saying that the high and mighty “look out for” one another, so the poor have no chance at justice. We get a glimpse of this in Luke 19:1–10, “Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through ... When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.” But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” As a tax collector, Zacchaeus would take more than he was supposed to when he went to gather the taxes; it was an expected way of doing things, and the officials higher up overlooked this theft. Zacchaeus is transformed through his encounter with Jesus and recognizes that accepting Jesus as his Lord and Saviour is where his hope and salvation rest rather than his wealth.

There are two paths we can take: chasing after wealth or anything else that captures our hearts, or the path of contentment and gratitude for all God’s given us, how we can use what God has given us to build up and encourage others, and make our communities places of shalom and fullness. Solomon, a very wealthy person, warns us, “Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless.” Wealth carries temptations, as Solomon observes, if you love wealth, you’ll always be striving for more, and living a life of contentment becomes more difficult. Wealth can create worry, stress, hurt relationships, and a lack of trust in others. As Paul writes in 1 Timothy 6:10, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”

Ecclesiastes 6:1–2, “I have seen another evil under the sun, and it weighs heavily on mankind: God gives some people wealth, possessions and honor, so that they lack nothing their hearts desire, but God does not grant them the ability to enjoy them, and strangers enjoy them instead. This is meaningless, a grievous evil.” Wealth, in itself, does not bring happiness. A friend once commented that God has blessed him with a lot of riches and he had always thought it would bring him great happiness, but as God blessed him with more and more, he began to reflect on the purpose of why he had been given the ability to create much wealth because it hadn’t made him and his wife any happier, no matter what the lottery people might tell you.

He and his wife began to quietly invest in people and the church. They quietly paid off some people’s debts so they could focus on the future instead of just getting by, they helped a number of young adults go into missions which led to a couple of them staying long-term on the mission field, they helped set up a scholarship for abandoned mothers so they could go to the local college and upgrade their skills. Their life theme became generosity; helping people reach their potential, loving like Jesus, and in doing so, they found deep contentment in their lives. They experienced the blessings found in Ecclesiastes 5:19–20, “Moreover, when God gives someone wealth and possessions, and the ability to enjoy them, to accept their lot and be happy in their toil—this is a gift of God. They seldom reflect on the days of their life, because God keeps them occupied with gladness of heart.” Wealth is not evil; it’s a gift given by God to be used wisely.

Wealth is a blessing. God offers us his blessings, and some he blesses with wealth.  The issue’s not how much a person has, it’s whether they place their trust in their wealth rather than in God to save them or protect them. It’s all about our focus and priorities. Mark 10:23; 25-27 “Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!” … It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.” Our salvation is accomplished through the work of Jesus, not through our work. That’s hard for some to accept, because the more we have, the more we tend to depend on ourselves to provide for what we need; this can even creep into our relationship with Jesus, as that same attitude subtly creeps into our thinking about salvation. We’re called to completely trust in the grace of Jesus rather than our work; we cannot save ourselves.

Jeus teaches us to trust in God and not worry about our basic needs, Matthew 6:32–33, “For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Instead of worrying about having enough, Solomon encourages us to enjoy the daily blessings God gives us each day.

God has placed eternity in our hearts, and because we have eternity in our hearts, the things of this world will never fully satisfy us, there will always be sense that there has to be more, a longing for more. Bobby Jamieson writes, “happiness comes not from trying to make this world satisfy all your desires but from realizing that that it never will. Happiness begins to glimpse new dimensions when you discover that everything is never enough.” Happiness comes from knowing that the creator of the sun knows you, and loves you, and can fill that longing for more, showing you a way forward into eternity that brings meaning and purpose; the way of Jesus, accepting him as your Lord and Saviour, embracing his way as your way.

Solomon repeats one of his main thoughts in Ecclesiastes 5:18, “it is appropriate for a person to eat, to drink and to find satisfaction in their toilsome labour under the sun during the few days of life God has given them.” It’s repeated in a slightly different way in 6:3, “A man may have a hundred children and live many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he cannot enjoy his prosperity and does not receive proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.” The main idea in this section is ‘enjoy God’s daily gifts,’ and after we follow his advice, to acknowledge that it’s God who gives us this joy. Paul says the same thing in Philippians 4:12–13 “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”

Contentment under the sun is hard to find when we keep our eyes focused down here; our eyes are always drawn to what others have that we don’t have. The call is to keep our eyes on the one over the sun who lives in eternity and provides for our eternity through Jesus, and sees what we need and provides, often more than we need, so that we can bless others. Our lives are merely a moment in the history of the world, and part of what we can offer is what we contribute to the future in time, energy, or money, toward developing the potential in others.