6 Days to Pentecost

Wonder & Work
Shane Stewart
Connections Pastor

I love those moments when you’re with good friends after dinner telling stories and the friendship hangs in the air like a magic trick and you stay there and enjoy the moment so you don’t do anything to break the spell. In those moments, it doesn’t matter how early the alarm is going to ring the next day. It’s the type of comfort that happens when you’re with people who know you and love you, and you know them and love them too.

40 days before acts 1:9, Jesus was resurrected and then he was showing up, restoring them, reconciling them. In those 40 days, the disciples started to understand exactly who Jesus is, their own shortcomings and failings, and how much Jesus loved them. And in Acts 1:9, Jesus, having given them instructions, goes away, and the disciples don’t want to break the moment. They watch.

Have you ever encountered God in way that was so meaningful that it’s hard to put in words? You just know that you don’t want to leave that moment? I love this story because I have experienced it: the disciples were with Jesus, Jesus did something amazing in their midst, and then they don’t want to leave, they don’t want to speak.

But when the two men dressed in white (the angels) show up, they say a couple of things that are so important: Why do you stand here looking into the sky? And, Jesus will come back in the same way you have seen him go.

It’s easy to think that the primary objective of following Jesus is worship. And worship is an important part of following Jesus! But we’re also called to work – to do something, to live like Jesus and invite people to come alongside us as we do. I love that these verses brings those two things together: Jesus is Amazing! Now go do what Jesus told you to do!

Application
When Jesus returns, the whole world will know Jesus. We won’t have the opportunity to share the Good News about Jesus and what God did to restore a relationship with us because the world will know Jesus! But until then, we have instructions from Jesus! We get to go live out everything Jesus called us to! We get to love our neighbours, to bring the kingdom of heaven to our neighbours by loving them, to invite them to the joy of knowing, worshipping, and following Jesus. So don’t just stand there in wonder – go find someone and live out Jesus’ instructions!