Something More

Acts 1: 1-11

Acts chapter one,

Here we find the disciples with Jesus not just in the last days before the
ascension, but presumably in the last moments.
And they're believers now, there can be no question about that.
Men and women who were hurting have been made whole.
People who were skeptical and even unbelieving have been convinced.
Jesus is alive.
And he's enlightened them as to the past.
Walking with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, he reasoned with them,
opening the Scriptures and showing them all the things pertaining to himself--
opening their minds and their eyes to finally understand all that they had missed
during the last 3 years. Perhaps still more important, he's made it very clear that
whatever their sins may have been, what's past is past; the debt is paid; all is
forgiven.
He’s also assured them of the reality of his presence in the here and now. He's
convinced them that the son of Man has risen physically from the dead and
walks with them in resurrection life. To Thomas, the unbeliever he said,
(John 20:27 NIV) "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your
hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."
And if there were any further questions, Luke tells us in his gospel that Jesus also
asked for some fish, and when it was given to him he broke it and ate.
Nicki Gumbel, the pastor who does the ALPHA lectures that some of you may
have heard about speaks of a friend of his who came to believe in the
resurrection when he heard and believed this story about the broiled fish,
because he figured that a ghost or a figment of the disciples imagination could
not have eaten the broiled fish. And that was exactly Jesus' reason for taking the
fish; to convince his disciples that he was risen indeed.
But Jesus not only enlightened them about the past and persuaded them
concerning the present, he even lifted the veil and gave them just a glimpse into
the future. To Peter, he spoke as an individual, saying,
I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went
where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands,

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 and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to
go." (John 21:18 NIV)
And to all, he spoke of their progress into the world, carrying the gospel to all the
nations, making disciples of all the peoples.
So I want to highlight the fact that on top of the training that they had received
by walking with Jesus for three years through just about every imaginable kind
of circumstance, Jesus, in the 40 days since his resurrection has now given the
final lessons and by the time we reach Acts chapter 1, there is little more that he
will say or do before his time with his followers comes to an end. But while
Matthew concludes his gospel with that triumphant commission,
"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. {19} Therefore
go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, {20} and teaching them to
obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always,
to the very end of the age." (Mat 28:18-20 NIV)
Luke, writing both in his gospel and in the book of Acts gives us a detail that is
omitted from the other evangelists. And it's an important detail. Because in
spite of all that has happened both before the resurrection and after, in spite of
all that they have come to understand, in spite of the fact that there can be no
question about the fact that these people are now believers in Jesus Christ;
there's still something missing. They need something more before they'll be
ready to go out and fulfill their calling in the world.

And don't we often feel the same way. Don't we at least sometimes feel that
there must be something more to this business of being a Christian?
We read in Scripture,
It is God who arms me with strength, And makes my way perfect. {33} He
makes my feet like the feet of deer, And sets me on my high places. (Psa
18:32-33 NKJV)
But we feel more like pack animals pulling a heavy load through deep mud.
We read that a deep, abiding, unconditional love is to be the hallmark of the
Christian community; and we find it easy to love those who love us, but we find it
almost impossible to love the "unlovely"--to love even our enemies and to pray
for those who wrongly use us.
We read of peace beyond all comprehension--peace that can calm the heart
even in the midst of the storm. But how often that peace eludes us and we're

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weighed down with the same cares and anxieties that trouble everyone else in
the world.
Or we read of the church in those early days of the New Covenant--of the power
that was manifest among them--of the almost casual way that the apostle
speaks of God granting his Spirit and working miracles among them--of the way
that unbelievers were continually drawn to Christ and enfolded into the
community--all this in spite of persecution and poverty that we can't begin to
imagine. And then we look at the church today. And for all the freedom and
comfort and security that is so much a part of our experience, we have to wonder
what's been traded away that makes our experience of God so different from
theirs. What's missing?
It reminds me of the story of Thomas Aquinas who had been granted an
audience with the pope. And Innocent the 2nd said to him, "The church can no
longer say, 'silver and gold have we none.'" To which Thomas replied, "Yes, but
neither can we say, 'arise and walk.'"
It's an ancient story, but it's a pretty good description of much of the church
today, isn't it? Something's missing.
And maybe most telling of all, in spite of the persecution, and the hardships and
the suffering and the poverty that those first Christians endured, we read
passages like this one from the 1st Epistle of the Apostle Peter.
(1 Pet 1:3-8 NIV) Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!
In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead...In this you greatly rejoice,
though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds
of trials. These have come so that your faith...may be proved genuine and
may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not
see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and
glorious joy,
"Inexpressible and glorious joy"
I have to confess, that I'd feel a little more than awkward and a little less than
honest trying to convince someone that I personally am "filled with an
inexpressible and glorious joy,"--a joy that transcends all circumstance and
makes me rejoice in the Lord, even when everything happening around me
militates against it. And honestly, when I look at the church, even the church at
large in our day, I think that's the rule rather than the exception.
And I have to believe that there must be something missing.

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I have to believe that there must be something more.

And I believe that the something more that we need is that same "something
more" that was needed by the followers of Jesus in our text. The same
"something" that Jesus told his followers they could not live without. Remember
verses 4 and 5 of Acts chapter 1. Before Jesus ever gave his disciples the great
commission,
(Acts 1:4-5 NIV) On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave
them this command: "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my
Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. {5} For John
baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy
Spirit."
Now before anyone turns off their mental receivers here, I want to say that next
week, Lord willing, I intend to speak specifically about the baptism and the
fullness of the Holy Spirit and I am not going to advocate some kind of a "second
blessing" approach to spirituality. Not at all. I don't believe it and I'm not going
to preach it. But for right now, I hope it's enough to say that even though we
may be starting at a somewhat different place than those disciples in the first
chapter of Acts, I still believe that what we require to fulfill God's purpose for our
lives—what we require to be able to glorify and enjoy God is the same thing that
they required.
We need more of the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit.
We need the Holy Spirit to work in our hearts, to fill us, so that we can
experience his fruit on an ongoing basis—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. These are the things that
are to be so evident in our lives that when people look at us, they see Jesus. And
I don’t think that’s the case most of the time. But we can’t work these things up
in our lives through some new kind of legalistic obedience. We need more of the
presence and the power of the Holy Spirit.
We also need the Holy Spirit to work in our church and in our community with
tangible, visible demonstrations of the power of God. That was the promise and
the experience of Pentecost, it was the experience of the church all through the
Book of Acts, it was the experience of those churches that received the apostolic
letters that have been handed down to us in the books of the New Testament
and there is nothing,
let me repeat,
There is nothing in Scripture to indicate that we should expect anything different
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or anything less.
And let me emphasize also that I’m not just speaking of more knowledge about
the Holy Spirit. That’s not the point. That’s not what disciples in the first
chapter of Acts needed; it’s not what they received; and it’s not what we need
either. To them, Jesus said,
you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you;
Not more knowledge. Not a whole new theology. You will receive power. It’s
what they needed and it’s what we need.
A long time ago, Samuel Chadwick wrote these words that can still stand even
today as a description of much of the church. He said,
“The church still has a theology of the Holy Spirit, but it has no living
consciousness of his presence and power. But theology without
experience is like faith without works; it is dead. And the signs of death
abound. Prayer meetings have died out because men do not believe in the
Holy Spirit…There is a dearth of conversions because faith about the new
birth as a creative act of the Holy Spirit has lost its grip on intellect and
heart…Confusion and impotence are the inevitable results when the
wisdom and resources of the world are substituted for the presence and
power of the Holy Spirit.”
Sound familiar? Well, I hope so, because it’s the cry of someone who believed
that there had to be something more.
I believe that too, and my hope and my prayer is that as we proceed in this study
through the summer months, yes, we will learn about the Holy Spirit, but more
than that, that we will come to experience his presence and power in ways that
will just astonish us.
We need something more.
But the good news is, that something more is available to any and all who seek
the Lord, call on his name, and wait and hope in him.
“God gives his grace and Holy Spirit…to those who pray continually and groan
inwardly, asking God for these gifts and thanking him for them.
Let’s stand and sing number 416 in the Psalter Hymnal, “For Your Gift of God the
Spirit,” and may the words of the final stanza truly be our prayer, not only this
morning, but continually, that we might experience more of God’s grace and
Spirit working powerfully in our hearts.