A newly elected politician was visiting Washington, D.C. to get acquainted with his new job. He was visiting the home of one of the highest ranking senators in the capital. As they stood at the edge of the Potomac River, gazing as flotsam and jetsam floated on by, the young man asked the elder statesman the secret to understanding the center of power. Just then a rotten, deteriorating old log floated by on the river. "This city is like that log out there," said the senator. The fledgling politician asked, "How's that?"
The senator replied, "Well, there are probably over 100,000 grubs, ants, bugs, and critters on that old log as it floats down the river. And I guarantee you that each and every one of them thinks that HE'S the one steering it!!"
What we hear in the book of Acts today (Acts 1:1-11) is that the disciples wanted to steer the log they were on - or, at the very least, they wanted to know where that log was going! They knew they were seeing the Risen Lord Jesus in the flesh for the last time. They grew desperate, and asked Him, "Lord, is this the time when You will restore the kingdom to Israel?" If they couldn't have total control of this religious movement, at least they wanted that form of control we know as KNOWLEDGE. Lord, tell us how it all is going to happen! Keep us "in the know!"
But Jesus will not give in to their lust for knowledge: "It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by His own authority." Well! That's certainly slamming the door in their face: "It is NOT for you to know." WHAM! But it was not for Jesus to know, either, for in the Gospel of Mark we read where - again! - the disciples had asked Jesus about when the Kingdom was coming, and Jesus said, among other things, that "when that day or hour is no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father knows." (Mark 13:32) And, you know, Jesus was entirely comfortable with that. He knew - down to the depths of His own divine soul - that the most important part of being God was not the "knowing" part - oh no! - it was the "LOVING" part. When the Father sent Him on His Mission, our Master, the Son of God, "though He was in the form of God, did not regard (having) equality (of knowledge) with God as something to be exploited, but [instead, He] emptied Himself...[became] born in human likeness... humbled Himself, and became obedient to the point of death - even death on a cross." (Philippians 2:6-8)
Jesus showed how to be both God and Man. He knew the key to both was loving obedience, not controlling and domineering knowledge. He obediently went to the cross trusting in His Father to somehow justify His seemingly unjustifiable and scandalous death on the cross: "Father, into Your hands I commit My Spirit." Our wonderful Jesus didn't need to know when the end days would come - and neither do we. Like Him, we just need to trust that they will come, bringing in The Great New World of Pure Love. Jesus, by His own life, shows us how to live our lives. He simply accepted His Mission and fulfilled it. "I do as the Father commanded Me," He once said, "so that the world may know that I love the Father." (John 14:31) He simply accepted His Mission and fulfilled it - and He wants us to do the same. "As the Father sent Me," He told us, "So I send you." (John 20:21)
And what is this mission that we must, with humble trust, focus on? Jesus tells us and the disciples in our Acts passage today: "BUT, you WILL receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." (Acts 1:8) You will be My witnesses - God's witnesses - to the ends of the earth. Now, that's a HUGE job, and Jesus tells them not to worry about how big it is or how it's done; He doesn't want them to fine tune it and work out all the logistics and time it and strategize it to death, all because they're afraid to actually DO the job. Jesus tells them not to worry because He's about to give them the MIGHTY Holy Spirit of God to help them, and when that happens JUST GO AHEAD AND WITNESS AND SERVE!! So first off, Jesus says, go to Jerusalem and wait. Wait for the Spirit to get you.
So did the disciples, after watching Jesus go into heaven, do what He said? No! They just stood there, so that God had to send two-not just one, but two-angels to the eleven and say, "Men of Galilee...Ahem! Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven?" And to give the eleven a little bit more encouragement, they add, "This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go to heaven." In other words - don't worry, some day the Kingdom - brought by your Lord Jesus - will come. And the eleven finally begin to trust a little. They finally go back to the upper room, and pray for several days there, probably still wondering, what's going to happen next?
"It's not for you to know," says Jesus. That was not an easy thing to hear back then, nor is it easy to hear in the here and now, because now we live in the "Information Age" - the age of the internet. In fact, from the internet I copied this sentence: "We are now an information society in a knowledge economy where knowledge management is essential," and nowhere is this more true than in the suburbs of these United States. Probably at least 90% of the adults in this room didn't grow up here, but came here with their spouses because of the higher education they received, somewhere along the line. So what we know is important to us....
....As it was important to Adam and Eve. I ask you: what was the leading edge of the temptation that the Serpent sent out to those two? I'll quote the snake himself: "[When you eat the forbidden fruit] you will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing...knowing good and evil." (Genesis 3:5) Sometimes our temptation to control and dominate is fed by our temptation, first of all, to know what God knows, to have it all figured out, first, before we agree to try to obey God's will. In our own little minds, it all has to fit together neatly, before we commit to God more deeply. That attitude is not faith in God; that is the controlling behavior better known as "the demand for proof."
In my talks with non-Christians, and from hearing of other conversations with them, it is clear that the greatest obstacle in the way of faith today is the demand for intellectual proof. "Why does God allow evil and the devil?" "How do we know there was a resurrection?" "Why is there heaven and hell?" "Why does God let the church be filled with hypocrites and fallen leaders?" "Why must I give money if I belong to a church?" - these are some of the questions we hear. I am not lambasting the people who ask them; they are just speaking clearly the doubts we ourselves sometimes hide inside. What I AM saying is that, just as their demands for intellectual proof keep them from converting, in the same way our more muted demands for knowledge, our urge to control, keeps us from daring to go on the risky but very rewarding journey of discipleship.
We WANT to go on that journey...so long as we have an ‘out.' Let me show you some neat sayings that were emailed to me the other day: "God is like Bayer Aspirin: He works miracles." "God is like Hallmark: He cares enough to send the very best." "God is like General Electric: He brings good things to life." "God is like Allstate: you're in good hands with Him." "God is like Dial Soap: aren't you glad you have Him? Don't you wish everybody did?" These are great sayings, but let's look a little deeper at them. These and many other ad campaign sayings make promises that only God can fully make ("works miracles" "brings good things to life") The people who put these ads together know that we humans want to go on that faith journey, even it it's putting faith in something we buy in a store - well, maybe especially then, because if we use it and it doesn't work, we can just...throw it away! But we can't throw away...God. So we don't "buy" Him, or much of Him; He's too hot to handle! Too hard to control!
So instead of trying so hard to control our fate, to avoid strictly obeying God, and thus dominate the terms of our relationship with God...let's listen to someone who gave up all of that - Peter. The man who refused to believe Jesus would die because, as he told Christ, "I will lay down my life for you," finally came around to seeing it Jesus' way. He writes to us today, "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt you in due time. Cast all your anxiety upon Him, because [God] cares for you."[1st Peter 5:6-7] Peter's right, God really, really does care for you! Let go, and let Him take over! That's what Luther learned, you know. He was part of a Church led by men who were at that time determined to calculate whether, at any given moment, you were going to heaven or not - leaders who were deep into trying to manipulate God's judgment, not believing in His great love - and Luther said, "Enough! I will no longer try to manipulate God! I will - joyfully - allow Him to manipulate me! Because I know He loves me!"
Peter says, "Be humble." Be humble and hear God speaking to you every day. You know, there once was a man who was walking in the mountains enjoying the scenery, when he stepped too close to the edge of the mountain and started to fall. In desperation, he reached out and grabbed a limb of a gnarled old tree on the side of the cliff. Full of fear, he assessed his situation. He was about 100 feet down a shear cliff and about 900 feet from the floor of the canyon below. If he should slip again, he was sure -- somehow he just KNEW-that he would plummet to his death. He cried out, "Help me!" But there was no answer. Again and again he cried out but to no avail. Finally he yelled, "Is anybody up there?" A deep voice replied, "Yes, I'm up here." "Who is it?" "It's the Lord." "Can you help me?" "Yes, I can help." "Help me!" "Okay. Let go." Looking down at all that danger, the man became full of panic. "You're kidding. Let go?!" "Let go. I will catch you." Silence. Finally the man said, "Is there anybody else up there?"
No. There's nobody else up there. And thank goodness for that! There's nobody up there but the One who is also here, in our heart-nobody up there but Jesus, who, as the angels say today, "will come in the same way" we saw Him go. He left in a loving way, dying on a cross, freeing us from our past, our sins; He comes back in just that same loving way, in the Spirit, turning us around to follow that peaceful path of loving, somewhat blind, somewhat ignorant obedience. There, I've said it. I don't care if in this world our faith and our hope will always be somewhat blind and somewhat ignorant - it wouldn't be faith and hope otherwise, would it? But because we are somewhat blind and ignorant, we are forced to rely on God's power, and not on our own - and I think we come out much farther ahead in the bargain. I really, really do. So let's be like the disciples in the early church. Let's not wait. Let's not wait to know and figure out and control everything before we move forward. Let's just love God and do His will. Let us do the good He wants, not the good that we want. As Jesus said in the garden, "Not My will, but Yours, O Lord, be done" - and, as He taught us to pray to God, "Your Kingdom come; Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." Amen!
