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MOVIN’ THROUGH TOUGH TRANSITIONS
Acts 1:9-14
Bob Bonner
December 13, 2009
Recently I visited with a family who, due to a job change, has been forced to relocate to another city. Behind, they will be leaving all that has been familiar to them for six years: their home, close friends, a vibrant ministry they have been a part of for years, and non-Christian friends whom they have been used by God to draw near to Christ and who literally cried when they heard the news of the move. In addition, they leave behind a network of trusted physicians and familiar paths to favorite shopping centers. Their children have to leave their schools and friends. This is an emotionally stressful time of transition for their whole family.
Have you or are you presently facing a new transition in your life, one in which you feel like there is some unfinished business or an incomplete dream that you will be leaving behind? Maybe it is a ministry of some sort that you have to step away from, but you wish it weren’t necessary because there is much more to be done. Or maybe you have to let go of a dream or expectation concerning a significant relationship you value, such as your spouse, parent, child, or grandchild. Maybe your dreams about retirement have changed because of a financial or health-related issue, and you are being forced to make serious changes in your plans. How are you or how are you handling it? If you personally are not facing the challenge of some major transition in your life, but you have friends who are, how would you come alongside to encourage them during this time? What would you say?
As we look into God’s Word today, I believe there are a few lessons to be learned concerning how we can move through tough transitions in our lives and how we can help others close to us do the same.
We find ourselves looking at what I consider to be the prologue or introduction to the rest of Dr. Luke’s story about Christ’s ministry on earth, Acts 1. The scene comes forty days after Jesus Christ’s resurrection. Christ’s eleven remaining disciples are standing with Him on the east side of the Mt. of Olives, on the outskirts of the nearby town of Bethany, the home of three of Jesus’ close friends, Mary, Martha, and their brother Lazarus, whom Jesus Christ, a few months before, had raised up from the dead. Unbeknownst to His disciples, they have just asked Jesus the last question they will ever ask Him face to face, this side of eternity. Their question had to do with what was going to be taking place in their immediate future. To be specific, was Jesus planning to usher in His kingdom right away? In response to their question, Jesus basically tells them that His kingdom is being postponed, and they will not be told the exact date or time when it will come to earth.
Take note that Jesus never tells them to forget about a literal kingdom coming to earth. Some Christians today don’t believe in a literal kingdom of God on earth or a literal king to come. Yet, Jesus proclaimed Himself to be the king and continued to teach about a coming kingdom. For sure, the disciples believed in an earthly kingdom, and if it were not to be taken literally, Jesus would have corrected them right then. He didn’t.
Instead, Jesus gives them (and all Christians for that matter) their marching orders as to what they are to be about until His kingdom does come to earth. He tells them that while they are going about their daily mundane routines, they are to be His witnesses. They are to speak of the hope that lies within them as they live out their days under the political and financial oppression of Rome, in a time where immorality, lying, and thieving is rampant. They are to be His witnesses by the way they live amidst the evil. They are to look beyond themselves, and in the power of His Spirit be witnesses of the Gospel of Jesus Christ not just in their own backyards, but to the uttermost parts of the earth.
Apparently, what happens next in verse 9 immediately followed Christ’s last words in verse 8 and His blessing to His disciples, according to Luke’s gospel. Personally, I don’t think these disciples were prepared for what was to follow any more than you and I can be prepared to be separated from a loved one through death, even though it has perhaps been imminent for weeks. The reality of what happened momentarily stunned them. We read in Acts 1:9-11:
And after He had said these things [meaning having just answered their question in verse 8], He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. 10And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. 11They also said, “Men of Galilee . . .”
Let me just stop there for a moment for a couple of quick comments. All these disciples grew up in Galilee, which explains a little why most of Christ’s ministry with them took place around the Sea of Galilee. These men were going to be gone from their families a lot in the days ahead, and their loved ones needed to see and understand that their fathers, husbands, sons, and brothers were not following some crazy nut. They needed to be impressed with Jesus so as not to bring undue hardship on them and their future ministries.
Next I want you to note that the text tells us that these disciples gazed intently at Jesus as He lifted up into the sky and disappeared from sight. They were standing there stunned by what they were watching. Their eyes were glued to him, very much in the same way that at a graveside, family stares at the coffin holding their loved one as it is lowered into the grave. Through their eyes they see what is real, but their hearts want to deny it. The disciples are struggling with the reality of the transition they are in. They are facing a new life without the physical presence of Jesus. No matter what the case may be, after a major transition, things will never be the same again. It is true that this is a new chapter in these disciples’ lives, a new beginning; but what if you like the old familiar life and you don’t want a new beginning?
How do you help someone through such a tough spot? Well notice what these angels do. They ask the disciples one question and then tell them two things. First, the angels ask, “Why do you stand [or remain standing and] looking into the sky?” This is a gentle rebuke. You see, these men had been standing there like statues for a while, probably too long, and they needed to snap out of it. So these angels called them to account for several probably well deserved reasons. First, the disciples were probably feeling a little disappointed at that moment that Jesus was putting off the restoration of the Kingdom to Israel. Second, they may have been expecting Him to return again soon, even though Jesus had just told them He would not, at least not until they went to Jerusalem first. Third, there might have been an improper desire for having the bodily presence of the Lord Jesus right there with them, when it was more important that He be in heaven.
Having gotten their attention with this question, the angels proceed to tell the disciples two things. First they confirmed that what had just happened, what they just saw, really happened. They were not day dreaming. Their eyes had not deceived them. These eleven stunned men needed to hear this. They were acting like people who have been told for weeks by their doctor that their loved one will die at any moment, and yet despite knowing it is just around the corner, the family members are still stunned when suddenly they receive a phone call from the hospital that their loved one is gone. This is just what happened with these disciples. They can’t really believe it. They knew He was going to leave, but this way? Right then? His departure was so sudden and so unique. They weren’t ready for this.
And this forces us to consider the question: Are we ever really ready for any major transition in our lives? As a teenager, are you ever really going to be ready to say good bye to that special high school love after graduation and go two different ways? If your parents suddenly decided to get a divorce, are you ever going to be ready to have to share time with them? Are we really ready to see one of our kids get married and leave our nightly dinner table for good? Usually, we know for months ahead of time when our kids are going to get married. We make all sorts of preparations, but when they no longer sit with us at the dinner table, there is a void that doesn’t feel good. Are we really ready to watch the moving van pull away, and with it, our long time friends whom we may never see again? In many cases, we are not. Transitions of all kinds almost always leave big holes in our lives that are rarely easily accepted. At times like this, somebody needs to remind us that God has significant purposes for trials such as these. Purposes that we may not understand right now, but down the road will play a major role in our lives and that of others.
For instance, these disciples had no idea at that moment why Jesus left so suddenly in that manner. But just think for a moment about how important the how, where, and when of Jesus’ ascension would be to these men. First, note that Jesus did it in broad daylight in front of 13 witnesses. Jesus didn’t leave at night or secretly. He didn’t leave when they were asleep but when they were engaged in a conversation with Him. In addition, the words "into the sky" (or literally “into heaven”) occur four times in these two verses. Luke is emphasizing that Jesus was now in heaven. He hadn’t just disappeared. From now until He chooses to return to earth, He will continue His ministry on earth through His apostles and other witnesses. What a confidence booster this would turn out to be for the disciples and us!
Their seeing Jesus ascend into heaven made another huge difference to these disciples in the long run. If Jesus had simply vanished in the middle of the night, the apostles would have been confounded; perhaps they would even have doubted whether they had not been deceived. But when they saw him leave them in this manner, they could not doubt that he had risen; and when they saw him ascend to heaven, they could not doubt that His work on earth was finished and approved, and that God would carry it onward through them.
The second item the angels mention brings life into focus for these disciples along with a sense of hope. They say to them, “This Jesus . . . will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.” So important are these angels’ words to the disciples that they were instantly released from their emotionally frozen position, from those feelings of being helplessly abandoned, and headed back to Jerusalem as Jesus had just told them to. The angels remind the disciples of a prophetic promise based in Old Testament passages like Zechariah 14:4. These were reassuring words to these men who had been called to lay down their lives for the gospel. God’s Word gave them the needed corrected focus they had to have at that moment to keep moving forward.
Their words, “this Jesus” certainly indicate that the very same Christ will come back. And when He does, He will be the same personal, eternal Son of God who will still possess the same glorified human nature and body. In addition, His return will be in the “same way,” meaning in same manner, fashion, character, and way of life. It will be a visible and glorious return. It will be public, but in a way, even more so than His ascension. Whereas only 13 watched Jesus leave, Revelation 1:7 tells us that when Jesus returns “every eye will see him.” Lastly, Jesus’ return will be just as unexpected and surprising as when He ascended.
I believe there is another subtle point that these angels are making to the disciples, and many Christians today would do well to keep it in mind. The angels were reminding them that it was the earth, not the sky, which was to be their preoccupation. Their calling was to be witnesses, not “prophecy hounds” trying to figure out the exact moment when Jesus will return. Jesus gave us all of the general boundaries surrounding the time in which He will return, but not the specifics by which anyone can predict the day or time. He has warned us not to be about trying to figure out the day and time. Yes, learn about prophecy, but don’t make it your focal point. Someone else wrote, “Curiosity about heaven and its occupants, speculation about prophecy and its fulfillment, an obsession with “times and seasons”—these are aberrations which distract us from our God-given mission.” The vision these men were to cultivate was not upwards in nostalgia to the heavens which had received Jesus, but downwards to this world and outwards in compassion to the lost who need Him. It is the same for us. In essence, these angels were giving these men a Biblical perspective correction. They were calling these men to see their temporal world through the lens of eternity so as to better live and invest their lives at that moment in a way which would make the greatest difference in the end. And specifically, that was not going to happen if they stayed there on the Mt. of Olives waiting for Jesus to return. In a subtle way, these angels were instructing the disciples to get to Jerusalem.
I would suggest this paraphrased intention behind the angels’ instruction. They were saying, “Look you guys, Jesus is going to come back just the same way He left! He is going to come back to this very same exact spot Zechariah promised centuries ago. Furthermore, He is going to come back in the same way, suddenly, and all will see Him when He does. But in the mean time, you are not to sit around here waiting to see it happen. You have an important appointment back in Jerusalem. So, why not go there?”
Now just imagine for a moment that you were one of these stunned disciples. You had suffered what most would have considered a great loss. Sure, there is this promise in the future of being with Jesus again, but what about now? “What about my feelings right now?” How would you have responded if these two angels had confronted you in the same way, at such an emotional transition time in your life? Would you have thought them rude and insensitive to correct you for standing there for so long staring off into space, challenging you to get over it and get to Jerusalem? I would be willing to bet that some among us would think these words to be rather harsh or abrupt. Yet these angels did these men a huge favor. They caused them to stop to think about the eternal perspective and the assignment that Jesus had just given them. These words were a reminder that they weren’t to sit around and feel sorry for themselves for their temporal loss, but they were to get to Jerusalem to receive the Spirit!
Without helping them to see their present circumstances through the lens of eternity, and without this hopeful reminder of Christ’s promised return and recent instructions, the disciples could have easily remained mired in sadness due to Christ’s departure. The same thing is true for us. When we face disappointments, let downs, and losses that figure into major transitions in our lives, we need to see things from God’s perspective. We need people to step into our lives to remind us of the truth and the same joyful anticipation that awaits us in the future, as well as to guide us in the way God has called us to invest our lives today.
I don’t believe these angels were rudely ignoring the disciples’ emotions of the moment. Sometimes, people need a little time to emote, cry, or even yell at the world when a major unexpected and unwanted change comes into their lives. But shortly, we need to help them get control of their emotions and not allow them to become enslaved to them. How do you do that? By helping them to focus on the truth of God’s Word. You take them to God’s Word and remind them of His promises, His perspective, His directives, and His instructions. His Word is the solid ground we need to stand on when earthquake-like transitions suddenly hit our lives.
Notice the disciples’ immediate response in verse 12, “Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away.” A “Sabbath day's journey” was the distance that a Jew was legally allowed to travel on the Sabbath without violating the law of not working. A “Sabbath’s day’s journey” was calculated at two thousand paces or cubits— not quite one mile. It takes about 15 minutes to walk on flat ground. Up and down hills might take a half hour or more.
This distance was not determined by God or nor was this prescription concerning travel written down in the laws of Moses. But Jewish teachers came up with this measure based on a tradition that came out of the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt. When the Israelites were coming from Egypt to the Promised Land, they would have to stop and make camp, often for months at a time. No part of the camp of six million people was more than two thousand paces from the Tabernacle. Hence they figured that on a Sabbath, if one had to travel that far to get to the Tabernacle to worship, it must not be a violation of the law. Hence, two thousand paces became the Rabbis’ permitted distance to travel on the Sabbath.
Having mentioned this, it should be noted that the disciples were still obeying the Jewish traditional laws they had lived under all of their lives. They knew no other way to live. The question, “Where does the Law fit into our lives now?” had yet to be addressed.
Wouldn’t you have loved to have been a fly on one of their headdresses to listen in to their discussion during that thirty-minute walk? I wonder what they were talking about, what concerned them most. You can be sure that whatever it was, it probably showed up as a matter of prayer later, when they got where they were going. And where did they end up? We read,
13When they had entered the city, they went up to the upper room
where they were staying; that is, Peter and John and James and
Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son
of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James.
14These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to
prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with
His brothers.
When they got to Jerusalem, the first thing they did was to return to their familiar haunts, the upper room. This upper room seems to have been the same one in which the disciples had observed the first Lord's Supper with Jesus. Luke refers to “the upper room” twice, so it seems likely that they are one and the same room. Imagine the emotions that must have filled their hearts as they re-entered the same room that they had been in several times before, maybe even yesterday with Jesus, but now He was physically not there with them.
Others eventually joined them. Jesus’ family: his mother, brothers James, Joses, Judas, and Simon, and sisters (Mark. 6:3), who evidently have finally come to accept Jesus for Who He really was, their Savior and Messiah. Along with them were other women. Which women? Because Luke refers to them as “the women” we can only presume that they were those who had been hanging out with the disciples ever since the evening following Christ’s crucifixion: Mary Magdalene, Mary the wife of Cloas, Mary, Martha, and Salome. When the women arrived and didn’t find Jesus with the disciples, this was probably the moment the disciples told them what had happened. I imagine that it wasn’t long before they realized several things about themselves:
1. They loved Jesus.
2. Because they had enjoyed Jesus’ company and had endured so much together in the past 40 days, they realized that they loved each other. They were committed to each other.
3. They had the same message to share with their friends and family.
4. They had the same basic job to do.
5. They were willing to give their lives for the Gospel.
6. They wanted to see Jesus again.
Very shortly after that, being of one mind and realizing their common need, in unity they sought God’s face in prayer. For the first time in their lives, they were like we are--they had to walk by faith in what Jesus had taught and promised them, not by sight. During the next few days they prayed “continually together.” Prayer was not an obligation to them. It was their lifeline to God. It was a joy and a pleasure. It became a focal point of their fellowship. What a joy we had last Sunday evening praying together on communion Sunday. Like some did last Sunday when we prayed, they probably got hold of some Old Testament scrolls and began to search them diligently to get a better grip on what was happening among them, and they prayed in accordance with the truth they discovered. This transition in their lives was still so new, they needed God’s help. They needed the Spirit of God to come fill them and to teach them and to direct them.
What sort of subjects occupied their prayer time? We have no record, but some of their concerns are pretty easy to guess. Before we look at them, let me point out to those of you who have had a parochial or Catholic background as I have had, that an observation comes from this passage and the rest of Scripture. Mary the mother of Jesus was there, but you will notice they were not praying to her, burning candles to her; addressing themselves to her, nor asking her for any blessing. Jesus’ mother was kneeling with the eleven and the women, and all together they prayed to the Father.
Contrary to the view of some, we are not told that they were praying for the baptism with the Holy Spirit. They had not been told to pray for that but to wait for it. As they waited, they probably were getting themselves ready to do the work Jesus had for them. They must have been conscious of their inadequacy and sin, so I imagine there was much personal admission to God of their failure and seeking His forgiveness. In addition, the following were probably included in their prayers.
Thanks for His forgiveness.
Thanks to the Father for what he had done and to the Lord Jesus Christ for all he had accomplished and taught them during the previous forty days.
Thanks for His restoration.
Thanks for the important assignment, the meaningful, eternal, life-shaping work that they were getting to do together with Jesus.
Thanks for each other.
Petitions for protection from the same authorities that had crucified Jesus. They probably asked that He would fill them with His courage and boldness so as to speak up confidently to their Jewish leaders about Jesus.
Pleas for God to have mercy on their family and friends who had yet to discover the joy of knowing Christ.
Petitions for the soon return of Christ to bring His kingdom to earth.
Those who have studied the history of revivals in the church over the past few centuries point out that they have always been preceded by times of great prayer by Christian people.
The ascension of Christ was an exceedingly important event. It enabled the apostles to state both confidently and distinctly where the Lord Jesus was. Furthermore, it also helped to remind them and us that we have an assignment to focus on for the rest of our lives. Whether we be at work, play, at a soccer game, or in the market place, we are to keep in mind that we are here to be ready to give an answer for our hope and why we live today with one eye on the future.
What can we learn from these eleven men about how to handle moving through tough transitions in life? I see at least five examples from these first disciples of Christ that we can follow.
We need to stop living in the past and start living for the present by:
1. Seeking God’s face. Pray, and if it concerns another’s transition, pray with them!
2. Getting from the Word the eternal lens of perspective through which you can properly view your present circumstances.
3. Starting to serve God somewhere.
4. Seeking after God’s enablement.
5. Seeking God’s healing from any wounds received during transitions in your life.
One of the obvious keys to living the abundant life, whether working through a major transition in life or not, is to have a specific area of service outside your family responsibilities in which you are using your skills and spiritual gifts for the Lord. Share one area from your life during the past month that reveals that you are engaged in serving the Lord. If you are not able to point to anything, ask those around you to pray for you and to help you find a place to serve the Lord.
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