Good Things Come to Those Who Wait

Theme: Eternal results depend upon obedience to God. 
Text:  Acts 1:1-14

Here’s a thought: Time spent sharpening your axe before chopping down a tree is well-spent. 

We all have hopes for change, growth and progress. While these hopes vary, we all look for good things to come our way in the future. These good things might include better grades in school, a better job, a raise, better health, a mate, children and a comfortable retirement. 

Two thousand years ago, Jesus and His disciples had high hopes. They looked forward to change. They looked forward to God’s will being accomplished here on earth. Jesus and His disciples had very different views of how it would look. 

The physician Luke describes a clash in agendas between these two sets of expectations in Acts 1:1-14: 

1 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3 After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. 4 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.” 6 So when they met together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” 9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. 10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? 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.” 12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walk from the city. 13 When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. 14 They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers. NIV 

Jesus reminds us that there is a definite order in the kingdom of heaven … 

First Comes the Promise 

There could not be two agendas in seeing the will of God accomplished in the world. Either the plan of Jesus or men would be fulfilled. The disciples needed to recognize what you and I must realize before we see significant results: there is a God, and we are not Him. 

The tendency of the disciples would have been just like the one you and I have, “Now that Jesus has been raised from the dead, let’s go out there and change the world!” We would want to charge out the door, jump on our horses and gallop off in all directions. Instead, Jesus says to His disciples, “Hold your horses! Don’t go galloping off yet. I want you to wait. I have a promise to fulfill for you.” 

Someone spotted this sign in a waiting room in Hawaii: 

It seems humanity is getting more impatient! Years ago, if people missed a stagecoach, they were content to wait two or three days for the next one. Now we get frustrated if we wait two or three minutes at a red light. 

I have seen people rush into a ministry, job, move, major purchase, marriage and parenthood without taking the time to properly prepare and see God fulfil His promise in His way and in His time. The justification for impatience might sound spiritual, “The time is short because Jesus could come back at any moment!” If you are in a rush, beware! 

Time spent sharpening your axe before chopping down a tree is well-spent. 

John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus by preaching a message that called people to turn from sin and selfishness and by baptizing people in water to declare their faith in the coming Messiah. Jesus prepared the way for the Holy Spirit by modelling what a Spirit-filled life looks and sounds like. 

There is an excellent reason why Jesus first asks His followers to wait for Him: we are so full of ourselves that we don’t naturally recognize our need for Him. Waiting has a way of humbling us. Waiting reminds us that we are not in control. We think we can manage on our own, thank you very much. As long as we are in this state of mind, we cannot receive His promise. 

The promise of Isaiah 40:28-31 is for the desperate: 

28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. 29 He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. 30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, 31 But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. (New King James Version) 

The disciples were to return to Jerusalem for fervent prayer and soul-searching. What appeared to be needless procrastination was an essential step toward necessary transformation. During the next ten days, the followers of Jesus would shift from focusing on themselves and their limited resources to concentrating on the gift promised to them. The Holy Spirit was about to come upon them and empower them so that they would turn the Roman Empire on its ear. 

These people had to recognize their complete dependence upon the promised Holy Spirit. Their wills had to be broken so they would surrender to the will of their Master. This positioned them to receive what God had intended for them all along. 

Are you satisfied with how your life is going apart from total surrender to the will of God? Do you still want to call the shots in your life? If you answered 

yes, you are not ready to receive God’s promise, but remember that when you get desperate enough, He is ready and willing to fulfill His promise to you. 

First Comes the Promise 

Then Comes the Power 

The disciples of Jesus were understandably devastated when He was crucified. The One they had spent 3½ years with was taken from them most abruptly and cruelly, and they didn’t understand what He was trying to tell them. What were they to do? They had difficulty believing and understanding what God was up to, even when Jesus appeared to them in a resurrected body. They thought they knew the plan even after 40 more days together with the resurrected Christ. Jesus would lead them into victory over the Roman Empire and establish His kingdom in Jerusalem! 

The lion approached the rhinoceros and asked, “Who is the king of the jungle?” 

“You are, O lion,” came the answer. 

The lion approached the hippopotamus and asked, “Who is the king of the jungle?” 

The hippo said, “You are, O lion.” 

The lion approached the elephant and asked, “Who is the king of the jungle?” 

In reply, the elephant seized the lion with his trunk, threw him high in the air, caught him on the way down, and slammed him hard against a tree. 

The lion arose, half dazed, shook himself, and said weakly, “Just because you don’t know the right answer, you don’t have to get sore.” 

The disciples had concluded that Jesus had come to establish His military and political power. 

Any one of us would have asked Jesus about this. But He clarifies the reason for His first coming to earth in Luke 17:20-21: 

20 Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The kingdom of God does not come visibly, 21 

nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within you.” NIV 

We are similar to the people who interacted with Jesus 2,000 years ago. We still want God to use His raw power to establish His will here and now. We live under the illusion that if the right politicians are elected, laws are made, and people live upright, moral lives, our nation will become a Christian utopia. 

The Apostle Paul gives us a wake-up call in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5: 

3 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. NIV 

The Bible describes two comings of Jesus Christ here to earth. His First Coming has been to establish His loving leadership in people’s hearts. His Second Coming will be to establish His absolute dominion over all of creation. Anyone who resists Him at His Second Coming will be removed and cast into the Lake of Fire. 

We are entrusted with the power to win spiritual victories in His Name between His First and Second Coming. This power was given not to show off or promote people so others would be impressed but to fuel an army of witnesses to tell the nations about Jesus. 

We often devise our plans and ask God to bless them. We try to impose our wills upon circumstances and people and hope for God’s results. God’s work done in God’s time will bring God’s results. 

What power source are you relying upon for good results in your life? Your wealth? Good looks? Brains? Abilities? None of these will lead us to who and what will satisfy the yearning in our souls. 

As we go into this week and the rest of our lives, there is only one person that we can rely upon: the indwelling Holy Spirit. He provides the power that you and I need! How are we baptized and repeatedly filled with the Holy Spirit? 

We position ourselves to receive the promise. This comes by recognizing our emptiness apart from Him and then by asking Him to fill us to overflowing. 

We can make the clock strike before the hour by putting our hand on it, but it will strike prematurely. We can tear the rosebud open before its time, but we will damage its beauty. So, we may spoil many gifts of blessing God is preparing for us because of our impetuousness. His plan for our lives is perfect; therefore, waiting on God is never time wasted! 

I have gone through a painful process of disappointment, disillusionment and brokenness in pastoring since about 1984. I had high hopes and big plans. I have seen many of my attempts to fulfill plans crash and burn. I am learning that seeing God’s plan fulfilled does not depend on how hard and fast I work. It’s not just what I do but who I become that is important. I have to come to the end of myself and recognize my complete reliance upon the Lord bringing the people, finances and timing together for His results to come about. 

Hopefully, I am learning… 

First Comes the Promise 

Then Comes the Power 

Eternal results depend upon obedience to God