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Pastor Tom's Place

“Whispered in Caesar’s Kitchen”

Dr. Luke is the only Bible writer that informs us about the 40 days between the resurrection and the ascension of the Lord Jesus. No other writer gives the number of days. The Apostle John tells us about a couple of appearances of Christ post-resurrection, the upper room and breakfast on the Sea of Galilee (John 20-21). The vast majority of info comes from Luke’s two treatises, his Gospel and the book of Acts. We don’t know all the places Jesus went during that time, only some of them. One beautiful story I love to preach about is the two disciples on the road to Emmaus found in Luke 24. Whatever appearance Jesus took upon Himself, those two disciples didn’t recognize Him, but their hearts burned within them as He opened up the Old Testament Scriptures which spoke of the Lord Himself. It could be that Jesus was traveling back and forth from Earth to Heaven. Perhaps that happened on more than one occasion during that 40 day stretch.

We do know that as the 40-day period was ending, Jesus called His disciples together to give them some final instructions. The final earthly words are recorded in Acts 1:8. This is the key verse in the whole book of Acts. “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” This conversation, this instruction, is the last command before Jesus begins to rise into the sky and a “cloud received him out of their sight.” Just like that, He’s gone. As they ponder the words, the geographical locations are pretty simple. Jerusalem first. That may have been difficult for them to grasp. The people in Jerusalem killed Christ. Judea? They had rejected Christ. Samaria? They were nothing but half-breeds. The “uttermost part of the earth?” That’s Gentile’s. But as they thought on His words, those geographical locations kept ringing in their ears. Today, let me give you a couple of things to contemplate.
Christ’s Command. 1:8 begins with these words, “But ye shall...” It wasn’t a suggestion; it was an order from the Lord. It didn’t apply only to the inner circle, Peter, James, and John. It was just as binding on Andrew, Thomas, and Matthew as those in that inner circle. Each of those disciples, which had now become apostles, were under the same orders. No one got a pass not to obey. Neither do we. Being a witness for Christ is commanded of us 2000 years later. The message is simple. The Gospel, the death, burial and resurrection, is to be preached everywhere to all people. We tell those we meet and help send others to those we will never meet.
Costly Commitment. To be obedient to this awesome task will take great commitment. We have to have a tender heart. Sharing the gospel effectively demands that. I was listening to a podcast yesterday. Jordan Peterson was interviewing Tim Tebow. Mr. Tebow told a story about being in the Philippines on one of the secluded islands with a mission group. Three young men were at the service which had about 1200 in attendance. Tim saw the three leave. He got up and walked through the exit they’d gone through. One of them was just outside and came up to him. “Why did you leave?” He asked the boy. One of the town or village leaders had told their friend he couldn’t stay because he had a deformity. When he was born, his feet were pointed in the opposite direction. Birth defects to those villagers meant the boy was cursed. The boy took Tebow into a bamboo hut, and that’s when he saw the crippled boy. To the village, he was inferior, useless and they didn’t want the Americans to see him and think badly of the village. His friends left the meeting with him, and that’s when Tebow spied them exiting. Those are the type of friends we ought to be to others. By now, others were searching for Tebow. He picked the crippled boy up in his arms and carried him out of the hut and into the street. Everyone saw the “American” holding him, giving him value. The tenderness of that story has blessed me for two days now. It can cost us when we give the Gospel. It could be a financial cost. (Plane tickets aren’t cheap.) It can cost us giving to missions, but the command is still binding on us. Just as none of the apostles got a pass, neither do we. There is also the cost of living holy. As Christians, if we have spiritual discernment, it isn’t all about our own personal rights. We live so that others can see Christ in us. Many of us learned of David Livingstone and Henry Stanley when we were in elementary school. Livingstone was a Scottish missionary thought to be lost in the central part of Africa. Stanley was a journalist who worked for a newspaper, the New York Herald. Stanley was tasked with finding Livingstone. He finally found him in November 1871. Stanley was not a Christian; he was a skeptic. After spending a considerable amount of time with the missionary, it was time to leave and report back to his editors. He said this, “If I had been with him any longer I would have been compelled to be a Christian and he never once spoke to me about it at all.” Livingstone’s life was telling the Gospel, as was his lips to the heathen he had gone to evangelize. Does your life, and mine, point people to Christ? Do we really believe that the Gospel still saves? Are you and I content to get our little group into the family of God, but not really care about those less desirables? Our commitment should be so great to the cause of Christ that none would ever doubt our commitment to be obedient to the commands of Christ, His last words before leaving for Heaven.

How successful was that early church? Acts 1-7, they were reaching those in Jerusalem. Acts 8-11, they were reaching those in Judea & Samaria. Acts 12-28, the Gospel was headed to Asia Minor, Europe, and around the world. Philippians 4:22 is a verse that lets me dream about how far Paul was able to take the Gospel. “All the saints salute you, chiefly they that are of Caesar’s household.” I smile each time I read that verse. Nero would have Paul beheaded a few years later, but even godless Nero couldn’t keep the Gospel out of his own palace. The butlers, maids, bakers, and house servants could salute the Philippians because they’d received the Gospel just as they had. The death, burial, and resurrection were always whispered among those Christ followers. Where people are, the Gospel should be also.