Acts 1:9-11
After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand there 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.”
A couple of weeks ago I shared the story of how my father’s life changed when he was influenced by several of his high school friends. One of them was a 15 or 16 year old girl who had simply told him that she had been “saved” and that therefore she didn’t do certain things anymore. My father soon experienced the same spiritual rebirth and within two years was preaching in churches.
Think for a moment about that little story from the perspective of the “ripple effect” phenomenon. It’s easy to see the “ripple” that the change in the young woman’s life helped to produce in my father’s life. But back up a bit from the picture of those two young people in the late 1940’s. Who was the now forgotten preacher whose words touched that teenage girl’s heart one night in a small church in a small town in southern Illinois? Back up a couple more steps. What seminary or Bible college professor fanned into flame a passion for preaching God’s word in that preacher as a student. And who were the spiritual influences in his life as a child? Did he have a mother who prayed beside his bed every night? Back up one more time. And what of that Godly mother? Who was the Sunday school teacher who helped her understand what Jesus had done for her?
Do you see it? Do you see the great ripple effect of God? Do you see that the ripple effect is people? Can you look back over your life and see the dozens of people whose lives generated the hundreds and perhaps thousands of ripples that eventually influenced your life?
Notice what the two men dressed in white (most scholars believe these figures were angels) say to the disciples:
“They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand there 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.”
This passage always makes me smile. The disciples had just been with the risen Son of God; they had heard him give them this almost unimaginable mandate; and then they watched him ascend into the clouds right before their eyes. While they are still gazing slack-jawed into the sky, the angels basically say, “Hey fellas, don’t just stand there, do something!”
I can identify with those disciples! Sometimes I can be so focused on who Jesus is and what he has done for me that I forget that he called me to do something for him! I can be so intent on studying and writing in preparation for preaching in weekend services that I forget that I live in the middle of a sea of people that need to be reached by the ripple effect of the gospel. And I forget that every day is an opportunity for me to generate tiny ripples – through my conversations, through my casual friendships – that God can actually use as spiritual influence.
How about you? Is there any way in which you are like those disciples standing there gazing into heaven? Do you tend to think of your faith in terms of going to church on the weekend? Do you tend to focus more on what Jesus can do for you than on what he asked you to do for him? Ask him to help you see and respond to the opportunities all around you to bear witness to him – and in doing so to generate ripples of spiritual influence that reach the world.
Pastor Brian Coffey
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