How to Avoid Sun-burned Tongues
Acts 1:1-11 May 23, 2004
In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 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. 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. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit."
So when they met together, they asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?"
He said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 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."
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 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."
Intro: How many of you have ever had a sunburned tongue? I did not think there would be many. We don’t run around with our mouths open and our tongues out. But how often has an event, or a situation, or a person’s attitude left you openmouthed. Often these become our only topic of conversation. That’s what it was like after the attacks on 9-11. We were a nation of people with sunburned tongues. We walked around openmouthed and had only one topic of conversation. “Where were you when you heard the news?”
Often, when a person is going through a divorce, they get sunburned tongues. They are shocked by what is happening, the hurt is raw and it becomes their only topic of conversation. Another group with sunburned tongues are new grandparents. They walk around with a single focus and assume the rest of the world shares their enthusiasm for their grandson. Whenever we have an experience that takes our focus off the primary task at hand, we run the risk of getting sunburned tongues.
Now, if I were to ask you, “How many of you have ever had a sunburned tongue?” I imagine the numbers would be very different.
Today is Ascension Sunday. It is the 7th Sunday of Easter. It is the day we remember Jesus’ return to the Father and his commission which said, “Be my witnesses.”
I. The Promise
In this passage is one of the most blessed promises that we have in scripture. After Jesus ascended, two men in white appeared before the disciples and said, “this Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven will come in just the same way that you have watched him go.” In that promise lies confidence that events in this world are heading toward an ultimate solution. It may look like our world is going nowhere, but because Jesus will come again, we can know that there is a purpose. Our nation may appear to be enmeshed in a conflict that will not end, but because Jesus will return, we can know that one day, international conflicts will cease. Our church and our families may seem to be heading in the wrong direction, but Jesus will return.
I recently saw a bumper sticker that said, “Jesus is coming, and boy is he mad.” That made me angry. Jesus is coming, but it is the same way he left, lovingly and patiently teaching his disciples. It is a blessed hope, not a message of terror. The disciples, after the crucifixion, after the resurrection and after 40 days of appearances of the risen Christ, were still expecting Jesus to establish a kingdom in Jerusalem. And Jesus responded with patience.
II. The Problem
The disciples had heard Jesus say that if he went away, he would be back, and perhaps that was the reason the disciples got sunburned tongues.
Listen to the words of the angels when they appeared, “Why are you standing there gazing up into heaven?” Can’t you see it? Jesus ascends into the clouds, and the disciples are standing there with open mouths. “Did you just see what I think I saw?” “What do we do next?” “Will the others believe this one?” And there they stood until the angels brought them back to reality, “Why are you standing there staring up into heaven?”
One of the dangers we face as Christians today is the tendency to get all wrapped up in the theories and the speculation around the second coming. Since long before Hal Lindsey’s book, “The Late Great Planet Earth,” Christians have been tempted to direct their focus to the things of the end times. The popularity of the “Left Behind” series is proof that we are still standing with the disciples staring up into the heavens. The disciples believed they were living in the last days, and if they were, then so are we. However, we must not become so wrapped up in speculation surrounding the coming of Christ that we forget our mission.
Jesus will come, that is his promise, that is our hope. When the disciples wanted more details, Jesus said, “It is not for you to know.” When the Thessalonian church was undergoing persecution and people were dieing, Paul simply said, “One day the dead will rise and we will be reunited.” That was enough. And so today, when we are overwhelmed with speculation and evangelists and authors are telling us to read the newspaper with the book of Revelation in our hands, and politicians and governments are being identified as the Antichrist, we need to hear the words of the angels, “why are you standing there staring up into heaven, this Jesus who went away, will return in the same way.”
III. The Mission
But until then, we have a mission. Instead of speculating about his return, Jesus said, “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."
To be his witnesses, that is to be our focus. Earlier Kitty read from Acts the story of Paul and Silas in prison. They were bound hand in foot in a dungeon. It was not their fault. They had healed a slave girl and because of the healing her owners were losing money. These men stirred up the crowd and eventually a riot began. Paul and Silas were arrested. Now, they certainly had every right to be upset. They were innocent of any crime, yet they were being held. They could have gotten sunburned tongues and sat there with their mouths open, complained about their conditions, railed against their persecutors. We would have understood. But that is not what they chose. Instead, they sat in their cell and began singing and praying. They chose to be witnesses for Christ even in this situation. And their witness brought an entire family to Jesus. They had not been preaching in that prison, they were simply living the life that Jesus had given them.
That is what it means to be a witness. But how do we do it? When everything else seems to be going against us, when we are being attacked and our character is being assaulted, how can we continue to be a positive witness the way Paul and Silas did, the way Jesus is commanding us to in this passage?
An insight may come from a balmy October afternoon in 1982, Badger Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin, was packed. More than 60,000 die-hard University of Wisconsin supporters were watching their football team take on the Michigan State Spartans. It soon became obvious that MSU had the better team.
What seemed odd, however, as the score became more lopsided, were the bursts of applause and shouts of joy from the Wisconsin fans. How could they cheer when their team was losing? It turns out that seventy miles away the Milwaukee Brewers were beating the St. Louis Cardinals in game three of the 1982 World Series.
Many of the fans in the stands were listening to portable radios--and responding to something other than their immediate circumstances. Paul encourages us to fix our eyes not on what is seen but what is unseen (2 Corinthians 4:18). The disciples learned to focus on Jesus and the mission he gave them. When we do the same, we can rejoice even in hardships because we see Christ's larger victory. When we do the same, our witness will be a force for the gospel.
Last week, this congregation clearly stated their desire to go forward in a ministry opportunity with a new pre-school. Later that evening, I called the family that will be involved with us in this project and they were excited that we were willing to move forward. On Monday, I believe God confirmed this decision when out of the blue two mothers called with a desire to enroll in “the Children’s Preschool,” that is the school that closed three years ago.
The mission of this congregation is to be Christ’s presence in this community. Sometimes we do that well, other times we do it poorly. But a danger all the time is sunburned tongues, the kind we get when we get stuck in what we have done well, or in what we have done poorly.
Application: We get sunburned tongues whenever we place our focus on anything but Jesus and the mission he has given us. When the angels confronted the disciples about standing around staring up into heaven, they returned to Jerusalem and according to verse 14 were continually devoting themselves to prayer. 10 days later their prayers were answered when the Holy Spirit fell upon them and they were transformed. As a congregation and as individuals, we often stand around staring up into heaven. Our focus becomes our building, my church, my rights and my feelings. If we are going to move beyond sun burned tongues and all that goes with them, we must ask the Spirit of God to refocus us so we are looking to Jesus and the mission he has given us.
As we prepare to celebrate Pentecost next Sunday, I want to invite you to join with me in renewing our focus. Each day this week, at 8:00 am and 8:00 pm, with the exception of Wednesday evening, I will be here in this worship space to seek God’s face and pray for our church body. If you would join me at any time in this, I would welcome you. When the Temple was dedicated, God told the nation of Israel, If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, they I will hear from heaven, and forgive their sins and heal their land.” Jesus said, “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." Let us humble ourselves and pray and open our hearts to receive this power that we might be God’s witnesses.
