No matter who we are, at one time or another, life’s frustrating events have left their abusive marks on us. It’s not a matter of if. It’s a matter of when, for we are talking about life in this fallen world, where this world’s sin and chaos ramrod our tidy and ordered lives.
It was no different for the first Christians. Events in their lives also frustrated them. Like us, what sometimes felt like insurmountable walls also encircled them. For that’s exactly how life often feels: insurmountable and overwhelming.
So, if you can’t see the full picture, or how your perplexing problems will all work out, then today’s reading from the book of Acts is for you. For in it contains the Word of God that proclaims to you that Jesus Christ is Lord, even over your frustrations.
St. Luke began the book of Acts with incredible news. He described what took place 40 days after Jesus rose from the tomb, when Jesus ascended in to heaven. That’s when Jesus physically left this world. Luke wrote: “In the first book [that is, the Gospel of Luke], … I dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when he was taken up” (vs. 1-2).
Hmmm, “all that Jesus began to do and teach.” That’s astounding! For that means that all the words Jesus spoke, and the acts He performed until the day He ascended, were only what He “began to do and teach.” That means Jesus kept on doing and teaching His people even after He ascended in to heaven.
So that’s the story of Acts. It’s all about our ascended Lord Jesus, who is physically gone from the earth. Yet, even though He is gone, He is still among us, doing and teaching, for Jesus is still guiding His people by His Spirit.
The book of Acts begins with a huddled group of believers, feeling isolated and alone. Then, every Christian on the face of the earth could fit into one, large room, for there were only 120 Christians in the entire world. But by the end of Acts, 28 years later, the life-creating Word of Christ had spread throughout theRoman Empire. One of Christ’s Apostles was even preparing himself to confess Jesus to the Emperor of Rome.
But this isn’t just the story of Acts. This isn’t just a history lesson. It’s the story of believers. And the last time I checked, you were believers. So, it’s also about you.
So, picture your life, right now–except picture yourself in the future, looking back at your life right now. Then, many of the unclear parts of your life will have become clear. But you can only see that looking back in time.
But isn’t it that way of our lives. Think of your younger years. Now, you may be able to see how Christ’s Spirit guided you during High School. But then, maybe it didn’t seem that way! You may have been a frustrated teenager, getting picked on, with others making fun of you. Now, you may be able to see how Christ’s Spirit has taught you through everyday life with your husband or wife. But then, maybe it didn’t seem that way! You may have seen your marriage crumbling and your emotions in continual turmoil.
The disciples asked Jesus, “Lord, are you now going to restore the kingdom toIsrael.” Jesus responded, “It isn’t for you to know the times or seasons the Father has set by his own authority.” That’s the truth and reality for us, isn’t it? We aren’t God. We can’t know everything, nor should we. And if we could know “the times or seasons the Father has set,” then what faith or trust would we need?
So, Jesus through His Spirit keeps calling you to trust in Him, even using the circumstances of your life to bring you closer to God. That’s how God acts in a fallen world. He even uses the world’s fallen ways to bring you closer to Him.
If you read through the book of Acts, it’s easy to see, at the end, how God was guiding those first Christians. God be praised if you now can look back on years gone by and say, “I do see it now! Christ has been guiding me all along!”
What’s especially comforting is that Jesus guides you in the real world. Look at the book of Acts. That book is no fairy tale. In Acts, we find Christians going into the world and witnessing what they had seen of Christ. But did everybody listen to them politely? Did Christians always get along? Were their lives always happy? Did they have wallets thick with money? No, that then would be a fairy tale! And that’s not the Book of Acts, nor is that how your walk of faith takes place in this fallen world.
So, what do we see in the book of Acts? The disciples loved Jesus. Their faith was real. They earnestly wanted to serve Christ, even being willing to leave home for years on end and make enormous sacrifices. Yet, what does Jesus do? He tells them that they don’t need to see the full picture.
To us, those first Christians are people with faith and real devotion. So their wish to see the bigger picture seems reasonable. For that’s what we want. We can usually handle struggles and frustrations–as long as we can see the full picture, as well. But that isn’t always the life of the Christian.
That was hard on the first disciples. They had lived with Jesus. They knew Him personally. They knew what food He liked and the size of His sandals. And Jesus told them that they were to be His witnesses toJerusalem, to Judea andSamaria, and to the ends of the earth. But when? How? How could they move forward when they couldn’t see the full picture? How frustrating it must have been for them!
Scripture says this about Jesus’ birth, “But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman” (Galatians 4:4). When God decided, He sent Jesus to be the Savior of the world, the real world. Jesus Christ came to redeem people in the real world. He came to the world as it is–frustrated, confused, and unable to move forward because of sin and its enslaving ways.
What Jesus Christ does for the world, He also does for you. Jesus Christ loves the real you. He didn’t become incarnate for the person you would like to be. He doesn’t wait to love you until after you have all the frustrations, all the failures, and all the calamities of life nicely under control. Jesus didn’t die for some make-believe person, the one you let other people think you are.
Jesus Christ loves the real you, with frustrations, anger, and doubts. He came to this real world in all its sin. He bled to death for the sins of the people in all their sin. Why? All to become the Savior of someone like you, in all your sin. This love Jesus has for you, even in your fallen state, moves Him to do and teach in your life, even amid the many struggles and frustrations you have.
Do you know what that means? It means that Jesus proves Himself to be Lord even over your frustrations and failures. He’s Lord over them all, because He brings forth blessings as you follow Him, even as you wrestle with those frustrations on this side of heaven.
Isn’t it ironic what blessings Jesus works through the frustrating events of life? Often, life turns out better with the roadblocks and frustrations than if we had received what we first wanted. The missionaries-to-be in Acts Chapter 1 probably didn’t appreciate that, at least at first. They suffered persecution and felt frustrated and confused. But they were still in God’s hands. And under the Holy Spirit’s guidance, they eventually could see the work of God unfold before their eyes.
If you’re honest toward God, you have also seen God’s work unfold before your eyes. What a disaster it would’ve been in my own life if I had always gotten what I wanted. If that had happened, I would’ve never been brought to faith. I would then be even more foolish, more selfish, and even more enslaved in my sin!
In this real life of yours, Christ even uses the frustrations in your life to teach you that faith is all about trust. If you sail right through everything, oh how easy it would be to become smug and complacent. You’d say, “I’ll just do this, that, and the other,” as if success were simply a matter of your deciding. Is that faith?
The Prophet Amos shows how life can be in this fallen world, even as a Christian. Amos wrote: “It will be like a man who flees from a lion, only to face a bear. He goes home and rests his hand against the wall, only to have a serpent bite him” (Amos 5:19). In other words, we hit roadblocks, we fall on our faces, we head off into the unknown, and, through it all, we find out how badly we need God’s grace and blessings.
Christ is Lord over your life. He isn’t running your life by accident. He has a reason for you living when you do, even including the circumstances of your life. In other words, in your real life, God can bless the words you speak. In your real life, God can bless the actions you take, even the example of your life despite your frustrations and suffering.
In John’s Gospel, chapters 14 through 16, Jesus tells what it will be like after He ascends and what He will keep doing for His people. And this is what Jesus said, and it has your name all over it. “I have told you this, so, in me, you may have peace. In the world, you will have suffering. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). God give you the faith to trust that it is so. Amen.
