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| Christians have been accused of being so heavenly minded that they’re no earthly good. But I’ve found people who are so earthly minded that they’re no heavenly good. So how do we strike the balance between being citizens of Earth, where we get our bills and mail, and citizens of heaven, our eternal home? Well, we must avoid emphasizing one address over the other. Some believers become so involved in this world that they neglect the heavenly part. Others get so theologically preoccupied that they forget about their responsibility here. That’s the issue the disciples faced in Acts 1. They were expecting the coming kingdom, but they also had a kingdom task to complete on earth. They were neglecting their earthly address. “[Jesus] commanded [the disciples] not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, ‘which,’ He said, ‘you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now'” (vv. 4-5). But they responded, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” (v. 6). They were good at being distracted and getting off point, like at the transfiguration (see Luke 9:28-36) and when Jesus announced He was going to the cross (see Luke 9:44-48). But Jesus was trying to shift their focus from being preoccupied with the future to being occupied in the present. As He said in a parable in Luke 19:13, “Occupy till I come” (KJV). We can get caught in the same dilemma. We get preoccupied with earthly things (perhaps even good things) when we should be focused on evangelism. We can also become theologically preoccupied, where our focus is only on the future and Bible prophecy. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it can become imbalanced when we let the future distract us from the present. When the disciples asked, “Are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” Jesus answered, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:7-8). He basically said, “Don’t worry about the kingdom that is coming. Think about what you should be doing until the kingdom comes—telling others about Me.” Like the nobleman told his servants in Luke 19, Jesus told His followers, “Occupy until I come. Be about My business.” That’s the task we have at hand. Instead of being concerned about the when, we should be concerned about what we do until the when happens. So how can we be productive now? In the book of Acts, the disciples were all witnesses for Jesus, first locally and then globally—in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, then to the ends of the earth (see 1:8). That’s what we are to be: witnesses. And what happened then is still the pattern for today. So, you get saved, then you tell your family. That’s the smallest, most intimate circle. After that, you tell your friends, extended relatives, coworkers, and then different people groups within your city. In this way, in each of our lives, the kingdom spreads throughout the world, in ever-widening circles. That’s how we occupy until He comes. |
