Acts 1:12-26 is a challenge for a preacher. It seems like a transition piece―filler. We wouldn’t want to call it that, but we might think it. What is the passage about? What should pastors do with it?
I agree with Abraham Kuruvilla that we ought not distill a passage down to a “big idea.” God didn’t only give scripture in propositional form. He used all kinds of genres, and each one is doing something a bit different in its own context. Rather than reducing a passage to a “big idea” and structuring the sermon around that distillate, we should act as tour guides explaining and interpreting the entire passage. Then, in application, we apply the theology―what God is doing with what He’s saying? If my wife tells me the drip tray in the espresso machine is full, what is she doing? Is she just communicating information, or does she implicitly want me to do something with that data? Of course, she wants me to empty the drip tray!
When we preach a text, we should ignore the temptation to flatten it into one propositional statement. We show the people what God is doing with what He’s saying, then we give them practical steps to make that theology real in their lives to make them a bit more like Christ.