| Ascension '06 Pastor Don Baron |
| Sermons |
He 'Ascended' - So What? - Acts 1:1-10
Does any one know what last Thursday was?
Ascension Day - 40 days after Easter.
Let's connect Jesus' ascension with the rest of His life on earth.
The Son of God broke out of eternity into time
born as a child, fully human
those close to Him watched Him
heal the sick
raise the dead
still the storm
feed a huge crowd with a little bread & fish
and they knew this was no mere man.
On the cross, He walked into the jaws of death, carrying our guilt to hell
where they belong.
In His explosive resurrection, he broke the chains of Satan and death that
had held us all too long.
He spent 40 days giving His friends what Luke calls "convincing
proofs that He was indeed alive & well.
But what then?
Have you had this question lurking in your mind:
If He walked bodily out of the grave, where is He now?
Acts 1:1-11
Well, you say, sounds like He went UP.
So His body is "up there" somewhere?
But doesn't that sound too much like the 3-storey universe people
believed in when they thought the earth was flat?
You know: earth: ground floor; heaven: upstairs; hell: basement?
But it's not that simple: The Bible insists on two things:
1. Jesus is still fully human and has a body just as WE will have a body
on resurrection day.
2. Jesus is still on this planet as the God-man - fully human, fully God.
Ephesians 4:10: (see bulletin cover) "He ascended higher than all the
heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.
Note: "in order to fill the whole universe"
not in order to leave us and be absent…
"to fill the whole universe"
That includes planet earth.
Do you remember those 40 days after His resurrection?
Already His body was not bound by the laws of nature that we're
familiar with.
Space was not a problem for Him.
To our eyes, He would suddenly appear and just as suddenly
disappear - as if He were fading in and out from a 4th
dimension that we know nothing about.
A ghost, you say.
But no - to prove that He was still human and physical, He invited
them to touch Him.
And Luke tells us in Acts 1 that He was eating with them.
That doesn't sound like a ghost, does it!
Do you think He could appear to us as He did to His disciples?
Of course - because He's never left us.
He appeared to Paul after His Ascension.
And Acts 1:11 tells us He will do just that on a day of His choosing.
In this awesome event, Jesus transitioned from a local presence to a
presence wherever His people are.
He permeates your life, even your body.
You live, move, and have your being in Him.
You are IN Christ.
You should know these things so that you will grasp the wonderful fact that
your Lord Jesus is not absent up in the sky somewhere…
…nor is He just "spiritually" present with us now, like a ghost -
that would be a let-down, in contrast to His Real Presence as a
human with His disciples.
He is right next to you, this very moment, warm and human and fully
able to sympathize with your human experiences.
But, so what?
Is this a lot of doctrine that doesn't make much difference for your life?
Not at all!
I'll summarize the So what? of Ascension Day truth with these 2 words:
Joy and Job.
A. Joy "Then they worshipped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great Joy."
(Luke 24:52)
3 joys:
1) There is the joy of knowing that He is not LESS with you than He was with
the disciples, but MORE so.
His presence in you, I believe, even brings health & healing to your
body.
His presence strengthens your mind and spirit.
2) There is the Joy of His Supper, where the God-man who fills the universe
and is outside time and space, breaks through and is in direct and
personal touch with you.
Radio broadcasts fill this room right now.
But only if you have a receiver can you hear them.
At the Altar, we have receivers of bread and wine, and He says "This bread
is my body, this wine is my blood."
Does any one know what last Thursday was?
Ascension Day - 40 days after Easter.
Let's connect Jesus' ascension with the rest of His life on earth.
The Son of God broke out of eternity into time
born as a child, fully human
those close to Him watched Him
heal the sick
raise the dead
still the storm
feed a huge crowd with a little bread & fish
and they knew this was no mere man.
On the cross, He walked into the jaws of death, carrying our guilt to hell
where they belong.
In His explosive resurrection, he broke the chains of Satan and death that
had held us all too long.
He spent 40 days giving His friends what Luke calls "convincing
proofs that He was indeed alive & well.
But what then?
Have you had this question lurking in your mind:
If He walked bodily out of the grave, where is He now?
Acts 1:1-11
Well, you say, sounds like He went UP.
So His body is "up there" somewhere?
But doesn't that sound too much like the 3-storey universe people
believed in when they thought the earth was flat?
You know: earth: ground floor; heaven: upstairs; hell: basement?
But it's not that simple: The Bible insists on two things:
1. Jesus is still fully human and has a body just as WE will have a body
on resurrection day.
2. Jesus is still on this planet as the God-man - fully human, fully God.
Ephesians 4:10: (see bulletin cover) "He ascended higher than all the
heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.
Note: "in order to fill the whole universe"
not in order to leave us and be absent…
"to fill the whole universe"
That includes planet earth.
Do you remember those 40 days after His resurrection?
Already His body was not bound by the laws of nature that we're
familiar with.
Space was not a problem for Him.
To our eyes, He would suddenly appear and just as suddenly
disappear - as if He were fading in and out from a 4th
dimension that we know nothing about.
A ghost, you say.
But no - to prove that He was still human and physical, He invited
them to touch Him.
And Luke tells us in Acts 1 that He was eating with them.
That doesn't sound like a ghost, does it!
Do you think He could appear to us as He did to His disciples?
Of course - because He's never left us.
He appeared to Paul after His Ascension.
And Acts 1:11 tells us He will do just that on a day of His choosing.
In this awesome event, Jesus transitioned from a local presence to a
presence wherever His people are.
He permeates your life, even your body.
You live, move, and have your being in Him.
You are IN Christ.
You should know these things so that you will grasp the wonderful fact that
your Lord Jesus is not absent up in the sky somewhere…
…nor is He just "spiritually" present with us now, like a ghost -
that would be a let-down, in contrast to His Real Presence as a
human with His disciples.
He is right next to you, this very moment, warm and human and fully
able to sympathize with your human experiences.
But, so what?
Is this a lot of doctrine that doesn't make much difference for your life?
Not at all!
I'll summarize the So what? of Ascension Day truth with these 2 words:
Joy and Job.
A. Joy "Then they worshipped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great Joy."
(Luke 24:52)
3 joys:
1) There is the joy of knowing that He is not LESS with you than He was with
the disciples, but MORE so.
His presence in you, I believe, even brings health & healing to your
body.
His presence strengthens your mind and spirit.
2) There is the Joy of His Supper, where the God-man who fills the universe
and is outside time and space, breaks through and is in direct and
personal touch with you.
Radio broadcasts fill this room right now.
But only if you have a receiver can you hear them.
At the Altar, we have receivers of bread and wine, and He says "This bread
is my body, this wine is my blood."
Here I am - for you.
Don't ask me how; He said it; that settles it.
And you come, sometimes battered by life, and the ascended God-man is
there for you.
3) There is the JOY of knowing He plans to appear again - fully visible like
before Ascension Day.
I will see Him, face to face.
Like, with all its tangles and pain and lack of closure, on that Day will all come
together and make sense in Him.
All the loose strings of your personal life.
All the injustices out in society.
All the riddles of life, will make sense on that Day.
Because on that Thursday, He filled the universe, we are a people of JOY.
B. Job "Men of Galilee" (the two men said to them), "why do you stand here
looking into the sky? This same Jesus…will come back…"
The two men weren't pleased that the disciples stood there gawking up at
the sky where Jesus had disappeared.
Their words imply urgency - there's a JOB to be done before He returns!
3 observations on the Job:
1) Right now, earth, not heaven, is the focus of our God-given assignment.
It's a message for us, not to be "so heavenly minded that we're no earthly
good."
It's a message for any of us who think that earth is the place to pursue our
own self-centered agenda.
No, there's a pressing task to be done on earth - now.
2) The job requires that we focus our lives on knowing Him and finding our
place in His plan.
No matter how old or young you are, God has a plan for your life.
The disciples returned to Jerusalem and spent whole days in prayer,
waiting for the Holy Spirit to empower and direct them.
Our lives too need to find their place and meaning in the Commission Jesus
gave us to reach the unreached.
Not to sit in our pews waiting for people to come.
Wu Ding-fang, a former Chinese ambassador to the U.S., wrote these sad
words:
"I met Christian missionaries in China and was impressed with their faith. When
my government sent me to America, I made up my mind to become a Christian and
join the first Christian Church that invited me. I have been here for three years, and
no one has asked me. It's too late now. Now I shall not come."
Jesus said GO.
We are tempted to treat the church as a "shrine" - a place one goes to so
as to fulfill its purpose.
but the church is intended to be, not a shrine, but an ammunition depot -
not a place to which we come primarily, but a place from which we
go, equipped with arm to win the war for souls.
3) The Job has to do with human relationships.
It's not primarily mass evangelism at a stadium, or the TV evangelists.
The Kingdom of God grows in the soil of one-on-one relationships
It's Andrew meeting Jesus, then looking up his brother Peter, and saying,
"I have found the Messiah!"
It's Philip searching out his friend Nathanael and saying, "We have found
the One Moses wrote about!"
It's Don MacRae who brought her Buddhist wife Karen to church,
who told her brother Glenn, who brought his wife Lynn,
who brought their daughter Kyrah who now introduces her
students to Jesus at the Christian school where she teaches.
It's a certain mother-in-law in Tauranga inviting her son-in-law to the Alpha
Course, and seeing him come to life in his relationship with Christ.
That's where the Job and the Joy meet.
It's not just the dramatic moments we all wish we could have when a friend
steps from darkness into the light of Christ.
It's also the daily inconveniences of putting someone else first…
…patiently plowing the ground of friendship,
awaiting the day when, thru hardship and crisis, the message
of Jesus finally begins to blossom in a softened heart.
A lady once told a pastor that she was going through a spiritual dry spell.
She felt no enthusiasm for the Christian life, though she desired it.
The pastor asked her to tell him the names of 3 people she knew who
needed love.
She began to plan specifically how to give these 3 some token of her love.
in one case, it was a note….for another a casserole…for
another an invitation to her home.
She paid a price in time, energy, money, and privacy, to be sure.
But as she carried out her commitments, she began to experience
afresh the presence and reality and power of the living Christ in her life
Who should be on YOUR list and when will you begin?
That indeed is where the Joy and the Job come together.
And you can do it, because the ascended Christ is right by your side…
…closer than your breath…
…waiting for you to cry, "I surrender, Lord. Let's do life your way."
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
