SERMON 501
EASTER 7, ASCENSION DAY SERMON, MAY 27, 28, 2006
ACTS 1:1-11, PSALM 47, EPHESIANS 1:15-23, LUKE 24:
44-53
THINGS WE DO NOT KNOW AND THINGS WE MUST DO!
Beloved in the Lord, grace
and peace be unto you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ, and from the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life,
Forty days after he was
raised from the dead our Lord Jesus was lifted up for his flight home through
the heavens. We have no idea how long a flight it was. We only know that he ascended,
without airplane or helicopter and balloon, and went up to the place where God
dwells.
For our meditation we shall
examine our lessons under the theme, THINGS WE DO NOT KNOW AND THINGS WE MUST
DO!
But before we talk about the
things we do not know and the things we must do, let us for a moment pause
before the wonder of it all. Let us listen first to the story told by one H.
Jacob Needleman. He says,
“I was an observer at the
launch of Apollo 17 in 1975. It was a night launch, and there were hundreds of
critical reporters all over the lawn, drinking beer, wisecracking, and waiting
for this thirty-five-storey-high rocket.
The countdown came, and then
the launch. The first thing you see is this extraordinary orange light, which
is just at the limit of what you can bear to look at. Everything is illuminated
with this light. Then comes this thing slowly rising up in total silence,
because it takes a few seconds for the sound to come across. You hear a
‘whooooosh! hhhhmmmm!’ It enters right into you.
You can practically hear jaws
dropping. The sense of wonder fills everyone in the whole place, as this things
goes up and up. The first stage ignites this beautiful blue flame. It becomes
like a star, but you realize there are humans on it. And then there’s total
silence.”
Needleman closes his story
with these words, “People get up quietly helping each other. They’re kind. They
open doors. They look at one another, speaking quietly and interestedly. These
were suddenly moral people because the sense of wonder, the experience of
wonder, made them moral.”
End of quote from Needleman!
Can you imagine what it must
have been like to see our Lord suddenly taken up from their midst and hidden in
a cloud. That was followed, not by noise or by light, but by the appearance of
two men in white robes, obviously angels or messengers sent by the living God!
They thought that they had
seen everything. They had seen his suffering and cruel death by crucifixion.
They had been witness to the resurrection. They had seen Jesus, spoken with
him, been taught by him, over a period of forty days. And now this! Their Lord
and master, their friend and Savior, had ascended through the heavens, the
earthly heavens and the heavenly heavens directly to the right hand of the
Father, the living God of heaven and earth.
They were silent too. They
opened doors for one another. They gathered together for prayer. They waited
together for the coming of the Spirit. They waited for God to lead them.
THINGS WE DO NOT KNOW AND
THINGS WE MUST DO!
We all like to be in the know;
to be both givers and receivers of important information about many things. The
radio and television broadcasts are simply filled with important breaking news.
Indeed, their well being is dependant on being the first to bring the juiciest
bit of news possible to public view. We all like to be in the know.
The disciples were not
different in this respect either. They had been both the first to receive and
the first to disbelieve the important news that Jesus had told them. When
informed about his impending death and resurrection, the disciples simply
refused to believe that this was indeed a part of the plan of God for the
redemption of human kind from the very beginning.
Now, after the resurrection
and the appearances of the Lord to them, they have the audacity to ask what is
next in God’s great plan. They still want to be in the know.
Unfortunately, the disciples
are still out in left field. They want to know when God will restore the
kingdom to
God will reveal his plans in
God’s time.
THINGS WE DO NOT KNOW! Every
generation has had in their midst those who thought they could forecast what
God was about to do next. So we have people still telling us all sorts of
strange things: Jesus will come and rule on earth for a thousand years; Jesus
is coming on this day or that day; The rapture is coming and some will be taken
and some left for awhile. Any one who makes such forecasts only makes
themselves look foolish.
We know only that Jesus came
among us, as God in the flesh. We only know that he died, and was raised, for
our salvation. He will return just as he left, and bring all who died with him.
He will bring in the new creation. And if those who saw such brilliant colors
and heard such strange sounds as Apollo 17 took off were utterly amazed, can
you imagine the utter silence when we see the whole creation burned away and
the new one take its place, and the living God become all things to all
creatures, and we see him as he is?
THINGS WE DO NOT KNOW! We
know nothing more than this, and we wait with utter fascination for what God
has in store for us and the times and the seasons that he has set by his own
authority.
THINGS WE MUST DO! Before we
examine briefly the things we must do let us remember just who we are. We are a
people who have actually been raised with Christ.
While we do not know the
times and season that he has set by his own authority, we are his people and
fully equipped for the things we must do.
THE THINGS WE MUST DO! We
have the same ministry set before us by our Lord as he set before his disciples
just before he ascended on high. We are his witnesses wherever we are and
wherever the Lord sends us, the ministry of bearing witness to the Lord Jesus.
I have been reading that
classic essay by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, LIFE TOGETHER, this week. In the fourth
chapter he talks about our ministry. So we will listen to what Bonhoeffer tells
us we must do to fulfill the ministry our Lord left us. He divides our ministry
into several parts.
The first is the ministry of
holding one’s tongue. We are to refuse to express any of our evil thoughts into
words. We are never to speak covertly against any brother or sister. The only
words that are to come out of our mouths are those words which edify and build
up the body.
The second is the ministry of
meekness. He or she who would learn to serve must learn not to think more
highly of themselves than they think of others. Only those who live in
forgiveness learn properly to think in this way.
.
The third ministry is the
ministry of listening. Just as the love of God begins with listening to the
Word of God, so also love of the brother or sister begins with listening to
them. People are looking for those who will listen to them, but he or she who
cannot listen will be doing nothing but prattle before their neighbor and
before God. Our ministry indeed begins with listening.
The fourth ministry is the
ministry of helpfulness. God is constantly messing up our plans by sending us
people with claims and petitions, people who desperately need our help. We may
pass them by because we think we have more important tasks, but our ministry
begins and ends with helpfulness.
The fifth ministry is the
ministry of bearing. We are told to bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill
the law of Christ. We are called to bear the burdens of our brothers, and to
bear and endure the brother or sister themselves, unbearable though those
brothers and sisters may be. Just as God bore our sins, and just as a mother
bears her child, so we have thrust upon us the ministry of bearing.
The sixth ministry according
to Bonhoeffer is the ministry of proclaiming. Bonhoeffer has in mind that
unique situation in which one person bears witness to another person, bringing
to that person the whole consolation of God. That opportunity to bear witness
to Christ and to give to another the whole counsel of God will certainly come
to every child of God, from the youngest of us to the oldest among us. If we have
properly held our tongue, if we have conducted ourselves as the one of the meek
of the earth, if we have been first and foremost a listener, if we have been
helpful to all who come, if we have in love born the burdens of our brothers
and sisters, we will indeed be prepared to bear witness to Christ, as we have
been called to do.
All these ministries can be
fulfilled by us, the children of God, because we have been seated with Christ
in the heavenly places, and have been empowered by the Holy Spirit to so
conduct ourselves.
THINGS WE DO NOT KNOW AND
THINGS WE MUST DO! We never have to worry or be anxious about the things we do
not know and have not been told. We have been empowered for an awesome
ministry, being the witnesses to Jesus Christ wherever and whenever that
opportunity comes our way. We do not have to worry about the things we do not
know because we have more than enough on our hands to do the many ministries
that God has given us.
May God give to each one of
us the power and the patience for these wonderful ministries! AMEN!