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Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends;
Have you ever awakened in the morning with a strong sense that something special, perhaps even life changing was going to happen that day, even though you did not have it scheduled in your calendar? I wonder if that’s how the friends of Jesus woke up on this, the 40th day since His resurrection, about 2000 years ago? By the time they laid their heads on their pillows that night, everything for them and our world would be changed. I invite you to join me in Acts 1, looking at Dr. Luke’s record of what happened!
For one last time, the resurrected Jesus appeared and met with His friends. Luke writes: “So when they met together, they asked Him (Jesus), ‘Lord are You at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6) We don’t know for sure who was meeting with Jesus on this occasion, but we presume it was the disciples, some of the women who had followed Him, perhaps James, the brother of Jesus, and maybe others. They are in the area of Jerusalem, but we don’t know exactly where. Their question helps us understand the underlying hope that many people had of Jesus… that this miracle working man, who was now actually raised from the dead and obviously had God’s unlimited power in Him, would truly be their long awaited Messiah and would rise up as the King of Israel, throw off the Roman domination, and restore little Israel to the former glory days of King David & King Solomon.
If the truth be told, deep in the hearts of those who consider themselves followers of Jesus Christ in the 21st century, what aspirations, what hopes and dreams do you and I have, of what God could do, in our day, even this summer of 2020, to change our world and make His kingdom come, His will be done, on earth as it is in heaven? So it’s not difficult for us to put ourselves in Luke’s account is it? In many ways we are just like those who asked Jesus the question that day, aren’t we? We could easily give God a quick list of things which could make our world a much better place, but would need God’s power to accomplish, right?
Jesus’ response is very significant, and are the final recorded words of Jesus before He left this earth and returned to heaven: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by His own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:7,8)
There it is, once and for all… Jesus’ very clear words that NO human being knows God’s timetable of when God the Father has determined that HE will bring about the events which will bring this world story to an end, and launch a ‘new heaven and new earth and new eternal future.’ (Revelation 21) Even Jesus doesn’t know! Jesus had said to His friends a few weeks earlier, “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” (Matt. 24:36) So my friends, while I understand why some people spend lots of effort and time trying to figure out the prophetic timetable and predict what God might do next…may I urge us to hear Jesus clearly? Leave it in God’s hands and focus on living our lives in lock step with Jesus, as we daily ‘walk with Jesus’, bringing His help and hope to our world today, as He works His purposes through us His people, wherever we live, work, play and touch society!
Do you notice Jesus’ promise that His friends were going to receive great power from God when the Holy Spirit would come upon them? Power for what, you might ask? Power to be Jesus’ witnesses. As we will see, as we follow the story of what happened to these friends of Jesus after Jesus left them, they would find themselves facing great opposition and persecution from the same Jewish leaders who had killed Jesus, and from Roman authorities who were merciless with anyone perceived to be making trouble of any kind. They would need God’s power to remain faithful to Jesus, as they told His story in the face of ridicule and prison and even execution!
They would need God’s power as they were confronted by God’s enemy Satan and his demons, who were determined to make life so difficult for the followers of Jesus that they’d regret and even renounce their allegiance to Jesus. They’d need God’s power if they were going to push back the encroaching darkness of evil in every town where they lived or visited. And remember Jesus had promised they would do the things He had done, and so they knew they’d need His power. (John 14:12)
John records for us, in John 20:21, that Jesus had said to them “As the Father has sent Me, so I am sending you.” Now as they heard Jesus challenge them to be His witnesses I think those words probably came back to their minds and took on new meaning. For the rest of their lives I believe these friends of Jesus often asked themselves questions like these: “Why did God send Jesus to earth? What was His mission? How did God lead Him to accomplish His purpose here? How did Jesus impact the towns we visited, the people who heard Him speak or experienced His miracles? And so if Jesus is sending us out as His Father sent Him… what does that mean for us? How should we live our lives each day? As Jesus regularly prayed to the Father, to discern what He should be doing that day or in a particular situation, that’s what I should do too. As Jesus met every opposition with God’s truth, that’s what I should do. As Jesus met the needs of people, that’s what I should do.”
May I ask, my friends, what would it be like if you and I lived with those words paramount in our hearts everyday… “As the Father has sent Me, so I am sending you… and you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be My witnesses… wherever I lead you to live your life.” Can you and I own that, my friends, as our life purpose…today and everyday for the rest of our lives?
Evidently Jesus and His friends were already on the hillside east of Jerusalem, the mount of Olives, when He said these farewell words, or they went there immediately after He said them. Luke tells us what happened next was shocking! “After He said this, He was taken up BEFORE THEIR VERY EYES, and a cloud hid Him from their sight.” Jesus simply started to elevate, right in front of them, up into the air, then higher and higher until He disappeared in the clouds above! Go ahead, stand their with them and experience it. What do you see… what do you feel… what are those around you saying?
Luke records: “They were looking intently up into the sky as He was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. ‘Men of Galilee’, they asked, ‘why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:10,11) One final time, as has happened so many times, God sent angels from heaven, to explain to men here on earth what was happening, because it was so far beyond what we can logically understand.
But do you notice the message God had given the angels to convey? First, HOW and WHERE did Jesus go? “This same Jesus who has been taken from you...” God the Father sent Jesus from heaven to earth, God raised Him from the dead, and God now was recalling Jesus back to heaven. That’s important! Jesus had told His friends “I came from the Father and entered the world, now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.” (John 16:28). There was no question where Jesus was going… not just up into the clouds, but all the way back to heaven, from which He had come.
Listen to how Hebrews 1:3,4 explains where Jesus went: “After He had provided purification for sins, He (Jesus) sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. So He became as much superior to the angels as the name He has inherited is superior to theirs.”
And my friend, may I remind you WHAT Jesus is doing there, in heaven, now? Paul writes in Romans 8:34 “Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died – more than that who was raised to life – is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.” So Jesus is our advocate, talking to the Father on our behalf, right now, especially if our behavior or Satan’s accusations condemn us.
And one more thing that Jesus is doing right now… “Therefore He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them.” (Hebrews 7:25) So Jesus is redeeming, everyday, thousands of people who call upon God for the forgiveness of their sins, trusting in Jesus’ full atonement work to be sufficient!
And, of course, Jesus is working to accomplish the desires of God the Father here on earth, as He guides the lives of His people all around the world, who are seeking to follow Him, as He followed His Father’s guidance. I hope that’s you and me, my friends! Now think about that. If there are nearly 1 Billion of us followers of Jesus, what is He trying to accomplish through all of us, in every city, town, village, neighborhood, workplace, school, and family where even ONE follower of Jesus lives!! That is the miracle of living as an Ambassador of Jesus, (2 Cor. 5:20) empowered as Jesus promised, by His Holy Spirit! Is that your life today?
So as we close today, let’s linger here on the hillside outside Jerusalem, with Jesus’ close friends. Look across the Kidron valley to busy Jerusalem. People busy doing life… bustling about buying, selling, coming, going…but all of them oblivious to what just happened here on the hillside of ascension. Not far from where we are, right over there, Jesus had ridden a donkey among thousands of people who celebrated Him, and that was only 6 weeks ago!
Over there, only a stones throw from where we are sitting, are the olive trees of the Garden called Gethsemane, oh my we have memories of that place, don’t we? And on the far side of Jerusalem, from our vantage point here on the Mount of Olives, we can see brow of the hill called Golgotha. So much has happened in these past few weeks… what now? Jesus is gone. While the angels said He’s coming back someday, we don’t know when, so how do we live our lives without Him here, with us, now?
What’s your answer to that question my friends, all around the world? What is Jesus doing, where you live life, through your life, for God’s glory and the benefit of the people all around you? Is it as though Jesus lives in your home, Jesus walks the streets of your neighborhood, Jesus shops where you shop, Jesus relaxes where you relax… because YOU, a Jesus follower, are there? May I invite you to spend some time right now with Jesus, re-affirming your relationship with Him and listening for what He wants to say to you today, as He looks at the best use of your life in your part of our world?
Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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